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!