Easter Egg Hunt

 

Evelyn was happy to watch the big kids hunt for eggs 

Daddy is trying to turn this one into a Daddy's girl.

Friends, most of the time

Father's Day 2011

We had the privilege of spending Father's Day weekend with Ben's family, including his grandparents, in Mackinaw City. We had a great time! I made a personalized card for Ben and included with it Owen's answers to 24 questions I asked him about his Daddy. You can read the questions and answers below.

I'm thankful for the godly men in my life who have displayed the role of "father" to me. My own Dad and Ben's Dad are wonderful examples of the love and kindness of our heavenly Father. My Dad has always been super dad. For years we gave him cards on both Mother's Day and Father's Day because he was our everything. I'm so thankful for a dedicated, loving Dad who was committed to raising his kids the right way and being their role model.

And if you've followed this blog for any length of time I hope by now it has been made clear that I am married to a man who is an incredible Daddy. He knows how to have fun with his kids while also having a close relationship with them where they respect and obey his word. He teaches them God's Word, leads them in worship, instructs them on how to treat others, sings with them, provides for them and love their mama!

Here are a couple of pictures of our Father' Day:

Daddy with his sweetie, Aubrey.
Daddy with his champ, Owen.

Owen giving Daddy his Father's Day card.

Ben's Grandpa opening his card from us.

Ben's Dad opening his card from us.

Father’s Day 2011: Questions answered by Owen
1. What makes Daddy happy? "Umm. . . that he is my champ.”
2. How does your daddy make you laugh? “When he says ‘dahboodah’”
3. What does your daddy do when you’re not around? “Go to work.”
4. What is your daddy really good at? “Climbing and jumping.”
5. What is your daddy not very good at? “He’s not good at getting on my shoulders. He’s not good at being careful.”
6. What does your daddy do for a job? “He goes to work and gets money.”
7. If your daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be? “Mowgli.”
8. How are you and your daddy the same? “We’re both boys.”
9. How are you and your daddy different? “We have different shirts.”
10. How do you know your daddy loves you? “He shares with me.”
11. How do you know Daddy loves Mommy? “He shares his books and his desk with you.”
12. What is something Daddy always says to you? "Let’s go somewhere."
13. What makes Daddy happy? “When I share my toys.”
14. What makes Daddy sad? “When I don’t share my things.”
15. What was Daddy like as a child? “He liked toys.”
16. How old is Daddy? “I don’t know. 60?”
17. How tall is Daddy? He threw his hands in the air and stretched and said, “That big!”
18. What is Daddy's favorite thing to do? "Climbing."
19. What does Daddy do when you're not around? "Go to work."
20. What is Daddy's favorite food? "Cereal."
21. What makes you proud of Daddy? "When he rolls backwards."
22. If Daddy were in one of your books, what character would he be? “George.”
23. What do you and daddy do together? "We wrestle."

24. Where is Daddy's favorite place to go? "Work."

Owen's great-grandparents reading his answers.

Labor Day Weekend

In our part of the country the weather could not have been better for the long holiday weekend! We spent Friday evening celebrating Aubrey's birthday, Saturday at WorldFest, Sunday at church and then a trip to the park and Monday at Family Palooza. Family Palooza was a free event organized by Southeast Christian Church. There were water slides, a petting zoo, train rides, face painting, tons of inflatables, pony rides, dunk tanks, food, carnival games and live entertainment. Here are a few pictures from our day:

Did I forget to mention that we also got free t-shirts (not pictured) and free balloons?

Climbing up and going down the big slide

Aubrey wasn't big enough to ride the train by herself so I had to squeeze myself into the kiddie train car.

Owen loves trains so he thought this was great!

Owen does not, however, love animals. Here he is climbing on Ben to avoid having to get on the horse.
He was much more comfortable with this smaller pony but still tried to touch it as little as possible (notice his right leg).

"This isn't so bad after all! Now I'm having fun!"

Aubrey: "I miss out on all the good stuff."

Part of the petting zoo.

The Fourth of July

The evening of July 4th included lots of friends, lots of food, lots of fireworks and a few pictures.

Owen quickly became a fan of sparklers

Aubrey is proud to be an American!

We got together with a group of about 30 friends for the Fourth of July.

How a group of guys can sit in a hot garage on a 90 degree day is beyond me.

This is the cake I made; Although, I asked Ben to make the flag. I think he did a great job.

Some of the children

Some of the men

Some of the women

One of our MANY attempts to get a family picture.

Owen and his friend, Morgan.

Me and my girl

The kids had a blast listening to bottle rockets, making colored smoke, waving sparklers, throwing snappers and watching fireworks.

Owen and his friend, Meredith

Jessica carried a supply of sparklers and snappers that she gave to Owen. So he made sure to stick very close to her side!

Watching fireworks. Owen LOVED it! The noise didn't bother him at all. Aubrey was sleeping by this point. Owen didn't nap but the excitement of the night kept him happy.

Extended Family Fun

Owen and his cousins had a blast together over the holidays. Now we are just counting down the days until our annual vacation together in Florida!

Owen and Grandpa

Checking out the new toys from Grandma and Grandpa Lange

Ben is a child-magnet

The kids love to wrestle with Grandpa! Although Owen doesn't see him nearly as much as the others do, you'd never know it by the way he joined in on the action. He was quick to run over to him and jump in his arms every time he came over for a visit.

Brenden ADORES babies!

I have a feeling these two little girls are going to be pretty close friends

Some of the Grandparents

My mother's mom, 'Grandma Thelma'

I like this picture of my dad

Four generations - myself, my dad and his mother

Between grandchildren and great-grandchildren, this grandma has almost 60 grandchildren. Aubrey is happy to be one of them!

CHEESE!!!

We had family pictures taken while in Michigan. The night we took them was also Owen's last night of being sick and his first night seeing Uncle Drew. Uncle Drew can always get Owen to smile. The two of them kept going back and forth growling "CHEESE" in a deep voice. Owen thought it was hilarious. The other day he walked up to me and in his deep voice yelled, "CHEESE! Mama, that's what Uncle Dew says." As you can tell from this picture, Owen adores Drew.

Chimichanga Night

My mom was a fabulous cook! Our family loved her homemade chimichangas. Since she passed away it has become our tradition that Kim, Korey and I get together each year at Christmas time and make mom's chimis. My mom never taught us how to make this dish but we found the recipe after she was gone. Each year we get better and better, hoping to eventually make them as tasty as my mother did. This year my sister and I even made homemade tortillas and we also whipped up some homemade guacamole. Unfortunately, Korey couldn't make it home for Christmas this year so we ate extra in his honor.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with Chimichanga night except that it was taken that same night after we ate. I don't know who took it and didn't even know it existed until I uploaded my pictures. I'd love to have some pictures of the actual dinner, but as it turns out Kim and I are typically the only people to use the camera. And, well, we were busy cooking.