Recently...

Between getting poison ivy and hurting my foot, we haven't been quite as active as we normally are. The boys were super sweet and very understanding when I was either rubbing on numbing creme or applying ice packs instead of taking them to the pool or park. To show my appreciation, I took them to Build A Bear one morning, something they have been wanting to do for a while.

Meet Cubby Cards and Imperial Storm Trooper

Both bears have been a bit hit around here.

Peepaw came in town about about 24 hours to pick up his new car. The boys, along with their new bears, took a quick trip around the neighborhood.

The Dursts came to the lake with us one beautiful Sunday. The kids swam for a solid two hours and tubed like crazy. It was a perfect day with friends. So thankful these kids all get along SO well!

The Bigs

The Littles

These two...

When Caleb got to spend the night with Uncle Luke and Aunt Briana, Luke was pretty bummed out. I told him we could do whatever he wanted and he requested that I help him build a city with big Legos. Done. :)

A last minute Slip-n-Slide party with neighbors. We ended up ordering pizza in the driveway and letting the kids play until after dark. It was such a fun night!

Farewell to Friends

 Since switching to East campus, we have made just the best friends you could ask for. But, over the past few months, we have had to say good bye to two sweet families. 

The Kirklands have moved to Cincinnati where they are planting a church. Terry Lee is one of the most awesome people I have ever met, and I know that he and his wife Abby will do great things.

We also said good bye to the Dennis family. They felt the Lord was leading them to go to Cincinnati and help with the church plant and they were faithful.  A few weeks ago we met them at Broad Run Park for one last play date.

Caleb and Luke, with Audrey, Owen, and Olivia

Luke and Owen

They have been in the same class at church since we started attending.

Elizabeth and I were able to sit and talk for hours that day. Such a bittersweet time!

One last group shot

Caleb's Magical Celebration

For Caleb's 8th birthday, he decided that he wanted to have a sleepover, and since he loves to do magic tricks for his friends, we also had a magician come to the house to do a show. It was fun and all the crazy boys seemed to really enjoy it!

Caleb requested Little Caesars pizza for dinner

and had Grandma make a chocolate eclair for dessert.

After dinner the boys had time to play for a while and then it was time for Mr.Magic to put on his show. 

With each trick they would jump up and scream! We were pretty amazed with a few of the tricks as well.

Half of the boys stayed the night and they had popcorn and watched Star Wars The Force Awakens. 

Donuts, Bacon, and Sausage (the "unhealthy kind," as Caleb didn't want turkey bacon and turkey sausage!) were on the menu for breakfast. That morning they had time to play video games and even get outside and run around a bit before pick up. 

All in all, our first big sleepover was a success!

I'm sure there will be many more. :)

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

On June 14th, our first born turned EIGHT years old. 

Caleb continues to amaze us, just as he has done for the past eight years. He is mature, insightful, a  deep thinker, and so very witty. He is taking on more responsibilities around the house and always looks out for his little brother. Caleb is honest to a fault and the world's best at sharing. 

At eight, Caleb is still our dare devil and loves a good adrenaline rush. He likes to play outside, set up ornate scenes with his Legos, and is really making progress with his piano playing. He is still a homebody and loves a good popcorn and movie night in his sleeping bag.

Thankfully he is out of the picky eater phase and likes to try more and more spicy foods. Caleb also loves his "college student" food, with Easy Mac, Ramen noodles, and party pizza among his favorites.

On Caleb's birthday, he requested breakfast at Cracker Barrel

and lunch at White Castle.

We are so proud of our awesome EIGHT year old young man!

Love you to the moon and back, Caleb!

A few of Caleb's favorites at 8 years old:

snack? guacamole and chips

fruit? Dole tropical mix

food? Sake Blue's salad

dessert? Grandma's chocolate eclair

drink? Hawaiian Punch

color? green

TV show? The Thunderman's

place to eat?  Sake Blue

toy? Legos

animal? jaguar

store? Toys R Us

book? Froggy books

person to play with? Bryce (friend from school)

person to talk to on the phone? Uncle Drew

ice cream flavor? Black Raspberry Chip

place to go with Daddy? Main Event
place to go with Mommy? Learning Express

Celebrating at the Lake

We spent four days, celebrating both Creed and Caleb's birthday, at Claytor Lake. The weather was the best we have ever had, which made for a great lake trip.

Caleb jumped off the high dock no less than 20 times this trip. He loves it.

We even talked little brother into jumping off. He did it twice...only because I didn't get the picture the first time. He isn't quite the dare devil that his big brother is!

Because of the beautiful weather, we were able to spend all of our time outdoors!

The boys LOVED the new hot tub! We just had to limit their time in it...they would have stayed there all day! (Luke has actually been saving money for almost a year so he could buy a hot tub. Seriously.  Even pennies he finds on the ground go to his hot tub fund. So, PeePaw told Luke it's his hot tub...which he loved!)

Uncle Drew was a good sport and took Caleb on a long kayak ride.

Creed talked Caleb into riding the surf board with him. After a few minutes Caleb said he was done and simply jumped off. :)

Luke took a solid hour nap while we surfed and then continued to snooze after we came back to the boat house. At lease he was cool and in the shade!

On Friday, June 10th, we celebrated Creed's 34th birthday with a DQ ice cream cake!

Cleaning bluegill for our annual 4th of July fish fry

The following night we celebrated Caleb's 8th birthday. How could he be eight?!!

Caleb picked out his own dessert and had the lady cover the entire cookie cake in icing!

A downer... 

A really large, hard plastic cutting board fell off the sink and landed right on my toes the second day we were there. It cut my baby toe, and we are assuming broke it. My sweet husband carried me up and down the steps to the lake, and thankfully, I was able to sit around with my feet up most of the weekend. It did end my swimming and surfing for the weekend, which was a bummer. Having to limp around and walk on my heel was a big bummer too!

The handsome "dudes," as Luke would say

Normally Caleb sleeps on the bunk bed, but this trip decided to sleep on the couch in the bunk room. I think it had something to do with that sweet puppy he had cuddled up next to him each night!