May 2012...the Adventure continues

It was sort of awkward looking back through my May photo folder and remembering how we were busy gearing up for summer time and here we are in September trying to prep ourselves for the fact that summer is coming to a close in our world.  But May it is...and if I finish this post I will officially be only a quarter of a year away from being caught up on our blog family scrapbook of adventure.

So, here goes....

Kade learned to get along fine with his broken arm.

Look at that right-handed guy drawing with his left hand.

 And here he and Ryne are working on their teacher appreciation gifts.  They made flower pots and planted flowers.  I cannot believe that I do not have a picture of the finished product.  They did a super job and it was a great way to recycle some formula cans.

We made a fun trip to Northwest Trek with our sweet friends Maria and Aurelia.

 We were trying our best to spend some time with them before they moved to Georgia.

 We did have a super fun time.

 Maria and Aurelia....they are every bit as sweet as they look and we miss them like crazy.

 Maria, Aurelia, Kyle and the big boys went on the cool train tour and saw some cool animals like this...

The babies and I just strolled around the rest of the park while we waited for their tour to be over

Then we caught up with them and checked out lots of other cool animals....

 

 Tesa and Tyce seemed to enjoy looking at everything from the stroller.

Boy am I glad that they enjoy the stroller.

 Kade, Ryne and Aurelia had a great time together. Wish I could remember what they are looking at here.  Apparently it was pretty cool.

 Here they are waiting to get an up close and personal look at a beaver.

 It did tricks...like begging for food.

 They also got to see this super neat porcupine up close.

 Stopped for a lesson about how pollution gets into our waterways.

 And heard a talk about turtles.

 Although Tesa and Tyce were quite content in the stroller, they sure were glad to get to take a break.

Our last stop of the day was to take a look at these guys...

 Bald eagles are really cool.

Next in May we took time to celebrate this precious girl...

Jordan!

You've seen her in the blog before.  One of the most amazing girls I've ever known with an incredible heart for Jesus.  And she was planning a wedding to one of our favorite fellas, Jacob.

So, we got to have our very first Life Church Bridal Shower!

 Complete with Yummy food...

Presents, of course....

And some fun games to wrap it up...

 It was such an honor to get to celebrate Jordan. 

If you stick with me through May....you'll get to see the wedding, too!

Then there was Mother's Day

 My first Mother's Day as a mother of four.

 And wouldn't you know it.....

 It was four times as hard to get a picture of all my children looking.

 Okay, maybe forty times as hard.

 And just when I was beginning to think it was impossible.....

 Everyone is looking!  Never mind smiles...we can hope for that next year.

Took my four little blessing on an afternoon adventure one day when I picked the big boys up from school...

 Stopped for a treat at Forza.

Then walked to the park...

 I have no idea why I even put that blanket on the ground.  It was crazy thinking on my part to even imagine those babies would want to stay on it.

 They loved crawling in the grass.

 The big boys...

 They loved running in the grass.

And when they were all ran out...

 We enjoyed a nice stroll back home.  Welcome summer!

Kade finished up with that beautiful blue cast.

 And to celebrate being all healed up...

 We had a Starbucks date when we left the doctor's office.

 Yep, he's a Northwesterner...loving some Starbucks.  Don't worry, it wasn't coffee...just hot chocolate.

Tesa and Tyce turned 10 months old...

 Which one of us is going to grab that sign and tear it up?

 Looks like Tyce won!

 But Tesa took it away from him.

(That was only the beginning of lots more "fighting" between those two.  Today we watched and laughed as they fought over a toy computer.)

 But they don't always fight...

 They play together nicely in the kitchen.

We got to help out with Kade and Ryne's preschool Garden Plot...

It was time for another baby shower...

 This one was for Kristy.

 And it was lots of fun.

 We had a competition to see who could make the cutest baby.

 And Kristy got to pick the winner.

If I remember correctly this little yellow baby with its bottom in the air won.

And of course there were presents...

 Baby showers are always so much fun.  We were excited to be getting ready for sweet Kinsleigh to enter our world.

Excited is something I was not about this...

 A trip to the mall all by myself with these four kiddos of mine.

Yikes, right?  

Well, we needed to get Daddy a Father's Day present so it had to be done.

And we totally survived...three trips to the potty later....we had what we needed and loaded up to venture over to REI to finish our shopping.  That was probably even scarier.  At one point, while I am visiting with an associate about which sleeping pad to purchase, I look up to see Kade and Ryne no longer standing next to the carts in which Tesa and Tyce were hanging out. Instead I spot them swinging as they sit the "hooded" part of the sleeping bags that are hanging upside down on display nearby.  Only their little feet are showing.  It was time to make our purchase and head for home while the day could still be considered a success.

We had a few of our date mornings that still managed to pan out in May.

 You may recall from previous posts that we would take these cuties and try to have breakfast or early lunch dates while the big boys were at school.  We started doing that because the twins would just sleep through it and it was a nice time away for us.  They obviously no longer sleep through those dates but at least they are a cute addition to our table....guess we could kind of just consider it a double date now.

We followed this particular date morning up with something special....

 Tesa and Tyce's first trip to the library...well, first trip that was just for them anyway.

On our visit to Northwest Trek, Kade and Kyle were inspired to built a Screech Owl nest.

 So they did.

 And hung it in a tree behind our house.

 All under Tyce's close supervision

 It is in a nice spot where we can keep an eye on it from our kitchen table.

*We have now had to rename this from Screech Owl next to Squirrel Nest because it has become home to at least four squirrels.

Since Kade built the owl box with Daddy, Ryne needed a job to help with too....

 He helped wash the van.

We had a fun day trip to Seattle...

 Lunch at a cool place looking out over the water before we met up with...

 cousins!!!

Kyle's first cousin Ellen and her family were in route from Alaska to Missouri and had a stop off in Seattle.  We were happy that we got to take the time to visit with them.  It was the first time I had ever gotten to meet her sweet kids.  And our kiddos loved them.  We didn't get to stay long because we had a wedding rehearsal to make it back for.

Remember that sweet girl Jordan that I was telling you about earlier???

There she is practicing for her wedding to this guy...

 Jacob...he's the one on the left. I've already laid claim to the handsome fella on the right. 

But in case you don't remember the cool story about Jacob.  He and Kyle grew up in the same town...went to church together, etc.  Then when we move to Washington to plant a church, Jacob is living here, going to college and playing football.  He and Jordan were a huge part of our church getting started.  What a blessing they have been to us.  And Kyle was given the honor of performing their ceremony for them.  But this was just practice, the real wedding comes later.

First, we had to have an early Father's Day celebration...

 Remember that crazy trip to REI???? 

 The kiddos and I had plans to be in AR for all of the month of June, which meant we would be missing Father's Day with Kyle.  We just designated our own Father's Day and celebrated with him early this year.

 And since he had plans to do some backpacking while we were in AR, the new sleeping bad early was perfect.  Well, at least I thought so.

We celebrated Memorial Day picnic....

 Complete with a play pen for the babies...

 And fun games for the grown-ups...

Then came the big event...

We were super excited about Jacob and Jordan's wedding.

It was such an awesome time.

Kade busied himself drawing on the program before the ceremony.

But once the ceremony was underway....this boy didn't miss one bit of it.  I'm not even sure he blinked.

It was, after all, his first wedding to attend that he could actually remember.  See that sweet girl in the black smiling behind him?  Yep, that's Alissa and her wedding to Derek was Kade's first and only other wedding...he was a barely five months old and slept through most of it.

Ryne could barely wait to get his hands on Jacob...he certainly considered Jacob to be one of his best friends.  In fact, the reason we took Kade and Ryne with us is because we were afraid they would plan a complete and total revolt if we didn't let them go.

I'm not kidding, these boys think Jacob and Jordan hung the moon.

And I'm pretty close to thinking the same thing myself....

 Except I already know this guy did it. Wink Wink.

And he also did an awesome job performing the ceremony.  So proud he is mine.

We certainly enjoyed getting to celebrate with Jacob and Jordan. Such a beautiful day.

And Jordan was absolutely gorgeous...

 But I have to admit that is was kind of a bittersweet day for us.  Jacob and Jordan were heading off to Alaska to work for the summer.  Jacob did it last year and we missed him like crazy and this time he would be taking Jordan with him.  Big sad faces for us.  But how super exciting for them!  And they left not knowing exactly what they would be doing when their summer jobs in Alaska were over.  Of course, I am praying and believing that they will come back to us but at the same time asking God to direct their steps in such a way that their lives together brings glory to Him.  Well, just last night I found out that God is sending them to New Zealand for their next life adventure together!  Talk about mixed emotions.  We aren't getting them back. Yet, anyway.  Bummer.  But they are getting to go to New Zealand! Awesome!  We will get to hug their necks and wish them well before they leave.  Yay for us!

We are starting to get used to people that we love moving away from us. Don't think we will ever learn to like it but we are learning how to cope.

Here are couple of other great buddies that we had to say goodbye to this summer.

Kade and Ryne have been going to preschool with Nicole and Maddie for quite a while and they are great friends.  They had even started going to church with us and we just adored their family.  They also have a super cute baby brother named Brandon.

We had them over for a play-date before our trip to Arkansas so that we could spend some time with them since they would be gone when we got back.  

Made them all smile for pictures so that it was a happy day and not a sad day...

They had a fun time...

And it's true.  We miss them like crazy now!

So to get away from all the sad...we hopped a plane headed to AR...

Well, really we already had a big summer trip to AR planned.  My parents offered to take us in for the entire month of June.  Might have had a little bit to do with planning a big wedding for the end of June.  My kid sister was getting married!!!!  Fun times!

As soon as we got there, look where the big boys found themselves....

In the garden with Grandaddy, of course!

Picking corn.

And that was the very last day of May.  Which also happened to be my very awesome parents' anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad...hope they were happy with the four presents I brought them. (Kade, Ryne, Tesa and Tyce) Ha!

To celebrate a fabulous trip to AR Ryne decided to have his favorite treat...

Baby sweet potatoes!  Only this time he learned he could slurp them up through a straw and have them like a milkshake!  Silly boy!  And he is still slurping up baby sweet potatoes through a straw to this very day.  Oh the things one can learn to do when in Arkansas!
Just wait til you see what else we did in Arkansas.  The month of June will most likely require multiple posts.  Make sure you buckle up....it was quite a ride! 
So, til I make it back for June's rewind blog.....