Hallie

Hallie's at such a fun age. I keep catching her saying the cutest things. I thought I'd share some from this week.

Last week I was talking to Hallie about her going to preschool next week and I told her I was going to miss her. She looked at me with much confidence and said, "Mommy, I'm coming back!!". =)

I went to check on her last night at bedtime and I saw her little eyes were open and she said "Mommy, the doggie said ruff ruff and woke me up". Our neighbors next to us are deaf and they have this little dog that barks and barks. Many times late at night it keeps some of us awake and some mornings it wakes me up super early just barking and barking. One morning it was for an hour straight. Anyhow, this particular night, it was keeping Hallie awake.

Yesterday I was in the kitchen and Hallie was outside riding her bike. I just had the screen door closed so I could listen to the kiddos outside. Hallie called for me and I went out there and she said, "Mommy, do you have to go to work today??" I said, "No, I get to stay home today". She said, "Ok, I'm happy now" Oh...what a sweet girl. I tell ya. Just me working one day a week...I miss the kids so much when I'm gone.

Here's a picture just to remember her cute lil' face. =)

Our Anniversary

Saturday Tom and I celebrated our 11 year Anniversary. It's amazing to look back over those 11 years and see how much the Lord has blessed us. Not only was it a dream come true to find Tom all the way in Florida, but to fast forward 11 years and find ourselves with four wonderful children and to find Tom and I both in careers we've always hoped for. His in counseling and mine as a stay at home mom and a bookkeeper. I feel truely blessed that the Lord brought us together and that he knew before we were even born that this is where we'd end up. We are SO thankful for God's blessings on our lives.

We had a great day with the kids. The morning Tom spent cleaning out the shed. It looks so nice. The boys had a great time hammering some scrap wood together. They made a treasure. =) They wanted to hang it up in their room but Tyler ended up discovering it worked great for a stage for some of their toys. I worked on organizing the house and all our homeschool and craft supplies getting ready for school again this week. Later in the evening we took a trip to the library and then picked up Subway sandwiches and went and had a picnic at the park.

Our library had a reading program this summer. The first part of the summer, Bradley had to keep track of how many hours he read. He did a wonderful job. He loves to read. We got to count any time he read to himself, we read to him, or anytime he listed to a book on tape. The later part of the summer we had to fill out a slip with every book Bradley read and put it in a drawing and anytime I read to the three younger kids or they read to me, I'd write down each book we read for each of the kids and put their names in a drawing for the preschoolers. They had a drawing this month for the 2nd half of the summer program and three of the kids won. Bradley won two coupons for a Subway sandwich or a kids pack and Ryan won a coupon for a Subway sandwich or a kids pack and Hallie won 2 tickets to the Kuhn theater here in town. When I took the kids to pick up their prizes, the ladies at the library felt bad that Tyler was the only one of the kids that didn't win so they let him pick out a little bag of M&M's or Starburst. He picked out the Starburst. When we got to the car he asked if he could open them and I was SO proud of what he did next, he passed out two to each of the kids and himself. Then he shared a piece with Mommy, Tom and Grandma too. He's such a sweet boy. He had one piece left and he asked if I could cut it into four pieces when we got home so he could share it with his brothers and sister. Melt my heart....what a sweet boy!!

So, our picnic last night we got to use the kids' Subway coupons. What a treat!!

Here's some pictures from our day. I was hoping to get a picture of Tom and I together on our anniversary while we were out so each of the kids tried to take a picture for us. I put a couple of those pictures in the slideshow.

Our Day

I normally work on Fridays but everything was caught up so I got to be home. It was a blessing to get to enjoy the day with my hubby and our kiddos. Tom took 2 extra shifts this weekend at his 2nd job (Sunday and Monday) so it was nice to still get a two day weekend together as a family.

Tom decided it'd be fun to take the boys golfing. They just went to the practice range and spent some time learning to hit the ball. Hallie and I ran some errands and went to the Library and a used bookstore then went back to pick the boys up. I loved getting in some girl time.

Tomorrow Tom and I celebrate our 11 year Anniversary! What a blessing. Neither of us would have imagined we'd be blessed with FOUR wonderful children. I'm so thankful the Lord brought us together. If you know our story...it's quite a story....only God could have put us together on a bus of all places!! =) We look forward to celebrating with another fun day with the kids tomorrow.

The shirt says it all....

Transformer Tyler

Tyler found these soccer shields in our closet and decided he'd make himself a Transformer. =)

Fun Day with our Cousins

Saturday we got to spend the day with my cousin and her family and my aunt and uncle. We always have such a fun time together. The kids are all close in age and they have so much fun playing together. I was just thinking today how different it is now that neither of us have little little ones anymore. It's amazing how much time we were able to spend visiting. The kiddos were entertaining each other and having a great time. This was the weekend we had planned to go camping but got rained out. They were sweet to plan for the kiddos to get to make smores. What a treat!!

Apples

Last week we got to go to Dad and Mom's house to pick apples off their apple tree. The kids loved it. They got some tree climbing in while we were there too. I made applesauce and dried some apples for snacks. Yum Yum.

School has started!!

The kids have been really excited to start school. So, we went ahead and started back up last week. It's been great so far. They're having alot of fun together.

We had a really busy day yesterday taking care of some things and visiting two of my friends from high school. At the end of the day Bradley said, "There was only one problem with today. We didn't have school." Silly boy. I guess I forgot to tell him that we were going to take the day off and get these other things done. I told him we'd have school today and we was good with that. =)

I found a cute recipe to make a 'schoolhouse' cake. So, that was on the agenda for today. I thought It'd be a fun way to celebrate the start of school.

Silly Boys

The boys were in need of a haircut, so Tom and the kids walked to the barber on Friday while I was at work. Tom called me at work and said the boys saw one of their friends there who happened to be getting buzz cut and the boys wanted to get one so Tom called to see if I cared. My first instinct was that I really didn't want them to get a buzz. I like them having more hair than that. But I thought if they were really that excited about it...why not...it'll grow back. The boys talked daddy into getting one too. =) After seeing them I decided they're pretty cute...hair or no hair...=)

Fun Memories...

Tom took Wednesday and Thursday off this week and we had planned to go on our very first tent camping trip. Unfortunately we've had some really strange August weather this week and decided not to venture out with the downpour of rain. So, we made new plan and just enjoyed having Tom home. It's been a really busy year with him working 2 jobs and just getting a couple extra days together was a boost to all of us.

Yesterday I went into to work to finish up a couple things since Tom was home with the kiddos. Last night the kids asked if we could start school today so first thing this morning they wanted to start. I was so pleased with their excitement - lets hope it stays! =) Ryan and Tyler did 4 lessons today in their Letters and Sounds book. I was so impressed with their attention span. Bradley is already on lesson 8 in his schoolwork. Hallie keeps right up with them and I have some special preschool books for her to work on and she loves sitting with her brothers and working right along side them. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of this today. I was just enjoying the moment.

I had told the kids we would do something special to start out our school. We ended our school year with a bowling trip and we decided it'd be a fun way to start out the school year. I told Bradley that will be our tradition here on out. A great way to end and begin a year. We had such a fun time. It's so fun to see their excitement for each other. They are such great cheerleaders for one another. It's a beautiful thing!!

After our game, we picked up a pizza and went to the park and spent some time playing. As you can see, they had a great time there too.

When we were done at the park we made a Costco run and then stopped by a couple produce markets on the way home.

These are the days I wish wouldn't end and I'm so thankful when the opportunity for these days come along. We value them so much!

Thank You Grandpa and Grandma

Grandpa and Grandma Wallace just returned from a trip to California. They were gone for three weeks and poor Tyler asked me every single day how many more days until they come home. When I'd tell him he'd say, "It's taking too long". We love having them so close to us and we miss them when they are away! We were so excited to get to meet them at McDonalds this week and catch up!! They were so sweet to bring the kiddos back some special gifts. The boys all got a shirt from Disneyland and Hallie got and adorable little Mini Mouse Dress!! And you can see in her hand she got a fun gift to add to her cheer leader outfit. She LOVES it!! The boys got a really neat lego set with boats and a dock and a lighthouse. They are having so much fun playing with it. Mommy's been having fun helping them put it together.

Our Artist

Tyler loves to draw. It's become his favorite thing to do lately. I'm amazed at what he can do. He's so creative. This week he came to me and asked if he could make some book markers to send to his cousins. He's not only creative...he's very thoughtful! He did a great job. Now I just need to get them in the mail. He also drew each of them a picture. I found these neat removable stickers that you can hang up your drawings with and if you were in our home you'd see how Tyler has decorated most of my kitchen cupboards with some of his artwork. It's also working it's way into the living room and in their bedrooms. I love to see his eyes light up when he sees how proud we are of him for his drawings. Each time he hangs one up he comes to get us to show us. He's so cute!!

What's up with this weather??

We've had a strange week weather wise. Rain Rain Rain. The kids enjoyed playing in the back yard. =)

School Already??

Bradley just came in my office and asked me if we could start school tomorrow. Is it really time already?? I'm glad the kids are excited. I think I will jump at the opportunity and start the kids on a little bit tomorrow. They all came in and gave me their vote to get started so I'd better get ready. =)

Family Camp Weekend!

We've been looking forward to this weekend all year! We got to go to Family Camp with my dad. My brother and I have alot of great memories of going to this family camp when we were little. It's a treat that now I get to take my kids there. Camp started Wednesday night be we waited until Friday afternoon to go up so Tom could work at job #2 Thursday night and I could work at the store on Friday.

We got there Friday afternoon. It was 101 degrees when we left town so it ended up being a really hot weekend. They had a new big water slide that the boys enjoyed trying out Friday and Saturday afternoons. It wasn't there last year when we went. It was a fun surprise for them. Tom had fun on it Saturday afternoon too. =) I wished I was there to watch that day but Hallie and I were taking a little nap Saturday afternoon. I got some fun pictures on Friday. After dinner we headed to the church service for the adults and the kids got to go to their class. Bradley had a hard time because he didn't want to go to the 'big kids' class by himself. Ryan, Tyler and Hallie were all going to be in the same class and he wanted to be with them. Last year my brother and his family came with their four kids so Bradley got to be with two of his cousins Jaron and Evan, and Ryan and Tyler got to be with their cousin Ethan and Hallie got to be in class with Lydia. They had alot of fun together. Bradley said he wished his cousins were there so they could go to class with him. =) He ended up going with Ryan, Tyler and Hallie and it worked out great.
The kids were very excited to head to bed that night and stay in our room. Last year we stayed in an 'A frame' cabin next to my brother and his family. It was fun. It was just a little house with beds in it. We had to walk down the hill to use the restroom. This year we decided to stay in a lodge they have there where we'd actually have a bathroom in our room. It was alot more convenient when the kids had to use the restroom at bedtime, but a pretty big walk up the hill to get to the lodge. It was fun to try something different. We ended up being the only people staying in that lodge so it was really quiet.

Something else that happened on Friday was kind of neat. I was watching the boys go down the water slide and a gal came up to me and asked me if my name was Greta. She said she remembered me from when my family went to family camp back when I was a little girl. She said she was 5 years older than me and that she remembered me coming when I was just a baby. She said the reason she asked if it was me was because she was watching my kids and said Hallie looked just like I did and that my boys looked so much like my brother. I thought that was pretty amazing realizing I was probably about 5 or 6 the last time we went to family camp and that was quite a long time ago. Amazing she'd remember me.

Saturday after breakfast they had another church service for the adults and the kids got to go back to their class. They LOVED their teachers. They were so good with them. Their room was full of different stations for them to do different activities. It was really neat. The theme for their class was "Bee-A-Servant". The adults speaker was David Carr, from England. He was great. After that session they had a 'family connect' time and we watched a little episode of Andy Griffith and it was about gossipping and then they handed out questions for us to go over with our kiddos about what the Lord says about gossip. After lunch they had Family Fun Day. They had a little carnival for the kids with different booths to win prizes, get their face painted, do crafts etc. They remembered this from last year and loved it. After a lot of time outside in the heat we got to go inside where they set up a room with miniature golf. We ended up being the only ones in the room at that time and had a great time golfing with Grandpa. It was a great time to play and to cool down a bit too. That evening we had a BBQ dinner outside and then another church service for the adults and the kids got to go to their class again. After the service they had a movie night outside and had popcorn and lemonade. They started the movie "The Rookie" at 9PM and Ryan, Tyler and Hallie were all ready to go after eating their snack. =) They were all tuckered out. So, I took them back to our lodge and Tom and Bradley stayed up for the movie. I was glad they got some special Daddy / Bradley time. I was amazed how quickly the kiddos fell asleep. Usually they like to visit a little before bed but I don't think they said a word and next thing I knew, they were sound asleep. I stayed up reading and waited for my other two boys to get back. They came in about 11PM. They had a great time!

Needless to say, we all slept in this morning after all this activity. We were a little late to breakfast but it was fine. I had to wake up Hallie poor lil girl was worn out. After breakfast they had a really neat "Prayer Walk" for the families. They had 7 tables set up in the auditorium. Each table had a paper with a question for you to talk about and pray about together with your family. Then the last table had communion for us to take together as a family. It was a great idea! After that we had our last service and the kid's last time in their class. It was a great conference. After lunch we headed home. Bradley didn't want to leave, he wanted us to live there. =)

Thanks Dad for a wonderful time!! These are moments our kiddos will never forget!!

Family Camp

Hot Hot Hot

We've been having some really hot days this past week. The boys were playing outside one day last week and asked if they could have a water fight. I got some fun pictures of them. They had a great time. =)

My lil' Preschooler

Playing Cars

One of the kid's favorite things to do.....