Church Picnic

Lacie's first attempt at the slide.

Gracie head first on her belly.

On her mark, set, but will Rab go?

Josh isn't so sure about the slide.

Handsome boys in the covered wagon.

AG and her best church friend.

This doesn't hurt their feet.

We had our annual church picnic/pool party last night at the home of the Clyburns. The children had a fabulous time. They swam, had rides on Mr. Aaron's covered wagon, played "get lost" inside the house (if you haven't been in this house you need to know that it is totally possible to get lost in this place) and ate a yummy hamburger and hot dog supper. Our children haven't had much experience with a slide so it was kind of scary at first but soon we couldn't keep them off of it. The adults also had a good time but none of us braved putting on bathing suits this year, left that all to the children. Anna Grace's best friend from church came for the last time last night. They are moving to a new town today. Gray was so sad when she left.

Bible School Again

The children finished their third and, I think, final Bible School of the Summer Thursday night. This week they were at First Baptist in town. The theme was Outrigger Island and they had everything decorated with flowers, leis, sea animals, grass skirts, sand etc. I am yet again blown away by how much my children have learned about God's love through song, study and prayer. What a blessing to have so many people willing to share their time and talents with these children so that they will know the love of the Lord. There was a short program at the end of the night, Thursday, to wrap up everything. The children sang some songs and were presented with a Bible and a certificate. I am so proud of my babies.

They took up an offering each night to give to a local mission program but made it into a contest, boys vs. girls. If the girls brought the most Mr. Mark had to do the hula for everyone and of the boys did Mr Jamie had to dance. It was a tie so both had to do it. Bless their hearts. Now I think we will sleep in for a few days. It has been a busy two weeks and they are exhausted.

Bible School - Week 2

The children went to Bible School last week at "Miss" Doris' church. The theme this year was Friendship Trek. Everything was decorated like a campsite complete with tents, trees and lots of plants. The kids learned so much and had a blast. I had three exhausted angels on my hands every night. I am always amazed at the things they learn. They actually learned to sign some of the songs they sang. Doris picked them up and returned them to me each night in the church van. Such a treat to spend the evenings alone with Tim. I got to their program on Friday night a few minutes late and had to sit near the back. I didn't have a real good view of the babies but as they were walking out I saw that Rabbie had bare feet. I have mentioned before that we are surely the biggest rednecks on the planet but bare feet in church? Turns out one of her shoes broke so they just let her go without. After their program this night the preacher, who is also on the fire department, took all the kids out to pose with a fire truck. When they were all lined up cheesing for the cameras someone opened a valve that sent water spraying all over the kids. FUN!

When we got home Steven was here with Paul. Josh thinks Paul is the coolest person on this planet. They have the best time together, looking for treasure in the woods and just being bad boys. We also had the most spectacular rainbow I have EVER seen over the house. The pictures don't come close to showing how perfectly incredible this thing was. Since I was out with the camera Rab decided that she really needed to be my model so we had a photo shoot right as the sun was going down. This kid is the queen of posers.

God is so good to me.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Anna Grace had an appointment with the orthodontist today for a consultation. As we were getting out of the car she said, "I don't have any shoes." I could have killed her but instead just took her on in without shoes. No time to go home and find some. Serves me right for cleaning out the car the other night. If I hadn't we would have had a shoe store to choose from. We are some country rednecks aren't we? I took my nine year old into the orthodontist office barefoot. Thank God I wasn't pregnant or I may have had to turn around and leave. After an x-ray and an oral exam they decided that she will have to wait another year and yet another consultation before we do anything. My angel has inherited my mouth with an overbite and some great spittin' gaps. I could spray a stream of water pretty far in my early years and according to Miss Grace she is also a good spitter. After looking at the x-ray the doctor said she is missing an adult tooth to replace one of her baby teeth on top. We found out last year that Rabbie is too. That makes the three Kirven girls with that same problem. A trait we all inherited from my Grampie. How weird is that? We are total rednecks but life is good.I will have to find a picture of me at this age to add to this to show the comparison.

Bittersweet

Watching my children grow and develop into the amazing people they are becoming is so precious to me. What an amazing gift God gives us when he allows us to raise His children as our own. I pray that I am doing what He wants me to do in leading the children He has entrusted to me in the way they should go. It is unbelievable that the tiny persons who were completely and totally dependant on us have become such independent people. I am thrilled to be able to ride around the property with my husband or even get a Sunday nap and know that my children will still be in the house and safe when I get back. It is also sad that they don't need me for every little thing any more. I don't bathe them any more, they can handle that themselves. Though Josh does like for me to get the water started for him. I don't have to hold their toothbrushes for them when they brush either but it is still a good idea to be in the room when they are doing that to keep them on task. They wipe their own bottoms, wash hands and flush all on their own. All are capable of clearing the dishes from the table when they are through eating, they can help with laundry and cooking of meals. Where does the time go? Just yesterday I was sitting quietly nursing a precious tiny newborn and now she is making my dinner for me. I am admittedly the hard one of the girls in the family. I haven't gotten teary when so many of the milestones passed. I took my oldest to her sitter for the first time and left her without any problem. Of course the sitter was my Nana and I went home to nurse when my new baby was in need. I was honestly thrilled to finally take down the last crib (I needed 2 for a while) and loved to see my precious angels walk into their classrooms on the first day of Kindergarten and happily wave goodbye. I love to have children who are healthy and able to do all of those things. Being their mom is a gift and life is good.

Barbies

Jill and I traded some children last night. Lacie came over to spend the night with us and she took Josh with her. We all just adore little miss Lacie Bug. She is all sass all the time and so cute you could eat her up. Timmy told her he was going to the court house today to have her name changed to Sassy Elizabeth instead of Lacie. Anyway, she and Sara Abbett both LOVE to play Barbies. Rab will go to her room and play by herself for hours on end. Kind of reminds me of me as a child. The girls set up a Barbie village in a corner of their room and played for a long time. Since I was also a Barbie girl I thought I would join them for a while. Oh my goodness what fun I had. I didn't even bother with the camera, just played. Life is good.

I couldn't resist getting a few pictures of our play space. Do you like Barbies room?

Home Makeover - I want one!!!!

I have a confession to make. I am hooked on HGTV! I honestly don't care to watch television instead I prefer to read but on the weekends I am tuned in to the great decorating shows this network has to offer. The designers, decorators and builders on those shows are brilliant. I want one to come and remake my house. Don't get me wrong, I love my house but I want some change. I discussed with Timmy having the kitchen painted but he's not going for it. He doesn't trust me since I got a spot or two of paint on the ceiling in the play room when I did some redecorating in there a couple years ago. I haven't yet told him that I want to do the den too since it will be a HUGE undertaking. I think he would not appreciate the fact that I don't like the colors that we struggled so with when we built.

4th of July

Happy 4th to all. Our day has been hugely uneventful. We had planned to go swimming this afternoon at Jill's then come back here for supper and to watch the fireworks from our front porch. Things just didn't turn out that way. Tim told the girls to clean their room before we could go swim. They went upstairs and fought but didn't clean up a thing. NO SWIMMING for us! Our afternoon was spent together cleaning their sty. It does feel good to have that mess clean even if we didn't get to play. Mom and Dad came over for supper. Yummy grilled chicken and ribs and Mom's delicious peach cobbler. I had started Weight Watchers this week but couldn't stick to it tonight. Putting greasy ribs on my stomach after mostly salads was not a smart move. T took the kids down to the airport to watch the fireworks. I stayed home (to be near the bathroom) and finished straightening the kitchen and worked on some laundry. Not the most exciting day but safe and healthy. Life is good.

Car Washing

Tim and I hired a babysitter last Saturday and took off for the beach. Gretchen is wonderful and our children just adore her. Check out the pictures she took of them washing her car. Think they had fun?

After a hard day of washing a car you should always make homemade pizza. Princess Gracie managed to take part in that.

I do have to say that our jaunt to the beach was an oh so welcome escape for us. Tim and I had a great time together shopping, eating, talking and just being together. I felt like we reconnected with each other. We were back to thinking the same thoughts and finishing each other's sentences. It's been a while since we have been so in sync. Life is good!