Life has felt extra busy lately. With summer coming to a close, county fairs, vacations, church and community activities – we’ve all been on the run! When Sawyer said all she wanted for her birthday was to do Legos with her friends, I was sold!
She’s really gotten into building Lego sets in the past year (and even worked through a chore chart to purchase a Lego house! It was huge and she has had a lot of fun putting it together and playing with it).
We kept things pretty simple and played a little Lego Friends bingo, painted boxes to store our Legos in and then built a Lego set. She hand-picked a set for each of her friends and she did a great job – no one had any of the ones she picked for them!
We all had a really good time! It was a nice, fun birthday party with some nice, fun girls!
Of course, I had to make her a Lego girl shirt for the occasion. She looked precious!
The Lego bunting made the whole party! It was a cheap, easy wow factor!We used all of Sawyer’s Lego sets for decor.We got Sawyer this little set for her birthday – the classic Lego man in a birthday cake! She loved it!
Bingo was a way bigger hit than we imagined! These girls were Bingo queens!The winners got edible Legos – what could be better?
After bingo, it was time to paint!
Painting their boxesThere was only one paint spill and it was just the birthday girl’s brush water…I’d call that a success!
Next, it was time for Lego building!
Then, it was time for cake and presents! She had such generous friends and got some really fun things!
Lego cake from mom’s kitchen… Sweet girl thought it was wonderful and that’s all that matters!Her smile in this picture melts me. She’s not my most expressive kid (read: dramatic) so a genuine smile like this is the best!May all your dreams come true, sweet one!
I bought a silicone Lego mold and we froze pink and purple Kool-Aid to make ice cubes that we put in our Sprite! The girls had more fun mixing up their drinks and making them change colors.
Pretty in pink with her pink and purple drink!
We sent this girls home with Lego necklaces and rings made by Sawyer and a Lego cup, like the Lego characters hold in all of the sets – super cute!
And then? They each got a kitten!
HA! We tried to find them all a home, but only one got to become a house cat. 😉
We are so proud of our sweet Sawyer girl and would do just about anything for that little sweetie! She felt so loved this weekend. She is such a great friend and we pray she always has a good group of friends around her that point her to the Lord.
Today is the *official* first day of summer…but we’ve been calling it “summer” for well over a month now. Lucky for us {insert sarcasm here} summer is really showing off and it’s supposed to be over 100 today. Gag.
Despite the heat wave, we’re really enjoying our summer! The kids are at such fun ages and we’re in a season where life is relatively easy again. (I know, I know…it’s time to have another! We’ll have to see about that…) We’ve tried to take full advantage of our time and resources and do some fun things!
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We started June with a birthday party for the big guy! He turned 35 this year and has been wanting to have a Minute to Win It party with some of our favorite friends so, that’s what we did!
The birthday boy
We played silly, ridiculous games – and had a blast while doing so!
Unwrapping candy with oven mittsThe classic knock the water bottles over with pantyhose on your head game…
At the end of the night, this team DOMINATED the competition…which, I mean, look at them. Bonafide athletes, all of them!
Minute to Win it Champs!
We made their trophies out of something from each of the games we played. If they made it home, I’d be impressed! HA!
Trophy time
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Sawyer got a new horse from her friend Mr. Jeff. This sweetie’s name is LuLu and we. are. in. love!
Sawyer and LuLu
LuLu is strong and stout and as sweet as they come. She loves to eat treats from your hand and will stand all day where you tell her to.
On her first ride!
These two are going to make a lot of good memories together… We just have to keep the fighting down when it comes to who gets to ride her!
We love LuLu!
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A mobile Children’s Museum came to town so we checked that out! It was fun enough inside. The kids got to build and color and explore…
Testing out his foam housePlaying with topsPetting the buffaloMaking a magnet house
The best fun was outside! They had a chore challenge race that was a LOT of fun! They had to move the cow, throw the “cow patties”, haul the corn, churn the butter and shoot a buffalo! The kids had a BLAST at this station!
Moving the cowTossing those patties!Hauling her cornChurning some butterSayble’s turn!She loved every bit!
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Of course, we’ve already hit up Cody Park!
First ride on the carouselSweet sistersThese two had a ball!Sayble loved the trainLove this pic…This is their favorite ride because it’s FAST!Sayble loved holding the tickets
I’m sure there will be a few more trips here for some good, cheap fun!
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We celebrated Father’s Day with this sweet guy!
He is so loved!
We had yummy food (his love language – ha!), watched shows with snacks (Wryder’s idea), rode horses and played outside!
Daddy’s girlSilly goose!Twins
My kiddos are so incredibly blessed to have this guy as a daddy. He received two different father’s day cards in the mail that BOTH said, “I believe you are the kind of father that the Lord intended men to be.” I couldn’t agree more…
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We just got home from a mini-vacation to Kansas! Wrex had to go to the feedyard down there so we tagged along and had some fun when he was done!
Cute as buttons!
We stayed at fun motel that had bunkbeds for the kids, checked out the local zoo (it’s free!!) and then went to the new indoor water park called Parrot Cove. It. Was. A. BLAST!
Sawyer LOVES flamingos!Sassy catThis one just wanted to roar…At the water park
They had 4 little kid slides, a lazy river, several pools, a rock climbing wall, 4 big water slides – it was a LOT of fun! We can’t wait to go back!
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Sure do love these littles…and they’re only little once. We do our fair share of work around here…we kinda like to work hard and play hard. Can’t wait to see what the rest of summer brings!
Wrex bought an old, bred milk cow that Wryder really took a liking to. He named her RaRa Robin (after his grandma). She’s the sweetest ole thing…and she really loved him, too.
Wryder and RaRa
We all waited so patiently for her to have her baby and prayed and prayed that the kids would be able to watch see that baby born.
In the days before she calved, Wryder took such great care of her. He’d walk to the corn stalks south of our house and grab a couple of partial ears of corn, bring them home and shell them for her.
Shellin’ corn
We’d been watching her and checking on her every few hours every day. Wrex was even getting up in the night to check her. One Monday morning, they went out to check her and then Sawyer came runnin’ back to the house telling me that RaRa’s water bag was hanging out!
I threw some shoes out and sure enough, a baby was about to be born! Wryder brought a lick tub over outside the fence and within 10 minutes, the kids got to see LIFE!
Good momma!
RaRa had a sweet little heifer calf that Wryder has named – are you ready for this? Betty Harbor Baby Whanny Kroeker Phipps. Ahem.
Wryder and Betty
Despite that big ole bag RaRa has, there’s not much milk to be had so we all made the decision to sell her so that Wryder could buy a cow to really get his herd started, just like Sawyer did at four.
My big boy was so brave! He loved sweet RaRa but understood that it was the responsible thing to do. He didn’t cry at all…and I bawled all day!
One last goodbyeLove this sweet boy
He took her to the sale barn with dad on Monday and got her sold.
Watchin’ her sell
This boy is just one of the sweetest, funnest, brightest balls of energy I’ve ever met! Saying goodbye to a good friend – even when that friend is an animal – is never easy and he did it with such grace. So proud of my brave boy. Here’s to finding the next great one!
I’ve had some really good Mother’s Day celebrations…like last year, celebrating a less than week old Sayble.
I’ve had some not-so-great Mother’s Day celebrations…like the year Wryder was born and I was sicker than a dog. I mean, SICK.
This year? This year was one for the record books – it was just a really, really good day.
The kids had me stay in bed until they said I could come out. Well, if you insist!
Wrex had breakfast cooked and they had some really fun gifts and cards and pictures for me – melt my heart!
Happy Mother’s Day, mom!A Lego Mother’s Day wish!My card from Wryder. Just WOW.
We spent some time outside and then I got to spend the majority of the day with the girl who made me a momma as she performed in her last dance recital of the season.
When she was all done, we came home and hung out with the rest of the family outside because it was beautiful! We took a little golf cart tour into the neighboring pastures and Wryder got to show me the dead cow he’d seen – a real treat! Ha!
I remember going through a season where being called “mom” (by a friend, out of sarcasm and a nod to my mature, responsible nature) felt like an insult. I was young! I was fun! I wasn’t a mom! I don’t quite know what was going on in my heart…but just let me say oh, how the tides have turned. There’s not much sweeter to my ears than hearing, “Mom/Momma.” (I mean, the 580th time on a Friday, I might not enjoy it as much as the first time I hear it on a random Tuesday, but still…)
Being “momma” is a badge I wear with pride! So thankful for these sweet little cubs – some of my favorite people/best friends/the most wonderful little humans on the planet! They are the product of our love, our reward, our heritage.
My babies
It’s an amazing thing to have the opportunity to shape the future by what you spend your time on and pour into today. Nothing is wasted in the Kingdom of heaven and nothing is wasted in motherhood – no hug is addled, no words will return void, no teaching or training or correcting will turn up empty. It ALL matters. I am thankful I get to be the full time shoe tier, hands washer, book reader, swing pusher, hair brusher, nap time tucker in-er, school teacher, morning pray-er, owie kisser…
I’m thankful for their daddy, too – for lots of reasons – but especially for the fact that he works so diligently so that I can be at home during the week to actually BE momma.
Good gosh, I love this man
Some days in mommyland are just plain hard. Some days are just plain cake. But all of them? All of them are worth it.
I had the privilege of throwing a birthday party for a SA-WEET little one year old today! I adore her and her little family and we couldn’t wait to honor her – we are so glad that she was born!
She sure is!
We went with a hot air balloon theme…and I’m not really sure why except that I thought it would be cute?! Is that a good enough reason??
Those cloud balloons, though…
Everything was pink and white and minty blue/green. We made hot air balloons out of paper lanterns and berry baskets and I found the cutest cloud balloons and cups to go with our dinner ware.
The spreadUp, up and away!
We made cloud and hot air balloon bunting and had it hanging in the window…
Happy birthday, indeed!
We had 12 months worth of pictures of our little sweetie hanging on the mantle…
Sweet baby MesaIt was so festive in here!
We made giant hot air balloons out of, well, giant balloons and apple baskets! They turned out so cute!
The big kids had fun in these!The whole shebang!
We got to hang out with Mesa and her momma most of the day – always a treat in my book!
Pretty girls!
The kids were so excited to give her her gift and kept wanting to pose with it themselves!
Take my picture, mom!
She finally got to play with it and I think it was a hit!
Tea time!Good gravy, she’s cute!
Once the daddies got home from the sale barn, we played tea party, a few Wii games and then the real party started!
Sayble got to sit in the booster so that our guest of honor could have the high chair. Needless to say, she thought she was big stuff! I don’t think she was quiet the entire dinner!
She was full of all kinds of antics, including the towel on her head!
Mesa really loved the balloons on her seat…and the pancakes, too!
Where’s Mesa?!There she is!Waiting (patiently) for cake time!
We made her a hot air balloon cake and she was so cute trying to blow that candle out!
Cake time!Look at that face!Hurry and sing so I can eat the cake instead!Let’s do this thang!Eatin’ it by the fistfuls!Startin’ to get full…One more little bite…
Oh, Mesa Moo…we sure do love you!
The Phipps Five and Mesa Moo!
We bless the day you were born! May you embrace your role as the daughter of the Lord of the Lords, the first born, a princess of the King of Kings. We pray you run to Him all the days of your life. He is worthy of your adoration and you are worthy of His love. Can’t wait for number two!
For a January day, it sure was a nice enough one! We’re all bracing for a nasty snow and ice storm that’s supposed to roll in tomorrow, but today? Today was pretty pretty. (I think the lack of wind helped as much as anything!)
Sayble has been dying to go outside since she’s gotten her wheels under her, but it’s been REALLY cold prior to today.
As dad got ready to head outside to do chores, Sawyer and Wryder wanted to go to. Well, once Sayble saw them suit up, she sure wanted to join in the action. We got her all bundled up and out and the door we went!
How cute is this little toot?! Can you see her under there?
I bet she walked a good mile or more this morning, quite a ways with her little legs!
She looked so tiny next to the house…
Of course, we had to stop and pet the doggie…
Sweet ole Booey
and the kitties…
Say and Tractory. Wonder who named that one?!
and haul one around…
Say with Damilla Willa. Don’t ask.
We spent some time at the park with brother and sister…
Good grief I love these kiddos…
then we spent a little time swinging before heading inside for a peanut butter sandwich!
Pure joy!
Who knows what this weather will actually bring…but we took advantage of today!
The weather was SO nice last week so we tried to be outside as much as possible – always a good thing for small children with lots of energy.
This girl LOVED riding the little car…
Forgive the two-toned fence in the picture above. We replaced the boards earlier this spring after Wrex left his pickup in reverse when I waved him back to the house. Apparently, he thought there was a sincere emergency (I just had a a letter that I needed him to drop in the mail) and came running in without shifting into park. Thankfully, there’s a small hill in the pasture behind it and it stopped it – on this flat farm ground, who knows how far it would’ve traveled!
We had a cheeseburger picnic one day last week after an impromptu trip to town.
Aren’t they cute?!
They played at the park, ran their hearts out and tried to sneak up on a little robin.
Quiet…
It flew off, but it was worth a shot.
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The impromptu trip to town was to get a little chicken house we found. It. Is. ADORABLE. We wanted it to put close to the house for some of our momma’s and babies. So far, it’s just housed cats and dogs…
Peanut being patientA new breed of chicken…
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We went to town on Friday to buy groceries and someone wasn’t too thrilled with his attire.
Doesn’t he look handsome?
He swore this was a girl’s shirt. It’s not. I made him wear it.
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Saturday we strayed from our red meat diet and had some roasted chicken. This was Wryder’s first experience with a chicken leg and he was a HUGE fan!
Yum!
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We also had some fun visitors last week! Our sweet friend, Diane and our NEW sweet friend, Katherine stopped by!
Awwww!
The kids adored them and Wryder wanted them to stay to tuck him in bed. They doted on the kids and took a tour of the Phipps farm and ate cookies and punch with us! They even brought the kids supplies to do a fun craft which Sawyer did this weekend.
Ms. Diana brought her a bunch of torn up tissue paper and some mod podge and Sawyer made a box for a baby shower gift for our neighbor.
Cute – both of them!
It turned out so cute!
You ladies come back ANY time!
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Saturday was equally beautiful and we took the kids to walk around the little fishing pond in town.
Beautiful evening, beautiful kids
We saw 1 goose, 4 ducks but no fish or turtles. They had a ball exploring and running and checking out the water…and we had a ball being with them.
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This little dandy showed up on Facebook this morning:
5 years ago…Sawyer and Uncle Blake
Be still my heart. Sweet girl has grown a little since then, yes?! (Blake is just as dashingly handsome, just FYI.) I love seeing all these clothes in Sayble’s closet now. We put her in some of Sawyer’s old jammies yesterday and it just made her even cuddlier!
Sawyer/Sayble
That Sayble…she is just pure joy, I tell ya!
Look at that face!
She hams it up for the camera, that girl!
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Today, we got to shower our sweet neighbor who is expecting a sweet baby girl in about a month! Sawyer got to see two of her favorite girls (and fellow flower girls from Gillian’s wedding) and they had a ball together!
Hugs!2.5 years ago…
They’ve grown a little…
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Gillian has some of the sweetest family members a girl could ask for. Two of her aunts (and ladies I’m proud to call friends) were there today and were just so encouraging to me regarding motherhood.
One of them told me that if the Lord would give her any day to do again, she’d choose one when her kids were around the age of mine because they are just so fun. And it’s true. This right here:
Heaven on earth
This is the closest to heaven I’ll get on this earth. I love them with every ounce of my being…
I love the way Sayble NEEDS me right now and needs me with ferocity! I love to hear her little jabbers and her sweet smiles. I love the way she pats me when I pick her up and the way she only wants to be where I am.
I love the way Wryder is all boy. I love how he wants to mow and shoot guns and eat dirt and poop outside. I love how he helps pick up after meals and how much he loves his sisters. I love how he always hollers, “love you!” one more time as I close his door after tucking him in.
I love the way Sawyer has entered a self-sufficiency of sorts. I love that she and I can go anywhere and she’s fine and I’m fine and we can go and do without a lot of planning (or extra bags)! I love that she loves so many of the same things I like. I love that she loves to talk to me and is, truly, one of my best friends.
Tomorrow is Monday and before I know it, Friday will be here again. Another week done and gone. It happens so fast… Lean in and love it, momma…
I’m an opinionated, passionate, perfection-loving, anxious person and the unsanctified parts of those things tend to rear their heads through frustration and anger.
I try to be even keel – that helps when you have small children – but sometimes, it gets the best of me. After the 300th time that I have to repeat the rules that have yet to change since the beginning of rules – no banging on the table, no back talking, no pushing your sister, no jumping off of the coffee table, not getting ON the coffee table, no pulling Sayble around by her legs, no dumping out the dog food, no putting food from our plate on the floor, no sneaking snacks without asking, no screaming while Sayble naps…you get my drift – my flesh takes over and I go into angry-lecturing parent mode.
It doesn’t happen all of the time or even the majority of the time, but one time is one too many and I find myself fighting with that urge more than I’d like. The Lord gave us emotions and He gave us the ability to feel anger but He does not give us the ok to sin in our anger; when I raise my voice or roll my eyes or let an exasperated naughty word slip or lecture on and on and on hoping they get the point? That doesn’t please Him.
Anger is one of those really difficult emotions because in the moment, you feel completely justified. Whatever you feel like doing in rebuttal MUST be ok because of what the offender did or said. BUT? That’s just not the case.
Parenting is HARD. HARD, I tell you! In this stage, with three littles under the age of 6, it can be exhausting. There is so much physicality to the job right now. One day, it will switch to more of a mental exhaustion and we’ll be craving those dirty diapers and untied shoes again, won’t we?
As a mom – especially one that has the luxury to be with her babies all day, every day, weekends-mean-nothing – we are constantly pouring ourselves out to tend to their needs and mend their hearts and navigate their emotions and guide them back to the trail to kindness and righteousness. Add in the daily chores of laundry, dishes, meal prep, feedings, cleanings, prayers, school work, yard work, etc. and the weight of all of those duties can pile up and sends us teetering on the edge of a meltdown.
While I do want our home – our sacred place – to be a place of peace of righteousness, how I respond to the sins of my children will determine the tone of my household more than their choices do.
They’re not perfect. They’re gonna sin. That’s what they do! But how I handle that will either lead them TO Jesus or AWAY from Him. Another big job to add to our list, yes?
This weekend, I felt like we had all been really busy this past week and because of that, our prayers had become choppy and repetitive and insincere. We regrouped together as a family on Sunday night and we began praying things that aligned with the heart of the Lord. When we take our desires to Him – things that HE desires for us as well – He is faithful to move on our behalf.
He doesn’t want me to be angry. He doesn’t want me to sin in my anger. He doesn’t want me to speak harshly. His desire for me is to be slow to anger and abounding in love. And that has been my prayer.
Prayer is not an argument with God to persuade him to move things our way, but an exercise by which we are enabled by his Spirit to move ourselves His way.
While I desire obedience for my children, let the sanctification and obedience start with ME. I still pray they choose obedience but oh, I pray for me to be more like YOU. I want to move myself your way…
Lord, we want to be more like You, simple as that. Isn’t that the goal? That with each day and week and year, the maturing Christian would look less like the world and more like Jesus? Pressing in to get there…
Little Wryder Roo turned 3 last week – a monumental occasion for him! He has been SO excited about his birthday (because birthdays are AWESOME) and has been asking for a Paw Patrol party since last year sometime. We had a busy weekend (that got attacked by every child having the nasty cold/upper respiratory infection we’ve all been passing back and forth) so we didn’t plan him a big party, but we still pulled out all of the Paw Patrol garb I got on sale at Party City.
We set it all up on Thursday evening so that when he came downstairs on Friday, he’d have a good start to his day. Sweet boy was so excited!
I’m THREE!
We made a quick trip to the clinic on Friday and then went to birthday lunch. Originally, I had told him he could choose anywhere he wanted for lunch and, lo and behold, he chose McDonalds. Now, I’m not one of those haters that just absolutely can’t stand the place because it’s non-ogranic or they serve GMOs or whatever…I just don’t like it because I don’t think it’s very good. Except their fries. Enough salt and grease makes ANYTHING good.
Thankfully, our sweet friend Traci got to talking about Mexican food and he decided he’d rather go there instead – hallelujah!
He made a good choice!
Free dessert!It was good.
On the way to town, he opened the birthday card he got from GooGoo and inside was a ten dollar bill! He was so excited and so we went shopping after lunch and he bought the one pup he was missing – Rocky!
Look at that face…
He was so excited to pay for it and get his bag, all by himself!
Big boy!
He had a few dollars left and he used it to buy a root beer float! Can you have too much sugar on your birthday?! Nah. Not when you’re three. 🙂
Fridays are usually long days so we waited until Saturday to open presents. He is SO much fun to buy things for 1) because he has certain things he just REALLY, REALLY like and 2) he’s so expressive, it’s just flat fun to see how excited he gets!
A school bus!The pickup and trailer he’s been wanting!He was a happy camper!
He loved the Air Patroller too but he was blurry with excitement so the pictures wouldn’t mean much to anyone but his parents. 🙂
PaPa and RaRa sent him one of his other favorite presents…
a wheelbarrow!
He used it all day today. Pretty sure we’re gonna have dirt EVERYWHERE around this place…
Sayble was quite fond of the wrapping paper.
Isn’t she cute?!
Pretty sure her first birthday is gonna be a ball, too!
We had his “party” Saturday at lunch. I always let the kids make their menus and he went back and forth between steak and hot dogs (quite the spectrum, I know) but finally settled on hot dogs, which worked well for the dog theme. 😉
PAW Patrol on a roll – get it?!
He also wanted french fries, fruit (very specific about what berries), punch and pumpkin bread. I turned the pumpkin bread into dog chow, so it worked out.
He got his pumpkin bread!PupcakesThe spreadOfficial Pawty waterBirthday boy!Sweet sister, representing Skye!We even had Paw Patrol tattoos!and masksHe’s three!and decided to eat his pupcake like a dog…of course.
I think he had a really good couple of days. As he was eating one last cupcake on Saturday night, he said, “Mom? Thank you so much for my party!” Melt my heart. Anytime, kiddo. You are why I do what I do….
Later that afternoon, our sweet neighbor got married. Despite the icky colds, we couldn’t say no to watching such a Godly couple vow their forevers to each other. It’s so nice to attend a wedding where the couple really gets it, ya know?
The rain was relentless that afternoon and Sawyer didn’t want to mess up her cute hair so we did this:
A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…
And yes, I need to do laundry. 😉 I’m working on it, ok!?!
Wrexy had a pretty cute wedding date!
So sweet!
We came home and called it an early night.
I keep saying that I think three is his year! Just today, he’s put on socks and pants by himself AND pooped somewhere other than his pants! (It was outside on the sidewalk but it WASN’T in his pants!) Seriously, I think it’s gonna be a good one…
I’m behind. I know. But we had a SPECTACULARLY MARVELOUS Easter!
We stuffed 100 eggs to take to the cousin egg hunt down in Oklahoma…
Yum yum!
We took communion together and remembered all the Lord has done for us…
Sweet girland boy
He spilled his juice LITERALLY as Wrex was saying, “This is my blood poured out…” It was perfect timing…
We colored Easter eggs. We tried the fake ones this year as the others never really get eaten. Not a fan. The real ones are better.
Serious business
I made cookies for all the cousins (and the RaRa) for their Easter baskets I took down…
Yum yum for sure!
We gave the kids their little goodies before we left…
Lots of pink!
This cute girl…I just love her to pieces!
Hip to the max
We headed south, loaded for bear!
Thank the Lord for the Suburban
Uncle Waco and Aunt Amber surprised us and came to Aunt Tootsie’s too! We all had such a good weekend! The kids went on a MASSIVE egg hunt!
All the grands in one place – love.There were eggs EVERYWHERE!The boys were quite competitive!The girls, too!She was so cute!The girls looking through their loot…
Sunday morning was a typical Sunday morning. I got one good picture!
Surely, WD will take this good of pics when he’s 5, right?!
Most of his looked like this:
Sigh
Sayble wasn’t much better…
This was the best one I got!
She was good DURING church, though…
She loves GooGoo just like everyone else!
Sawyer snuck in a little snuggle time with Uncle Waco…
She adores him!
And we got to see GooGoo’s new house and try the picture thing one more time!
No dice.
This was the closest we got…
That’ll work, yes?
We got to see Uncle Waco’s new house that they’re building! Sayble took the tour with him…
Swoon
and his little girl took the tour with Wrex…
Cuties
It was so much fun, I’m not sure any of us were ready to come home…especially those of us who had to unpack and do the laundry. 😉 I’d do it all again tomorrow if it meant we were all together though…
Then, it was time for cake and presents! She had such generous friends and got some really fun things!
And then? They each got a kitten!
HA! We tried to find them all a home, but only one got to become a house cat. 😉
