Kids' Pictures

My camera got captured again. Enjoy the kids' pictures.

Cicada Season

We went on a walk to the park the other night and came home with several cicadas. My kids were excited.

Taking them out of the net and placing them in their bug boxes.
They are huge bugs!

And Noisy!

Fireworks

Here they are in all their glory =)

Josiah checking them out

Lining them up along the shore
Boys being boys

LJ (4)

Josiah (2)

Titus (1)

Audrey (5)

Me and Ruie and Titus watching from a distance

Titus loved the smoke

Here we are, with chocolate from cookies all over our faces

Titus had a blast

Josiah was more into his flashlight

The orchestrator of the fun.

Audrey lighting a sparkler

Sparkler fun in the yard

We were so worn out on the 4th that we opted to do fireworks on the 5th. We had a lot of fun and the kids want to do it again soon. They are available year round here...you can find them in almost any store.

Boys + Flashlights = Never Ending Fun

Busy with flashlights. Then I was reminded of how each of my brothers would get a flashlight every year either for the birthday or Christmas or sometimes, if they were lucky, both.

Some things never change!

Girls + Cute Clothes = Tons of Fun

Audrey proudly dressed her and then insisted on a picture.


Relaxing on the couch together.

Josiah, Josiah

This boy is ready for the beach.

He's such a goof ball

He gets his fashion skills from his dad. =)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

It's only 10 o'clock here, but we are ready to celebrate.

Complete with matching outfits =)

The Boys!

The Girls! (Audrey is happy to have a partner in crime)

The little people.
We all need somebody to lean on!

And the entire group...this one of a billion!

This is another one of a billion...the only two really worth posting.

We have fireworks planned for tonight, the ones that you can do at home. However, we will be doing them at the beach since I don't think our neighbors would appreciate trash in their yards.

We hope you all have a great day!

No Title, Just Enjoy

A friend from church has come over a couple of days this week to hang out. My kids enjoy having company. I love it too, because they can stay busy all day playing and hardly ask me for a thing.

Audrey and her art work. She made this during midweek service this week. She loves arts and crafts, and they would be plastered all over the house if I would let her.

Josiah is often found playing with some sort of characters at the book shelf. He'll stand there for up to an hour sometimes just playing by himself.

Titus getting on the couch the only way he knows how, by crawling over the arm.

Ruie is chillin'

The hard life of swinging.

Throwing in the Towel

Today is one of those days. I'm sure you know the kind. You feel like giving up, going to bed, not sure if you even want to attempt life again in the morning. In fact, you would be perfectly fine with the Lord coming back...RIGHT NOW!!

Yep, that's me right now. Church was great. I even enjoyed helping in the 2-3 year old class, endured a leadership meeting and came home expecting us just to relax and have fun.

Well, Titus and Josiah made that idea absolutely impossible. Josiah was going on his second day with no nap and, boy, was he sassy and testing my every command to see if I would make him follow through. So my plan of relaxing on the couch turned into spending much time in the bathroom correcting his behavior.

Titus was into EVERYTHING!!! Let's see he destroyed two pages out of a Bible and wrote inside of the cover. After being disciplined, he turns around and finds a sharpie marker only to graffiti our paper shredder. Then to top it off he tears off the cover of a book I borrowed and proceeded to write all over it. (Okay, I know that you are thinking that I should have all writing utensils under lock and key at this point, but I think he could make one appear out of thin air. Where does that boy stash them anyways??)

So, yes, I gladly put all my kids to bed early and turn here to vent my feelings and post this picture....Because just when I feel like turning in the towel I'm reminded at how much I really do love my children.

Yesterday, the same boy who was being absolutely defiant today, picked me a "flower" and put it in a "vase" for me.

Yes, I am loved! And, yes, I do love them!!

However, Lord, you are still more than welcome to return, NOW!