a cause to celebrate

Since yesterday was Megan's "Gotcha Day" we decided to celebrate after church by going out to DQ and getting ice cream. It was such a fun treat and fun way to celebrate Megan making us a family of six. Toby loved his ice cream with rainbow sprinkles...

After Gage being silly and dropping his ice cream (imagine that) we cleaned it up and he was able to enjoy the rest of his...also with rainbow sprinkles. This pic is RIGHT before he dropped it!
The reason we celebrated with DQ ice cream! (ummm...she got a LARGE double fudge cookie dough blizzard...and she finished it) :)

I had to have one of us...but this is what sort of face Brad made...ugh...he's such a joker

So I made Megan take another one!

Bailey (Megan's boyfriend) was being goofy like "Coach Smith"

awe...Bailey and Megan

Sooooo glad that my wonderful sweet friend Amy came along with to church and to celebrate also...Love that my boys love this girl. Toby asked "where's Mamie?" about 5 or 6 times today.

It's official...we are a family of six!

Please Pray Today!

Ok...prayers would be wonderful this morning. We are going to court this morning to hopefully make this pretty girl a part of our family. It has been a summer long process...and we are all excited to see it come to a close before school starts. If all goes planned we will leave court as her legal guardians...but we look at it as if now our 3 boys have a sister!

I want to continue to see her cheer each week and get better and better at her talent! (She's in the pink shirt and black shorts doing a back hangspring)
Wow...I would not be the only girl anymore. I would have someone on "my" team...ha.

My 3 boys would have a sister. We would have 4 kids...I have always wanted 4 kids.

This would be our crew...all six of us. That makes me smile when I type that!

I will keep you updated...will post again on Wednesday night. Thank you soooo much for your continue prayers and support...they mean so much to us.

Mac 10 months

Look who is growing up to be a big boy! No Baby Mac anymore around here. I can't wait to hang out with this little guy this afternoon after his morning nap. My boys are going to interact with him so much this afternoon and don't worry...I plan on taking lots of pics of them together.

flowers

Brad knew I was having a rough day...quite stressful in certain times with 2, 4, 6 yr old boys and a 15 yr old teenage girl...yikes. Most of the time I hold it together quite well I have to say...but then there are times when I just can't do it anymore...and I crumble. This was one of those crumble days when I did ask God "can I really handle ONE more thing?" That late afternoon I walked in to the kitchen and this is what I found! This is my all-time favorite gift from Bradley...fresh picked flowers from our farm. He has been working food plots and working fences so he found these while he was working...aren't they beautiful!

I talk to my friend Joan all the time...she knows more about all aspects of my life I feel like than anyone. So I was sharing my story with her of my flowers. I thought she might know what they were. She didn't but she knew someone who did...

Joan White wrote:
Bobby, a close friend sent me these pictures--there will be 2 e-mails with the same picture, but different view, of these wild flowers that were on the wooded area of their farm. I was talking with her and she wondered what they could be and said she was going to send me pictures to see if i knew. I told her, I'd never know, but that you were an expert and would probably know. If you do know or find out let me know. I would appreciate it so that i could let her know.....Joan

His reply:

Spider Lily .You can Google on it and see a ton of images, e.g.

A Carrot & A Cage

This boys is sooo funny with his drawings. He has such an imagination. I love it. So does his very crafty GG! He said..."hey Mama, look...a carrot and a cage!" No denying that it is a carrot and a cage. I had to share it...because he was so proud.

being crafty

Someone got really quiet...a little too quiet. I had to sneak up and find out what he was doing because like I said...he was way too quiet.

He found the big bag of stickers that Joan also gave them. He was making "art!"
I loved watching him concentrate so hard on taking the sticker back off and stick it onto the paper. It was too cute and he was way too proud of his masterpiece! Good Job Toby!

Thanks again Joan for the wonder fun that you gave my boys with all these stickers...

Lake Tiak O'Khata

One last get away before school started...this was so relaxing and so much fun. It will become an annual tradition of our crew with our camper. We just swam and grilled out and visited with friends and slept late and stayed up REALLY late (everyone did.) FUN!

Gage and Toby chilling out by the camper.

Our camper...notice our little light under the awning (they are palm trees and flamingos.)
This is where we spent the bulk of our time...in this fun lake! 3 slides and 2 diving boards

afternoon snack...pb sandwiches and crackers

Megan and Gage cheesing...they are sooo good at this!

Gage playing in the sand.

Toby...horrible face...he's saying "cheese" and dragging it out and just looking sorta my way.

The setting to this place is just like the setting in the movie "Dirty Dancing"...very retro. It was so cool...and very cost friendly especially if you are staying in the camper section. It was great! The food was really good. And after supper you could take bread out to the pier and feed the huge catfish, carpe fish, turtles, and brim. Like I said before...we have started a tradition!

four wheeler riding

After the youth party, Bailey (Megan's new friend) and Megan took Gage and Toby for a ride.

This is Bailey. Toby loves Bailey. It makes Megan jealous that Toby loves Bailey so much. I just laugh b/c I love that Bailey loves Toby sooo much.

FBC Youth Party

We had a youth party...lots of fun. It was a slip n slide party! Megan's idea (of course!) We had pizza and cookies...Lisa made peanut butter cookies and I guess I need the recipe because Toby ate 10 of them...no lie. I did not stop him. I let him have fun too...so 10 cookies was supper for him then a little later 2nd course was 2 pieces of pizza!

Here is the slip n slide...so much fun!
They also played in the lake...Nathan, Reid, Mackenzie, and Megan

Jesse, Carly, and Reagan.

Ummmm...John trying to wear Toby's lifejacket!

Great night...kids were awesome...great fellowship!

"joan" crafts

The other week when we went to the park to play with Joan, she gave us a bag of fun crafts. It was a great day today to pull them out. It was lots of stickers...the boys love stickers!

Toby loved making his visor to wear at the lake this weekend!
Gage was pretty proud of his too! Blue is now his favorite color.

Thanks Joan for the fun crafts...you somehow know exactly what my boys love! I love that you know them so well even though you don't get to see them that often. love, Amy

road trip! 5 of 5

On day 2 of Six Flags we found the swings that Gage could ride and he was such a happy camper.

They wanted to ride Thunder River again. I did not. So I took pictures for them!
I was the one that wanted this picture...I love Speedy Gonsales.

Mr. Six Dance Party started up and Megan was the first one out there. It was too funny. She was good though. They had lots of great music and fun dances for everyone.

The parade of the characters ended there and they joined in on the party. Jasmine is the black girl dancing right next to Megan. Since Megan danced the entire time with the crew, Jasmine's supervisor told her to take us all to the Goliath roller coaster up the exit ramp. Such a treat! We got up there and she asked us what other coasters we wanted to ride...we told her the Supermand and Batman. She said "done!" So we just went up to the exit ramp and told them our names and they let us on. We probably not been able to ride these rides b/c we would not have stood in the long lines due to having Carson and Gage with us. But we were able to walk up to the exit ramp with the 2 of them and they would stand their and watch us ride the ride and the attendant would watch them for us. So much fun! Thanks Megan for dancing for us!

Gage and Sylvester

Me with Bugs Bunny's Girlfriend?!?

Riding the Great American Scream Machine...a lot rougher than I remembered!

Splash Water Falls again...I backed out once again and decided to take the picture. All 4 of them are in the back of the boat.

About to ride the Goliath...FUN. It was 20 stories tall.

What a great trip...what fun memories we made.