8 is Great!

I can not believe that I have been a mother now for 8 years.  I still feel 16, so how can my eldest be half way to driving? It's a mystery.  Although I am baffled by it all, I am certainly blessed by it as well.  This little man is a gift for sure.  He is funny, sneaky, energetic, handsome as all get out, creative, smart, goofy, and loving.  He still loves to cuddle and give kisses.  For that I am so grateful!  He loves to build with legos, jump on the trampoline, make people laugh, play video games, play sports, run fast, jump high, and do all the sorts of things little boys love to do.  He is incredibly sensitive....he melts down in a moment if he thinks people are laughing at him or teasing him.  He has some trouble with the truth...but with God's great help we are working on that.  I pray that as he grows and matures that he will fall so deeply in love with the Lord that he will see all of life through His eyes.  I pray that he will so in tune with the Truth inside of him that it will come spilling out.  It is my greatest prayer that he would learn to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and would obey Him at a moment's notice.  By God's grace I know he will grow up to do great things!  I love this kid so stinking much!

We celebrated this momentous occasion with a backyard drive in.  We watched "alvin and the chipmunks: Chipwrecked" and ate popcorn, puppy chow, and candy.  He had lots of friends over and got lots of great gifts.  It was tons of fun.  We love to celebrate!

The Branson Trout Hatchery

Being a homeschool family, you know we had to throw a little education into our vacation!  We took an afternoon jaunt over to the fish hatchery and learned a little about trout.  And when I say a little, that's exactly what I mean.  The only part of the place that actually offers real information (a video about the life cycle of fish, seeing the eggs and hatchlings, etc) was closed for renovation.  Oh well, what can you do?  

 We were able to walk around and see the different sizes of trout they had and pump quarters into the turn-style machine to fetch wretched smelling pellets to throw at the little buggars.

 I started to feel the puke rise up in my throat as the fish swarmed for the tiny brown pellets.  They were flipping up out of the water and flopping around on each other.  My minds eye couldn't help but envision the swarm engulfing me.  It was sorta a horror movie type feeling....but, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for the education of my kids.  Oh, yeah....we didn't really learn anything.  Well....they had fun anyway so we'll call it a win.  For them.  Not for me.

Hiking in Branson

What a joy to have a week long vacation in Branson with the Porter family.  We played, went to Silver Dollar City (the boys were tall enough to ride things without an adult!!!), swam in the indoor pool, and went fishing.  One afternoon while Matt and Stephanie put their littles down for a nap we took our "not so littles" on a hike to a waterfall.  It was so fun.  But I am a little disheartened as I look back at these pictures...who are these big kids and where have my babies gone?   They are so grown up....and we are loving all the fun we get to have with them!            

Easter

back in the saddle

I'm feeling all motivated tonight.  The family and I just spent the last hour of our night in a corner table at Wendy's telling stories about when the kids were little.  We were recounting little things they used to say incorrectly and little funny stories about silly things they would ask about.  This trip down memory lane led to a visual journey through the recesses of our family blog.  What an awesome night!  We laughed til we couldn't breathe and just plain enjoyed each other.  It was stupendous.  It was also eye-opening for me.  There were lots of amazing and hilarious stories from just a few short years back that I had forgotten.  Praise the Lord for this blog....it's an amazing online scrapbook of our kids growing up years.  And shame on me for being on such a hiatus.  Well no more my friends.  I am back in the saddle.  Life moves too quickly to not jot down these precious times to remember at a later date.