The Lakehouse

We enjoyed our first week of the new year with Mark’s college roommates and their families.  Sadly, we missed one family but with good reason (twins who are not traveling well at their young age).  The house full of lots of laughter and smiles despite the outcome to the playoff game we were able to watch.
 Josiah and Liam watching a football game with R,
 Our view one morning.  Yeah, no filter.
 Enjoying some marshmallows at the covered pavilion.  The weather was not always agreeable but we managed.

 Some flashlight fun.

 We kept trying to hide the pool balls and sticks but these rascals kept finding them and then slamming the balls in to their fingers.
 We managed some fireworks between rain storms.

I took the New Year’s day supper and went all traditional.  Ham, black eyed peas, carrots, etc.  It was a lot of work but soooo yummy and afterward we crashed on the couch to watch Alabama (get stomped by Ohio State but that is beside the point).  Zoe and Ace crashed in my lap.

 Another morning view.  No filter again.
 Twister.  Oh yeah.
 Best buds.
 Emmie only goes to a rare few people.  Uncle M was able to grab her up for a little while.  He’s pretty much magic with my babies.

One evening while we were all sitting around talking after the kids were in bed, R excused himself and came back like this.  This is the wedding outfits we had the groomsmen wear.  Fifteen years later and R still has it.  AND the dagger we gave as a groomsman gift!  So funny to see it again after all these years.

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Celebrations!

Within the next two years four of our pastor’s seven children will be wed!  One of the neatest parts of being a part of a small church is that everyone is friends with and knows the pastor and his family.  We were so excited to get to dress up and be a part of one of the wedding celebrations in December (unfortunately, we had to miss the first of the four weddings).  It was a very personal and sweet ceremony that honored Jesus above all else.  

 Zoe has figured out how to trick her hair to get a few waves and curls (the secret is a wrapping damp hair in a bun all day long, fyi).

 Emmie decided the ceremony wasn’t her cup of tea and wanted Daddy to walk her in the foyer.  Much better.
 My boys think a wedding is okay but what they most look forward to is the reception.  Especially buffet receptions.  But waiting until the buffet is open…That’s really hard.

 Weddings bring sweet reunions too.  Some former members of our church drove in and that meant instant friend time for Ceili Rain, A and C as they joined together and played at the reception.  We miss C and her family dearly and pray one day they can move back in to the area!

 Okay, Bryant got in on the hugs and reunion too.

I wanted a family picture and this was the best we got.  Oh,  well.  Tracy got some really good ones while Y was here and I’ll share those soon.

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Falling in Love with a Picture

At the end of October, our family fell in love with a picture.  Yes, I know it sounds crazy and insane.  But living in the midst of it, well, it’s true.  You see, at the end of October, we decided to participate in an international hosting program with New Horizons for Children.  Mark and I scoured the photo listings and narrowed the children we felt our family would be a good fit for, to three.  We showed the kids the three children and discussed the information about each and they all unanimously wanted this one eight year old boy with a sweet smile.  They wanted him to come to our home for four weeks this winter.  After that, it was all over.  We knew very little but we all knew one thing…the more we looked at his picture and prayed for him, the more we loved him.

He’s here now and in just a short two and half weeks we’ll say our good byes to a child who has captured our hearts and become one of us.  One of our people.  Over the next month, I’ll not only share about our international hosting but also about our crazy busy wouldn’t change it for anything December.

But for now, I am soaking in every minute we get with this amazing kid.  And for now, meet Y.

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Quick Trip

Several months ago, Grandmere broke her foot.  The doctor and Grandmere were very patient and tried to let it heal.  However, it just wasn’t doing what it was supposed to.  So, a week before Thanksgiving, she had surgery to put a pin in place.  She’s been doing great with it but we thought it would be in her best interest (and sanity) if we didn’t invade overnight.  We all wanted to see Papa and Grandmere, though.  So we made a quick day trip to their house on the Saturday after Christmas.
We were able to give her part of her birthday gift (okay, Papa’s gift too)…a birthday board.

 Yeah, I don’t have a clue.
 From here on, one of the kids grabbed my camera.  This should be interesting.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Ge & Granddaddy’s house this year.  Be prepared for the goofiness that  is our family…

 Emmie got to meet Uncle Jay.  Next to daddy, he pretty much hung the moon.

 Black Friday (okay, late night Thursday) shopping yielded lots of treasures between Aunt Yaya, Ge, and I.  But the Apples to Apples game was an immediate hit for the kids since it was too cold to go outside.

 This is my nephew, E.  We’re super excited that he has almost survived a full year of 13.

 Ceili Rain is just excited to have a big cousin who is willing to give some cuddles.

And make goofy faces with.  Aunt Yaya taught her how to do the “fish” face.
 Malachi and Bryant were driving a truck in one of Granddaddy’s fun chairs.

 Aunt Yaya and cousin J showing us how to properly pose for pictures. 
Emmie has been a dog baby since she first noticed that there were furry little things running around our house.  This visit proved it even more.  When Pepper, my yippy “sister,” would bark, Emmie just blinked or yelled back at her.  But Rusty, my grumpy ol’ “brother,” shocked us all.  Once evening he plopped himself right beside Emmie and waited.  This is what she did…

 Baby and dog adorableness…holding hands!

 Rusty isn’t a “baby” dog so when he did this we were all quite shocked.  Then, when Emmie was ready for a nap and Mark picked her up, Rusty huffed at us.
 Granddaddy and Emmie got early morning cuddles the whole time we were there.
Ge snuck in a few too.

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Birthday

I had a lovely birthday this year.  My parents came up the day before and watched the kids so I could take Emmie to her well check.  Mark took me shopping the week before because…well, because my clothes were getting baggy and falling down.  It’s a good problem to have.  
Mark made my chocolate cake with chocolate icing and Zoe suggested we had mini chocolate chips.  Fully of yumminess.
We live in a military town which means a lot of “transplants” come here and stay.  I love meeting new people and trying new foods.  This summer, some neighbors recommended a Hawaiian barbecue place.  We were more than happy to try it out.  Mark and I tried it out on a date night and loved it.  So, my birthday dinner request was for the family to experience a bit of Hawaii in our little Southern town.  It’s not a fancy place but the food.  Oh, the food is awesome!

On Friday nights they have Polynesian dancers.  My little dancer, Ceili Rain, loved it and just had to get a picture made with the dancers.

My other birthday request was to get our bedroom painted.  I spent several hours in our dark brown room when Emmie was born.  I grew tired of the color and wanted a lighter color…a blue.  So, I grabbed several paint samples and stared at them for several months before deciding on one.  Mark painted it the  weekend of my birthday and I couldn’t be happier.  It’s bright and more welcoming.

This is the painting in progress.

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Our Bunch and Wedding Bells

We enjoyed attending L and E’s wedding.  This was Mark’s cousin and we enjoyed celebrating their marriage.

 As predicted, Ceili Rain only left the clip in her hair for less than an hour.  But at least it looked pretty in a flexi.

 Yes, there were a few kids missing running hither and yon.    This was just before attempting our family pictures.  All twenty-three of us.

 So, we started to leave the wedding and noticed the bride and groom’s perfectly clean car.  We just couldn’t have that.  Luckily, Aunt B and I had toilet paper in our vans.  Uncle B supervised the decorating.

 Okay, he actually instructed too.  Thanks to him, the kids now now the proper way to roll a car.

His esteemed students at work.

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Cousins Visit

After we finished up in Kentucky, we headed back to the headquarters, also known as Papa and Grandmere’s house.
The kids enjoyed the time to just run around and visit with each other except these two.
 They had more fun whacking each other in the face.  Our girls are such cuties.
 Grandmere had her pick of babies to cuddle.  A got some good snuggles in.
 Of course, all cousins utilized the zip line.

 Cousin O loved carrying Emmie around.
 Papa and  his boys
 Before breakfast, the chess board had to come out.
 And after breakfast the chess board had to come out.   The two players had some consultants this go round.
Ceili Rain got lots of Uncle B cuddles.  

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God’s Creation

Despite all the rain, while we were at the Creation Museum it was almost all beautiful.  We decided to tackle the gardens and petting zoo first.  It was absolutely beautiful.  
Somehow we got a picture of Mark with his parents and brother…pretty cool!
The rest of these were taken from someone in our bunch.

 Cousin J taking a picture of Ace or Liam or Zoe.

 All 17 grandchildren with Papa & Grandmere.

Zoe and her cousins G and O decided to do the ziplines on day two.  Despite a bit of drizzle, they managed to fly fast and have fun.

Brothers with babies during devotional time.

 That’s a bunch of characters!
Malachi thought the lecture on the origin of the races was very intriguing.  Um, sort of.
We didn’t get many pictures on day two because of these adventures:
We walked out to the van to load up that morning and discovered a tire going flat.  We deposited half of the kids to Grandmere and Papa and took the other half with us.  I grabbed a giant load of clothes and Mark dropped Emmie, Ceili Rain, Malachi and me off at the laundry mat.  Mark took off to find a tire repair place.  I did laundry.  He fixed cars.  We eventually met up and made it back to the museum in time to see Zoe fly down the zip line.  It was quite an adventurous day.  We thank God that we did not have to get a new tire.  Just a nice quick fix.

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