Happy Birthday to Jimmy

Yesterday, we celebrated Jimmy's 37th birthday. He enjoyed turkey hunting with a friend from church the day before so when I asked him what he would like to do he appropriately answered, "just spend a fun day with my family!"

The weather was a beautiful 85 degrees so he wanted to get outside and enjoy "World Fest" at Silver Dollar City. He received a Happy Birthday ribbon to proudly wear around the park...needless to say, it didn't stay on for long!

The boys had a blast playing in the kid's area. It was a 3 story building with foam balls everywhere. You could shoot the balls with air guns, suck them up with long vacuum hoses or feed them onto a ladder that traveled up when you turned the steering wheel. Our boys were fascinated by this.


Then we enjoyed the "Feet of Fire" show. Amazingly, Bryce was able to sleep on my lap with all the loud music playing!
Of course, no Silver Dollar City day would be complete without rides...my least favorite thing! Someone has to take pictures, right?

Jimmy's birthday dinner didn't quite turn out as planned. Drew fell asleep in the car so Bryce and I ate while J stayed in the car with Drew. Then we "tag-teamed" Jimmy so he could eat a nice "quiet" dinner. Then Drew woke up and wanted to eat, so we all sat together. It was kind of a crazy, long meal, but thankfully, our server was patient and we tipped her well!

We ended the evening with some yummy Marble Slab ice cream.

Happy Birthday Jimmy & Daddy. WE all love you and appreciate you so much. WE are so blessed to have you. You are the BEST!

A Wonderful Visit

This past week, Jimmy's childhood pastor/family friend and his wife came to visit us. Donny and Diane recently retired, bought a beautiful trailer, truck and motorcycle and have been touring the US for the past 7 months...it's a pretty sweet setup! They parked their trailer in a nearby RV park and enjoyed riding their motorcycle hundreds of miles throughout the Ozark Mountains. They came to our house for dinner 2 nights and then Donny and Diane took me and the boys out to dinner one night since Jimmy was out of town. We had a wonderful time visiting and catching up with them and of course, it was extra special being able to introduce them to Bryce and Drew! The boys enjoyed the attention and love they were shown! They seem to feel right at home with other grandparents!

Donny and Diane are very special to us. Fifteen years ago (this Aug) Donny married us. We also did pre-marital counseling with them both. Jimmy and I still remember a lot of the advice they shared with us and have had many opportunities in the past 15 years to put it into action!

Donny and Diane,

Thank you for driving to see our family and for spending time with us. We thoroughly enjoyed it! You are both generous, loving and servant-minded individuals. We love you and appreciate you and look forward to seeing you on your next road trip!

Easter 09

Saturday night the boys enjoyed coloring Easter eggs. We got the decorating kit that had stickers so that was a big hit, of course!

Their finished products...

Easter 09: Part 2

After church on Sunday, our friends Jeff, Kristina, Maddy and Keenan came over for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt. The weather was horrible...40 degrees and pouring down rain. So, needless to say, the Easter egg hunt was indoors this year!

We decided it would be best to let the 3 three year olds do their own first...

Bryce and Keenan ran around the house stuffing as many eggs in their baskets as possible while Drew would pick one up at a time and immediately open it! He didn't care that 1/2 of the egss had "monies" in them - he just wanted the ones with candy! It was so funny to watch!
The 3 boys with all of their loot!

We gave the boys ziploc bags to sort their "monies" and candy into. Keenan just dumped out his eggs to eat the candy - mainly chocolote. Drew dumped out his eggs too - mainly to eat skittles (new to him!). Bryce dumped his eggs out and in a very organized fashion, seperated his goodies into appropriate piles. I love to see the differences in children's personalitites. They are ALL so different!


Since Maddy is 9, she got to have her Easter egg hunt all by herself!

Although we receive enJOYment from the Easter baskets, the jelly beans and Resses peanut butter eggs, and the cute outfits, our true JOY comes from understanding what Easter is REALLY all about.

I love the lyrics to this song...

"Can't Keep A Good Man Down."

He said goodbye to the angels of heaven

And He came to earth as a common man

He taught us how we could love one another

There was healing in His hands

There were those who believed and followed Him

And there were those who wanted Him dead

They thought the grave would silence Him forever

But they found out instead

Chorus:You can close your eyes

You can say it's a lie

You can stick your head in the sand

You can turn away and try to explain

He was just another man

When they nailed Him to the cross by His hands and His feet and they put Him in the ground

Three days later everybody found out that ya can't

No you can't keep a good man down,

I hear you say that it all sound crazy

It's a good story but it can't be true

How could a man who was dead and buried

Mean a thing to you and me

Here we are two thousand years later

And still the choice is just the same

You can say ya don't believe it

But it doesn't change a thing

Chorus

I can take you to the hill where they hung Him on a cross

I can take you to the empty tomb

I can tell you He's alive 'cause He lives in me

But the rest is up to you

Chorus

1 Down 1 To Go!

YIPEE!

BRYCE IS POTTY TRAINED!

We told the boys that when they turned 3 we were not going to buy any more diapers. After a few consistent days of encouragement, Bryce got it!

Drew is close but not quite there yet. He is still a little afraid about going "poo-poo" on the potty...he thinks it's "LUCKY!" = YUCKY! He also has a few "pee-pee" accidents throughout the day - mainly because he's so busy and I think he forgets or gets distracted. I'm sure he'll have it mastered in just a few days. I don't think he wants to be left behind!

3rd Birthday Party

The boys' 3rd Birthday Party was a huge success. We all had a blast at "The Party Place." We decorated with Mickey Mouse (of course!)

Mom & Mike captured a lot of great pics with their camera but unfortunately we are unable to download from their disk, so here's a few from our camera.

Bryce and Drew had lots of fun with their friends...

Maddy and Keenan

CJ
Lakyn
The triplets - Grayson, Andrus and Liam and Morgan and Maddy

And Miss Kelly
The bounce house was fun...

Air hockey was a hit...

The ladder was challenging...


The car was cool...

And even Great Grandma enjoyed shooting a few hoops!

The funnest thing was the large inflatable - you had to climb the tall ladder


To slide down into the ball pit

And then a fun obstacle course to get out...

To be continued...