Summer Days

I had no idea that blogging would become so difficult during the summer. But alas, it's just one of those things that gets put on hold while kids are around ALL DAY LONG! Here are a few things we've been busy with the past few weeks - Loving summer with my boys!

doing a little painting,

going to drawing class and his first sleepover,

lots of swimming and popsicle eating,

art projects (especially while Caleb is napping),

picking blackberries with cousins,

vacation bible school with cousin Emma,

building monster trucks at Lowe's,

lots of picnics!

We are trying to make the most of our summer days! It will be gone before we know it!

Tara

Happy Father's Day

I have been so very blessed to have a wonderful Father! He loves God with all his heart and has shown me the daily example of that. He would do anything for you and never expects anything in return. He is also a wonderful Papa to my boys and they love going to Papa's house - how blessed they are too! I am so thankful that he now lives just minutes away from us. Here is what his Father's Day card looks like. He is a pro at putting babies to sleep on his chest (I think he puts himself to sleep as well)! Hope he's ready for round #6!

I am also blessed with a wonderful father for my 2 boys! Lance is such a good dad to Eli and Caleb. He is great at playing trains, building train tracks, playing cars and trucks, building obstacle courses, playing ball, giving train rides on blankets, wrestling, playing Wii, planning trips for them, making root beer floats, and bringing them home surprises! They love spending time with him. Lance's parents divorced when he was 2 years old, so he didn't grow up with a father figure in his home. But he has definitely made a "reversal of destiny" and given these boys what he never had - I'm so proud of him.

Happy Father's Day to my 3 favorite fathers! I had to include my brother who is a wonderful dad to his 3 beautiful girls! Hope you all have a very special day and know what a huge impact you have made and are making on this world! I love you all!

"Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith."

Hebrews 13:7

Tara

It's Another Boy!

Last Friday, we went for our 20 week (actually 21) ultrasound. Since we hadn't found out the sex of our other 2, I had mixed emotions about this. Don't get me wrong, I definitely wanted to know, boy or girl, but I also loved the anticipation of waiting until the birth to find out. Not 30 seconds into the ultrasound, the tech said "Well, hello - I guess you can tell what it is!" His boy parts were so obvious, there was no way you could miss it! I couldn't believe it - another boy. On the other hand, I sort of expected it too! For the next 30 minutes, as the ultrasound tech took measurements and pictures - everything looks great by the way - I was lost in my thoughts. Here are just a few of them: "I guess I will never shop for a wedding dress or prom dress", "I won't get to watch a daughter become a mother", "Wow, my little boy clothes will get used by 3 sons - how thrifty I am!", "No bows or cute little skirts", " No need to buy more toys - we have all the cars, train, & trucks a little boy could want", "No princess birthday parties", "At least I've got this boy thing down" , "How in the world will we ever come up with another boy's name!".

As you can tell, my mind was all over the place and my husband kept saying things like "Are you disappointed?", "I'm sorry", "Are you going to go home and cry?". I was pretty quiet . To be honest, I was partly sad and partly relieved at the same time. God has blessed us with another boy and we are excited and know that he will fit in great with his 2 other brothers! I was most surprised at Eli's reaction to the news. I think he was the most disappointed. But I wanted a sister he said - we have to have another one, so I can have a sister. Ha! I think he was hoping not to have to share his toys with another brother! I am looking forward to watching the 3 of them together! I love seeing Caleb and Eli playing together now. So here's to being totally outnumbered at my house!

Tara

Family Vacation - Denver, CO

We left the day after school was out for our family vacation. Our original destination was going to be Nashville, TN - but after the flooding, we switched our plans. It was a great choice! I am not the vacation planner in our family, my husband is - and he is very good I might add! He has a knack for finding unusual places to visit that the kids will love. Since it was our family vacation, the whole trip was pretty much centered around the kids. We left from Wichita, KS after spending the night at Aunt Dixie's house. This picture is in her driveway right before we left.Day 1 we went on a hike in El Dorado Canyon State Park. It was beautiful and the perfect hike for us. Eli was loving it and Caleb just wanted to be carried the whole way. It brought back so many memories of my summer's growing up when we would hit the road camping for 2 months at a time and visit National and State parks. After our hike and a picnic we had to stick our toes in the mountain stream - brrrr - the boys didn't even last 30 seconds. Our next stop was to the Colorado Rail Museum in Golden, Co. They had lots of full size trains you could walk around and see - very fun for 2 train lovers like Eli and Caleb. Last stop for the day was Tiny Town. It is a kid sized village originally built in 1915. It was refurbished in 1988 and now has over 100 kid sized building and an authentic steam locomotive that takes you around the village. So very cute! Eli loved it and Caleb was terrified every time the train blew it's whistle (which was a lot), so we didn't get to stay too long, but we enjoyed our time while we were there.
Day 2 started out with a trip to the Denver zoo which was very nice. We got to see the sea lion show and a bird show that was very entertaining. Highlight for the boys were the peacocks all over or "peahawks" as Caleb calls them. Next we headed up to Golden Gate State Park to do some more hiking. This time our hike took us 2 miles up to Frazier Meadow. It was definitely harder than we imagined, but 2 hours later, we made it to our destination. It was tough people! Eli was a champ and I was so proud of him, he wanted to turn back several times, but then he would remember that he wanted to make it to the meadow! Lance was super dad and carried Caleb on his shoulders the entire time! 3 hours later we were back in our car with some great memories and a sense of accomplishment! Next stop was the Aquarium Restaurant - Eli had really been looking forward to this! We got to sit right next to the tank and watch all the fish. The food was okay, but you go for the atmosphere and the boys just loved it! We were so pooped by the time we went to bed this night.

Day 3 began in our usual way, breakfast at the hotel where Eli had a stack of pancakes 3 mornings in a row- he loved them! Then we headed to the Denver Museum of Science and History. It was a wonderful museum. We went to a planetarium movie called "The Little Star Who Could" (actually Lance and Eli did because Caleb and I had to leave 5 minutes in because he was scared). We explored Space Odessey, Discovery Zone, and the Prehistoric Journey. After that, we rested before heading out for some dinner at Carl's Pizza and rides at Lakeside Amusement Park. It was perfect- 50 cent rides for the boys and they loved every minute of it. I was so proud of Eli, he finally went on a roller coaster (all by himself no less) - he is growing up so fast! Two hours of rides and some cotton candy was a perfect ending to our trip!

We left the next morning at 7am to drive 11 hours home. We were exhausted, but it was so worth it. Eli really loves these vacations and looks forward to them for many months. In fact, he asked me minutes after we got home when we would be going on another "trip"!!

This is a view of downtown Denver and the mountains from the Science and History Museum. Hope you have a wonderful summer vacation - wherever you are heading!

Tara