Josiah’s birthday fell on a Wednesday which meant a mad rush to get all things in to celebrate his birthday and make it to church on time. Despite the rush, he enjoyed his celebration of making it to a decade.
Someone got really excited about Josiah’s gifts.
He asked for a sarlacc cake. I think I delivered it okay.
Be careful! It bites.
Liam and Silas joined a summer swim league this year. It was quite a learning experience but the boys had a wonderful time.
They both improved a lot and Liam quickly showed out that the backstroke was his fastest stroke. Silas improved greatly on his freestyle and backstroke.
One of the dad’s had some mad skills in sharpie drawings.
After the district meet (and last swim meet of the season for us), we went to a local sno-cone place and watched a train go by!
In June, Ceili Rain asked for me to break out the sponge curlers and get to work on her hair. Emmie couldn’t wait to get in on the action. I was sure she would take them out, but she left them in the whole night!
Two years ago today, we walked into a hospital kissing and hugging our little 15 month old daughter closely. It would be 8 more long months before we could feel her cheek against our lips or her head resting on our shoulders. After this day, two years ago, six of the longest and hardest days of our lives followed followed. We watched our daughter, lay in a bed weighed down trying to stretch her neck out to gain her just a little more time before spinal fusion surgery. Mark and I were on the road twice a day swapping up our time between her and the rest of the kiddos and seeing each other only briefly between tag teaming.
I praise God for his protection and provision over those six days, those eight months, and these past two years. We have seen His hand move over and over and over.
And Emmie, well, this was her two years ago:
And today:
She sat with me in church humming the hymns, trying to do the Scripture memory and cuddling sweetly as she slept. She ran down the steps from Sunday school and placed her head on my shoulder when she was tired. Have we kissed those precious cheeks that we missed two years ago? You bet we did! She laughs. She plays. She fights with her siblings and has normal three year old demands.
Our unstable 15 month old old has turned in to a very confident, often silly, and fully loving three year old. We praise God for all He has done!
Don’t forget about the NF Walk! Join Team SuperEms Sidekicks or give and help us raise funds to fight NF through the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
All of our May normal-ness rolled up into one post.
Ceili Rain enjoys reading to her brothers and sister.
We lit up our house to “Shine a Light” on NF! Really, these two little spot lights were super cheap and cast a perfect glow for NF Awareness.
Sometimes, video time is sleepy time for Emmie.
We had a very cold snap in May. Emme and Bryant decided to dress for the occassion. Complete with short short skirt, shorts, and no shoes…and don’t forget the winter coat.
We found out the week of that our local theater troupe was doing a school performance of their Beauty and the Beast show. I didn’t really think there was any chance I could snag 10 tickets to see the school performance (which was around $5 a person) but decided it was worth a shot. It turned out they still had tickets available and Emmie got to see her Belle and Beast on stage! She was thrilled. They put on a great show too!
Ace built a Studio C ‘C’ for a competition. He didn’t win but I thought it was pretty creative.
These boys were not super excited when we swapped their rooms around and put them together. That quickly changed and we can often find them playing together or reading before lights out.
Raising awareness on NF awareness day, May 17th.
Malachi was an overachiever and decided he wouldn’t lose his first tooth…but his first two teeth!
Emmie and flexis are pretty standard wear on Sundays.
Daddy selfies are always fun.
We had two boys decide to join the summer swim team this year! This was our first year on a team and a really big learning year for us. 
Liam did great and showed some major improvements in sportsmanship, diving and swimming in general. He actually won the award for most improved in his age group! And he won several ribbons for relays and backstroke (which proved to be his strongest race)
Silas loved every second of swim. He improved on his times for all races and declared that the butterfly was the best stroke. He won several ribbons for relays and freestyle and also a couple of heats in backstroke! His year end award was “Most Excited to Swim.”
There is a dad on the team who can make magic with sharpies! The boys called them tattoos.
We’re excited to see what next summer holds for these two and, hopefully a couple of other kiddos!
Our first meet was super long. And all of us felt it. Mark and I quickly realized staying for an entire meet did not work for any of us! 
We are in a great church that really encourages leadership in the family. Mark has definitely been challenged and stepped up to lead our family closer to God. It’s a sweet blessing that he has baptized one of our kids and now, a second one.
Liam made a decision to follow Christ a couple of years ago but wasn’t ready to follow through in believer’s baptism until recently. I can’t explain what a blessing it is to watch two dads baptize their sons as a public profession of their faith in Christ.
Liam decided before he was baptize to just start the process and dunked himself…hence the reason he was already wet.
Our pastor is to the right of Mark giving a brief explanation of what it means to be baptized.
Baptized!
My oldest niece graduated from high school ya’ll! Oh dear, I feel old. She is a beautiful young lady who is going to do some pretty amazing things! I can’t wait to see it all! 
Aunt Yaya with her best friend, K, and my niece J.
K has been like a second mother to J. I love seeing my niece getting all the love!
After graduation, we got to spend a couple of days with Grandmere and Papa.
And I met a little chipmunk as we left!
May and June were just plumb busy ya’ll. We had something every weekend and pretty much every day. So, when we realized the girls may not get to go to an AHG camp planned for June, Mark and I decided to give up our only free weekend (which also happened to be our anniversary weekend) for the girls and our whole family to participate in an AHG family camp. And then a week before, I got an email asking me to plan and grocery shop for the meals for camp. I agreed because I felt the Lord was telling me to do it. But I didn’t agree with a joyful heart. I grumbled and complained the whole week. Got my ducks in a row, got the groceries for around 50 people and we loaded up and went.
We got to camp and were about a 1/4 of a mile from bathrooms (don’t forget I’m pregnant ya’ll). There was no running water on the site. And we thought that we were missing a pole to a brand new tent. I about had a two year old temper tantrum at the campsite. Mark made the sleeping arrangements work with our small four person tent and other large tent. After calming myself and chatting with God and friends, I decided the self-pity needed to end and I had to just enjoy it. We found out later that the camp coordinator was told there were bathrooms right near the site and that running water would be onsite. And as we loaded up the following evening to beat the rain, we realized the missing tent pole wasn’t missing. We had just misread the directions.
God blessed us with an amazing sunset! Just seeing this made it all worth all the headache.
Watching the kids get filthy….trekking in pitch black dark to the bathroom and making new friends. Once my attitude adjusted, it was a wonderfully fun trip!
Last year, we planned our beach trip the same weekend as the local symphony’s annual free performance, Pops! Under the Stars. We made sure not to miss it this year though. We were blessed to be able to meet up with several of our church families…which meant our kids stayed entertained, we enjoyed music and there was enough food to feed a small army. Church people don’t starve.
It was pretty sunny and some of our friends needed to protect their delicate skin from the sun!
Emmie and selfiies…yes thank you!
Of course, we had to get one in. 
Tot wanted one too! He loved all the pets but the fireworks were not his friends. He made it through though.
Plotting, planning and playing.
Our littles were super glad that some church members were home from college and literally, attached to their backs!
And Ace really got into the music.
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