Random Cuteness

I love dumping pictures off of my phone.  The pictures on my phone are the random slices of our crazy life. 

This picture was taken in the doctor's office for Kyle this past week.  After waiting for three whole days, I got nervous about his eye and wanted it checked out.  David has learned this new sign for "loser" and has used it liberally.  It is one of those things that we should discipline immediately but sometimes we have to turn out heads and laugh first.  He said that his Pops taught him this sign?!

This is a a terrible picture of David's crazy hair, but it shows the bruising and swelling on Kyle's face.  The nurse practicioner we saw sent us to the hospital for an xray.  She was concerned that it could have been an orbital fracture.  Blessedly the xray was clear. 

Hope has really loved her new ballet class.  This is a picture of a poster that hangs in the dance studio.  I loved it and had to send it to Mike:)  Mike is not as enthusastic with Hope's new ballet interest as she is:) 

It seems that this little girl has grown up so much in the last month.  It makes me sad but she at such a sweet age right now.  Here she is all ready and excited to go see Monster's University.  Friday was a rainy day here so we loaded up the kids and went to the theatre to see Disney's latest movie.  It was super cute. 

Kyle's All Star team started their tournament this weekend.  So far we have had two games with two disappointing losses.  I get very nervous watching baseball and frankly it is painful for me to watch for lots of reasons.  We still have two games to go. 

 

Hope is really into makeup these days and according to her "princesses always wear lipstick to the ballfield."  So she felt compelled to apply her own lipstick before we headed out to the ballfield this morning.  Bless her. 

 

This upcoming week is full of more baseball and the highlight of our week will be David's birthday party!!  I could bawl thinking about his upcoming birthday. Last year he was SO SICK for his special day and he could not get too close to people to have a party:(  He was still in the thick of chemo and he was really sick.  I am already tearing up picturing his friends this week at the Miami Heat swim party that he has planned.  I am overcome and so thankful that after all that he has been through he is still here with us and is turnng 9!! 

 

I love that David chose to read on his own on the way to the ballfield. I love this kid. 

Picture Dump

I love summer.  In some ways it is just as busy as the school year, but with all fun stuff.  Our days are packed but I am loving every minute of it.

Now that Hope is really four now, she is really into dressing herself.  This is the outfit that she put together for church this past Sunday.  Not bad:)

Kyle has been busy practicing for his upcoming All Star tournament that starts this Friday.  Monday night at practice he came home with this shiner.  The Momma in me freaked out I will admit, but the swelling is down some but it is now black. 

He did take a break from baseball and he and Pops went on a day canoe trip yesterday.  They went with several of Kyle's swim team friends and it was sponsored by Hungry Mother State park.  For $25/person they caught a van to Mouth of Wilson, Va and then canoed several miles down the New River where the van picked them back up and brought them home.  Kyle and Pops both had a great time on the river and the weather was perfect for them.  It was not too sunny with a nice breeze.  Local friends they do this same trip every other Tuesday if you are interested-I may do it next time)!  I love Hungry Mother State Park. They also offer a day biking trip on the Creeper Trail if that sounds fun to you.  Call the State Park Discovery center (276-781-7400) for more info.

While Pops and Kyle were canoeing, we went to storytime at the library. Our library is awesome and our children's librarian is even more amazing.  It is summer reading time and our kids are working on filling up their reading logs. 

AFter storytime and lunch with dear friends we went to the Discovery Center at Hungry Mother to buy our annual hang tag.  David and Hope had fun with the cool exhibits in there and they loved this bonnet:)

We are a Miracle Family for UVA Children's Miracle Network.  We have loved meeting other families and participating in fun events.  When we were asked we did not hesitate.  Mike and I both feel very strongly that after the awesome care that we had and continue to receive there that we must give back.  If we can help raise funds or awareness in anyway we are on board.  The balloon campign just ended and big businesses like Walmart, Food Lion, and Costco in the Charlottesville region raised lots of money for CMN.  We were asked to write thank you notes to the businesses to personally thank them.  I am not sure why this picture is sidways, but here is what David and I came up with.  He wrote the note and I added pictures right after his surgery and then a recent picture of him.  It is SO HARD to look at pictures from those first few dark days after his diagnosis and surgery.  But the scrapbooker/crafter in me had fun with this activity!

Last night was Hope's first tap and ballet class.  She LOVED it!!  We had to get fitted for tap shoes and ballet shoes when we got there and she was so excited.  The summer class is two nights/week for an hour.  She was worn out when she left there!  My sweet little ballerina:)

We are off for another busy day today.  Summer of 2013 we are loving every minute of you!

Bridal Shower #2!

Saturday night we had a family wedding shower for my cousin Mary Lee and her fiance Nick.  It was held on a beautiful piece of land that my cousin Abie and his wife Debbie own.  The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and it was a nice chance to gather together with family to celebrate this marriage.

Here is the engaged couple!!

David and all the kids (big and small) had a ball on the Gator.  I think David would live on that Gator if we would let him.  For some reason this picture makes me want to belly laugh. 

Clayton, David and Kyle in the hammock. 

Before eating we gathered and had a family prayer.  This is my cousin Abie and his wife Debbie who hosted the event at their "campsite."

This little girl is so excited about weddings these days and for her birthday she picked out Cinderella's wedding dress at the Disney store.  She is going to be one of Mary Lee's flower girls in the wedding!!!

Mary Lee is such a pretty girl and here is my Mom pinning the corsage on her.

My brother Chad with the bride.  Chad is singing in the wedding!!

Kyle on the back of the Gator. 

GG, Pops, and Hope swinging. 

Abie and Mike solving the world's problems????

Hope was into the shower gifts so she was excited to help the bride with her gifts. 

SMORES!!

Hope loved making everyone a Smore to eat. 

This picture is precious to me.  David REALLY wanted to roast a marshmellow, but Kyle got nervous that he was so near the fire.  He hovered over him while he roasted one.  I pray Kyle is always this protective of his baby brother. 

My brother Chad, my grandmother, and little Hope swinging in the swing.  It was such a fun night!

 

Love is in the air for sure and we are loving all the partying and fun for the specil weddings that are coming up in our lives. 

Miami Heat, UVA, and Bridal Showers

This past week has been so much fun but oh so busy.  Kyle has been at Governor's School in Pulaski which is about 15 minutes from my parents house.  We also were there overnight this week for a bridal shower that I helped my Mom host. 

This little princess is getting into the wedding fun this summer!  She was excited to put on a party dress for the shower:)

We hosted the shower out on my Mom's porch.  The weather was beautiful and it was fun decorating with her colors of yellow and blue.  Hope and I had a minute to take a quick picture before the party started.  She insisted that we take a girls picture. 

This was the centerpiece for the table.  I found the vase in Pigeon Forge and we managed to make it home safely with it!  I used my Cricut to make a vinyl letter H (her soon-to-be monogram) for the vase.  We then took the vase to the florist who put these beautiful flowers in it.  Of course I also had to put some ribbon on the handle because I have a slight obsession with ribbon. 

David and Hope practicing getting married.  David and Pops hung out during the shower and really did not grace us much with their presence. 

This is about how old the bride was when I started babysitting her.  Casey and I used to have lots of fun together when I babysat her.  I also could not help but think that it seems like Casey was just this age and now she is getting married. 

On the food table we had cupcakes made in her colors (thank you April Moore they were delicious) and a plaque about christian marriage.

The bride on the left, her grandmother Mary Jane (who makes the awesome pillowcase dresses for Hope) and the bride's Mom, Donna. 

Hope and her new friend, Carly eating at the kids table.  We met Carly and her Momma Courtney back at Easter time and I had no idea until just recently that she will be Casey's sister-in-law.  It is such a small world!!

Halfway through the shower David changed into his Miami Heat getup because it was almost gametime!! 

Friday morning I slept in until 11!!  I have not done that in years, but it was so nice to feel rested.  I had gotten up early to get David ready for his UVA clinic appointment with Mike.  I stayed home this time and let the boys go and have boy time.  I picked the big kids up from their last day of Governor's School and we celebrated a great week with a trip to Randolph Park. 

David's clinic visit went well.  The lab draw was not too traumatic for him and the results were overall good.  His Creatinine is holding steady at .8 but his BUN was high which means that he was a little dehydrated.  We have a daily ounce goal of 60 for him but we are going to raise that a little during the hot summer.  It is crucial to keep his kidney happy and healthy during these hot summer months. 

 

This picture is precious to me!  David got to watch a little of the Heat final Thursday night.  He LOVES the Heat and Lebron and he was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the team.  He was so excited that they won, but we would not let him stay up and watch the entire game.  For David they "won" early so he could go to bed.  I love this picture of him cheering them on in his getup.  This picture even made the Friends of UVA Children's Hospital faceboook page:) 

 

Amazingly tonight we have another bridal shower for another cousin who is getting married.  I am loving all this wedding fun and plananing going on this summer.  Love is in the air!!  Happy Saturday!

Weekly Update

In our family we are loving summer.  We have enjoyed our neighborhood pool with friends and lots of outside time.  Kyle has had a great week at Governor's School this week taking some cool enrichment courses and practicing All Stars baseball in the evening.  He has had a great week. 

Earlier in the week my cousin, Kim and her two girls Ava and Maizy came from Richmond for a visit.  We had lunch with them and my grandmother in Radford. 

Hope's new BFF is Baby Sage.  Hope loves to hold her at the pool and "help" feed her a bottle.  Too bad Hope is our last baby because she would be the best big sister.  She loves Sage and spends as much time with her and Ms. Suzanne under the umbrella at the pool. 

This is Kyle and a few friends at Teen Night at the library.  They have graduated from storytime at the library and now they are in the teen program.  It was a little emotional taking them to that versus storytime:(  Where is time going??? 

Sidewalk chalk is a big hit this week in our house.  David insisted that I draw David and Goliath in the driveway with sidewalk chalk:)  He also wanted me and Hope to lay down so he could draw us.  So cute!

Matching swim suit boys!  Gotta love Walmart trunks for boys:) 

 

This summer we are in wedding mode.  Two of my cousins are getting married this summer and our Ashley is also getting married.  Tonight we are hosting a wedding shower for my cousin Casey here at my Mom's house.  We are hosting another wedding shower this Saturday night.  I love weddings and the parties that go along with them.  Hope is excited for "da party" tonight and has a pretty dress already picked out. 

 

We are loving summer!  David and Mike are heading to UVA tomorrow for David's June clinic appointment.  It always makes us nervous but they have fun lunch plans and they also plan to deliver a bunch of pop tabs to Ronald McDonald house.  I will update tomorrow after his clinic appointment.

Dollywood and Fathers Day!

We are finally caught up on our rest from our little getaway to Pigeon Forge.  The kids really had a great time at Dollywood.  Here are all three kids on the hobby horses with GG and Pops.

This picture makes me belly laugh because David is finally old enough to drive his own car in the bumper cars!  I could not drive my own car for laughing at him.  He clogged up all the traffic but he had a ball and he was so proud of himself!!!

Here is wild man coming off of the huge waterslide at the hotel.  The kids loved where we stayed-it had a waterslide, lazy river, putt putt, and a great pirate ship playground. 

Kyle was such a great encourager to David to go down the slide and he even waited at the bottom for him.

Here is Kyle helping him get on the waterslide-it was really big.  Not only did David do it, but little Miss Hope did it too!  She shot out of there like a cannon.  Pops even tried it but he got scared:)  My kids certainly love the water and swimming.

At the hotel they also had this log thing.  You are suppose to walk across it without falling off.  David loves the show wipeout and he kept jumping off yelling wipeout!!

It was HOT and humid which made my camera fog up!  Mike was not with us so I had to be a brave Mommy and ride all of the roller coasters with Kyle.  YIKES!  I was proud of myself and I even texted Mike that I was so brave that I smiled for the cameras on the ride.  That Eagle rollercoaster at Dollywood is awesome!

This little girl loved driving the Ole Timey Cars.  She would laugh and laugh and it was so much fun watching her drive.

Amazingly we literally ran into my cousin Matt and his family our last day at Dollywood.  They live in Knoxville and they had come down to enjoy a few hours at Dollywood.  My kids loved seeing their cousins, Emily and Brandon. 

David and Brandon on the cars waiting to drive. 

Hope is not old enough to drie by herself so Kyle volunteered to go with her. It was hilarious because you are suppose to be 16 to ride with someone this little. I guess Kyle is getting so tall that she did not question his age:)

Yesterday we celebrate Hope's fourth birthday at home.  She had already had her party, so this was just the five of us at home.  Mike cooked her some hot dogs on the grill and we had some cake for dessert.  I cannot believe she is four!

This weekend is also Father's Day weekend.  I am a blessed to not only have a great father in my life, but to parenting these kids with Mike. 

Mike is a devoted Dad who is never too busy for his kids.  He has an enormous job that takes a lot out of him, but what he has left after a busy day at work, he gives to his children.  He is an amazing provider who gives everything he has to these kids.  I hate being reminded of how sick David was after his big surgery to remove the kidney that had been taken over by cancer, but this picture makes me want to cry.  Mike's heart literally broke into a million pieces when David was diagnosed with cancer. 

Mike loves these kids and takes his role of father very seriously.  He preaches constantly to the kids to "do the right thing always" and I am so thankful that he takes his biblical role of training up a child seriously.  We are very blessed that Mike Robinson is the head of this household. 

This picture also makes me want to cry. This is my Dad with David in the hospital during an inpatient stay for chemo.  Dad was my right hand man while we were in Cville.  If Mike could not be with me, then my Dad would come down to be with me and David.  He and Dave have a special little bond.  Happy Father's Day Dad!

This is also Mike's first year without his own father on Father's Day.  That has been a very hard situation for lots of reasons and today I am sure he is thinking of his own Dad. 

We have a busy week ahead with Governor's School for Kyle, All star practices starting up, therapy appointments for David, and gymnastics for Hope.  Happy Father's Day!

 

*** Since I posted this I have had several emails/texts/messages asking where we stayed.  Click here www.governorscrossing.net  for info about the hotel.  We stayed in a one bedroom executive suite which was super nice.  We actually cooked in the kitchen one night and it was great to have laundry in our condo and a full kitchen.  For the price, it was a great place to stay plus tons stuff at the hotel like an outdoor and indoor waterpark, free putt putt (9 hole tiny course), pirate ship playground, shuffleboard, and an arcade.  It was really a great value for the price.  ****