Nana and Papa visit

Oh the fun that is to be had when Nana and Papa are here! My mom had just gotten back from her trip to Paris and she brought the kids gifts. Before giving each gift (which she spread out over 2 days) she would give them a little history lesson pertaining to what she saw and their gift. She gave the twins swords and taught them about Mont St. Michel..

For Pip's gift she gave everyone a lesson on the Eiffel Tower

  

                                        

and then gave her a beautiful little dress with Eiffel Towers on it...

OK.. It will take me far to long to blog everyone's gift and lesson but it was fabulous - from Normandy Beach to the Louvre to the Palace of Versailles and beyond - she had a wonderful trip and we loved hearing about it.

On to the rest of their visit...

                                   

We did so much while they were here - kinda like a vacation but without leaving home. One of the days we went to the Science Museum...

We went to a movie...

We went downtown and enjoyed Bricktown. Pip wore her new dress...

We had dinner, listened to live music, rode the water taxi twice and got ice cream sundaes. Such fun. I really wished they lived closer but am so glad they visit whenever they can.

Why I don't do playdoh...

Thomas Edison said "To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." That makes me think there should be a lot more inventing going on in my kids rooms. I blog this picture to remind me to stick to my guns on the playdoh ban. Man, you should see the floor!

Where is their mother???

SO... I let the kids put the dog in the bathtub to try and see if she would swim. There was a day I would have never allowed such shenanigans. Tonight I just said "sure" and continued to sit on the couch reading while they set to it. I guess the way I see it... I'm a mom who says "no" to a lot and will continue to - why not say yes if it's not a moral issue. They had a blast... created such hoopla that I peeked in and snapped a few pictures.

Check out this drowned rat...

Pippi is crying because she fell in the tub while watching...

the kids thought she looked SO cute... I thought she looked more like a rodent that had crawled up from a sewer pipe (Madison is highly offended that I would say that!)...

... so... where was these crazy kids' mother? She was sitting on the couch with a smile on her face as she listened to the giggles and squeals coming from the bathroom, hoping her kids were making memories together and would remember what a fun mom they had. :)

Fun With Friends

Couples Night Out with our co-op. 6 of my favorite couples in the whole wide world. I found this quote from John Piper and it resonated so deeply with me and is exactly how I feel about these families...

"And I know from experience that the sweetest and deepest moments of fellowship in my life are the hours of relishing some great vision together with people who have the same convictions about God and about the world. And the deeper the agreement, the deeper the joy and the power of those moments. "

What a sweet  and fun time we had together...

...so blessed. Everyone should have people like these in their lives.

Summer Days

It's hot! I'm ready for fall. All is well. The Lord has been so faithful to us. He has provided, though generous people, for us well during what should have been a very difficult month for us. Jason has been working every day in Jun and July (woo hoo!). We are not forgetting the lessons of our faith being rooted in Him.

In our little circle of friends these are the four seasons... fall season, winter season, spring season, and birthday party season. Everyone has a birthday in our co-op and we are no exception. All four males in our home have their birthday between the end of July and the end of August.

The girls went to a fabulous tea party and came home with these darling teacups as favors...

Two days later they were off to a "Crazy 8" party where they had to dress crazy (they LOVED this)...

We visited the Children's Museum... free and air conditioned... perfect...
Allyson and Ty playing in the bank...

Pippi poured coffee on the porch of the house display for a LONG time...

Wilson in the tepee...

Cowboy Cole...

Madison tended the shop...

Pipster and her buddy, Jude...

We've also done some outdoor play - a few trips to the park but I really need to get them to the pool! If only taking 7 kids to the pool was easy. Sigh.

But we are here and well and enjoying the lazy, crazy summer days.

Etc... (meaning "and all these things")

So my friend, Rach, gave me this darling Little Bo Peep style dress up outfit for the Pipster. She wore it for 24 hours after me showing it to her. It is adorable! I did a little photo shoot with backdrop and all... those are the pictures  I mentioned in the last post about waiting to get in the right format to put up but that still hasn't happened. I was going to call the post "Little Bo Pip." These are two pictures I took later while she was watching a show (probably Dora, her new total fav).

It's hot as can be around here so we are mostly staying indoors with occasional water play in the yard...

I love how they would fill up pails with water and then dump them from the top of the clubhouse on each other (like Great Wolf Lodge)... 

For some reason Piper was so grumpy about water play. I think her gun wouldn't work and she was very sad...

And Colson was our only injury of the day. Evidently if the already very steep slide is wet, you go a lot faster.

My Parents and Joby came for Memorial day. It is always so awesome when they are here. I didn't get many pictures but I grabbed these of my dad teaching Cole how to make his famous pancakes...

SO - those are just little glimpses at what's going on in our house. Or maybe I should say those are just little glimpses of the sweet, fun things going on in our house. I intentionally don't post pictures of me pulling my hair out because it's so frustrating to have everyone inside all day long, or of the wet pullups that continually get left forgotten in a closet, or the laundry monster than has outright banished me from the laundry room. You get the picture... just been thinking about how much I NEED the Lord in order to be a good mom or homemaker or anything!! I am so thankful for his patience and loving kindness. I long to show it more to my family... then I can post about that. :)

Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Well, I've not been keeping up with the blog the way I'd like - but have no fear.... I have excuses!!

EXCUSE #1. I've been waiting for Jason to help me get some cute pictures of Piper in her favorite dress up clothes on to my laptop. I figure my posts were getting pretty depressing and a little dose of an adorable 2 year old was exactly what we needed!

EXCUSE #2. My laptop died! Fortunately, my hero came to my rescue and after many hours restored it to life and backed it up so that all my pictures are safe.

EXCUSE #3. I was called for jury duty and actually served on a jury last week. I'd tell you all about it but you would actually be quite bored. Here are some things I learned from being on a jury...

~ Don't just bring a light sweater in case it gets chilly. Bring a sweater, a jacket, a coat, scarf, socks and even a blanket if they will let you.
~ Opening and Closing arguments on TV... 1-2 minutes of something stirring and compelling. Opening and closing arguments in real life... 30 minutes of blah blah blah.
~Video testimony is way harder to stay awake during than real people on the stand.
~ Don't hire a lawyer that seems shady - you will seem shady too. Ask yourself if your lawyer reminds you of a used car salesman (no offense to all the wonderful car salesmen out there) and if the answer is yes, choose someone else.
~ Some judges are actually quite nice and down to earth.
~ The lawyers and judge don't really have your name memorized, it's on a chart in front of them.
~ Not all of today's youth are hopeless - we had 4 college students on our jury and they were awesome.
~ It's not always hard for 12 people to deliberate together and come to a decision.
~It's not fun deciding stuff that affects other people's lives.
~ If your lawyer has a super cute trendy short hair cut it may result in at least one of the jurors, who is always looking for cute hair cut ideas, liking her.
~Sharing in open court that you have 7 children may result in that fact being brought back up more than once during the trial.
~ Sharing how the Lord has blessed you and been faithful to your family might result in finding a friend to eat lunch with who testifies to the same thing.

~ Said person may also end up being a 60+ year old widow who needed the company.

~ Think about bringing a snack to share with your fellow jurors.

~ Don't take pictures of a courtroom without asking permission first.

~ Having your family sitting in the courtroom to support you actually does make an impression on the jury (or at least on the one who likes cute short haircuts).

~ Having the greatest friends in the world makes you feel much more at ease being away from your kids all day.

EXCUSE #4. I have 7 kids people!!! (That one always works - right?)

SO - I should be back and running soon. Hopefully some cutie pants pictures of Pip Pip are on their way in no time.