end of the season

A busy part of our summer is now OVER!  As much as we love going to Kaine's games, we are glad to have a slower schedule now.  As we look ahead to next summer, we foresee it being even busier, though...because Halle is now excited to play tball!  She would be in a different league than Kaine, so that would be twice the amount of games...so we will have to talk about it :)

 

Here are pictures from Kaine's last game...which they won!  I think their team only won 2 games the whole season (is that right, Jess?) so I was so glad they won this last game. 

 

It was so fun to have our family come and support Kaine.  He was a very well supported tball player!  Both sets of grandparents came to all of the games, along with Aaron and Jill at a lot of them...and throw in some great-grandparents and Kaine had his own cheering section :)

 

 

What a fun month.  Thanks again for coaching Kaine, Nick...you did a great job!  We are excited for next year :)

Just a couple of 30-year olds at Cedar Point :)

Nathan and I were able to go away for a couple of days earlier this week.  It was a very much needed break!  Thankfully both of our parents were more than happy to help us out with our kiddos :)

 

When trying to decide where to go, we tossed around some ideas.  Then, Aaron and Jill came back from Cedar Point talking about how much fun it was, and we thought...why not?  It had been like 10 years since we had been there, and it really sounded like fun!  So that's where we headed!

 

Here is my studly hubby...we headed straight from church in Leo up to Sandusky. 

Hubby bought me some chai!  I LOVE my chai.  It is the best.  What a great way to start our drive!

When we got to Sandusky, we went golfing!  It was SO MUCH FUN.  Seriously, maybe my favorite part of our trip.  The weather was perfect and it was just really fun.

I was a little skeptical of what our hotel would be like...we bought a room on Priceline.com, and it was called Maui Sands.  It was a Hawaiian themed hotel with an indoor waterpark.  It was actually a pretty nice place, especially for the price!  The rooms would be perfect for our family...there was a little room added into the room with 2 sets of bunk beds.  It was decorated to look like a beach cabana or something...kind of neat!  Very unique, at least :)

We were right down the street from Coldstone, so we hit that  up the first night...I amused myself by taking pictures of Nathan while the poor boy was trying to eat his ice cream :)   By the way, I had the BEST Coldsone combo...coffee ice cream with hot fudge and heath mixed in.  SO amazingly good!

The next day, we headed to Cedar Point.  Like my title says, we felt so funny being there by ourselves!  It was really fun, though, even though it had been years since we had been there.  I can't handle all of the rides quite like I used to, but it was still very fun.    We did a LOT of waiting in lines, though--it was pretty crowded!

Sadly, about 5:00 it started raining--hard.  There was no sign that the rain would let up, so we decided to leave :(  Haha, I love Nathan's "sad face" in this picture!  So funny.  And really, we weren't that sad.  We went to Applebee's for supper and we had a great evening together!

 

 

Such a good time!  Thank you, moms and dads, for making it possible!!  

He is such a good sport!

Oh, the things a daddy will do for his little girl. 

 

So thankful that Nathan is willing to do this stuff with our kids, while I can just sit and take pictures!

 

grandma noni

This is my sweet Grandma Leona (better known as "Grandma Noni" to most people).  She turned 97 this week! 

 

What an amazing woman.  She took care of my grandpa for years, after an accident paralyzed him from the waist down.  And I should mention that he was about twice her size!  Like I said, an amazing woman.  She loves her family SO much, and we love her so much.  We are very thankful that God has given her so many years! 

 

We love you, Grandma Noni!  So thankful that we can spend this summer near you!

what a ham :)

Nathan is so good at teaching our kids biblical truth.  He is truly gifted--I always learn from his devotions! 

 

However, Daisy tries her hardest to try and distract the other three.  She loves making them laugh--and she is very successful at it!!

 

 

 

 

Love this little girl!  She definitely makes our life interesting!

 

summertime fun...

We have been greatly enjoying our summer here in our hometown!  We have been very busy...Nathan is working for his dad this summer, and I spend my days with our four sweeties.  Although, they aren't always sweet!  But usually they are. :)

 

 

Our public library had a great kickoff for their summer reading program.  The whole library was used for a carnival--complete with games, prizes, crafts and snacks.  Our kids LOVED it.  Here is Daisy showing off her pirate patch.  I must say, she is the cutest pirate I have ever seen!

And our kids were also able to get tatoos on their arms (which took FOREVER to wash off, by the way!)

We live in a "villa" over the summer, and the number one attraction in it?  The "spinning chairs".  It is unbelievable how long these kids will spin on these chairs.  I try spinning with a kid on my lap, and I am almost ready to puke after 3 spins!  These kids spin for 20 minutes at a time.  It is truly amazing.

We love going to playgrounds...

And it is so fun for our kiddos to spend time with cousins...it is very different than it was in Jackson, though.  In Jackson, Aaron and Jill's family lived about 30 seconds away from us.  Here, they live in another part of town!  So we don't see them nearly as much.  It will be great to be close to them again in August!!

We are loving the summertime.  It is really crazy that June is almost over, though!  Another moving day will be here before we know it!

a visit from some jacksonites :)



We were so excited that our good friends from Jackson wanted to come and visit us last weekend!  Our kids are such good friends with theirs, so they were super excited.  And of course, we are are good friends with Brandon and Heather, so we were very excited, too :)

 

Sadly, I didn't get any pics of the adults...but I guess that is just what happens when there are 11 cute kiddos surrounding you!

 

My parents very graciously opened their home to us for lunch and the whole afternoon--the day after my mom's surgery!  Thanks for doing that, mom and dad!

 

We ate Subway outside with Brandon and Heather's family and also Aaron and Jill's family.  Lots of kids, so outside was a very good idea :)

 



 

(an aerial shot of the kiddos)

The "twins" were reunited!

After swimming and hanging out at my parents for the afternoon, we headed over to Nathan's parents' house.  They had supper all ready for us.  What a blessing that was.  Thank you, Mom and Dad M!  We also stayed overnight at their house with B and H's family.  (our villa is just a bit too small for our families:) ).  The boys were super excited to have a "sleepover" in the basement.  Although, an hour or two into it, Kaine decided to come upstairs because he thought he could sleep together in his own bed :)

 

Brandon and Heather, thank you for taking the time to come visit us!  It was so good to see you guys and catch up.  We will have to do it again sometime :)