Happy 2nd Birthday Bowden!

I made the cupcakes, but called for help when it came to the cake since I was having a shower at my house the morning of Bowden's afternoon party. She made it match the invitation and it was so cute!

Love Bowden's reaction to every one singing to him.
LaLa and Emaline chilling.
Cousins eating some cake!
Isaiah!
Cassidie.
Bowden received a 'car' of his very own at the party, and he sat on it and tried to exit the party. I had to stop him at the back door! Seriously!
Here he is saying thank you!
AND right after that, he told everyone bye! How rude.
Cousin Lindsay and her new fiance Dan.
Love these 2!
Before his birthday blessing. He received this bat, ball, and hat as a gift, and wouldn't really put it down.
Sisters.
Friends.
Aunts.
After the party, Mammy and I went and dug up the goods! The potatoes from my garden. These starters were a gift from my friend Stephanie and here is the loot. Cousin Cassidie just couldn't believe why Mammy would want to dig up the potatoes, and Mammy's answer: because it is fun. I will remember it always.
The birthday boy long after the party was over!
Parker chilling out after the party on E's ride.

Sweet B, you are SO full of energy! You love baeball gaam! Translation: baseball game. You love balls and cars. You love to RUN! LOVE TO RUN! LOVE TO RUN especially when I am cheering you on. When I come in from running, you look at me and say: Momma run? I love it. Happy birthday ball of fire.

Celebrating Cousin Susan and new Cousin Andrew!

The cousins who made it, minus some who left before we got the idea to take a photo!


On June 26th, we held a baby shower brunch for my Cousin Susan who is expecting her first babe! I was so excited to be asked to help celebrate her! We held it at my house and so much fun. We had fruit, zucchini bread, sausage and egg casserole, and caramel french toast casserole. I have to tell you, that caramel french toast casserole recipe was a tip from a friend and now I just want to have people over for breakfast so I can have an excuse to make it!

Emaline chilled out wherever baby Leland was. Here she is with the Zant cousins who made the trip. I think Andrea gets the "who drove the longest" award.
The big girls eating their brunch.
AND, the hostess crew, taken after most of the table had been devoured.

Summer UH OHS!

We have seen so many of these this summer.
Bowden is getting ready for his garden! Don't let him out of your sight!

Baby Will

I know Molly asked, but I also wanted to let everyone know how he is doing. You can read his mommy's blog here.

PRAYERS

Please pray for Will Strzinek. He is fighting right now! He has SSS- Scalded Skin Syndrome, which is a form of Staph. He has blisters all over his body. It is a day to day fight with ups and downs. They are waiting for some cultures to come back to know more. He is almost 3 months old now, these were his newborn photos.


Pray for him! Call Satan out! His parents are wonderful people and his big brother Tate is pretty awesome and OUR GOD IS MIGHTY!

Fourth Of July!

I need to get a few more photos of of Stacey's camera for this to be complete, so look for another post. The above photo is proof I exist.


OH, the joy. The pure joy he had not being restrained in an way.

Emaline was such the helper.

Cousin Cole.
The beautiful Skrovan family joined us.


The Bara Mobile.
My girl on the float.
Here is preacher Joel, Professor(officer) Meeks, and husband. Emaline calls him professor, but we all know he is an officer.
Pool time. This is B's favorite thing to do! He can make this thing FLY!

A smile from cousin Cole.

Grandmommy.

The best we got!

This little stinker! Love him to pieces. Really I do!

HUNT YOU DOWN!

Who ever TAUGHT my DAUGHTER an inappropriate word, I will hunt you down, rip your toe nails off one by one, tweeze every nose hair, and ask you nicely, to go talk to Emaline and tell her you are sorry you SLIPPED in front of her and said a word that doesn't bring GLORY to God and that you TOO will pray that the Lord control what comes out of your mouth.

Patriotic Day

For our Tuesday Terrific Day this week we learned about July 4th. We created patriotic crafts, drank patriotic drinks, and did a random act of kindness. One of our crafts were making these pens for the firefighters. Okay, the GUYS may not use these sparktacular pens, but they sure made the kids feel like they would! We colored while we waited our turn to paint our hands. We iced cookies, made sandwiches, and added red, white, and blue sprinkles. We learned about the colors of our flag and what the stars and stripes represented.


We go to church with Fireman Sam, so he showed us all around the temporary fire station. The kids LOVED the bell! LOVED!



I had also picked up some red, white, and blue marshmallows, so we added them to our tray.
We didn't make the shirts, but just paper with our hand eagles.

OH, and that night... I ran 3.42 miles. Yes I did. That deserves you to COMMENT!

What the kids say!

Today, I was smiling from ear to ear over some sweet things the kids said. I don't want to forget, so here you go.


After Parker's surgery, I had had enough Boomerang and other cartoon networks so I introduced him to the DIY network, Do It Yourself. Now I have him hooked. He records the shows and watches them. We received a blessing today, RAIN! (1.63 inches to be exact!) We were so happy, since we had been praying for it for weeks. All 3 kids and I sat on the back porch and enjoyed the rain, even singing praises. The gutters on the back of the house are currently full of pine needles, so the rain was pouring off the back of the house. This is what my Parker said::::::

MOM, LOOK! We have our own WATER FEATURE!

Not sure, but I think I will begin deleting his DIY episodes!!


We were going to load up and meet MIL and FIL for FIL's birthday dinner during the down pour. Emaline puts on her rain coat with hood when she pats her head and says::::::
Curls PROTECTED!

I love her!

If Bowden could give me a complete thought, other than "YOU'RE MEAN!" he would make you laugh. Not sure where he learned "YOU'RE MEAN," but I immediately say, "You're the QUEEN" and guess what, he repeats it! SO, he says "YOU'RE MEAN" and then says, "YOU'RE the QUEEN!" I'm trying to train him early.