Star of the Week

This week Emma was the Star of the Week in her class.  The bulletin board was full of pictures of her and lists of some of her favorite things!  She was SO proud and loved telling her classmates about the special photos she picked to put on the board!

Diaper Duty

The other day Brian joking told Nathan he'd paid him $2 to change Lucas's dirty diaper.  Nathan jumped at the offer!  Brian was kind and showed him exactly what to do.  I have helped Nathan change a diaper or two in the past, but it really has been a while.  At that time he wanted NOTHING to do with the dirty ones... maybe Middle School has matured him a bit... either that or he just needed the money!  ;)

Anyway, he did a great job.  Then Brian threw in an extra 50 cents for him to put Lucas's pajamas on him.  It was rather cute to watch:

Tea for Five

Emma has been wanting to have a tea party for her dolls.  She was particular about which dolls would come and had a whole story line around this.  What a fun little party!

Janai Lee

Snow White and Edith

Emma Lee (the hostess)

Terri Lee {the doll who began the whole "Lee" series for Emma}

When the dolls were "done", the boys got to dig in.

 Emma was quite pleased with the whole event.  :)

Mother of Four

As I walked out of church today with our four children (Brian stayed home sick)... Lucas on my hip, Samuel holding my hand, and Nathan & Emma at my heels, I felt SO blessed... and SO happy to be the Mother of FOUR incredible children.  They are each unique individuals and together they make our home life pretty crazy at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love being the mother of FOUR.

6 years

My Daddy went to heaven six years ago today.  Remembering him... I thought I would post the slideshow I made for my family shortly after we lost him.

Carriage Ride

We love Family Learning Day at our local library and look forward to it each year.  It is a morning full of free books, crafts, games, snacks, and fun activities for the kids.  To top it off, the last couple of years we've enjoyed the free horse drawn carriage ride!  What a great way to spend the first day of fall!

Photography

New photography blog:  http://www.life-captured.com/

I will no longer use this blog for pictures from sessions outside of our family.  I have moved all previous such posts to my photography blog.  This link has been added to the list of links on the right sidebar.

A gift from my Dad

The cameras, cases, and flash units pictured above were sent to me by my Uncle Richard (my Dad's brother).  They belonged to my Dad.  When I opened this box it felt like a gift from him.  How sweet to have the very cameras and gear he used as a youth and a young man.  The one in the middle was manufactured in 1936, so we believe it must have been my Granddad's first and then was passed along to my Dad.  I haven't had time to research the others, but I look forward to delving into this more in the future.

Words

I love this stage when young ones begin wanting to write their own words...

37:52 | PLAY

My One Every Seven theme for last week was PLAY, {how I play...}

I chose a marriage theme since Brian and I play Scrabble together from time to time after the kids are in bed...

Love at first sight

There are days when I am overwhelmed by the amount of blessings in my life.  Sometimes this hits me for an obvious reason, and other times it just creeps up slowly and sweeps over me without any obvious trigger.  Today, I am feeling like the luckiest girl alive.  Not only do I have four wonderful children, but I am married to the love of my life.  

Today is the anniversary of the day that Brian and I had our first date.  I will never forget sitting across from this handsome man at a small table in Books-a-million, sipping coffee, and feeling so connected to him and so at ease.  It was obvious that the feeling was mutual.  

For each person that believes in Love At First Sight, there are at least two who don't.  Please don't quote this as fact (I made it up), though it seems fairly accurate (I did read that 1 in 4 men believe in LAFS, but I'm sure women bump up the stat quite a bit).  Before I met Brian I was more of a skeptic in this area.  It could happen I suppose, but would not likely lead to anything lasting...   My whole outlook changed NINE years ago today- immediately and also gradually, throughout the next year and a half of our courtship leading up to our wedding.

Little did I know that day at Books-a-million, that this man I let into my life would completely change it...

I would never, ever go back...

Balance

We have wanted to buy the kids a balance bike for a while now.  We actually bought one for Samuel near his birthday but returned it after deciding it wasn't a good one.  The other day we found one at a second hand store and it was just perfect!  The kids love it!  Lucas even begs to get on it (and we let him with help).  Nathan wishes we had one his size!

Trains, trains, and more trains!

It felt like Christmas at our house this week.  We got out the Thomas table and ALL the stuff that goes with it!  Our Thomas collection began with Nathan and was passed on to Emma & Samuel (and now Lucas too).  It has grown considerably since Nathan's first set, mostly due to the generosity of my sister and her family.  A couple of years ago Cole & Wes gave us TONS of their old Thomas trains, buildings, track, bridges etc...  While we have kept a small bin of track and trains out for Samuel since then, this is the first time he's seen most of these accessories. He's been in Heaven!  Emma has also enjoyed this addition to our living room, and Lucas plays with it all almost as much as Samuel! 

For fun, a few pictures from other years we've had this table set up:

Nathan 2005

 Samuel 2010

One year

What a difference one year can make... 

Emma LOVES Kindergarten!  

Kindergarten has been such an easy adjustment for her.  We are so glad we waited one year!  She says school is "awesome", and the only thing she doesn't like is listening to "letters and letter sounds" (which she's known since she was four).  Everything else is a favorite-- art, music, P.E., math, science, social studies, chapel... and of course recess and LUNCH! 

They were jumping rope in P.E. the other day.  
Emma had to come home and show us all how she could really do it!

We are so proud of our kindergartner!  

Camping!

Well, sort of... Last weekend we set up the tent in our own yard and had a little at home camping. I think the kids were just as thrilled with this set up as they would've been at an actual campground! 
Brian and I just don't have it in us right now to take this crew on an adventure like that outside of our own yard. Next year for sure... when Lucas is a bit older and hopefully a bit easier to contain. 
 We roasted smores and hung out by the fire for a bit, then tucked them all into sleeping bags (and pack-n-play) in the tent while Brian and I enjoyed one of our most peaceful evenings all year. It's hard to top sitting outside in the {relatively} quiet chilly night, warm campfire, smores, a good book, and your spouse! And how nice that we could just run into the house to get anything we wanted!  There were definitely some perks to staying at home!

We will be doing this again soon!

Rain lovin

We have been blessed with some great rain lately-- after such a dry summer! We've celebrated with walks in the rain and lots of puddle splashing!