Lilly Grace and the Bobes

Bobo is truly Lilly Grace's fury sibling.  Often she uses him as a stepping stool to get onto things.

And Bobo is so stinking sweet with her.  He lets her jump all over him and play on him.  What a great dog!

Father's Day 2012

Every year for Father's Day, the kids love to bring Daddy breakfast in bed.  This year we made his absolute favorite.  French toast casserole.  Once he started stirring, we fixed him a plate with a big glass of milk and got to him before he made it out of bed.  Matt is an amazing Father.  His children and relationship with them are one of his top priorities.  He makes a point to carve out special time for each of them and really listen to them when they talk to him, even when it's about something mundane.

This year we also sent Daddy on a Hershey Kiss scavenger hunt.  We made a trail of Hershey Kisses from his bed to a hiding place, where he found a huge container of Kisses with a special note.

Someone loves playing peek a boo with pillows!

Piano Recital 2012

Our sweet girl is quite the pianist.  She practices hard and she is lovely to listen to.

Our love bugs

Madeline's Soccer Game

Our last night with Ms. Marissa, who is now in Indianapolis.  It was a bittersweet time, and Madeline was crying on and off the whole night after Marissa left.  She has been a part of our family for a year and a half, and we love her.  During our morning prayer times, Madeline and Ryan always prayer for her.  They specifically pray that she would "get a baby" and find a husband.  So cute that they think that is the next important thing she "needs" in life.

Someone likes the clappy clappies!

Our soccer girl.

LG and Ms. Marissa.

This is one handsome boy!!!

Our little peanut.  She is so petite, and we love it, though I am always trying to feed her move to move
her  up from the zero percentile in weight.  As you can see, her shirt is rubber banded.

Go Madeline!

LG and Her Football

This little thing LOVES her brother.  If she spots him lying down in the grass, she "runs" to him and immediately pounces on top of him, giggling the whole time.  And Ry is so stinking sweet with his baby sister.  Lilly Grace has brought out an unbelievable tenderness in him.

This girl LOVES herself some football.  During Madeline's soccer games, she was happy to be on the sidelines chasing after "her" football (it's Ryan's).  And don't even think about trying to take it away from her!

Madeline had a great soccer season.  The 2nd to last game, she scored a goal.  That goal awoke her inner soccer player. Her last game, she got really aggressive and began dominating on the field.  We so enjoyed watching her.

One of the Reasons I Love Homeschooling and Hanging Rock

Genuinely, I love homeschooling.  I love watching my children grown and learn.  I love the sibling interactions it promotes.  I love the community we are blessed with.  Homeschooling is just awesome.  For history we are using Story of the World.  One of the projects was to go outside and use whatever you have around you to make a dwelling (we used stuffed animals as the inhabitants).  I sent them outside and 30 minutes later they called me out to see their creations.  I just LOVE their creativity.  Above is Ryan's dwelling and below is Madeline's.

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In the beginning of June, we took a "wonderful" trip to Hanging Rock, NC.  A few families from Madeline's Y Princess Tribe organized the camping trip, so we joined them.  It is a beautiful place to visit, and the hikes are amazing and family friendly.  When we arrived, we immediately went on a hike and then headed to the camp site to put up our tent.  Thankfully, the pack-n-play and 4 sleeping bags fit.  After spending about 10 minutes at the camp site with a fire, we realized that we had bit off more than we could chew with our sweet 1 year old who was still unsteady when it came to walking.  Thankfully, she went to sleep within a couple hours.  The rest of us had a fun evening with the rest of the families around a campfire.  It was chilly that evening, so we had fun cuddling together as a family in the tent.  Unfortunately, Lilly Grace woke at 5:40.  Usually, she would have gone back to sleep, but she looked around and realized we were all there, and I think she thought there was a party in the tent.  She immediately wanted to hang out and play with us.  We took her out and when it was getting crazy inside the tent, we took our "party" outside.  Unfortunately, the sweet toddler, who did not want to be held, kept falling on the uneven terrain and crying.  So. . .at 6am, we jumped in the minivan and headed out to hike.  No likes a crying baby at a campsite.  Lesson learned. . .tent camping with a 1 year old should be avoided!

Here are Madeline and Ryan scaling a rock.

I LOVE my babies!

My cool 6.5 year old boy.  He loved climbing the rocks and was excited to get as close to the edge as possible.

Our adventuresome pretty princess, who always challenges herself, regardless of her fears.

Look how beautiful and big she is!

Mommy and the girls.

Boy, don't you fall!!!

You go girl!

Check out Madeline's and Ryan's superhero strength.

Love this progression on the tree branch.

Best buds.  They have such a sweet friendship.  Madeline and Ryan truly enjoy one another.  And they sweetly sleep together every night.  We know it won't last long, but it is precious for right now.

Daddy, carrying Lilly Grace in the backpack.  The grumpy face is the result of waking at 5:40am!!!!

The falls were so pretty and we were able to get so close to them.

Pals

Our littlest princess.

Mommy and LG hung out while Daddy and the big kids explored.

Wow, there's that superhero strength again!

Madeline and Ryan had a great time, though we hiked at 6am!  Are you surprised to hear that we were packed up and heading out by 10am.  Next time we'll do a day trip.  It was a blessed family time together.