Family Fun Day: Maker Faire Detroit

I am SO bummed.

We had a whole day of incredible memories captured on our camera today...and I somehow managed to delete them all before they were uploaded. I am holding back tears.

The kids got to meet life-size Star Wars characters (Storm Troopers, R2D2, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, etc)... all deleted.

The kids got to play with robots, make projects, even play in a pretend mechanics garage putting a car back together and changing the tires... all deleted.

They got to play with thousands of legos... including ones that made rubber band shooters, cars and helicopters... all deleted.

We got to watch a life size mouse trap game smash a real car at the end and got to interact with a life-size movable pacman... all deleted.

It's too painful to even go on.

All I can say is that even though they aren't recorded, we still have the memories and it was an amazing day. If you have the chance to hit up the Maker Faire at anytime in your life...do it... you will love it (and so will your kids!)

Here are the few pics I got at the very end of the day:

the latest.. and greatest.. and craziest... and laziest

At least once a week I hear the phrase, "It's only a season."

I hear it from friends, I hear it from family members,

I even hear it from strangers in the grocery store.

I had originally thought the phrase was used bearing in mind the noun usage, "a period of time marked by certain conditions" (ex: the Christmas season, or in my case, the your-house-will-never-stay-clean season, or you-will-never-sleep-through-the-night season)... but I've changed my mind and realized it's more properly used as the verb, "to mature, ripen, or condition by exposure to suitable conditions or treatment." (ex: to season with salt and pepper, or in my case, to season with whining, crying and screaming). Hopefully when this season is in the past, I will have emerged a wonderfully seasoned mother and wife

In any case, we are enjoying our summer season sprinkled with all sorts of adventures, challenges and discoveries. Here are few from the past few weeks:

It has been quite a summer for our sweet Elijah. We were in the ER 3 times in the past 2 months: once for a severe allergic reaction, once for pneumonia and once for having his arm out of socket (yes, it was me... I pulled him out of the way of a car and injured my son... major tears followed from both parties). He is doing fairly good right now, although currently we are nursing another allergic reaction that appeared after his nap (see sad picture below). This kid is such a trooper and his mother is learning a lot about trust through it all.

 Thanks to my moms on both sides, I had a rare day with just my older kids. You would have thought it was Christmas in July for me! I couldn't believe how much fun I had talking and laughing with Isaac and Zoey! We did things we never get to do with the babies, which made me keep a cheesy smile on my face all day long.... it was the most fun day I've had in a really long time.

 As of today, Isaac is officially a registered 1st grader in our new city. He gets to take the bus to and from school every morning and is very excited about meeting new friends. The kids on our block already told him how much they love the school! We headed out on the town today to pick up all his school supplies (one of our favorite days of the year). Isaac's theme was definitely STAR WARS and Zoey stuck to LaLaLoopsy for all her 4-yr-old Preschool needs. They have such cute stuff out there!

Jacob has also been hitting some more milestones. He currently says "mama" and "baba" and loves to laugh hysterically. He belly crawls all over the house and can even get up one stair.  He goes CrAzY in the pool and hates to get out and can even maneuver himself around by kicking his legs in the pool. This baby is growing fast and sometimes I find myself wanting to wake him up just to rock him back to sleep to slow down time.

All in all we are having a wonderful summer and God is so faithful to walk this journey with us. We are surrounded by incredible people of faith and purpose who are constantly bearing arms with us. We are blessed beyond measure.

stolen camera

{brain dump} session VI

I need to find another word for exhausted... debilitated. enervated. weary.

I wish I had a lifetime supply of NeuroSun in my pantry.

Made smoothies for dinner.... cleaned up smoothies from floor for after-dinner fun.

My ears are plugged. My mouth is dry. My throat is scratchy. My head is pounding.

My brain is empty.

 I am craving hot tea more than coffee today... the world may be ending.

My youngest son just said mama for the 1st time yesterday.

That might be the last time I say those words.

Went thru old pics today for a wall treatment... Chris and I have been together forEVER.

Frustrated that I can't find any of my pics from DC.

Currently listening to Rend Collective Experiment...can't wait to see them in October.

Does God ever roll His eyes?

Does He snicker?

Will we ever really grasp the amount of patience He continuously bestows?

Speaking of patience... tonight's movie night is ready to start.

Adios.

our kids.

Family Fun Day: Lexington and Lake Huron

Just enjoying the day in Lexington.

My heart is full.... and my kids are exhausted.

I love that my kids love nature and prefer to be barefoot
... and that dirt doesn't seem to bother them.

it's that time of year again... CFL

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Summer REACH 5...13...Bonus

A couple weeks ago we made a list of things we wanted to do this summer to REACH out to the people around us. Here is our 2nd round of adventures:

Number 5:  Bring fun band-aids to donate to a children's hospital.

 This REACH mission was a little harder. As we were waiting at the reception desk, we saw dozens of ill children come in and out. We had a great talk about sickness and hospitals since they had just visited their brother in one. The kids were the most excited about the band-aids because they were so much fun to pick out. The receptionist was thrilled at our donation and even took us up to the labratory to donate them to the nurses there. They explained how much the kids that have blood drawn frequently look forward to having fun band-aids instead of boring ones. It's amazing how the little things can just make someone's day!

Number 13: Bring candy basket to police station.
I wanted my kids to appreciate police men/women and to realize that their jobs are to protects us as citizens... not just give out tickets when we break the law. (I realized this needed to happen when I heard the kids say "make sure you put on your seat-belt so the police don't take us off to jail!") We arrived with our candy basket to the police station and the officer we interacted with couldn't have been more blessed! It was so nice to have my kids see how appreciative the policeman was and how much he was interested in the kids.

 

BONUS: Operation Fill-A-Backpack.

Our church is sponsoring many outreaches this summer through 1Macomb (an extension of EACH in our district). One of the outreaches is to fill backpacks with school supplies for needy kids in Detroit. My kids were so excited to make these purchases and kept wondering which kids would use them to go back to school. This was a very simple, but profound REACH mission because they had a lot of questions on why these kids didn't have money to buy stuff for school. I was able to give them a hearty lesson on having a grateful heart for the things our family enjoys on a regular basis.

 

and in all things... session 38

Things I am thankful for on July 7th, 2012...

1. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
2. A healthy family because of a faithful God.
3. Grocery runs with my daughter's undivided attention.
4. Godly friends who desire growth as much as we do.
5. The break in weather tonight...We even got down to the 70s
6. The youth that have been a part of LEGACY over the years.
7. Midnight swims with Chris under the stars clouds.
8. FAMILY... and the fact that they are close by.
9. Baby giggles.
10. Champions For Life Kids' Camp and the countless hours put into loving the foster kids in our area.

we wear them out over here.

...and we are on to #2

Zoey had her 1st Learn to Skate last week and she did AMAZING!

It was a matter of seconds before she was scooting across the ice on her skates.

That girl is SO determined to do whatever her older brother does!

The good life.

Such a great 4th of July!

Swimming. BBQ. Sparklers. Bike Rides. Remote-Control Cars. Coffee. Fireworks. Kisses. Suntan Lotion. Ice Cream. Ice Tea. Cuddles. Bonfire.

really tired of the white walls.

We spent this weekend in the hospital with our little man, Elijah. It was a roller-coaster and we have never been so happy to have our family all home together. He had pneumonia and some other respiratory issues and his pulse-ox level was dropping pretty low. All in all, this kid was quite the champ and really braved through some difficult situations that he didn't quite understand. Thanks to everyone who called, brought us food, sent texts/emails and especially those who prayed. We believe in a God who heals and trusted in Him this entire weekend. We aren't completely out of the woods yet, he still has to get that pulse-ox up (especially when he sleeps) so don't stop praying!