Joshua turns six!

Joshua is 6 years old! Now that he is six, he really wanted to have a "friend" party so we celebrated his birthday at the Louisville Nature Center. The party included animals brought over from the zoo...an elephant and lion.

Just kidding, however, there really were animals from the zoo, a rabbit and a turtle. After some time for the kids to play with the animals, his friends had the opportunity to go on a guided hike through Beargrass Creek State Park. This was followed by cake and ice cream.

Cute... Now

This picture is so cute now, they were having so much fun. The girls were laughing and squealing as Joshua drove the car a little too close to the trees and fence, and his daddy's corvette! Even at 5 years old he already likes to drive crazy (daddy has taught him well)! Like I said the picture is cute now, but in 11 years it will be plain scarey!

We are teaching them at a young age that they have to take care of their toys. Whenever Steve washes the cars he fills 4 buckets of soapy water and the kids wash their toys.

Goodbye Destin

My Aunt Diane went to Destin with us again this year. Here is a photo of her on her cell phone. We teased her, calling her Paris, because she has more friends than Steve and I and they all called to talk with her everyday! Thanks Aunt Diane for all the hours you spent holding our crying baby, applying sunblock to our children, and packing/unpacking snacks! We love you!

We left Destin at 5:00am Saturday morning. On the way home we visited with some dear friends who recently moved to Alabama, Jason and Marsha. They have three precious children, Harper (4), Mary Elizabeth (3) and Harrison (3). Needless to say the visit was crazy with six kids five and under! Steve and I so much enjoyed visiting with our friends, and now we miss them even more! The guys discussed some sort of camping trip in our future, hopefully near an outlet mall! As you can see from the photo, Katherine now begins to cry when I say the word "camera"...maybe I took too many pictures this past week!

Destin Day 4

Today Joshua said to me, "Florida is great, all we do is eat, sleep, and play!" His words could not be more true!

Eating

Sleeping

Playing

Destin Day 2

Day 2 was full of fun!

Destin

We are having a great time in Destin. We were on the beach at 8:00am and came in for the day at 8:00pm!! Evidently Hurricane Fay is headed this way so we are making the best of the nice weather while we have it. Here are some first day photos.

Summer of Fun

I love summertime! We have had an incredibly fun summer and I tried to catch as much as I could on film. This time in my life is crazy busy and I am exhausted at 8:30 when the kids are tucked in bed, in saying that, I would not trade this time for anything! I am blessed to be able to stay at home and be a wife and mother above all else. Here a few of my favorites (there are many more).

Joshua never misses a chance to cut the grass on the riding lawn mower with Steve! It appears to be quite relaxing. He almost always falls alseep!

Everyone except Katherine enjoys rides on the boat when we visit the lake.

Joshua especially loves being on the boat.

Lydia playing on the see-saw at her Uncle David's house.

Being a pediatric OT is great, I get to tryout great activities with my kids and they love it! This is puffy paint made with shaving cream and glue!

The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends wearing helmets any time you or your child is riding a bike, scooter, etc...especially a go-cart! (per Dr. Steve)

I guess I am not the only one that is exhausted with all the summertime fun!

The Fruit of the Spirit

This summer we have been studying the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 reads, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Each week this summer we have placed a piece of "fruit" on our tree and memorized a corresponding Bible verse. Throughout that week, we focused on that character trait, identifying when we see it and when we have failed to live it. I enjoy doing this because instead of saying "Joshua, quit bugging your sister!" 100 times a day. I can firmly but gently say "Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace." (Romans 14:20). Just a side note-it is very hard to use an unkind tone or raise your voice when you are speaking God's Word. Because we are also memorizing these verses, they know exactly what I am saying to them. It is so important to bring the Scriptures to life for our children, to teach them that the Bible is God's authortative Word and that it is the standard for living. This week the children are on goodness (I am still working on patience!).

Major League

Joshua and Lydia are playing T-ball this summer. We have already come such a long way in just five weeks. Lydia now knows her pink glove has at least three uses: a hat, a phone (anything can be a pretend phone!), and a device for placing a small ball! Her favorite part of the game is the popsicle at the end.

Joshua enjoys the popsicles as well. His favorite part of the game is running the bases. He can hit the ball pretty good. Their final game is this weekend. If their league kept score, I'm sure we'd be the champs!

Green Peppers

As many of you know, Joshua and I wanted to plant a garden this year. So as usual, Steve did lots of work.

However, we are now reaping the benefits of his hard work. We picked our first two vegetables-green peppers (which by the way Steve does not even like)!

He also does not eat squash!