Are you tired?!?

Usually on Tuesday's we pick Port up from school, grab a treat, and then head home for naps so that mommy can meet with girls. Today when we got home, no one seemed too interested in nap time. After listening to the boys play in their room for about an hour, I decide to go interrupt. (I push nap time on my kids because they are almost unbearable without them...if not today for sure tomorrow) I walk in to find them in the top bunk together giggling. So I decide to use a little Danny Silk (Loving Your Kids on Purpose) on them....

"Hey guys are you tired?" -mom

NO! - boys

"I have some things you could do if your not tired..." - mom

Great! - boys

"I need you to pick up the dog poop in the backyard"- mom

"Awesome! This is so much fun! You are the best mom in the whole world for letting us pick up the dog poop. Will you let us help you again!" -boys

So they didn't actually get the concept, but it made for a funny memory that's for sure! I also got the dog poop picked up, pack porch swept, upstairs cleaned, boys bedroom cleaned, and doors washed...didn't turn out so bad for me I guess!?!

Tea Party

I don't have any pictures for this post, but it was just too sweet to pass on. Last night the boys were outside playing basketball with some of the boys from the neighborhood. I came in with Ella and she pulled out her tea set. We sat in the living room and had our first tea party! We laughed so hard, it was one of my most favorite moments of all times. Then she grabbed my purse and went to find her little purse. We walked around the house carrying our purses on our wrist until daddy walked in!

Oh my...the fun of little girls has just begun!! Ella has started talking so much lately and it's SO clear. We are definitely in a fun season right now!

MoNkIeS!

If you ever wondered where my kids get their crazy sense of adventure...check out their daddy at the top of the tree!

Haynes would fearlessly climb to the top if we would let him!

Port is actually now capable of climbing as high as he wants, this is one of his favorite things to do!

Ella is still just a member of the audience when it comes to climbing, but it won't be long I'm sure!

One of our family's favorite things to do is going and spending our evenings on campus. It has been beautiful for the last few days, so we had a picnic on campus the other night. We brought soccer balls and played in the North Oval. We ended our evening by climbing our favorite tree! I love family nights!!!

Day at the Park

My little climber

Today has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We spent the afternoon at the park with the Doke's. Ella has turned into such a big girl, she would climb up and slide down all by herself. Haynes will climb anything that it taller than him...Port has gotten so good at climbing the monkey bars I can't hardly believe it! I felt like I had a moment today when I realized my kids are getting SO big! This is such a fun season of life I want to take in EVERY minute!

Heading Home!

The three of us bought some AWEFUL rings in the hotel gift store. We were trying to take a picture on our way home and Port decided to jump in!

Haynes making cookies for us as we are flying home!

I LOVE this sweet face!!!

Port loved getting these pictures as much as we did! One afternoon Port asked to call Haynes and Ella because he was missing them. Ella got on the phone and clearly said, "Hi Port!" Port and Haynes continued to chat about their week for a few minutes, it was one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. I am so thankful that my kids are so sweet to each other!

My precious girl found a new love for helmets while we were gone! I think she would prefer to wear a helmet to a bow according to my mom...

The REAL story behind the Redwoods...

Sunday night we are discussing the length of the drive to the Redwoods. At one point the time "4 hours" is mentioned, but quickly disregarded when a few of us start overreacting...As we hit our 3 hour mark in the craziest drive I have ever been on Brian looks at me and says, "I think it's going to be 4 hours..." Our car goes completely silent, which Brian immediately turns to humor. Here are a few of his comments:

"So...what are you thinking..."

"Come on girls, lets just talk it out..." (Brooke and I are the girls he's referring to...)

"Okay...let's have a roast, just go for it!"

We stop at the first rest stop once you get into the "Avenue of the Giants." We take a few pictures, and then Brian heads in to ask a few questions. We quickly follow wanting to hear any information first hand this time:-)

Apparently the Redwoods have a season, and this is not their season. The ONLY thing that was open is this rest stop where we happened to stop! He had a snack shop in the back (which had not been stocked since August) where we grabbed some snacks for lunch. Everyone was beyond words...all we could do was laugh!

Brian, our leader, offered to buy everyone's lunch/snacks:-)

In his defense...he did a ton of research on this and never found anything about a season for the Redwoods. He was a great leader and turned an unfortunate situation into a hilarious one!!!

Brian was pretty rough on Brooke and her attitude:-) She bought CornNuts to torture him with smell and breathe down his back...

Someone had a picture of Brooke and I climbing a tree like this at some point in the weekend... We thought it was appropriate to at least try:-)

We did actually get to hike through a trail in the Redwoods for a few hours which was really fun! Port loved exploring and we loved being able to move:-)

I'm not sure that I've laughed as hard as I did throughout this entire trip, my abs were actually sore every morning! Brian finally took a picture of the non-stop laughing!

Gerod...trying to climb a tree:-)

It took us 4 1/2 hours to get to the Redwoods, but we made it home in about 3 1/2. It was definitely a trip I will never forget, or ever make again! If you are someone that gets car sick AT ALL...never drive to the Redwoods from Redding!

We MaDe A mEmOrY!

(as my mom would say...)

The Redwoods

We had 9 people come to the Redwoods, because some people had to fly home and others stayed back in Redding for SoZo's. These are the fun pictures...make sure to read the next post for the full story!

The Girls

*Kerri's bag got lost and she didn't actually get it until Monday afternoon. She was an AMAZING trooper considering the circumstances!

Brian and Port standing on the trunk of a Redwood

We might have been slightly delirious....

Brian holding me and Port

All the Girls!

My StRoNg MaN!

We were all FREEZING but he insisted on wearing shorts and t-shirt!

Yes we did just drive through that tree!

It sounded like an easy thing...it was slightly more intense than it sounds!

Hiking in Redding

Port was such a trooper on our trip! He was up late each night (one night he said "I feel like an adult" because he was up so late). We left early most mornings (we even had to wake him up!)...He mostly didn't have a nap, but if he did it was only about an hour. So at the end of most days he passed out in some random place! This picture is from Saturday night dinner, he slept through the entire meal! Poor guy...

Sunday afternoon we took Port hiking during our afternoon break. It was SO much fun and Port was beyond excited to have some alone time and get to explore.

Port Robert

Mommy and Port

I asked Port to take our picture...he did pretty good huh?!?

A few fun ones from Redding and Norman

Good Morning from Haynes!

(No he didn't lose a tooth, it's a blueberry!)

Port was really concerned that he lost a tooth before him

Moon Landing?!?

Shannon and Brooke were pretty confident that two people couldn't sleep on the fold out couch...so Brian and Gerod decided to prove them wrong.

Emma and Port heading to their fun class!

These two don't know a stranger, but Emma takes it to a whole new level! Not only does she engage every person she encounters, she will be in their laps taking pictures before too long. Watch out, she is going to be the next great evangelist!

My mom and dad are without a doubt the absolute best at sending pictures to us when we are gone! My dad has been concerned that they send too many, but we have assured them that there are never too many pictures! These are my sweet babies saying goodnight on Thursday night! We missed them SO much!!!

Heading into Redding!

The most AMAZING double rainbow I've ever seen!

Dude Van

Doke's Van

Grigor's Van

Hartsock's Van

We rented 4 mini-vans and drove into Redding on Friday morning! We were thankful for leaving a little later in the morning, since we had such a late night! Don't worry Port was up early, as usual, so he enjoyed a morning swim in the hot tub with all the boys!

Leaving for Redding!

Brooke, Alicia

Shannon, Kristin, Laura

Logan, Britany, Sam

Chris, Megan, and Emma

Port and Emery

Waiting for the vans

(check out the sleeping boy in his carseat!)

We all piled into one van with our luggage...

trying to not be stopped by the police man standing next to us!

(Port is completely sound asleep...but managed to smile for the picture!)

We took a group of students and adults to Redding California to visit Bethel Church. Since we live in missional communities, we felt like it would be a great opportunity to go and let our students "receive all that God had for them" over Spring Break this year! We took Port with us and let Haynes and Ella spend the week with Lolli and Champ.

Lost

Until the last few months, I have proudly been able to say that I have NEVER lost one of my children. Especially being a mother to Haynes, I felt quite a bit pride with that claim. I few months ago Port, Ella, and I were shopping for a belt in Dillards. I set Ella down to wrap a belt around Port's waist and she was gone. I felt confident she was in the area, but after a full minute of calmly looking...we realized she moves much quicker than I estimated! Port's response was to scream, "SHE'S LOST!" While I calmly(?!?) said, "Jesus help us find Ella now!" My talker suddenly turned into a quite little girl, but we quickly found her in the shoes...of all places:-)

A few weeks ago, Ella and I ran to the book store to get a gift for a friend. I put Ella down and grabbed a book seeing what direction she quickly walked toward. I was pretty confident in where she had gone, until again I couldn't find her for about a full minute! (A minute may not sound long to you, but try it sometime if you are skeptical...) Again I found her playing with the train, not even phased that I was looking for her!

Needless to say, keep your eyes on this girl...she moves fast!

Baby Shower for Megan

Megan and Chase

We threw a baby shower for my cousin Megan a few weeks ago. She is expecting her first baby girl any day! They are naming her Kinsley Grace. We are so excited to celebrate the birth of this sweet baby girl. It was so fun spending time with Megan, friends and family at her shower.

Pajama Party...take 2!

Port had his Pajama Party on Thursday and he has been so excited about this party for the last two weeks.... Last week Port came home from school telling me that "Teacher Skye told him that he got to wear his pajamas to school the next day." So for the next few days he picked out pj's and talked about his party pretty much non-stop. I got Judi to watch Haynes and Ella so that I could go to Port's party and take pictures. On my way there Judi called and said that Braxton and Sutton didn't have any pj's on, but she thought they would be fine with that...I grabbed two extra sets of pajamas and ran up to the school (trying to win aunt of the year award). When I walked in I saw Sutton first (with normal clothes on) and then I started noticing that ALL the kids had normal clothes on! Port walks up about that time and says, "What are you doing here?!"(in his normal clothes that I packed for later that day) I laughed and said, "You told me to come to your party?" One of his great teacher comes up and says, "Did you check the calendar?" Well the answer was obviously no....

So a week later, I checked the schedule about 3 times, and we got dressed for the Pajama's Party! Lesson learned...check the schedule even if your 4 year old sounds 100% confident in what he's telling you!

Oklahoma Science Museum

Waiting to be released!

Painted our faces to look like Tigers!

Riding the Segway

Sutton and Port got to blow up a balloon

Haynes with scissors?!?

Angie and I got to go with the boys to the Oklahoma Science Museum last week. I brought Haynes with us, while Brooke watched Ella for me. The boys had a great time! Angie and I agreed that we never stopped running after these five boys. We were assigned Braxton, Sutton, Port, Dax, and Haynes. We only lost track of Sutton once...but just for a few minutes:-) Port and Sutton got to participate in the show where they blew up things, it was so fun! We thought it was funny that the kids wanted to ride the Segway since Grandad has one at his house, but they loved it! Thanks boys for loving Haynes and making him feel like one of the dudes!