14th Anniversary

Celebrating 14 years with my guy. How in the world does 14 years fly by in the blink of an eye??!!!

Our road has not been the easiest. But I've now been with Matt for more years in my life than without him. I knew I wanted to marry him early on and we did marry young; 10 days after my 21^st birthday. Life was pretty great until infertility snuck in. That was not in our plan. Struggling through infertility and the first steps of adoption were tough on each of us individually and tough on our marriage. There were days we both wanted to walk away but we chose to fight for our marriage. We ended up on the other side happier, tighter, and more understanding. I'm so thankful we made and stuck with our commitment to each other 14 years ago. I know the road won't always be easy but I pray that we always choose to fight for our marriage.

I love this man more on our 14^th wedding anniversary than I even thought was possible the day I married him.

This year we were able to sneak away for an overnight to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  We explored the town a little, hiked, enjoyed a cabin in the Ozark Mountains, ate some good foods, and enjoyed some time just the 2 of us.  

Table Rock Lake 2016

Our home away from home...Table Rock Lake. I LOVE this place and this summer vacation was extra special because my entire family is now a lake lovin' family! Ava has loved going to the lake house and swimming pretty much since her first visit. Ella on the other hand likes the lake house but didn't want anything to do with the lake itself last summer. What a difference a year makes!

This year Ella was jumping off the ladder on the dock. Swimming until we made her take a break. Loving boat rides. And she definitely perfected the art of napping on the boat. So proud of her conquering her fears from last year!!

Ava also made some big gains this trip. Jumping off the dock and boat by herself over and over and over again! And my baby girl learned to knee board. I was so proud I cried. My girl learning to do the things I love to do too! I honestly didn't think she had the arm strength to do it but Matt and my dad kept pushing that they thought she could do it and Ava really wanted to try...so we tried it. I just helped her keep her balance and get going and then it was all her. So proud!

This trip we also celebrated my 35^th birthday with Landrys Seafood, go carts, putt putt, paddling boarding, skiing, and family. Nothing better! This birthday will be hard to beat.

Mom and I also were able to sneak away for a Mama Daughter Date night at Steak Inn in Shell Knob. That definitely needs to become a regular occurrence. We laughed, cried, and were able to have a conversation without being interrupted 20 times :))

Sammy lovin' the lake life

We have a kneeboarder

Making homemade ice cream

2016 School Interviews

Ava

Favorite Color:  Pink & Purple

Favorite TV Show: Super Why

Favorite Movie:  Penguins

What do you want to be when you grow up:  Doctor

Favorite thing to eat:  Mac and Cheese

Who are your best friends:  Ella & Claira

What do you love to do with Mama:  Help Mama

What do you love to do with Baba:  Play games

What do you love to do with Ella:  Play with her

Favorite thing to do outside:  Play outside; soccer, kneeboarding

Favorite thing to do inside:  Play with Ella; Barbies, dress up, games

Favorite Animal:  Zebras

Ella

Favorite Color:  Purple & Pink

Favorite TV Show: Little Einsteins

Favorite Movie:  Ice Age

What do you want to be when you grow up:  Princess

Favorite thing to eat:  Applesauce

Who are your best friends:  Ava & Claira

What do you love to do with Mama:  Play

What do you love to do with Baba:  Play

What do you love to do with Ava:  Play with her

Favorite thing to do outside:  Go to the park

Favorite thing to do inside:  Play with Ava; color, watch TV

Favorite Animal:  Elephant

Living Up the Weekends

I recently read a stat that a child has 936 weekends until they turn 18 years old.  That struck a cord with me.  In a quick glance that seems like a lot but that means that I don't even get 1000 weekends with my sweet girls before they will graduate and most likely fly the coop.  That also means that we've already spent approximately 200 of those weekends.  Weekends with my girls will be gone in a blink of an eye.  When that happens and I'm looking back I want my mind and photo albums to be filled with memories.  I am not about living with regrets.  It's not about spending money or traveling (both of which I love to do ;)); it's about spending time together, playing together, talking together, building trust with each other, encouraging each other, loving on one another.  This life is hard.
No matter what my girls' days look like and how hard they are I want them to always remember 2 things:  1. That Jesus Christ loves them and only wants the best for them and  2.  That Mama and Baba love them every much.  

It seems like every time we turn around, I'm getting a news alert that something else terrible has happened in this world.  There are many days that I wish I could put my girls in a protective bubble and keep them protected from this crazy world.  I want so badly to be able to protect them from every bad thing.  But at the same time there are so many beautiful things in this world today AND my girls are beautiful and the world definitely needs more people like them.  I pray daily; sometimes every minute for my girls' safety in this crazy world.  I pray that my family will be a light for this world that needs Jesus so badly.  I pray that we as a nation will learn to love each other and not hate so much.  And I pray that we not waste a minute and enjoy each other while we have the chance.

My precious family hanging out this weekend on the pedestrian bridge.  Love them so much!!
      

Let it Snow...in July??

I was working the overnight shift earlier this week.  I texted Matt around 11pm to ask him how his evening went.  His only reply was a picture...

My only response was "what the hell?!!" and then I called to see what in the world was happening with him in charge!  

So the story goes that Matt was on the treadmill and was coming up to check on the girls every mile or so.  When he came up at the last check he opened the basement door and thought something was on fire.  Smoke seemed to be filling the room.  He was searching quickly to see where it was coming from but quickly calmed down when he heard both girls saying, "we're so sorry"...and then he saw the open ash bucket.  Yep, that's right...that is all ash thrown about my family room.  Matt finally got the story out of them that went something like this; we were playing Frozen and needed snow.  Ava later filled us in that "when you throw the ashes into the fan it really looks like snow"!!  

Now as frustrated as we both were after hours of cleaning I cannot fault their imaginations.  Matt and I have definitely been laughing about the situation but not telling the girls we're laughing.  Needless to say the ash bucket has been moved to the garage!  Never a dull moment at our house!

Celebrating 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July!  Friends, family, BBQ, desserts, laughs, games, fireworks!!  I mean what's not to like?!!  

We did fireworks twice this year.  Once on Saturday night at home and once on Sunday night after the College World Series home run derby.  Ava loves fireworks and can't get enough of them, Ella likes them as long as they aren't too loud and scary.  

"That wasn't too loud!  Those (pointing up the street) are too loud!"  She said this over and over in the sweetest little voice for all the fireworks that were Ella approved :)

Baba let Ava help light fireworks this year.  Mama was okay with this because it was just a smoke bomb.  Ava was so proud and Baba loved every moment of it!

We went to the Ralston 4th of July Parade on the actual day.  We had fun hanging out together watching the passers by and the girls had a blast gathering their weight in candy!

Happy 4th of July!  So thankful for this country and for the men and women who fight for our freedom!  God Bless America!!

Happy 5th Birthday Ava Girl!

I have no idea how I have a 5 year old already!  How does time go so quickly and more importantly how do you slow it down??!!  We celebrated with a full weekend of activities.

Friday night was our evening just the 4 of us.  We opened gifts and then went out to dinner.  We asked the birthday girl what she wanted for her dinner and she asked for one of her favorite things...custard buns!  I love custard buns too but I was also very thankful that she didn't pick Red Robin as I suspected she would.

 Custard Buns!!  Yummy!!

Ava and her special friends at the restaurant who made her an impromptu birthday cake.  She is one loved little girl.  

 Her cake made of brown and white rice and carrot strips, dumplings, and rangoon.  Love this!  So special!

On Saturday, we started with a friends and ended the day with a family and friends party.  The weather did not cooperate.  We had planned a beach themed party complete with bounce house, pool, and slip n slide.  However the weather was 68 and rainy all day!  I woke up and laid in bed wondering how to salvage the party but when I got up and went down stairs my mom had already found a page worth of indoor games for kids birthdays.  God bless her!!

Since last August all Ava has wanted was to have her friends from Fullerton over to her house.  I couldn't wait to see her face as all her friends showed up for her birthday party.  I believe we ended up with 11 kids from 3-5pm.  We did end up getting the bounce house set up in the drive way after a lot of hassle.   We also played games including pin the tail on the dolphin, ball throw, and relay races.  The kids ended up having a great time and Ava was so excited!!  Her smile made all the extra stress worth every minute.

 "I'm so excited!!"

  
 We finished off her birthday bash with dinner and fireworks with family, neighbors, and friends.  All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate our Ava Girl!