VBS Week of July 26th thru July 30th 2010

The Entry way into VBS this year.

Where our normal services are held. But was the meeting place for the kids of VBS

Elijah's VBS classroom.

Elijah digging into the VBS treasure chest.

The helper in Elijah's class Brandon.

VBS started this last week and initially I wasn't going to take the kids, mainly because I told Elijah was too young. The only child care was for the workers ( though I believe there were a few kids care was provided for that weren't workers, I'm unsure), which these classes were reserved for. Surprisingly they needed one more nursery working because of how many kiddos were there and I was it. VBS went well though and after working there I actually enjoyed it. It was exhausting but enjoyable. It was great for Elijah and the twins too. I had to much to my dismay had to miss one day and the end of the VBS week celebration. But I don't do it for me, I do it for my kids and my church. This year has me excited for next... Can't wait to see what next year holds. Looking forward to volunteering too.

The twins WWF..... Graphic photos included.

Two bruises on the side of Adriels face from Mathias.

Two bite marks in between hand and elbow.

The bite mark on Adriels back, the worst.


Walked into the most horrible sight ever to walk into, or at least at the moment, sure with time it will get worst. We walked upstairs to put our water down, get ready for bed and check on the kids. Our routine got cut short, as I came up the stairs I heard a loud scream from Adriel. I dropped everything and run upstairs to see what was going on. I walked into a scene I can only hope I don't ever see again. Poor Adriel was curled up in a ball in the corner of his crib sobbing and screaming. Mathias was standing up above him getting ready to stomp on him again. It took me a minute to figure out exactly what happened, but the marks on our poor Adriel tell the whole story. Thank God we came in and intervened.I hope to never see this again.

Rubber Ducky Your the One!!! Ellie's 1st rubber ducky .July 21st 2010

Yes I know a corny thing to document, but hey I thought it was pretty cute. This was one of the first baths that Ellie took where she's been alert enough to play with a toy. Thought it was pretty neat. I had just bought this pink duck for her that day... Was so happy to see her playing with it. So happy and excited in fact, that I had to have Josh take a photo. She had fun, wonder how long this beautiful baby girl will play with that one little duck?! Probably for a while, who can say no to there rubber ducky.

Elijah's 1st fish!!! July 21st 2010

Goldie, the beta. (Elijah named him)

Look at how proud he is of his first fish.

Elijah got this fish on our very first grocery shopping trip with all of the kids and Mom. He got it because he did very well and was a big helper. After a long day of shopping 2 stores and being in the second right around lunch. This was a well deserved well earned fish. I'm sure Elijah will have him for a while.

Ellie's 4 Month old well baby check up.

Gotta love that cute face.

Ellie had her well baby check up when she was actually 4 and a half months old. It was one of the first check ups that I didn't have to have Josh come home for, again thanks to our new mini van. It was nice to get to go to it just Elie and I. A good friend of mine watched the boys for me and allowed this ( Thanks Heather). While we were waiting for Ellie's doctor to come in and check up on her Ellie and I spent a good chunk of time just playing together. It was fun and she's such a bubbly baby it's always enjoyable. The doctor came in and looked at Ellie and she was doing fine, she still had a bit of torticollis but am confident Kirsten will get this taken care of, he was also concerned about the shape of her head, which at this point and time is getting better ( She's 5 months old now) Ellie at this check up was 13lbs and a couple of ounces, she was 25% on the weight chart, but still doing the steady climb on the growth chart. Ellie was 25 inches long so a very long baby she was 75% on height. So she's probably gonna be a tall skinny baby and I'm just fine with that. Actually pray she will always be a tinier baby. I wouldn't mind having a beautiful tiny baby.

The kids first play date outside of home. July 12th 2010

One of the first days we actually had the van, I decided to take the kids out to a play date with a good friend of mine, that and she offered to watch the boys so I could take Ellie to her well baby check up, so I was good with that. We went to her house and everything went okay. Elijah and Josiah played well, though Elijah encouraged Josiah to play in water in there bathroom and one Of my friends twins might of flushed something down the toilet. We aren't sure though, there's nothing to confirm or deny this.

Her and my twins did well together, though they didn't play too much together, they played more together this time then there very first play date. With time I'm sure this will change.

The girls actually noticed each other for the very first time, it was so cute to watch them interact. They got bored with each other fairly quickly. But did play okay together. I can't wait until they are able to interact more... Again with time. Will be cool to see her and my kids develop, play and grow together.

Our First Family Van. July 11th 2010

After a long journey we finally got our first family van. I was so happy to finally get it. The bad news is that the church had a van for us, it needed repairs but there were several people that were more then willing to fix it for us. But that's not the way things went. Either way we are just thankful to finally have a vehicle. This van though it will cause us to make it pay check to pay check, has already been a blessing. We because of having the van have more time with Daddy, because me and the boys can do the grocery shopping, I can take the boys out to play dates and take the kids to doctors appointments.. The van itself is awesome. It gets 19 MPG is nice and spacious inside, it has back up sensors so I don't run into anything and is a wonderful sky blue. Since driving the van I've been unable to drive the car comfortably. I keep on trying to shift the car with a lever by the steering wheel, which isn't there. Also with driving the car now I feel really low to the ground. Not to mention the get the same MPG on gas. So I'm not wasting money driving my awesome van....

Fourth of July Fun!!!!

Josh's big fire on the grill, yummy.

Our sit up out front to watch the fire work show.

What we see from our house.

Elijah was tired, we had fun.

Ellie and I after she woke up from her nap. Was a fun night.

So our fourth of July didn't go exactly how we planned it, but we rescued it that afternoon. We went to a forth of July picnic that one of our church members hosted. They host it yearly. There is food, paint balling, and friends. We didn't get to enjoy it this year as much as we could of because we didn't know what to expect. It also didn't help we didn't realize we could just let the kids run and play instead of having to guard them so closely. Anyways the kids were getting tired so we decided to head home. When we got home we ended up having a barbecue and sitting up for the fire works. Our neighborhood has a huge fireworks show in the cul - da - sac in front of us. It's better then professional. We eat our food out front and make smores on our fire pit while enjoying the show. We usually burn our tree from Christmas, but this year we didn't save them so we bought firewood from safeway. It was a nice night. Ellie slept well and let us enjoy the night with Elijah. Elijah had alot of fun, even at the church picnic. He went to bed worn out and so did we. The twins stayed up for a bit and enjoyed the fireworks from there window. This 4th of July was cold, we are hoping this next years will be a bit warmer, but no matter the weather. It's fun to celebrate with our family.

Josh's suprise Birthday Party July 27th 2010

Josh's carrot cake/ birthday cake. Home made from scratch.

All the yummy treats I made for Josh's party.

Josh doing his thing.

So for Josh's birthday this year I planned a surprise birthday party, though since I'm not good at lying he kinda knew about early. I even made a power point presentation, which he also knew about alot earlier then I would of liked. He kinda helped a bit with it too. Anyways I think it went well, I invited tons of people from our care group we had pizza and tons of dessert.

Josh's power point presentation, took me weeks to prepare and had tons of help from Josh's military friends, people from High school and friends from WOW.

Elijah's 1st Graduation June 16th 2010

Elijah and his best friend Conner.

Elijah's teacher Mrs. Liable

Elijah and most of his class mates.

Boys trying to stay composed, long enough for a photo.

This one shows how much like Josh Elijah really is. Love this one. Him goofing off. A side of Elijah I don't see much.

Was so proud of Elijah, this is his very first graduation. At first he was very upset and didn't really want to be there, that was until he saw his best friend Conner. ( who he talks about all the time) Then things just went uphill from there. They had sandwiches so Elijah sat down and ate some sandwiches and chips with Conner. Then was time to receive there graduation certificates, Elijah's is now framed in his room. After that was time for games with friends and dessert and home. Elijah had alot of fun, it was awesome to see this goofy side of Elijah I've never seen. I loved seeing it. Shows me how much like his Daddy Elijah truly is.

When talking to Mrs. Liable about Elijah's progress, I found out something very surprising about our Elijah, underneath this ball of goofiness is a kid that is advanced in Math and vocabulary. Thank God he may have his Daddies brain, not mine. I'm so proud of him and the even more awesome thing is getting to know his friends, there parents and the people that worked with Elijah all year. It's a true blessing. Proud of my big boy.