Family Fitness Night and Indian Powwow

We had a great time at Family Fitness night!! They had some great stations including one that showed you how many teaspoons of sugar (or in some cases, tablespoons!) were in some common drinks. The kids totally ratted Papa out to the nutritionist about his occasional Big Gulps! We also got to try yoga for kids- which Logan actually really loved!

Even Savannah gave it the old college try at the challenge stations where you did things like situps or pushups or jumprope to earn stamps. All the kids also got to try a fruit smoothie and sign a drug free pledge. The PTA did a really awesome job with this event!

Meanwhile at Logan's school there was an Indian PowWow! Since we have the costume already made, Logan went (albeit reluctantly) in costume, which was also perfect since it was Brown Day and he doesn't have very many brown clothes!! I think he looks adorable! His favorite part was the popcorn snack :)

Family Fitness Night and Indian j

Nighttime Concert

I'm a lucky woman. What can I say? Not many people get their own concert every night :) Although, with Riley understanding more and more, we probably need to download some more child-appropriate music than "White Wedding". The best part of this is that Savannah going "WAh blah BLAH blah" gets a higher score on singing than Daddy ;)

Today was also my "orientation" day at work and the kids stayed with my grandmother's Saturday companion's daughter who let them watch Transformers (yeah, the grown up one) and Spongebob (which they KNOW and told her they weren't allowed to watch). Oy vey. That'll teach me to assume people know better!!

Anyway- enjoy the pictures!

Where oh where has the Jelly Bean?

Sooo, yeah, we've been busy!

First Momma went on Mission team and the kids got time at home with Daddy! What fun for everyone! Momma had a great time going to Midlothian with 3 girls from church, she's always loved missions! The fam back home had a great time with daddy going camping and to the park! Yay for Daddy!

After Momma got back, it was Vacation Bible School week. We had over 80 kids and it was tons and tons of fun!! You can see a picture of Riley's class here, they were the K/1s and they were quite the group of energy balls! God bless their teachers!!

However, following that week, Mommy resigned at church in order to take a new position. She had two offers at very wonderful choices and spent lots of time praying and agonizing and letting Daddy make decision matrixes for her.

Ultimately, she decided on a new church, which you can check out by going here. Momma is excited to be part of a prayerful, established congregation, although she misses the kids at her old church something terrible!! Change is always difficult, but our whole family is very excited about this new position and our new church family-to-be!! We checked out services on Sunday (there were 2 happening at 11 AM and we went back and forth between the traditional and contemporary- Momma does love a contemporary service) and this coming Sunday will be our first official one!

Savannah Lynn had her 18 month checkup and has finally broken the 25th percentile for weight! She's now 23 pounds!! Such a change from her 8 month check where they labeled her failure to thrive!

Both boys are now officially signed up for school and will be attending the same preschool Riley did last year, which is also an early elementary. Riley will definitely benefit from the smaller class for one more year, even if it is a significant financial difference from the FREE public school!!! Logan is very excited, and so is Riley. Savannah is stuck with momma, except on Tuesday and Thursday when momma's working :)

In other news, we got to join Gramma and Papa on their boat down at Lake Anna! We had a ton of fun- Riley rode the innertube for 45 minutes straight!! Daddy couldn't join us due to some healing time needed after a very sensitive snipping- but we had a blast anyways!!

Ice Cream Juice

We are just incredibly hectic this week! And it doesn't help that mommy has lost her mind! Getting ready for mission team and VBS is not necessarily helping my mental state. I keep forgetting things I have to do and just need to be better about making a list. As soon as it's over we're going to start working on our school schedule, including planning clothes for the week in our "sorter" (which is really a shoe hanger-upper) and morning devotions for Riley.

Yesterday was swim lesson day! All of our kids are doing awesome. Logan can float now and should be able to pass his next 2 levels, but since the "level lady" wasn't there yesterday, we'll have to wait. That's okay, we plan on swimming for awhile ;)

Savannah swam 10 feet underwater and dove down to get the diving sticks! She's so sweet, though, because the wetsuit uniform makes her bum have an air bubble so she can't get back up without help because she's a little bottom-buoyant!

Riley, of course, is a crazy man and can't wait for swim team in the fall!! Such a swimmer- just like his daddy and uncles!

Today we went to church in the morning and painted a few of the backgrounds for VBS. Riley and Logan were big helps and I tried to convince Savannah that today would be a great day to learn to like TV and watch a Veggie Tale, but she mainly sat in her stroller and fussed until she conned Ms. Rachel from WSUMC into picking her up :) After that we got stuck up in traffic and were late to my voice lesson. The kids went with my mom who met up with us after her TSC meeting (she's probably opening a Tropical Smoothie! Get excited people!) when I got back we let the kids watch a Scooby Doo movie (not my finest hour, but I'm so stressed right now that by the time I go to bed I actually dream I'm working on VBS) and then had dinner.

Since it was gramma's house, they also got Ice Cream. She rocks.

Logan was super nice and shared a bite of his chocolate with Riley, who shared back...some of his melted Strawberry Cheesecake- but Logan said "Ryerye, that's not Iwce Cweam, dats Iwce Cweam Jooooce". Ice Cream Juice. Classic.

Better....

Today was such a better day than yesterday!! I had a VBS meeting at 10, so Austin did his bike ride early and then the kids had some daddy time. I made lunch when I got home and then my mom helped me go "dumpster diving" for refrigerator boxes for VBS (it was a recycling dumpster- very clean!). We're using them to make background scenes, which I hope turn out well!!

After that, Austin and I took the kids to play at the park. It's so nice to be able to take them to their favorite one- I can't do it alone because there's no easy way to cut across and since Miss Savannah insists she should swing full-time, there's no way to keep an eye on all of them without help!! When we all decided we were sweltering, Austin took the boys swimming at grandma's while I fed Savannah a snack. It was date night tonight and we went to Pa Nuang, which was awesome! And then we fed the ducks down by the water and headed home for a movie. The kids were apparently good for my mom and got waffles for dinner!! Nothing better than living close to grandma!!

Starting with Today

These things always have to start somewhere!! So, here is today.


Today was actually a rather sad day. We came over to Grandma and Papa's house early to have scrambled eggs and bacon with their dog, Cassie, who was going to get put down because her hips had gotten so bad she could barely walk. All of our kids love dogs, but Daddy hates them, so sadly, they're out of luck.

All the kids gave Cassie lots of kisses and hugs, and then while the younger two went down for a nap, Riley went with Gram and Papa and Daddy (who came home early since I didn't think I could do it!!) to the vet. After being around when my grandmother was sick and dying, it seemed so normal to him that he'd go when Cassie was put down. His faith is so amazing- he just embraces that Cassie is better off and trusts that God has a plan for all of his creation.




After that we all swam and enjoyed some dinner with the Grandparents and Uncle Kevin. Riley and Logan did their workbooks before bed- Logan is so happy to be a "big boy" and do his work, but Riley still has a bit of an attitude. Hopefully that will change before September!!

Back Blogging- 4th of July

Yay for Backdating :)

We love the 4th of July around our house- although we took it pretty easy this year. We were supposed to be joining "our friend Mr. Anderson" walking in the parade- but since I totally jacked my back up on the boat the day before, we decided to watch from the side. The kids had a great time waving and collecting candy, but I think that we all agreed that the "longest parade in Virginia" was about 2 hours too long!! It lasted forever with lots of 4 minute breaks inbetween groups...could have been shorter and more condensed IMHO- but still fun!!

Before we left the house, I convinced the kids to let me paint their faces, and I think they turned out really cute!! Riley was really into it and basically had me do his entire body! Logan preferred the paint on his arm (no surprise- he still doesn't like stickers on him), and even Savannah wanted a little paint!!

After the parade, we went back to Grandma and Papa's house for some swimming and Aunt Elaine and Uncle Tom joined us for some grilling and chilling :) Then we hung out until it was time to leave for the Potomac Nationals game!!

The game was really great- the kids all enjoyed it and even Savannah did a great job of being up so late! The fireworks were fantastic (they always are!!) and you can't beat the price. The kids had a great time seeing "Uncle Slam", too. Savannah asked to go and see him every time she saw him, but he was definitely more exciting for her to look at from 50 feet away than up close! She refused to go near him every time Daddy took her within 4 feet of him!! The boys loved it, though!!


At the end of the night, though, we took my favorite picture. Even after a tiring day, the kids were being so good together- and I don't think that I can say anything more about how awesome it is to see our kids together than this picture:

Backblogging- Boat!!

Daddy had the day off today!! Yay for Daddy!! That meant that everyone was able to get a little bit of alone-ish time, and the boys and I decided we'd use our time to go out on Papa's boat!! We had a really great time out on the Potomac River, and Riley even got to drive!! (His steering skills need work!!) Both boys jumped in, much to my dismay (but they still seem to have all their skin), and probably the funniest part was Logan who needed to go potty, and being a boy, did so off the back of the boat. He then told my dad that he had gotten some on his hands, so my dad had him rinse his fingers in the river. Logan was sooo excited and ran up to tell me "Momma, Momma, I rinsed my fingers off with the water I pottied in!!"

Sometimes I wonder what my children will tell their kids about their childhoods :) Anyhow, a fun time was had by all, and Savannah got an extra-long and extra-quiet nap with Daddy, who enjoyed having some real time off!!