Kianna Made an Important Decision Today

Yesterday was an exciting day for Kianna, not only was it her first day of school but she also decided to ask Jesus into her heart. We are so proud of her! Sunday night at small group we learned that her friend, Abbie, decided to ask Jesus into her heart this past week. We told Kianna about that and it motivated her to do the same. I made sure she knew why she needed Jesus in her heart and she knew all the reasons, so I helped her pray before she went to bed. She woke up the next day talking about it and even told her teacher at school today. She is motivated to live her life for Christ. We pray this commitment will last a lifetime. We love you so much Kianna!!!

First Day of School

Kianna- Pre-Kindergarten

Kaylee- 1st Grade
The kids were excited to see the LCS Cougar this morning, especially Trace. Although, he didn't want to take his eyes off of him for very long. He wasn't sure if he would "lick him".
Kaylee at her locker. Kianna wouldn't let me take a picture of her at her locker...
The girls both started school today. Kianna is doing another year of pre-K . However, this year she is going to school five full days, the same as Kaylee. Kianna was super excited for school today and is really happy that she is now one of the oldest kids in her class, instead of the youngest. Kaylee started 1st grade today and had a bit more anxiety than in previous years. She was a little bummed because a few of her closer friends are in the other 1st grade class. However, after completing her first day she was in extremely good spirits. She even got to pick out a puzzle from the treasure box. What more could a girl want??? Oh and I should mention that I did attempt to say hi to Kaylee while she was playing outside at recess. She gave me a quick hug and asked me to leave. I had one of those first "I'm too cool to be seen with you moments." I had no idea it started so young...

Pool Party

We had our small group over for an end up the summer pool party. It was our biggest pool party yet with six families: 12 adults + 16 kids = fun times.

Nightmares

So we had some friends over yesterday and the kids watched the movie "Soul Surfer". It is a great movie, however, it appears the shark biting off Bethany Hamilton's arm was a bit much for our little guy to watch. Go figure. Trace woke up crying at 1:30 AM, which is extremely unusual for our kids. In fact, the only reason our kids normally wake up in the middle of the night is if they need to puke. So I told Trevor to go get the puke bucket for me. I then began rocking Trace while holding the bowl. It was then that he began telling me "dinosaur lick me, then bite me". Our poor little guy had a bad dream prompted by not one of our proudest parenting moments. He was up until 4:30 AM so that was our punishment. Lesson learned...

Sweet Moment

The girls were "supposed" to have some friends sleep over at our house the other night. However, once in bed their friends both started crying. Well actually the older sister started crying first, so her dad came and got her. Kaylee decided to go with her friend and spend the night at her house instead. So once they had pulled out of the driveway, I discovered that the younger sister was now crying and wanted to go home as well. We called the dad back and Kianna decided to spend the night at her friend's house too. As Kianna was excitedly preparing to leave, I asked her if she would be okay spending the night away from home. She looked back over her shoulder at me as she bounced across the floor and said "Mom, I'll be fine you know why? Jesus will be with me, so he will keep me safe. I don't have to be scared!" It was one of those sweet moments. What more could I say?

Kianna's Dora Pool Party

Kianna with her friends, Abbie, Callie, and Julianne.

Daddy taking the kids on their treasure hunt.
The kids had to float across the pool as one of their obstacles. Kaylee and her friend, Cara, were the helpers.
Girls with their Barbies.
Cara and Kaylee being silly.

Kianna just learned how to do the monkey bars and is pretty excited about her latest accomplishment. Way to go Kianna!

Kianna had a great time with her friends at her Dora Pool Party this year. Daddy did a really good job making a treasure map. The kids had a fun time finding their hidden treasures along the way. Kianna ended up with three more Barbies to add to her collection and more fun times with her friends.

Fashion Show 2011

New Gymnastics Leotards

The girls and I took our annual trip into Toledo to do some school clothes shopping. We had a nice lunch at The Olive Garden, found some cute clothes, made a trip to Build-A-Bear to spend some birthday money, and finished up the day with a fashion show for Daddy and Trace.

Tigers vs Twins

We made our first trip into Detroit to visit our good friends, The Johnsons, who were there as part of their vacation. We had a great time catching up with them, while having dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe and watching the Tigers defeat the Twins. It was a gorgeous evening with perfect baseball weather and a great time with friends.

Mission to Mars

A lot of you know that I "accidentally" volunteered to be in charge of decorations for VBS this summer. The theme was Mission to MARS. We were in charge of decorating the sanctuary, foyer, and snack area. I say "we" because Trevor came to my rescue by taking on the sanctuary, while I focused on the other two areas. He decorated the platform to look like a rocket had just landed on Mars. He built mountains for the surface of Mars and then made a 16' rocket ship. He let his old art skills resurface and he is my hero for a job well done. Thanks honey!!!

I organized the kids and teens to help me paper mache planets for the past 6 weeks. Thankfully quite a few people got involved helping with various projects and for that I am extremely grateful. Here are some pictures of the finished product.

Kianna's 5th Birthday

Kaylee can't seem to keep her eyes open for the camera. We had to settle with this one after four tries...
Trace developed a new love for air hockey. It was pretty cute!

It is hard to believe that our little "Nana Bear" is 5 years old. She had her check-up recently and weighed 40 lb and was 43 3/4" tall.

Some of her interests include:

• Playing with her brother and sister.
• Riding her bike.
• Jumping on the trampoline.
• Swinging.
• Swimming.
• Playing make believe with her Polly Pockets, Barbies, and American Girl Dolls.
• Drawing and other crafts.
• Playing on the computer.
• Watching movies. Her favorites are "The Chronicles of Narnia". She also loves "The Brady Bunch" reruns and "Dora the Explorer".

She is a sweet little girl whose smile and laugh are contagious. She is such a generous little girl as she is always trying to give her stuff away to her brother and sister. Hopefully her gift of generosity will continue into adulthood. At times she struggles to be a good listener and obey her Mommy and Daddy. She likes to challenge authority and is a bit stubborn. Like everyone, she has a few things she is working on (at least we hope she is working on them). We love her very much regardless!!!

We let Kianna open her presents first thing in the morning before Daddy left for work. I think Kaylee was as excited for Kianna to open her gifts as Kianna was. Being so close in age, they still have very similar interests. Kaylee was sweet and did some extra work around the house to earn enough money to buy Kianna a gift. She was pretty proud of herself. Kianna's big gift from us was Kit Kittredge, An American Girl Doll. Other gifts included a new game for her Leapfrog Explorer, lots of Polly Pocket princesses, and the Tangled Tower. The girls had a blast playing with the new toys all day long. We spent the evening at Chuck-E-Cheese. What a fun day! Happy Birthday Kianna. We love you so much!

Issa's Visit

Kianna

Cara and Kaylee
Gabriel and girls
Kids and friends
Thomas with his big finish
Thomas and Jonathan
Trace's face painted
Trevor in the dunk tank

We all had fun trying to dunk him, but he was a little sore after an hour of this!!!

Trevor and I with Aaron Shust!!!!

Our good friends, Anthony and Julie and their boys, Jonathan, Thomas, and Gabriel came to visit us for an action packed weekend. I say it was action packed because they were here for Community Celebration Day, which includes a 1/2 mile, 1 mile, or 5K race; face painting, bouncy houses, games, Trevor and Broderick in the dunk tank, an Aaron Shust concert and fireworks. It was a super fun day. Aaron Shust happens to be my favorite singer, so Trevor arranged a meet and greet prior to the concert. I'm not really one to get excited about such things, but in this case I was SUPER excited!!! Trevor said he arranged it for me as an early birthday present. Pretty exciting!!!

The girls ran in the 1/2 mile race. They were really into it this year and even did some training the past couple of weeks. Kianna has been pretty motivated since the race and hopes to run the 1 mile race next year. I'm hoping to do the 5K myself. Thomas managed to come in 2nd place in the 1 mile race. He had a pretty exciting finish where he sprinted out the last 50 meters to beat another boy by about 1 second. Pretty cool!