Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What We've Been Up To

The month of July has been chock full of fun thus far. Here are few highlights.

In early July we met up with my cousin Katie at a park in Williamsburg. She is back on the east coast for the summer while her husband undergoes training to be a chaplain in the army. Katie and I share many fun memories of spending time together at parks when we were young, so it was neat to gather our children together for a morning play date. As we sat around the table picnicking, her with her three and me with my five, Katie commented, "Wow, we've multiplied!"


My sweet second cousins, Delia and Anabelle.





My mom with the two babies. Claire and Eva are only a few days apart in age!




Happy babies!

Brian and the older three boys had another fun night of camping in the backyard. The boys participated in pitching the tent, digging out a fire pit, and we all roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores before Brian and the boys spent the night in the tent. The boys loved it. It is definitely a fun event, but Brian and I both agree that for now the backyard is the best spot for this adventure and once a year is frequent enough.






During the week of July 4th we spent a few days with Brian's parents in Williamsburg. On the fourth we were able to take the older three boys to Colonial Williamsburg for an evening of fun while the little ones stayed with Grammy and Pappy.



We ate hot dogs, ice-cream and cake at a fair in Colonial Williamsburg.


Me with the man behind the grill. The hat cracked me up.


Did you say cake?




We stayed for the fireworks show. The boys were so excited to see fireworks.

Awestruck.
We also enjoyed some time at the pool during our visit to Grammy and Pappy's.


Grammy and Claire keeping cool in the shade.


Pappy and Davis


Brian and I took Grant and Bryce to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, while Grammy and Pappy watched Carter, Davis and Claire. It was a fun day with just our oldest two.

Notice how soaked the boys are--and still smiling!





Fishing with Daddy. Always a hit.


Carter reeled it in all by himself.









Davis' first fish. Look carefully so you don't miss it!

We also completed a week of Vacation Bible School at "Saddle Ridge Ranch" where the boys learned how they can discover truths in God's Word. I was able to teach Davis' class this year. Below are my little ranch hands.



Wanted: for a bad case of the terrible twos.

We went blueberry picking at a local farm. The berries were abundant and delicious! Gramma came with us for a delightful morning. We are still enjoying the blueberries!








Super-Spiders

Don't let those plastic spiders deceive you, they're not just toys, oh no. They're Super-Spiders. According to the word on the street (boys' conversation I overheard) they don't only eject webbing from their hind parts, these spiders can "shoot out" an array of amazing elements including, but not limited to, fire, ice, lightning, hail, hot lava....

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Because Grandfathers are special too...

In addition to having two wonderful grandmothers, our children are also blessed to have two very special grandfathers. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of family, especially grandfathers!

Grandpa Waagner with Claire


Pappy, Davis and Claire

Monday, July 12, 2010

Cabbage Patch Kid

My very own real, live Cabbage Patch doll. Aren't those cheeks just delicious?

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Summertime

It's summ-a-time and we've been having fun...




































Birthday Fun



In addition to celebrating our anniversary in June, I also celebrated my birthday. This year I was blessed to be able to celebrate on several occasions with friends and family including a home-cooked meal at my parents, dinners with girlfriends, and a special evening out with my sister. We also had some family photos taken for my birthday (they will be posted soon!). It was fun to be able to celebrate all month long!

The evening out with my sister was actually a birthday present. My parents surprised me with tickets to a live performance of The Sound of Music at the Empire Theatre in Richmond for my birthday. The Sound of Music has been my long-standing favorite movie (how can you possibly not like it?) and I was thrilled to be able to see it performed on stage. Susannah treated me to dinner and her friend, Madeline, joined us to see the play. The entire performance was done amazingly well and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I have been singing and humming "My Favorite Things" ever since...