Funny memories...

March 2012

Elise turned around to the girls behind us in line at Carowinds and said, "Don't fight each other!"

April 2012

Isaac asked me who would be picking them up from preschool, and I said "Me, Mommy, Momma-mia!"  Then Elise said, "No, that's Amelia's Mommy!"  [Elise pronounces her friend Amelia's name as "Mia", so of course "Momma-mia" would be Amelia's Mom!]

June 3, 2012

Isaac fell over and said "I hurt myself!"  Steven said, "Brush it off!"  Isaac responded, "Brushing doesn't help!"

June 11, 2012

Isaac did some cool spinning around with his bike and when I said how cool it was, he said, "It grew.  It's older now." [referring to his bike.  Because it can do cool stuff now that it's older, you know.]

June 12, 2012

Elise and Isaac decided to dig a bit in our garden.  I was fixing supper, and they were playing right outside where I could hear and see them.  By the time dinner was ready, they had dug a 1.5 ft long by 6 inch wide trench in our garden.  It was also probably 6-8 inches deep.  They had poured water in it and made a muddy mess.  They were covered in mud!  I wouldn't let them come inside until I hosed them off.  They both thought the water was too cold and were running around our yard saying, "It's too cold!" while completely naked!  Elise even went out to the play area and started digging in the mulch with no clothes on!  Silly kiddos!  I am laughing as I am typing!  Once we got them hosed off, we went inside and they tip-toed upstairs for a real bath.  

June 14, 2012

Isaac and I were snuggling in our bed after naptime.  I said, " You're my snuggle bug, right?" he nodded.  Then he said, " No, I'm not a bug." I asked,"What are you?" He responded, "I'm Isaac." "OK then," I said "You are my snuggle Isaac... My snuggle boy!"  He thought about it and said, "I'm a man." I then said, "Well, then you're my snuggle man!" To that, he responded, "No, I'm a mowing man. Can I mow tonight?". :)

Elise's Favorite song right now:

We had a good day, had a good day, had a good day, a good day all day long!" Sung while jumping and clapping.

Isaac's pronunciations:

"Good mor-ling!"  [Good morning]

"Breh-test" [Breakfast]

We talk a lot about healthy things to do that give us energy - like eating good foods, taking naps, etc.  One day when we were leaving our house for Carowinds recently, Isaac grabbed his calf muscle and moved it back and forth, saying to me, "See this right here?"  I said, "Yes, I see that!  It's your calf muscle!"  He responded, "That's energy.  See, it's full of energy!"

June 22, 2012
Isaac said while building his Geotrax train "God is good!  God is SO good!  He is really good."  Then he called to Elise in the other room and said, "God is a good man, isn't he Elise?!"

Beach Trip with Gramps and Nana!

Two weeks ago, my Dad called and said he'd secured an exchange of my parents' timeshare for a week at Hilton Head Island.  He was planning to go down the following day and check the place out.  He called the next day and said the condo was big enough for our family to come for a few days, so we made plans to head down on Wednesday evening and stay through Sunday.  My mom, the kids, and I left around lunchtime on Wednesday, and Steven planned to join us after work on Friday night.  Once we arrived on Wednesday, we had a nice dinner at the condo and took the kids to the beach to run around.  Thursday, my parents, the kids, and I visited Harbortown and the South Beach Marina on Hilton Head.  It was dreary and rainy, so we headed back after that for lunch and games in the condo.  

Here are some pictures from our time at Harbortown...

Thursday night, after I put the kids to bed, Steven surprised me by coming one night early!  I was so glad to see him!  He had taken Friday off work so that he could spend more time with us, and we were thrilled!  Friday turned out to be a gorgeous day, so we all spend most of the day at the beach.  For some reason, the beach was filled with sticks and branches that were washed up from the ocean.  Most of the kids on the beach got creative and used them for making castles or forts.  

Isaac and Elise each enjoyed their time with Gramps, as you can tell!

Our sweet babes, enjoying the sand as always:

Isaac and Steven, playing paddleball:

And then digging a deep hole:

Mom enjoyed watching and playing with the kids, too.  When Steven or Daddy were with the kids, Mom and I enjoyed some quality talk time.

Mom and Dad watched the kids so that Steven and I could walk/run on the beach together, too, which was lots of fun.  We walked all the way to the side of the island where there is a rock wall.  We walked on the huge rocks and felt the seaspray.  Then we came back and played some more in the sand...

We all went to dinner at Fuddrucker's on Friday night for some yummy burgers.  On Saturday, we stayed close to the condo and played games, rode bikes (Gramps and Isaac), read, napped, and had a restful day.  Daddy and Steven cooked pork chops for us that night, and then we all went out to the bonfire (provided by the condo) to roast marshmallows!

Isaac and Gramps rode their bikes around the Island every morning.  They took at least an hour bike ride each day, and Isaac LOVED it!  We were so impressed with how bike-friendly Hilton Head is, and their parks are awesome too!

It was a wonderful trip and we are grateful for the super special memories we made.  We love you Gramps and Nana!

Remember this Gem?

Steven here.. I was browsing through our YouTube channel the other day when something popped out to me, which I hadn't noticed.  One of our uploaded videos had 693 viewings!  It was none other than the cute video of Isaac singing "Hallelujah" with us when he was just a year old. 

If you want a smile on your face and simply another "feel good" moment in your day, check out this video from a few years ago!

Sweet babes after a swim...

Here's a little picture Steven captured on his iPhone after a swim in our neighborhood pool and taking showers there, too.  The kids are clean and ready for bed!  I love summertime!!!

Pure silliness!

Lately I've been taking the kids to a quiet church playground in our area, and the kids have wanted to slide down on the big slide together.  They have the best time pushing each other down or following each other.  Then they get to the bottom and end up like this... 





The giggling goes on and on!  It really blesses my heart to be able to watch them bond with each other and have such fun together!


One day a few weeks ago, the kids were playing in the back yard. Then they needed to tell me something, so this is what they did to get my attention...





No matter how the day was going, it was better after seeing those faces!!


I knew it was bound to happen... One day in early June, the kids were playing quietly upstairs.  I was cleaning downstairs and was grateful that they were playing peacefully.  However, it was too quiet.  I went upstairs to check on them.  I found them in Elise's room with her closet doors open and my old Mary Kay inventory stash scattered all over the floor.  They had opened all the blushes, powders, and lipsticks.  Their faces were covered in lipstick!  They told me they were "doing makeup Mommy!"  Needless to say, I moved that stash to be completely out of reach!  (But I have recently caught them looking around for the "makeup", telling each other "let's find Mommy's makeup!")  


Later that evening, while I was at a meeting, Steven let the kids get the stash back out and play some more.  Here's the result...








Life is always a great adventure with these two sweeties!

"Rejoice, for He has made me glad!"