Skate Night at Sequoia Baptist Church

Every year our church rents the local skating rink for 2 hours and we have a great time.  Each year the kids get better and better on skates.  Next year we should have all 6 of them out there....oh, wait that means I will need to be out there too.  No excuse then to stay on the sidelines.  Oh well, it will be fun!  Nathan couldn't understand why he didn't have any skates.  He kept asking where his skateboard was.  At one point he went behind the counter and tried to get his own skates and two other times he ran out on the rink wanting to race.  He kept me busy all night.  Austin won 3rd place in his age group race.  Elizabeth didn't place, but did an excellent job (she didn't even fall)  Emily and Megan chose not to race and my man......Woo Hoo won 2nd place.  The kids loved cheering him on, I must admit, so did I.

Austin with his buddy Noah Thomas

Emily having a great time at Roller Town

Austin was so happy.  He had been waiting for this night for so long.  Last year he had just broke his arm and so he didn't get to skate.

Megan was all smiles even though she spent most the night on her....uh....well, her backside. :)

Couldn't get a picture of Elizabeth just posing.  I couldn't keep her still long enough.  She loved skating with her friends.

This is a picture of Nathan being bribed with a slushy to stay put and let me watch the kids skate.  It worked for a while.

Joshie enjoyed watching and skating

Had a great time!  Already looking forward to next year!



"Buddy"

Well, today was quite eventful.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for this school year and we were at the church getting things ready when there was a horrible scream and crying from our son Austin, you know the kind that makes your heart jump into your throat and your feet can't take you fast enough to reach them to see what happened.  He had been swinging really high and decided to try to do a backflip off and landed on his arm.  He broke the upper part of his humerus bone.  He has to go see a specialist to see what all needs to be done for it to heal properly.  He was in so much pain it made me so sad, but he is doing better now and we pray that he heals quickly.  To end the night, we were given a purebred golden retriever puppy.  He is 4 months old and his name is "Buddy".  He already really likes the kids and has won the hearts of our whole family.  What a day!  Tomorrow shall be very exciting to as our little Megan goes to her very first day of school.

Friend Day at the Farrell House

Mike was out of town for some school training, so I told the kids that they could have a friend over.  You may say, why didn't you let a couple each day have someone over so there aren't so many kids."  I thought of that and decided, if they each have a friend over on the same day then they won't be bugging the person who has a friend over and making them upset.  It WORKED!!!!  I had 11 kids at my house that day and it was soooo nice.  The kids each played with their friend and there was no arguing or fighting.  They played in their rooms, played games, played the Wii, went outside, and had lunch.  It was a great day!  I am putting a picture of each of the kids and their friend.

Megan and her friend Kayla

Austin and his friend Noah

Emily and her friend Sarai

Elizabeth and her friend Xochilt

Joshie and his friend/cousin Timothy

 I added a couple of extra pictures because it was also the day of Nathans birthday and the picture of him was just too cute to pass up and then after all the kids had gone, the older three went out front to ride their bikes and a boy down the street let them ride his mini go-kart without them asking me first.  Emily took a spill and got her hand caught under the tire and got 3rd degree burns on the inside of her wrist.  Quite an eventful day and Mike was  out of town.  Isnt' that the way it always is?  That emergencies happen when the husband is gone.  Praise the Lord I didn't have to take her to the ER.  She could have gotten hurt much worse.  God was looking out for her.  She said. "I didn't know that you had to slow down to turn."  Oh help, I hope that she learns that before she starts to drive a car. :) 

Nathan is 1

Her arm and the other side of her hand was really bruised too.  Yucky!

4th of July Celebration

Over the weekend we had lots of BBQ, fireworks, ice cream and fun.  Love to spend time with family, especially as we celebrate the freedoms that we have.

Nathan was not sure what to think about the fireworks.

Watching fireworks with Mike's parents and sister.

I love this one of Megan just enjoying her sparkler.

Ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa Benefield's for a BBQ and a brownie sundae.

The kids enjoyed riding their bikes over to Grandpa and Grandma's house for the 4th celebration.

Misc. pictures of the summer

There are just too many pictures and things that go on to put everything on here, but here are some of my favorite pictures of some misc. events throughout the summer.

family game time

just playing outside

going for a bike ride/walk

Nathan's 1st birthday

Nathan just being so cute

water fun

Emily enjoying the water at the bottom of the slide

This picture of Megan just cracks me up, she looks so funny.

Elizabeth helping Nathan to get used to the water.

 Joshie may look tough here, but don't let looks fool you,  he was too scared to go down by himself.

A birthday party for 3!!!

My in-laws came down this weekend and we celebrated 3 of the kids birthdays.  We were celebrating for May, June and July birthdays.  Joshie had turned 3 on May 1st, Emily turned 7 on June 12th and Nathaniel will be turning 1 on July 27th.  We had a great party with both sets of grandparents and auntie Leslie.  We missed not having the other aunts, uncles and cousins not being there.  Here are a few pictures of the party.

Joshie's Lego Cake

Joshie loves to play with legos,  he loves to put them together and take them apart.  He got his first bike for his birthday and was sooooo tired, but he didn't want to go to bed until his bike was put together.  He is so proud of his bike.

Emily's teapot cake

Emily was soooo excited to get her bike for her birthday.  She can ride it like a big girl and would stay outside riding all day if I would let her.  She got a lot of nice things.

Nathan's Curious George cake

Nathaniel liked eating his birthday cake!

It is hard to believe that our baby is almost one, the year has gone by so fast.

Here are just some crazy pictures!!!!

We had a great time!  I love time spent with family.  Even when they are kind of crazy.