Beach Pics

Well, Hilton Head Island was as magical as everyone said it was...

 We had to beg Owen to take this one of us, but I am so glad we did.  Love this man so much!  This year is our 10 year wedding anniversary...so thankful for the love we have.

 Singing Happy Gotcha Day to Sadie at 8:15 am...HA!  They loved it!

 Emery took a lil nap on the beach and the bigs couldn't stop kissing on her.  So sweet!

 We met up with our precious friends from Canada.  They are at Emory doing a fellowship this year as well. 

 I love a family picture!!!  Goodness gracious!  Look how big our Emery is!  I cannot believe it.  This picture seriously shocked me when I saw how big she looks. 

 

 This was taken on Mother's Day...I looked up and saw Cooper and Sadie playing in the waves together.  Such a sweet gift for this mama.  We don't always get along so well, so when I see this I just relish in it. 

 Emery LOVED the water and couldn't get enough of it.  Several times she would point and say "MORE" while her whole body was shaking from being cold.

 Blake and I noticed while on this trip that Owen walks with a lil swagger.  It's sooo cute.  I love that he is confident. 

 Not sure this needs any explaination...I just love that this is what she did...taking it all in baby girl.

 What a great shot of Sadie checking out the sea shells.  Notice she has her baby...she's such a good lil mama.

 He was in heaven!  We normally don't let the kids drink pop, but we got a cooler for the beach and their daddy bought them Diet Twist Up and you'd have thought they won the lottery.  And yes, they were having fun seeing who could burp the loudest. 

 Sweet kisses!  This Emme is full of hugs and kisses and we just can't get enough of them. 

 Sadie got a skim board for her Gotcha Day from Noonie and Papa.

 He so didn't want to stop and take this...thank you Cooper!

I am not sure what we would have done without this precious family full of great friends.  Everything you've heard about Canadians is true...they are the nicest people you'll ever meet.  We are gonna miss them! 

Thankful Thursday!!!

Hope these make you smile! We have a LOT to be thankful for right now!!!

My bestest friend in the whole wide world!

And my forever babycakes. Please don't tell me she's not a baby anymore. I know. But she will always be my baby!

Staycation

Friday night started our one week of vacation with Blake! He has not had a week off for vacation in over a year, so we are beyond thrilled to have him HOME!!!

When you rarely get time like this, and you're saving up for an adoption, you really don't wanna do much else but just hang around together and find free stuff to do!

So here's what's been keeping us busy....


Sunday morning we went to the Arts Festival. They had free kids activities and the boys LOVED it! Sadie trying to work her sock puppet. Such a cool craft for the kids!
The boys showing off their awesome tattoos.
The boys first attempt to camp out in the tent. They lasted until 10:30 before needing to come inside! Below is just before they kicked me out....no girls aloud!

Lots of swimming at the neighborhood pool! We are so thankful it's open because it's SO HOT!!!

At the Jazz Festival enjoying a lemonade.

Above and below are from the Jazz festival. It was so much fun to let the kids just dance!

For Memorial Day we enjoyed the pool and then met Gigi and Papa Joe for dinner at Lake Hefner. What great pics we got! Thanks guys!
Okay...I realize they are our kids so we are biased...but couldn't they be little models. Holy cow!!! I will have to post the rest later!!! Oh mercy...I love family pictures and can't help but feel abundantly blessed!

A pic with Gigi and Papa Joe! I love it! What a wonderful night. Below: I am addicted to craigslist and found this hutch for $60. I used money from a Mother's Day gift to get it and then painted it and changed the knobs. I LOVE it and can't quite figure out where I need it most. But so glad I snagged it!!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

Two weeks

It's been two weeks since we saw Blake. And it's been a crazy and fun 2 weeks!

Luckily we've been busy and have lots of time with family. Cooper has started to mope around lately and be a bit of a fuss bucket, but he's not being ornery, just sad almost. Not sure why it took my sister pointing out that it was his daddy that he was missing!

On Wednesday of this week my sweet grandmother, Grandy, lost her husband of 8 years. It was a sad day for us, but a wonderful day for Charlie to meet his savior. We are so thankful that my grandmother has moved in with my parents while things settle. I have been delighted in all of the time I've been able to love on her this last week, but sad that it came at the cost of her losing someone so precious. Thank goodness we were still in town, I would have hated to have been in Aspen while she went through this.

Here are some pics from this week. On Thanksgiving day, my sister Becki had a sick crew so we were sad the Francy's couldn't join the fun!

Momma and Sadie on Thanksgiving Day after putting up the tree!

Could she be any cuter?

Every one of my kids has taken a bath in this kitchen sink! I love it!

Laura and Greg with baby boy #3, Luke. He looks exactly like his brothers, it's unreal!

Kisses from Cooper!

Owen decorating the tree! We had so much fun singing carols while putting up (and breaking) the ornaments!

Blake is doing well, finally has cable and internet at the apartment- WOOT WOOT! I was getting a little nervous about the next 8 weeks without blogging or internet! We got to Skype on Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to see his face. He worked as a medical team doctor for a national women's ski race this weekend and as a team doctor for the Aspen High school football team last weekend. He is hating all of this skiing though...it's just killing him!

We travel to Colorado on Wednesday/Thursday and are praying our sweet baby girl can stay calm during the ride. As an update to her "screamer" post, she is doing wonderful! I actually found that I was the one that had to be trained. When I slowed down to nip it in the bud I realized that Sadie screamed almost every time Cooper did...I had just gotten used to his screams. Once I started disciplining the boys for yelling (yucky water or time out), it was incredible how quickly Sadie stopped. She hardly ever does it now...except in the car! She loathes long car rides, and by long I mean over 15 minutes.

Last night we went to see The Christmas Train in Dry Gulch, OK. It was so neat. Of course, Cooper about lost control when we told him that we were going to ride on a train and see Christmas lights. Even better though was that the whole focus of the event was about Jesus! Now, Santa was there, but the whole train ride was the story of Christ from birth to resurrection! It was incredible what questions were sparked from that train ride when the boys saw Jesus being crucified. Although we've talked about Jesus's sacrifice for us, Cooper had never seen Jesus on the cross and whoa did it stick in his mind. It was so neat to keep hearing him say that Jesus loved him and that Jesus died for him. Man how I pray that we continue to pour that message into our children this season instead of the message of Santa.