Happy Father's Day!!

I never do a post about my husband, so Father's Day seems like a perfect time in which to do this. The entire time I was growing up, I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to be a mommy. It's funny though, because I always had a picture of what my life as a mom was going to be like. I knew all the things I wanted to do with my children. I knew that I did not want to work outside of our home. I knew that I wanted at least 3 children. However, never in my dreams of the future did I picture my husband ever really doing anything with our children. Boy, am I sure glad that I was WAY OFF!!

I truly believe that the Lord made Bob for me. He knew long before either of us were born, that we would be together and be a perfect fit. Sounds corny, I know, but true nonetheless! This works out wonderfully, because what I cannot do, Bob can. I cannot be a father to my children. However, God designed Bob to be the absolute best dad to the kids that they could ever hope to have.

These are just some of the reasons why he is an amazing father:

1. Most of the time he has far more patience than I do.

2. He is definitely more "fun" than I am.

3. Bob is wonderful about taking the time to enjoy the children.

4. He loves us more than we deserve.

5. Bob provides a Godly example of what a father/husband should be like for our kids.

6. He is an amazing provider and works so hard for our family.

By no means is this a complete list of why he is an amazing father, but I would never have the time to list them all!

Thank you Bob for all that you do for our family!! Happy Father's Day!!

Bowling with Mommy

I am always a sucker for a good deal. The past two summers, we've taken advantage of kidsbowlfree.com. If you sign up, they will e-mail you coupons each week for your kids to each get 2 free games of bowling every day. You have to still pay for shoes, but it's a lot cheaper than it would be otherwise. So I decided to take the boys bowling the other day for something fun to do. They love it, and it kills an afternoon, inside an air conditioned building!

Here is Maddox hoping Mom hurries up and take the picture so he can go bowl!!
The first time Preston bowled, the ball stopped halfway down the lane. So the attendant working brought us this little dinosaur that the kids can set the ball on and allow it to roll down it's back. That way it gets enough momentum to make it down the lane. Brennen used it to rest against after he bowled every time. I guess to him bowling is an exhausting sport!

Caden is starting to actually bowl with some sense of strategy and actual form!

Preston would get so excited after releasing the ball every time. He would skip all the way back to his chair. I don't exactly know why, because he never even stopped to see what the ball did after he let it go!

Ella sat patiently in her stroller and just soaked in the odd atmosphere of a bowling alley. This is her "no photos, please" pose!

Isn't she just beautiful?!?!

A day in the Nelson's pool

One of our great friends, the Nelson's, live a block away from us. They won favorite friends status by buying a house that had a pool! This past Saturday their little boy, Josh, turned 5. Such a big birthday, since now he gets to go to Kindergarten! Josh had a swimming party for his birthday. So we loaded up the wagon, and set off on our 1 block walk to join in the festivities.
This was Ella's first trip in the wagon. She did really well. I figured that she might keep trying to stand up, but perhaps having Caden pull her freaked her out enough to make her just sit very still!

Although you can't really tell at all based on these pictures, Ella LOVES the water. She got pretty annoyed as time went on that Mommy made her sit in the big floating whale. However, if I just held her, she kept trying to dunk her face. Go figure!

Caden enjoying the water!

Maddox jumping off the diving board. He loves to do it, which is good, because Bob made him do it 5 times in a row just to get a picture!

A good time was definitely had by all!!

We LOVE our Neighbors!!

When we bought our house, we knew absolutely nothing out the people that lived in the culdesac. We prayed that God would lead us to the right house for our family, and as always, he never disappoints. We very quickly found that we may very well have the worlds best neighbors!

Here are three of our boys hanging out at the Ruch's house. They live directly next door. Their little girl, Courtlyn is almost 5 and their little boy, Kiefer, is 2 months younger than Preston. (They also have a new little boy that is 2 months younger than Ella!) The kids all have an absolute blast together. This particular day, they were lounging, talking, and eating popcorn.

Aren't they a cute bunch?!

Then on Memorial Day, they broke out the inflatable pools to cool off. Here is Caden and Kiefer hanging out.

Preston and Kiefer. These two are so stinking cute together!

And my Maddox!

Here is the gang. Also in there is Raquel. She lives 3 doors down and is the same age as Caden.

More pool fun!

I guess we're showing off muscles here?!

Brennen and Courtlyn now joining Preston and Kiefer. Brennen calls Courtlyn "one of his girls!"

Our first annual trip to Worlds of Fun

We have always talked about taking the kids to Worlds of Fun, but have always just kept putting it off for one reason or another. Either we'd just had a baby, or I was pregnant. This year we had none of these excuses, and Caden and Maddox both had free tickets. So Bob took the Friday before Memorial Day off and we made the trek to Worlds of Fun! It was a lot of fun. More fun than what I would have thought it would have been. We did experience two rough points. The first was around 3:00 when we finally stopped for lunch. It was getting really hot, everybody was tired, and hungry. Apparently the way my family handles these obstacles is to get VERY angry with one another. However, after a nice $50 hamburger lunch, (yes, $50!!) everybody was good to go again. The second incident was on the way out of the park. With no trams, and 4 exhausted little walkers, the trip back to the van could be termed as more of a "death march."

Here is the line to have sunscreen applied before we went into the park. You know me, I'm a freak about sunscreen!

This was the very first ride. Preston wanted to ride with me. Caden and Maddox rode together, and Brennen opted to wait with Bob and Ella. Preston did okay until the ride got going pretty well, and then started crying, "I want my Daddy!"

The Viking Voyager was next. First Bob went on it with all 4 boys and then we used "rider swap" so that I could ride. Brennen opted to sit out the second time!

Next was the Octopus. Caden and Maddox rode together again, and I rode with Preston, who again spent the ride crying for his daddy. However, as soon as it was over, was fine. Go figure!

Bob, Caden, Maddox, and Preston then went on the Sea Dragon. Brennen decided to sit it out with Ella and I. (Surprised, huh?!)

My family did not do very well on this ride. This includes my husband. You will notice that you do not really see my family in the back row anymore. I guess they figured it was better to just not look. Preston spent this ride crying out, "I want my Mommy!"

The smaller boys were too small for the Fury of Nile, so we let Bob and the older boys ride. They loved it the ride, and loved getting wet even more.

Next was the train around the park. Brennen, my daredevil, LOVED the train. The whole time just kept saying, "Whee!" Really? Oh well, it was finally a ride that Ella got to participate in.

And I think that this last picture pretty much sums up how we all felt by the end of the day!

Ella's 9 month photo shoot

Ella had a 9 month photo shoot at JCPenneys a couple weeks ago. I can't say that it would have made the cover of Vogue, but we got a few good shots.

Unfortunately, Ella has learned to crawl since her last pictures were taken. She decided to utilize this recently acquired skill a little more than what Mommy would have liked!

Her "sultry" look!

I'm standing!!

Don't let her fool you, I'm sure she's thinking evil thoughts!

Trying to tear apart the flower:

Mommy's favorite:

Crawling away, again...

Why is the photographer way up there?

Maybe I'll cry...

Daddy's outfit choice:

Ella is growing up so fast. She was 19 pounds 3 oz at her 9 month appointment and was 29 inches long. She is doing her best to keep up with all those boys!!!