Summer Fun, Fun, Fun!

Griffin went to VBS a few weeks ago, and their mission offering was going toward Trans World Radio to provide radios to people in Cambodia to hear gospel messages. We had a lemonade stand one afternoon to raise some money to send in, and the kids had so much fun!! Bryce and Elise came over to help, and Nana and Poppy were our first customers! Griffin told every single car that stopped that we were raising money for poor kids to have radios and hear about Jesus. The kids ended up making $45 to bring into VBS, and it really was a great experience for all of us! That night at dinner I guess Griffin was trying to grasp how much money $45 is, because he said, "Mommy, is that enough to buy a boat with a tower on top?" (meaning a real one--oh my). Btw--the really cute lemonade stand was borrowed from my friend Shanna--she got it from a craft store.

A few weeks ago (before the heat factor was pushing 100 degrees here), the boys were literally staying outside for hours at a time. It's so fun to watch them play! One day when Griffin was at VBS we had a couple friends over to play in the pools in our backyard. The kids had such a blast!!
My sweet Anderson resting for a milli-second!
Anderson and Jacob ran and jumped into the pool about 1000 times!
I love this picture--Anderson and Jacob jumping in, and sweet little Nathan and Collier doing their best just to stretch their legs over the side to climb in!
Stopping for a snack--that's my delicate little girl covered in mud--and she didn't care at all!



Collier loved the hose!
Fowler and Collier in the "calmer" pool!
Collier loves getting a ride in the jeep from her big brothers...I'm afraid to think about how this scene will repeat itself in about 11 years--scary!!!

Griffin LOVES riding his scooter!!

I hope you all are enjoying summer as much as we are!

Fun with our Cousins

Many of you know this, but we are really blessed to have our cousins living across the street (diagonal, actually). Bryce is 6 and Elise just had her 5th birthday! Aunt Nanette and Uncle Scott are in the process of adopting another little boy or girl from Taiwan, and we couldn't be more excited about having him/her be part of our family!! I'll keep you posted on that, but for now here's some pictures of the fun we've had with them lately!

At Elise's birthday party we got to ride horses...here's the birthday girl with Uncle Scott!

Griffin riding the horse...

And Anderson riding the horse...

Collier running around enjoying herself...

Bryce, Anderson, Griffin, Elise, and two of Elise's friends...
This was just one random day when they were in our backyard playing--they love to all slide down together. Too cute!

Playing basketball...

One weekend we cooked out with them at Oak Mountain State Park--they spent the weekend there, which we hope to do with them when Collier's a little older! Here are the kids playing in their big tent!!

one and a half years

*WARNING: YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE SUBJECTED TO A GREAT NUMBER OF PICTURES OF AN ADORABLE LITTLE GIRL.

Okay, with that out of the way, I know I've said this before, but time continues to just fly before me! My sweet angel is now 18 months old, and it seems like yesterday I found out we were pregnant! When I found out we were having a little girl, I wasn't totally sure what to expect after being used to two very active little boys who were constantly into mischief and had no fear. Now I have a little girl, and she's constantly into mischief and has no fear. Seriously! I don't know why I would've expected anything different since she's constantly looking up to her two brothers. Everytime I turn around she is standing on the kitchen table, or the dining room table, or the picnic table. She loves to turn on the bathtub faucets (when it's not bathtime), and she's taken a nose dive into the bathtub before I even had her clothes off. Several times I've found her sitting in the bathroom sink with the water on. She always finds her way to the pantry and loves to pull things off the shelves. At the park, she climbs up to the highest point and has no fear about shooting down the slides. She loves spicy food and eats salsa off her chips over and over. She is a tough cookie--she'll bust it pretty hard and I'm always shocked to see her just get up and keep going without shedding a tear. She chases the boys as fast as she can with a huge smile on her face. She absolutely loves to be outside and wants to go out all the time!

As many things as there are that remind me of the boys, there are plenty of ways she's been different. She is very affectionate--she often walks up to one of us and just gives us a hug or kiss out of the blue. When the boys are watching a movie on the couch she loves to climb up and sit in their lap--they are so sweet to just crane their neck to see around her. She loves baby dolls and walks around the house carrying them--that's totally new for me and I love it. She loves shoes and usually has a strong opinion about which ones she wants to wear--even if they don't match at all!

Every day with her has been a joy. She has such a sweet, happy spirit and loves to laugh and smile. She's my perfect, lovely, little blessing from my very gracious Father!

enjoying chocolate chip pancakes!
sitting in anderson's lap...

stretching to explore the pantry...

happy, happy girl!

have some cheetos, pooh!

she still sits like this!

she LOVES to be tickled!

Playing Catch Up Again...

I'm way behind on my blogging...AGAIN!! These are just some random photos from the last couple of months...one afternoon the kids all climbed into a laundry basket and I grabbed the camera as fast as I could--it won't be long that all 3 of my kids can fit into a laundry basket! (And I know only a mother would find it necessary to post so many pictures that are so similar :)

Griffin finished K4 and I have to say it was such a great year!! Michael and I just saw him mature and develop so much--he was truly blessed with an incredible, godly teacher and I know God put such a sweet group of kids together! It blows my mind how "big" he seems all the sudden--he's becoming more and more like a big boy. I love the age he's at now, but it makes me sad that my "baby" is growing so fast! He's become REALLY opinionated about what he wears now--gingham shorts and appliqued shirts are a thing of the past..sniff, sniff. This is just a picture I took of him when he came down the stairs one day--he knew exactly what he wanted to wear from head to toe (don't you love the crooked shorts)!

Anderson has just become my little sunshine! He's become so easy (and those of you who knew him as a baby know I didn't always say that :)...he loves to play with both Griffin and Collier, he's such a big helper, and he just has the sweetest spirit!

The five of us went to the beach for a long weekend a couple months ago...here's some pics of the boys on a boat ride...

They had a great time fishing...

Collier helping Daddy drive the boat!

Other big news in our house--Griffin lost his first tooth!! We had no idea it was even loose, so we were totally shocked one night during dinner when he suddenly exclaimed, "My tooth just came out!" I tried to keep my composure as the blood was gushing. He said, "I figured it was about to because it's been loose and hurting really bad." We had no idea--he hadn't even said anything about it! Michael and I were both a little sad at seeing yet another way our firstborn is growing up, but he is absolutely thrilled!

I know I didn't post much about Collier this time, but I'm going to post lots of her next time since she's now 18 months!!