Wonderful Weekend

I love holiday weekends and we have certainly stuffed a lot of fun, family, good food, and friends into this one. This Fourth of July weekend we celebrated the end of Vacation Bible School with a super fun pool party. David and Hope enjoyed staying up late for the VBS pool party. Kyle was on a sleepover with GG and Pops.
Here are David and Hope before church on Sunday in their red, white, and blue! Mike's Mom made Hope a really cute 4th of July outfit but I do not have a picture of her in it yet.

Here is Miss Priss ready for church!

On Sunday after church we gathered with my whole family at the lake for our 4th of July celebration. I have been celebrating the 4th at that lake my entire life and I love that my kids now enjoy it too. Miss Hope fell sound asleep in her Daddy's arms on the boat.

These pictures are totally out of order, but GG got David a cake so we could all celebrate his birthday! He is really into Buzz and Woody right now:)

He loves his new Razor 360 from GG and Pops.

I love this boy and I so love this picture of him blowing out his number 7 candle. Where in the world has the time gone? It makes me weepy to think that just 7 years ago our world was forever changed. I am so thankful for all the amazing life lessons God has taught us through this red-headed angel.

AFter all the birthday festivities were out of the way and the rain moved out, the boys finally got their turn to tube. Hunter went first and here is a picture of his wipeout:) Hunter is such a sweet dude to my kiddos.

Another picture of David's cute cake.

Uncle Chad and "Net Net" also brought Hope her present and here she is modeling her new princess bathing suit from them! It is so cute on her. She also insisted to wear it to the pool today.

The exciting news of the day was that David tubed solo behind the boat!!! We were so proud of him and to calm Mike's nerves we went super slow and just did big loops in front of our boat dock. He loved it and cried when it was his turn to get off. He also kept signaling for us to go faster!! HA! Chad cracked me up by saying that he looked like a gopher in that tube-the only thing you could really see was his little head poking up through the hole in the tube!

Yay David!!! We have asked him for years if he has wanted to tube and he has always said no. He shocked us by saying YES!!

Kyle loves to tube and here he is riding some big waves!

Pops was sweet enough to swim with all the boys (and Hope!) We really enjoyed our day at the lake with the whole family. The kids swam, fished, boated, and tubed together and I am so thankful that we have such a fun place to gather together as a family.

Today we had actually planned to go to Carowinds, but we have been so busy the last few days with VBS and a day at the lake, we decided to spend the 4th of July here at home. We thought Carowinds would be really hot and really crowded, so we opted to stay here. Mike took the boys to play golf this morning while the girls of the house went to the pool. We are heading to some friends house tonight for good food and fireworks. I am so thankful that this weekend we have had a chance to slow down and enjoy each other's company and our friends and family.

What a Night!

Last night was such fun as we wrapped up Vacation Bible School at church. The children had an hour of VBS and then we went to the town pool for a pool party! It was hot which made for a nice night of swimming.
For some reason Hope wore her dark sunglasses all night at church-we jokingly called her Stevie Wonder! My girl loves her sunglasses for sure! One of the stops last night was dinner and they all got a hot dog dinner:) It was so cute watching those little ones climb up to the table for supper.

I am so thankful that there are lots of sweet sweet girls at church for Hope to grow up with. She is going to need some good "Jesus friends" as she grows up and I love this cute group of girls.

Last night we were all surprised with a baby deer as one of the live animals. Oh my this little baby was so cute and needless to say she was a hit with all the kiddos.

Another total treat for the night was the miniature ponies! Oh my these two were such a hit and the little ones got to ride one! Hope was okay to pose on one but she did not care for how bumpy the ride was.

Kelly and Kristen helped get Hope's glasses off so she could actually see what she was riding! I love it!

Sarah, Olivia, and Hope checking out the baby deer. My youngest was certainly enthralled with all the animals this week at VBS. What a fun, wonderful week!

After we wrapped up VBS, we headed to the town pool for a pool party! My two were so excited and had taken late naps to prepare for a fun night of swimming.

Pure joy!

David jumps in a million times every time we go to a pool. He is getting braver and braver with each visit!

Hope and sweet Sarah swimming together. We have some wonderful friends at church and last night was such a fun night at the pool. We stayed way later than I thought we would but the kiddos just were having fun.

I have loved every minute of VBS this year. The theme has been so wonderful and the kids have been crazy over the songs. Each child got a CD of the VBS songs and we have listened and listened to ours already. I fondly remember VBS growin up in my church and I am so thankful that my children enjoy it too!

Today we are off to have a family day at the lake and then tomorrow we are Carowinds bound!

Full Swing

Now that All Stars is now over, our summer is officially in full swing! We loved every minute of our ball playing, but now that it is over, it gives us a chance to head to a water park up the interstate from us. We love RAndolph Park and my parents met us there today! The kids loved it!

My oldest loved the water slide and had fun doing tricks on it!

David is just so silly and he has really become my water bug lately. He loves to jump in and now he can swim (sort of) back to the ladder! He has come soooo far in a year with his swimming.

My parents got there when the park opened to get us a nice, shady spot. Here are my three under the big umbrella!

David swimming!!!! He really wants to use his arms and legs to get him where he wants to go. All the swimming lessons and trips to the pool are finally kicking in and he loves the water!

I love that Kyle will take a break from swimming and sliding to come blow bubbles with Hope in the super shallow water. When he wants to be, he can be a great big brother. His sister certainly adores him.

One of the water buckets dumped above them and I happened to snap at that moment! A huge bucket full of water did not phase these two:)

It was kind of crowded today, so every 45 minutes there was a mandatory pool break which made reapplying the sunscreen easy to remember. My Mom packed us a nice picnic lunch and we had a relaxing and fun day at the water park. I am so thankful that I get to have these little summer day trips with my kiddos.

VBS is still in full swing too! We are all having fun with Hometown Nazareth. I am helping lead the music in the opening and closing each night and it is soooo much fun to hear a roomful of kids singing "Nothing is Impossible With God" at the top of their lungs. I love it.

Hope has acted like a big girl at VBS. Here she is hanging out with Kyle and Bre before the opening. Notice that she HAD to wear her princess dress AGAIN.

Our neighbors, Pam, and Ben have been David's leaders this week and they have certainly spoiled him rotten. He has had a wonderful week thanks to these two:)

I love this sweet picture of Hope showing off one of her treasures to her Daddy. Mike stopped by one night to the market place and Hope had to show off her crafts to him. He is such a good girl Daddy:)

This picture shocks me so much because my baby is letting a GOAT eat out of her hand. Several folks at church commented that she is going to be a farmers wife because she has loved all the live animals this week. This VBS has been so wonderful and the live animals have made it even better.

Here is Hope still feeding that goat with Ms. Theresa. I was so shocked that she did this-she is such a brave, big girl. I have so enjoyed watching her at VBS this week in her little preschool class.

We are so excited about the holiday weekend around here. We have big plans such as a much needed shopping trip tomorrow, the lake with the family on Sunday, and then Monday and Tuesday we are taking a fun overnight trip. I love summer so much :) Enjoy the holiday weekend!!!!