After-Dinner Battle

We ate dinner outside and shortly after everyone was done, a battle ensued.  Sticks, baseball bats, light sabers, and foam swords went through the defense rotation.  Bridgette went to bed early, but the rest of us battled hard and eventually Ryan was defeated when we all ganged up on him.  Isn't the goal always to beat Daddy?

Father's Day 2013

The kids and I had fun getting ready for Father's Day.  Ryan is a daddy worth celebrating!  He makes sure to keep us all laughing and does a wonderful job of engaging the kids, especially after coming home from a long day of work.  It's a treat for me to have a close-up view of why Rooke, Gretchen, and Bridgette love their daddy.

Sunday morning started with a special breakfast and some gifts!  

The Daddy Bag - we used to give my dad his gifts in this bag.

"Enough with the photos - can we eat already?!"

Each year, the kids give Ryan a book for Father's Day.  In the past I've picked it out for them, but this year I checked out a ton of library books and after reading them all, Rooke and Gretchen agreed on which one they liked best for Ryan.  They made a great choice.

After church, we took Ryan out for a yummy lunch (and were reminded why we don't go out to eat with our monkeys three young kids that often!) then made our way back home for a relaxed afternoon.  

He's so good at having fun with the kids!

The biggest surprise the kids worked on was memorizing a passage from Psalm 103 to share with their daddy.  Ryan is a wonderful father, but we worship God as our Heavenly Father and are grateful that He loves our children more than we ever could.  This passage speaks of how God demonstrates His gracious love and was a blessing for our family to think on together as we celebrated Father's Day.

Psalm 103:6-13

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the people of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious; 

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, 

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so great is His steadfast love towards those who fear Him.

As far as the East is from the West, 

so far does He remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.

Celebrating Three

Gretchen and I had some rough days last month.  Rough weeks, if I'm being honest.  In praying about how to better understand and love her, I realized that I wasn't letting her be three.  I was lumping her in with Rooke as a "big kid" and expecting her to behave more like a five-year-old.  I was impatient with her longing to be held and tired of having to remind her multiple times what I needed her to do.  I was not doing a good job at letting her be three and loving the enjoyable aspects of her unique stage in life.  After some time of reacquainting myself with what I should expect from my little three-year-old and thinking on how to engage her better at her level, I have seen a drastic improvement in our relationship.  While Rooke is in school and Bridgette is taking her morning nap, we have found ourselves giggling, cuddling, coloring, reading, dancing, baking, creating . . . I am so grateful for this re-direction and connection with my fun-loving, opinionated, clever, and spunky three-year-old.   

A dress she found at a charity shop on our mommy date that she couldn't live without.  Pretty in pink and polka-dots.  I had to pry the dress off of her so we could let others use the changing room!

  

While trying to get Bridgette to cooperate with her:

"For unto me all authority has been given!"

She'd been asking to make cherry cupcakes.  We ended up baking a delicious cake together.

Working on a Princess Aurora painting with "Princess Leia bundles" in her hair. 

Cardiff, Wales

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Cardiff, Wales.  The weather was nice, which is always a bonus.  Cardiff felt more modern than we expected, but I liked being back in a big(ger) city.  We had a picnic every day, everyone did great sleeping in the same room, and staying at a place with a pool was a major plus.  We did learn some valuable lessons on this trip that I'll mention if for only my memory's sake:

1.  We do have tools to change a flat tire in our car.  Thank you, UK AAA.

2.  Bridgette doesn't like to take naps in the stroller.

3.  If a lovie is left in a rest stop bathroom, it's worth adding 45-minutes to the trip to go get her.

4. Always leave lovies in the hotel or in the car.     

5.  If the weather is nice, picnics are the way to go.

6.  Our children have an amazing ability to time their need for a bathroom/new diaper at alternating one-hour intervals.

7.  No matter what the attitudes have been like previously in the day, we will always have fun at a castle.

It was one great big family sleepover with beds from wall to wall!

Right after we arrived, Gretchen fell into the corner of a wall and earned a pretty good cut, which is why she's wearing a bandaid.  She was a trooper.

Rooke said his favorite part of the weekend was our morning at the National Museum of Wales.  He wanted his picture taken with this ginormous bison.  Signs of OBU to come in the future?! 

More fun at the museum - "the head bone connected to the collar bone . . .the collar bone connected to the shoulder bone . . ."

Bute Park right in the middle of the city

This picture makes me laugh - all with pointed fingers

At the Cardiff Castle

We planned to stop at another castle on our way home.  Little did we know a Medieval cider festival was happening at Caldicot Castle that day - fun!

We let the monkeys out every now and then.

Boys wanted a picture of their battle outside the castle.

Two out of three girls wanted a picture in the flowers.

Sleepy drive back home.

End of the Month Phone Dump

Fresh coconut for our after-school snack 

On good-weather days, I love to follow this little munchkin around while the big kids have swimming lessons

Family budgetting is always more fun in the sun 

We kept our friends' girls for a weekend.  Five kids with one at every age from 1 to 5.  What a party!  It was crazy, but fun.  I made sure to feed them all at exactly the same time to make sure that I got at least three minutes of quiet each day.

Getting everyone dressed and ready to be at the gymnastics gym by 9am was totally worth it.  We wore them out! 

Picnic with friends

I'm so proud of how well she has worked at learning to ride her bike this month.

Found her tucked into the guest bed. 

Little B's first time to ride facing forward.  She's such a happy little girl!

This is how we roll during story-time at the end of the day 

Happy Mother's Day! 

I had our mommy date all planned, but once we got to Claire's it was all over!  She had so much fun looking and trying on - so we stayed.  Take a new necklace put together with a dress she couldn't live without from a charity shop and finish with face-painting.  I had one very happy little girl to spend the morning with!

This is how we enjoy pets.  We babysit our neighbor's dog!  The kids wanted her to play.  The dog wanted them to leave her alone!

She likes counting.

He keeps beating me. 

The Force is obviously with him. 

Welcome to our after-dinner antics.  The sound of my kids laughing never gets old.