Long Time, No Blog

I know, it's been WAY too long since I've updated my blog. The problem is with our desktop computer, for some reason not wanting to upload my pictures. I always like putting pictures on here with my update, but oh well. Hopefully Curtis can look at the computer( I never know what to do with the thing.) and I can post some pictures of our summer soon. But until then, here's a bit of an update. We have spent most of the summer at the pool. Thank goodness for the free pools. One of the perks of military housing. Hayden learned to swim this summer and Tate was quite efficient himself, knowing his boundaries. This all made for a relaxing time for me many days at the pool since I could sit in a chair to the side and read a book. It was so nice not to have a little one I have to keep focused on at all times. The first week of August we went home to KY for a few days to visit our families. We only stayed a few days because Curtis' family had come to our house during June and we stayed at the beach for 4 days, so nice and relaxing. A couple of weeks later my mom and dad came down for a week. In the middle of July, Arabella joined the swim team here. She has really enjoyed it. Unfortunately with the start of school she has had to quit because they've changed the practice schedule. My kids are big sleepers and go to bed at 7pm. She wasn't getting to bed until 830 or 9 on practice nights. Maybe when she's a little older we'll try it again. Now she and Hayden are doing a gymnastics class. My most exciting news is that all 3 kids are now in school! Hayden turned 5 and started pre-K. Tate just turned 3 and is in a MWF preschool class. Arabella will be turning 7 in November and is in 1st grade. They all LOVE going to school. It is so nice for me to have 3 mornings a week to have some time for myself. I'm attempting to start running again, starting with the couch 25K program. There's a 5K on October 3rd that I'm hoping to run the whole thing. Praying that my foot will cooperate with me. It's nice to have time to work on the house or do my bible study when I'm alert and don't have someone at my side every 5 minutes needing something. Needless to say, I think we're done with having babies. I've wanted a 4th one for a long time, hoping for another girl. But now that I've had a little alone time, I don't think I want to give that up. It really helps me to balance my life. All right, I've rambled on. I think that's everything for the update. I hope to post some pictures soon of our summer. Next time I'll try not to wait so long to write.

A LOT of Catching Up

Okay, so I know it's once again been a long time since I've updated the blog. Oh well, these crazy kids keep me busy. Once a month is about all I can do. Since it's been so long I have a ton of pictures to share. Much has happened since my last blog. Right now, we have one week of school left and the summer begins. We have Curtis' family coming into town next weekend for a week and we're heading to the beach for 4 days. Should be tons of fun. We also have VBS that week. Then we have a 2 week break and then my parents are coming for a week. Summer is going to be busy but oh so much fun. So these first pictures are from when Matt and Jody visited last month. It was hot enough that weekend that we got the pool out for the kids and had lunch outside on the picnic table.

These are from Arabella's gymnastics end of year performance. This was her 3rd year. She's getting pretty good and will continue in the fall. Her big accomplishment right now is that she has learned to do a front tuck on our trampoline. She is a persistant little girl, keeping at it until she gets it.

One Saturday it was pouring rain so Curtis had all of the kids come outside in their swim clothes/underwear and jump on the trampoline while it was raining. They had so much fun. Why is it that dad's are so much fun? I'm always too worried about getting stuff done. Maybe I need to relax a little and join in next time.

For Mother's Day Arabella's class did a program with songs all about mothers. They were so cute up there singing. Toward the end a teacher read I'll Love You Forever and the kids sang the song for each page. I was a pool of tears by the end of the book.

For Memorial Day Weekend my parents and grandparents and Presley came down for a visit. It was a house FULL of people and a wonderful time. On Saturday we went to the beach for the day. For my grandparents it was their first time to ever see the ocean. The kids had so much fun with everyone here. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

The UK hat my parents brought for Tate. He had to have one because Hayden had one. He loves it and wears it a lot.

Hayden's preschool graduation was the Friday while they were all visiting. It was such a special time since usually none of our family is there for any big events like this. Hayden was very excited. We treated him to Red Robin after graduation for his accomplishment. My little boy is moving up to the big school next year. Wow!

Our whole family at Hayden's graduation.

Here's the pictures from our time at the beach. The kids love going there. Curtis managed to dig a whole for all 4 of the kids to get into so he could bury them up to their necks. This is something they look forward to each time we go. It was so nice this time because Tate is so much more independent and I don't have to stay right next to him every second. I even managed to read a little bit of a book.

Ice cream and strawberries

I've got two funny stories I have to share. Last week while I was at Awanas Curtis was watching Tate. Curtis said he came downstairs to find Tate sitting on the couch and red strawberry stains covering the couch. (I should have known better than to buy a yellow couch with 3 kids.) Anyhow, Tate also had strawberry all down his shirt, his mouth and all over his hands. Curtis asked Tate if he had put the strawberry all over the couch and Tate replied, "No daddy, Miley did it."

So the other story is that tonight after dinner the kids were having ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Hayden looked up from his ice cream and said, "Momma this ice cream is almost as good as Jesus, it's second but it's almost as good." Oh, the things that kids say. Way too cute. I have to laugh at them while I can, who knows what they'll be into next.

Miley, a garden and strawberry patch

So Miley is now a fashion diva. I saw this little dress at Wal-Mart the other day and just couldn't resist. It is just way too cute. So yes, now we're those crazy people who dress their dog. My mom is coming down at the end of May and she, my sister and other family members are buying outfits for Miley. She's quickly becoming a very spoiled dog.

This weekend we ventured out to the strawberry patch. It was wonderful. The kids had so much fun picking (and eating) strawberries right off the plants. They were so big and beautiful. We picked a few buckets and got some other fresh produce from there. Oh, and some strawberry bread and homemade strawberry ice cream. Yummy! The next day I made some homemade strawberry jam, froze some strawberries and now eating the rest. They are oh so juicy. Here's a few pictures.

Last week Curtis got the idea to make a garden for the kids. We both grew up having huge gardens at home and always helping plant and take care of a garden. The kids were quite excited to plant their tomato plants and the seeds. We've planted peppers, cabbage, broccoli, carrots and peas. They've already started to sprout after only a few days. The kids are so excited to go out each evening to check on them and water the garden. Let hope we get some things to grow. It would be nice to eat straight out of the garden like we grew up doing.