she's 8!

Believe it or not, the weather was nice and nobody was ill so we were able to have Mackenzie's party on the actual birthday! We spent the day at the beach with a bunch of friends-so much fun! Mackenzie informed me yesterday that, "It's a good day to be me." She had such a good time and we did too :)

Daddy giving Kylie a ride in the bucket


The first of many girly presents



Meilani



Abby-the first to escape "the pit" (as seen below)


Have kids and want to relax at the beach? Just throw them in a pit for awhile...


Victoria, Mackenzie, Noelle and Sophie


Kylie and Eddie chowing down the pizza


Jamey...seriously one of the cutest babies EVER!


Quite entertaining:


Time for the Mackenzie update... She is our sweet(most of the time:), sociable girl. Loves all things girly, although she will play anything Brendan plays. She doesn't like to be on her own very often, but prefers having playmates. She is still doing ballet and is doing really well. She looks so pretty with her long legs! This weekend she will have her next recital, so pics to come. Daddy has been teaching her tennis, and she is doing great! She has done really well in school this year; her reading has taken off. She is my hands on learner-loves to be doing, but not so much listening :) This has been somewhat of a challenge for me since I am a audio/visual learner, but the Lord is faithful and each year gets better. We are so proud of our girl and look forward to seeing her blossom as her understanding grows and her talents develop. She wrote a worship song with daddy this year, so hopefully we'll get that posted on here soon. Of course, we know how that goes... :)

Well, I'm only two months behind; I guess that's not so bad for me...
We celebrated Brendan's 10th birthday with his friends at a pool party at Grandma's house. We had a blast! Most of the time was spent with the partygoers pelting each other with beach balls. Of course, Donathan was the initial instigator; he was out to get Pete. Not sure where all this pent up agression came from! I think it's a boy thing...

easter 2011

True to form, I got almost no pictures of Easter in the Park. Everything turned out wonderful. We had a little bit of rain on Sunday morning, but by the end of service, the sun was shining and it was beautiful. I'm guessing there were over 1500 people there and many responded to Jesus. That makes all the time and effort totally worth it! Always such a blessing to be a part. Of course, afterwards we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some yummy food, fellowship and Easter Egg Hunt.

(These pictures are all out of order, but I am too lazy to fix it!)

decade

Our little boy has hit the double digits! We celebrated last week with Grandma and Grandpa. The pool party with friends was postponed seeing as how all three kids got sick. It seems to be coming a tradition for us :) Anyways, we had a great time and next week we will have the crazy party.




Brendan's gift from Daddy: a cajon. That means more banging around the house!


From Grandma and Grandpa: a trip to New York! (I think I will have to stowaway on that one!)


Books from Auntie Debbie and Uncle Jeremy; perfect for our bookworm.







Time for the Brendan update. He is still doing karate/jiu jitsu and loving it. Daddy has also been teaching the kids tennis a couple times a week and he's doing great. Still loves playing the drums, whether it's a full set, djembe or now, his cajon. He told me he wants to serve the Lord by playing drums for worship, so we will see what comes of that! He is excelling in his schoolwork, although he has inherited his dad's gift of very creative spelling :) We just started learning Koine Greek this past month and he's doing really well! I really enjoy homeschooling him and being able to discuss a lot of different topics. I think we both enjoy history the most. He is at the age where he loves telling us corny jokes and has inherited my gift of sarcasm. Hmmm. Guess we both need to work on that one. It's very strange to hear yourself come out of your kids! Daddy has been teaching him to sail and he loves it. I think it must be in the blood. We are hoping to get him started in a sailing program this next month. He is very much like me in that he could read all day once he gets started on a book. It drives Mackenzie crazy because she just wants to play with him! He loves building legos; definitely takes after Daddy's imaginative/creative side. He is a good big brother. Of course, like all siblings, he has his moments. We sometimes call him the "third parent," as he likes to correct his sister-one of those areas we need to work on :)
We are so thankful for our son and the joy that he brings to this family. I love how each of our kids are so unique. Can't wait to see what the Lord does with each of them!

essays

So I thought I would share some essays today for your reading enjoyment.
(All spelling will be left as written by the authors.)

Mackenzie's Expository Paragraph: My Favorite Foods

I have two favorite foods. These foods are spugety and green beans. My first favorite food is spugety. I like spugety because it tased good, very good. My second favorite food is green beans. Green beans make me say thank you to mommy. My favorite foods mak me want to eat.

Brendan's Narrative Essay: In the Jungle

"Is this one? No, it's not. Wait! I think I found one! Yes, I did." It was a foggy morning, and John was looking for valuble rocks that he could study in a jungle that he had found.
"OK, I think I should be heading...where's the mark?! I left it right here! Oh, I should've stopped." So he started walking the direction that he came.
"I know I went this way," he thought.
"Boy am I hungry; I wish I had something to eat," he said to himself. He checked his watch; it said it was two o'clock. So he started looking for food. After about one hour, he found a banana tree, so he ate a few, then continued to find his way back. Then, suddenly, the ground gave way! He had to save himself! He grabbed a vine just in time.
"I wish I could get up here-"
"Hey! CUT!!!!!!!!" shouted the director.
"You're supposed to say, 'there,' not 'here.' You need to practice a little more, OK?" he said.
They were making a movie called "The Lost Jungle."

the beginnings of the family band...

winter activities

I have been remiss in keeping up here, so here is a snapshot of all our activities these past couple of months.

We have intermittant days of warm weather, so we took advantage of that last week and went to the beach for the first time this year. It was a little windy, but it was fun.



Earlier that day, we went for a boat ride. Kylie wasn't feeling that great, so she took a nap. Mommy enjoyed the cuddle time!




At the park, Kylie decided to push her baby in the swing.


Daddy has started teaching the kiddos to play tennis. They love it! Even Kylie is joining in.




Tea party time. What a good daddy:)



While Daddy was at the Pastor's Conference, I took the kids to the Skating Rink for homeschool night. We haven't been in a long time, so they were troopers as they tried to figure out how to skate again. Even Kylie tried and did okay, but my back was in a lot of pain after that night since I had to support all her weight! She also discovered some chapstick that day and in between her skating time, spent the rest of the night applying it to her lips! Silly girl...



We went bowling after church one Sunday and kept company with the special needs bowling group. Fun times...



This is a glimpse of Kylie's activities during the day. She excels at leaving a mess wherever she goes. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to clean anything.