Jackson's field trip around town

Yesterday the Pre-k classes got to go on a walk around town. I surprised Jackson and went with his class. First we went to the fire station. Then the post office, where all the kids got to mail a letter. Then to Grahams for a cookie and juice, then to the police station. It was such a beautiful day weather-wise. It was a great time. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. They all had to have a buddy to hold hands with. I guess to keep them together, since we were walking all over town with a hundred kids. haha

It was sooo cute. Jackson's "buddy" was Danika. She never wanted to let go of him, it was adorable.

Easter

Here are a few pictures from Easter. Nothing great...I'm horrible with my little camera and at taking pictures of my own kids. I'm kicking myself for not getting a few with Ryan and I in them. It was pouring rain all day, so no cute outside pictures. I need to dress them back up for more pictures. haha

Avery's Baptism

This past Sunday Avery was baptized! What a awesome day in our family! She asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior back in December. Then went through a new believers class at our church. She's been eagerly awaiting this day for a while now. It worked out perfect and her and two of her friends all got baptized on the same day. They were all saved within in weeks of each other this winter.

Spring Time

Finally spring weather is here... It's nice and warm, but we have horrible wind. Luckily most of the time, the wind is blocked in our yard because of the hill. I'm very thankful for that, because Emily loves being outside. This weekend we had Devin over. We had our first weenie roast and then made smores.






Visiting Papa on Sundays has gotten a little more exciting. They have a bunny now and we've got to play with it the last few Sundays. He is the nicest bunny. He just lays there and lets the kids pet all over him. He's huge, but so soft and cuddly! Here is Emily with him...
(phone pics, bad quality)

I want to blog!!

I know...I know!! I let my self get behind, which prevents me from blogging, because I don't think I have the time to catch up. I always want to re-cap what we've been up to and add pictures and it's so time consuming when your backed up. Oh well...I'm not backing up (much!). Starting fresh...

Let's see where are we right now....
Ryan is still working at Spirit, recently back from his trip to India...which went really well. Avery and Jackson are nearing the end of the school year. Avery in 2nd and Jackson in Pre-k. Both are doing well in school. Avery is a GREAT student with all A's. I rarely even have to help her with her homework. Jackson is doing pretty good too. No complaints here. Emily is growing and maturing so much! She is saying so many words, it just amazes me. She is a way earlier talker than Avery and Jackson ever were. At 19 months she has a BUNCH of words and small sentences...mostly "I want...something". haha The newest today, "I wanna go Walmart!" I think I take her there too much! ha! She tells me ouch when I fix her hair. lol She's a little smarty pants. She wants to "potty", but doesn't usually go. She just asks to sit on it a lot and tells me after she's went in her diaper. I think in about 2 months when summer is here, we'll work on the potty training. Hopefully that will go good. :)
Speaking of summer...I am so ready for it!! It's is the end of March and in the 40's today. The kids have been battling snotty noses and coughs for almost 3 weeks now. I'm over it!!
We attempted to take the kids on a mini-camping trip again at the end of their spring break, but it turned cold and windy, so that didn't happen. We did go, but got a hotel room in Eureka Springs for the night instead of staying in the tent. The kids still had fun, so that's all that matters. We're looking forward to it warming up, so we can try again in late April or May.
We'll be missing our annual camping trip with my family this year. I got the opportunity to go to Kathmandu, Nepal, so I couldn't say no...although I tried! haha
Me and 11 others from church are going to put on a VBS for Kari & Nathan and their cluster of missionaries...well all their children. This is pretty huge for me. A few years ago, I think I would have told you I would NEVER do something like this. It's AMAZING how the Lord can change you, if you let go and TRUST in HIM! It's a little scary, but exciting too. I'm excited to see another part of the world and happy I get to go with Evette and other friends from church. It's definitely going to be an experience. We go on June 16th, less than 3 months away!

Here's a few pics from our fishing trip...






When we went to Eureka, Jackson wanted to climb to the top of the tall tower. It was very cold and windy too! This is Ryan and Emily at the top.

spon·ta·ne·i·ty

First I thought I'd do my normal rambling about how I'm a terrible blogger. This is something I REALLY REALLY would like to change. I think part of my problem is I get a little behind and then I don't think I have the time to make a big post and add all the pictures I want to. I've been meaning to blog our BIG camping trip in June. We stayed a whole week in a tent WITH a baby in the HUMIDITY! I have also been meaning to blog about our trip last month to San Antonio. We had a wonderful time at the River Walk, Sea World and the San Antonio Zoo, oh and not to mention a very YUMMY meal at Red Lobster. haha Avery's first crab legs. :) I started to blog all of this the other day and then lost my post. It is too time consuming to go back and blog everything I want. So I'm starting fresh.......

Back to the title of this blog...spontaneity! What fun! Friday Emily and I went to visit my grandma in the hospital while the kids were in school. My papa mentioned my dad was going to Roaring River this weekend. I though hmmm...wouldn't that be fun. I kind of jokingly told Ryan we should go up just for 1 night. He didn't sound to convinced, but kind of liked the idea. I called my dad and he wasn't going until Sunday, so that was out for us, because the kids have school. In the meantime I had Ryan thinking about it. I let him no around 1:30 or so that my dad wasn't going. He was like well we don't have to have him there. So he decided to go make sure with his supervisor that it was okay for him not to work Saturday...cause he already told them he would. He found out it was and so we decided to surprise the kids after school and head to the River for the night. We had so much fun! It really felt like we were there longer than 1 day. We didn't arrive until almost 8 pm, so it was almost dark. Ryan quickly got the tent put up.



After that we made a Walmart run at 9 pm. I felt funny taking my kids to Walmart so late. haha But since it was so last minute, we didn't have any water or food so it was a must! That night it turned SOOOO COLD!!! We didn't expect that. We decided to pick up a little propane heater at WalMart, but I don't think it really helped. Emily's nose got stuffy in the middle of the night and tossed and turned a lot. She was sharing an air mattress with Ryan and I, so I did not get much sleep. Saturday we got up and got warmed up by the fire.



Tamara, Marshal, Hunter & Bailey showed up just after 7 to spend the day. It was Hunter's birthday. We went fishing for a little bit and then went out for breakfast. It was yummy, but the kids were a little high strung! Then we drove and got Emily asleep in the van, so we let the kids play on the playground while she slept. It's funny all the times we've been down there and they've never played on the playground. Poor children! haha





We went back to camp after Emily woke up and got changed, it was quickly warming up. We dwent to our swimming area and fished and swam for a few hours. I caught 2 fish and Ryan had still caught none. He spent lots of time untangling the kids and himself.











We had a late lunch of hot dogs back at camp and then drove Emily around and got her back to sleep in her car seat. Once she was asleep we went back to camp and Ryan and the kids went to fish while I set outside and kept an eye on Emily. She only napped probably 45 minutes and the kids didn't last too long fishing. We decided to go fish another area...we really wanted Ryan to catch a fish. I was praying he would. I felt bad that I had caught 2 and he hadn't caught any. Emily got fussy at the new spot, so I decided to take the kids and give Ryan some "alone time" fishing for a bit. We went and got snacks at camp and Emily a bottle, then we drove around and then went to the Conservation Center (I think that's what it was called) Something else we had NEVER done there after all these years. It was kind of neat, very small but the kids loved it. They had rattle snakes (which was freaky!) and other snakes, turtles, spiders, etc...

When we went to pick Ryan up it was 5 o'clock and we were aiming to leave by 7 at the latest. So we went back to camp and packed it all away. Took about an hour and we still promised the kids we'd go to the hatchery before we left.




We did that and then headed home and made it in record time...about 2 hours and 10 minutes. We were home just after 9 and exhausted!!!


We really had a great time! I've never really done something like that, so spur of the moment. It was exciting though, and something I think we will for sure do again! Probably not until spring though. Soccer season is upon us and going to be taking up all our Saturdays for a while.

Emmy Sue is 7 months old!

Our sweet Emmy is 7 months old today! She is just the sweetest baby in the whole world!! :)

Poor little thing isn't going to know her real name. She is rarely called Emily by any of us, except Jackson....he calls her Emily. Usually she's Emmy, Emmy Sue, Em, Emmers....probably others that I can't think of right now! She is such a joy! She says Mama and mom mom all the time. I'm sure she doesn't know what she saying, but I'm loving it. The other kids all made dada sounds first. Maybe she's saying Mama cause she hears the other two say it so much...who knows??? She is definitely a mama's girl though. She has some stranger anxiety. She does really well at church though, I'm thankful for that.
Let's see right now at 7 months Emily is.....
Wanting to eat everything...slowly letting her try new things.
Wanting to crawl, but doesn't like tummy time.
Rolls over sometimes, this is increasing in the last week or so. Usually she just wants to sit up.
Very active.
Very happy...always smiling.
Waking up almost every night around 3 am to eat...ugh!!!
Loves her big sister, she just lights up when Avery comes around...so sweet!

I just can't believe how fast it's going. I knew it would, but it still makes me sad. I am excited to watch her grow and see the little girl she's going to become.