Muddin and Snake Handling

On Saturday, Jim, Danae, Hope and Andrew went muddin with the Larsens in their jeeps and here's what they looked like when they came home. Everyone came over to jump in the lake...even Andrew was muddy! He had a blast! Then the Larsens came over to watch football and one of the boys brought his corn snake and Anna overcame her greatest fear and held it! Hooray Anna! She's braver than her mama!

August

We've had a fun end of our summer and now it's back to life and school. Everyone has adjusted well this first week back. Here's a few pictures of our life...

Prince Andrew...Hope got him dressed this morning.

Andrew as a girl!
First morning on our way to school.

When we were in Blue Ridge, Andrew's favorite thing to do was throw rocks into the lake.

He also loved riding on the bow of the boat with the wind in his hair. :-)

On our vacation in Blue Ridge with three other families (20 people total in one cabin!)...this was Jim's birthday. We had a great time.

Girls, girls, girls!

Look at all those beauties! We had our dear friends, the Brady's (another family of 4 girls), over yesterday to play and all our girls had matching bathing suits...aren't they adorable? If you look closely, you can see Danae's new smile! She got her braces off yesterday. I will post some close up pictures of her soon!

Summer is finally here!

It has been a while since we've updated! We've had a busy month with our trip to Italy, end of school parties and graduation ceremonies. Our trip to Italy was amazing and we had a great time. The little ones did wonderful at home with our friends, the Hembrees, and also with Nana and Papa. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we've been up to.

Here we are eating dinner in Venice...right on the main channel...it was so beautiful!

We brought Andrew home a speedo from Italy...he loves it!

The girls had their ballet recital...aren't they so grown up?

Maybe Andrew will want to be a doctor like daddy someday? He says no when you ask him. :-)Ashley graduated from Kindergarten! Our baby girl is growing up!
Remember Hope's garden? Here are some of the 'fruits' of her labor.
Danae graduated from 8th grade and is now a high schooler! Agh! She was awarded the 'Faith' Award at school, which was a big honor. It means that she is not afraid to share the gospel with her peers and is a wonderful example of a prayer warrior. We are so proud of her!

Jim and Anna wakeskating together...our Sunday family evening on the lake.Anna and Ashley slept in curlers last night and here they are together as curly heads...

Andrew's New Hairstyle

Andrew got his first big boy haircut with the clippers...he didn't hold very still, but somehow we managed to get it semi-even. :-) He's so handsome!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all of you. We went to West Palm Beach to visit my brother Jake and his wife Shannon for our annual visit.

Here's how a family photo with five kids looks...Andrew has his eyes closed and Danae is about to sneeze. Hilarious!

Mommy and her boy...true love.

Hopey and Danielle!

Danae and Brynn!

Today Anna had an endoscopy (stomach scope) done and while we were waiting, Andrew sat on the walkover watching for trains. Anna did great and her stomach looked normal. She's still having the pain in her tummy and side, so keep praying for her!

So sleepy after her scope was done. Andrew was very interested in waking her up!
I explained to Andrew that Anna had medicine that makes her very sleepy. He announced in his LOUD voice that he had medicine in his 'buttcrack'. He has exzema between his buttocks and we put medicine on it each night before bed...to explain why he said that. He cracks me up!

Spring Break

We had a wonderful Spring Break at the beach! We spent a few days and nights at the beach with some of our dear friends, Jay and Susan Hembree and their two cuties, Jake and Grayson. We had fun surfing, boogie boarding, swimming and eating!

Here's Hopey catchin a wave...

Daddy and his boy...

Lots of chicken fights in the pool...

Jim's favorite spot...shade!

Danae surfing! (thankyou Jay for all the lessons!)

Hopey surfing! (almost)

All my girls...

Danae was having some fun with her camera on these next few shots...

Grayson the mermaid...

Danae and Jake...two peas in a pod... (notice the ornery look on Jake's face)

Holly and Susan...

Holly and her baby boy!