Greyson asked to have his face painted like a pirate.  The woman painting it must have heard wrong because she painted it like Spiderman.  I didn't have the heart to tell her...and I COULDN'T tell him because he saw a little boy painted like Spiderman earlier in the evening and thought it was TERRIFYING!

I decided to scoot out of there before we were offered a mirror and told him he was the FIERCEST pirate EVER!  It worked!  He walked around all night saying, "Argh Matey!!!!!" and never once asked to see himself!

Camping!

We've enjoyed two camping trips in the past few months!  One was with our Jayco family and the other was with a group of my high school friends!!  Both were sooooo enjoyable and so many awesome memories were made!! Here are a few pics...

 

The high school crew gathered around the fire.  It's sometimes crazy to watch all of us parenting our OWN kids....when it seems like we were just kids!!

Love this girl.....ever since 3rd grade.  Always have and always will.

Yogi Bear Campground provides some SERIOUS fun!!!!

This was a BIG moment for this little guy!!  He was SOOOO excited to meet Yogi and Boo Boo!

Matt took this pic while we were camping with Jayco.  One of my favorite pics ever of our camper!

I never - EVER - thought I would be a girl that likes camping....EVER....but I absolutely love it.  I love the quality time with my family away from the hustle and bustle of every day life.  I love that we make camping weekends technology free, so the interruptions to our time together are very limited.

And that whole technology free things leads to other things I love....

 

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed...and to have my senses put back in place once more"

--John Burroughs

Summer Lovin'...had me a blast!

 

Greyson and Jozie.  They have been friends since they were babies.  Looking at this picture all I can think is....my little guy knows how to pick em'!!  Ha!

I should have known...

Sometimes when your sister lives with you, you ask her to watch your kids for a few minutes.

Sometimes it is LITERALLY only a few minutes.

Sometimes you then come home to this....

 

 

 My PAY BACK....poor Jaden!

 

 

"If you obey all the rules...you miss all the fun!'

--Katherine Hepburn

JUMP!!!!

 

 Guess what we got??!!!!

I think I love it as much as the kiddos do.

"Joy acts like a trampoline....everything it touches bounces right back to it"

--Mariella Frostrup

A treasure....

 

Sweet little Eva had been getting into some trouble for her attitude.  After sitting down with her one day and having a pretty serious conversation about it I later received this gift from her.  I'll be honest...at first it kind of broke my heart.  I thought that of alllllll the things she could have drawn or wrote for me she wrote this?!  Then I thought about it more....and I think it's one of the most beautiful treasures she has ever blessed me with.  It shows me that she really thought about our conversation and was trying to get it right.  That heart of hers....I love it.

Roomies!

 

Guess who moved in?!!

Aunt Toll and Tripe will be living with us for at least 8 weeks (at the current time that I am writing this they have been here about 14 and will be here at least another month and a half!)

We sure love having them here.  They bring a LOT of additional joy and laughter to our house every single day.  

Golf Camp

 

 These 2 little studs enjoyed golf camp this summer!!  They looked adorable and enjoyed their time out on the golf course!!

He's getting BIG!

 

BIG BOY BED!!!!!!!!!!

Potty Training!

 

This summer we tackled potty training!  Jaden was always a huge help and loved to read books to Grey as he sat on the potty!  Eva was so kind as to make him a sticker chart to keep track of his potty progress!  I love seeing the older 2 help out with the youngest....it warms my heart!

 

"You know you are potty training when you have a potty in the kitchen and candy in the bathroom!'

--Anonymous

For the LOVE of the GAME....

 Baseball season and softball season keep us hopping around here.  This past year was no different.  Eva had a great season and made the All-Star team again.  Jaden enjoyed his first year in machine pitch and Daddy helped coach.  As always...special memories are being made!

 

"The other sports are just sports...baseball is a love"

--Bryant Gumbal

Some Things Never Change...

 

We've been friends with the Millers for nearly 20 years...and it doesn't matter how responsible you are SUPPOSE to be when you are a parent (and a principal in this case)....some things never change.  I love it.

Notre Dame Football Camp 2015

 Jaden and his buddy Tanner recently attended the Notre Dame Football Camp.  What an AMAZING experience for everyone - including me!  The boys were able to not only practice drills, listen to great motivational speakers (that spoke about respecting parents and giving your all), and tour the Notre Dame facilities....they were able to do all of it WITH a lot of the Notre Dame football players and coaches!  It was a week he will never forget!

My little guy giving it his all...

Touring the locker room was a real treat!

We fell in love with the Notre Dame quarterback!  He was sooooo good with the kiddos and stayed until every single one of them got the picture (or caught the pass) they wanted!  

 

 Jaden had so many amazing moments but his very favorite was getting a little time with Brian Kelly all to himself and being able to have his picture taken with him (all the campers got a professional picture with the coach).

"In this life you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody...except yourself"

--Rudy Movie

My Loves...

 

 Summer days with dirty feet, chlorine drenched hair, faces smeared with smores, and lots of giggles are my most favorite days in the world.

"

Our little conductor...

 

This little man has a slight obsession with trains.....and I'm using the word "slight" very loosely.

We pull our car into parking lots near train tracks so we can watch trains go by.  We visit a local tree nursery that has a train you can ride on.  We often frequent a local toy store that has a large Thomas the Train tracks all set up for the kiddos to play.

While visiting the toy store on his birthday I asked him if he would want Mommy to buy him a conductor outfit.  The response was a VERY enthusiastic, "YES!!!!!"

Well...that was months ago....and he rarely takes it off.

He wears it around the house.

He wears it to the grocery store.

He wears it out to eat.

He even wears it to swimming lessons....and reluctantly agrees to take it off before jumping in the water.

Love my little conductor!

"The strongest nation on earth is your imagi-nation"

--Matt Furey

 

Playing in the Big Leagues!

Eva loves basketball.

Always has.

It's her passion.

We always knew our little girl had some talent, but as parents Matt and I both feel it's important to stay humble.  We've both said we never want to be one of those parents that's says, "My daughter is AMAZING!!!!" when it comes to sports.  We want to provide her with opportunities that challenge her and let God take the glory for this gift that she has.

However, we were having trouble finding things that challenged her.

At one point we had her in a program when she was 8 years old and she was playing 13 year old boys....and she was holding her own.

Still, we continued to look for opportunities and sign her up for programs that we hoped would help her grow.

We had steered clear or our local high school programs because we had heard that the high school team teaches them....and in all honesty we weren't sure it would give Eva the challenge that she needed if kids were teaching it.  However, we kept hearing that the program was good and that it opened doors for some traveling programs so this past year we signed her up.

It was a good program.  Most importantly, she had fun!  We did another high school program when it became available, and again she enjoyed it.

Then a few weeks ago we ran into the high school coach.  He said, "I've been meaning to get ahold of you.  I would like to invite Eva to start practicing with the high school team"

I replied, "Sure...you mean like open gym?"

He said, "No, we will be doing drills and running some plays.  I know that Eva is only 10 and I promise we will take good care of her....but I'd really like to get her in there playing with the older girls"

Whaaaaaaat???!!!

Wow...Matt and I were touched!!  Eva....well...she wanted to vomit because it made her so nervous! 

He gave us a schedule and we decided which practices she could attend.  The night before the first practice (this past week) I was honestly concerned she was going to throw up.  She was SO NERVOUS.  And the truth is...I didn't blame her!!  I would have been nervous too!!!

I prayed with her and I reminded her of the sign she has hanging in her room:  LET YOUR FAITH BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEAR!!

The next morning she headed out for practice.

High school practice.

Holy smokes.

Matt walked in with her and stayed awhile just to make sure she was comfortable.  The coach rounded the girls up in a big circle for some pre-drill stretches.  He said, "I'm going to yell out your grade level and I need you each to individually yell out your name"

He said, "Incoming Seniors".....and the seniors each yelled their names.

"Incoming Juniors"...and the juniors yelled their names.

"Incoming Sophomores"....and the sophomores yelled their names.

"Incoming Freshman"....and the freshman yelled their names.

Then he paused and said, "Incoming 5th Grader".....and my little girl...the only little girl in that big huge circle of girls much bigger and older than her said, "Eva Fisher"

And those big girls?  The girls that made Eva so scared and nervous?  They started clapping and cheering for her. 

{Tears}.

"If your dreams don't scare you bit...they aren't big enough"

--Unknown

Sunburst 2015

The Sunburst is always a special race for us.  Not only do we feel honored that we get to run on the Isaac Nation Team and support a special family....it's also become a special family tradition for us!  This year Matt and "Uncle Tripe" ran the 5k with Eva and Jaden...

This little man is a RUNNER.  He owned that 5k like a BOSS....finishing in just over 28 minutes!!  He's EIGHT years old!!!!

I love this picture of Eva and Jeff together!!  A family that runs together has fun together! She did a great job too finishing in about 29 minutes!

As for me, I ran the half marathon again.  This year was completely different than last year.  My training seemed sooooo much harder.  I really struggled on some of my longer runs.  More times than once I considered dropping down to the 10k.  However, I stuck with my plan.  Thanks to these lovely ladies that did my training runs with me we CONQUERED that half marathon!!  I kept my goal of running the entire 13.1 miles and shaved about 10 minutes off my time from last year!

Before training for the race I really didn't even know these girls (Kendra and I had never even really talked and Cindy and I had just had a few brief conversations).  Long runs do magical things for friendships.  If you really want to know someone run 13 miles with them.  Together we encouraged and pushed eachother.  We ran through torrential downpours and scorching heat.  At times we literally held eachothers hand to keep moving forward.  Crossing the finish line together was such a great celebration of the power of a great running buddy.  I love these girls.

 As many people know, I often see hearts around me.  The amount I saw on this race was unbelievable.  I was really nervous going into this race - as I said, my training did not go well.  However, within the first mile I saw a heart and I could feel myself start to relax.  I started to find my stride.  As the race went on I saw more and more and more.  It was astonishing how many I saw.  Such a special sign for me!

 "That's the thing about running.  Your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success.  They are moments in time when running allows you to see how amazing life really is"

--Anonymous

Catch-Up

Ugh.  I get so frustrated with myself when I am not current with my blogging.  As much as it is difficult to find the time to sit down and write, I know that years down the road I am going to regret not having a journal of these days.

These days that seem to be going by in the blink of an eye.

Slow down time....this Mama is trying so hard to squeeze all the love and memories I can out of each and every moment!

Here is what's been happening in our little neck of the woods the past few weeks...

These cuties attended a Father-Daughter Dance.  Eva was so excited and it was absolutely adorable.  She was in love with the wrist corsage Daddy gave her.  I just love these two so much!

We spent a week in Florida for spring break.  It's one of my favorite times of year and Sanibel Island has such a special place in our hearts. 

This guy turned 41 while we were in Florida.  Lucky guy has a birthday every year while sitting by the ocean!

This cutie turned 3....and yes....we bought him cymbals.  I love the noise.  Someday my children will be grown and I'll miss the chaos and the noise....right now is not that time and I am embracing it.  He loves his cymbals so much and plays with them all the time.  We DID give them a "bedtime" and they aren't allowed to "wake up" until everyone else in the house is awake.  The day after his birthday he was SO excited when everyone was finally awake that he ran, got his cymbals, and yelled "THEY CAN WAKE UP NOW!!!!"

This cutie turned 8...and yes...that is a dirt bike.  I didn't grow up with brothers so this whole daring boy adventure is new to me.  My instinct is to wrap him head to toe in bubble wrap, but apparently that is frowned upon.  Ha!  He is wonderful about wearing his safety gear and I have to admit I love to watch him ride!!

He also had his first sleepover.  It was a blast!  I love these boys...

 

We celebrated Mother's Day.  A day that I know is suppose to be honoring the fact that I am a mother...but really it's just a day that makes me even more thankful for all the blessings I have.  Amazing kiddos, a great husband, and lots of "mothers" in my life that are there for me (my mom, my sister, my mother-in-law, my step-mom, even many of my friends).  The magnitude of my blessings is not lost on me.

"Fill your heart with what is important...and be done with the rest"

--Anonymous

Mommy's Little Helper...

 

Grey loves to help with household chores and one of his favorites is laundry.  He helps me pull all the laundry baskets in the laundry room (pretending they are cars of course).  He helps me sort the colors.  He helps me put the laundry into the washing machine.

But his very favorite part?!

Sitting on top of the washing machine and watching the clothes get clean!!!

One thing I absolutely love love loooooooove about children is that they force you to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the little things allllllllll around you.

"You will never find time for everything.  If you want time...you must make it"

--Charles Buxton