Josh's 31st Birthday!

Last Saturday was Josh's 31st birthday. He had a quiet morning at home with his favorite girls. Very relaxing. Just what he needed after a long week. I told him we were going to dinner with our good friends the Troyers, and even gave him his gift in the morning so he wouldn't think there was "more to come".

We had a great dinner eating a TON of shrimp (Thanks again, Clint and Keisa!!!). Afterwards we went to our house to "watch a movie or something", and SURPRISE!!!! Our wonderful friend and babysitter, Kristi helped me pull off this sneaky little party for Josh and he had no clue!

David and Craig took pictures for me all night. Look at Josh! Too funny. :)

Make a wish!

I'm not sure what is going on in this picture. I just thought they looked like statues. :)

You can't have a birthday at our house without the Elmo birthday banner! :)

I Love Having A House Full!!!

This is by far the best part of ministry here at New Tribes Bible Institute. At any given evening you may have a room full of people! I love it!!!

Some staff and students enjoying a movie in our home. :)

A Farewell to Summer

I feel like the last few weeks I haven't been able to post much. Our computer wasn't working, then it was, then the Internet wasn't, then it was, then it wasn't again... You know how it goes. I have been assured by my dear husband the problem has been officially fixed. Yeah!!!

We have had some amazing times this summer with family. Two trips to Tennessee, swimming in Nana and Papa's pool, playing in the sprinkler. I started back to work a little over a month ago, but we were able to squeeze some last bits of fun into the summer. We went to the park with some friends, had little girls over for a fairy party, Josie turned THREE (I still can't get over that) and we were able to make a quick day trip to Blue Gable on Labor Day.

Now Emma is in school, and the weather is getting cooler. At tree on our street is starting to turn red, and is dropping some leaves!

So as we say our farewell to the summer, we welcome autumn with open arms, and await all the joy this season brings, of jumping in leaves, apple picking, cozy sweaters, and family together. I love the fall! Autumn is such a blessed time. Now, where is that apple butter recipe...

Daddy and Emma on an elephant?

I love this picture. Boy can that girl get her Daddy to laugh!

Look at all those fairies in our backyard!

Splashing around at Blue Gable.

I love this little cottage! I still remember swinging on the porch swing reading a letter from my friend Katie when she found out she was having a boy, and I was pregnant with Emma! Lots of fun memories here. :)

Great News, and Weird Happenings

First for the good news...Addie no longer has allergies!!! We went to see her doctor last week and she passed her skin tests, and today we had the results of the blood test. This is super exciting!!! She is able to start with baked goods, and by six months, we should be able to be eating eggs and drinking milk. We celebrated the news at lunch with her first EVER cookie, which she promptly spit out. I don't think she is used to sweet. It was funny. Here are some recent pics of my cutie pie!

Adelaide happy at the beach.

Looking for some sand. :)

Okay, now onto the weird. This morning I woke up with my eye totally swollen shut! I have no idea what happened, but I couldn't open my eye. Josh thinks maybe it was a spider bite. My eye wasn't red, and there was nothing leaking (sorry if that grossed you out!), so that kind of leaves a lot of things out. I am going to the Doctor at 2pm to see what he thinks.

My eye this morning. (The other one was shut because of the bright flash).

This is me trying to open my eye.

It has gotten a little better. I just took this picture. I am still going to go in though, and see what they think. Any guesses?

Emma's First Day of Kindergarten!!!

What a momentous day today was in our household! Our oldest daughter went off to school! The whole family went to take her, and as I dropped her off in her classroom she seemed to be really excited. When it was time for me to go, Emma started to tear up. She asked me to "Please tell Josie and Addie that I will miss them very, very much!"

It was so hard to leave her there with tears in her eyes, but I knew staying would just make it worse.

What does a Mom do for the first day of Kindergarten? Well certainly not work! I could hardly concentrate on my jobs, so I kept myself busy with some "brainless" filing, until it was time to go get her.

Emma had a great day! She was so excited to tell me over lunch all about Chicken Tag that they played in gym class, and the gingerbread hunt they went on. Here are a few pictures we took to commemorate the day!

Emma showing off her new backpack Daddy let her get.

My little girl, excited and nervous. (Thanks again Ben and Em for the cutie outfit!!!)

My girls are getting so big!

Emma at her desk.

Emma with her teacher, Mrs. MacMillan.