The Bright Eyed Brunette

This year our theme for Vacation Bible School was Cross Canyon Trail: Riding Strong with Jesus. All of the cousins except Makena. She was riding the church van with Bro. Jeff. My three monkeys You're never too old for VBS! Carl helped out by pulling the kids around in the wagon on the Ranger. Trey and Noah D We had such a great week at Bible School. We had a record number of kids, had ponies to pet, a wagon to ride, raised lots of money for the mission in Tanzania, and most importantly one soul (that we know of) was saved. Praise the Lord!!

Every year my Dad's birthday is during Bible School and this year was no different! My Mom, Noah, Trey, the girls & I loaded up in the car and went to Mack's to find him some gifts. We got him a hat, a beach towel, and a weed eater. Then we had to go get him a cake (of course). So after lunch we had him a little party. It was nice that my sister and her kids were down to party with us :) He is wearing the hat we got him and opening the card Jamie's kids got him. It is a birthday song about tighty-whiteys! It was cute. I think we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Happy Birthday, Pop! You're the best :)

Okay, so I'm not the biggest fan of cats. I could think of a million of reasons why I don't want them, but there are three reasons I now have them: Carlie, Makena, and Trey! I think they like their new home. They only stayed in the house (during the day, in a pet taxi at night) for the first few days, then they were out on their own! By that time the kids were tired of taking them out to potty! I think their names are Priscilla and Bella. It changes daily. He may not have been crazy about getting girl cats but he still played with them! They are all settled in, in their new environment and seem to get along pretty well with the dog (for the most part!). More summer fun :)

I haven't been the best blogger lately, so here is a little photo dump! We are having fun swimming with friends almost everyday. In this picture the girls are swimming with their friend Bonnie. We made a trip to Little Rock to buy VBS stuff and made a stop by On The Border. Trey and Makena were my booth buddies. Carlie was across the table with my mom and refused to get her picture made. Trey thought it would be funny to make bunny ears on me while I was driving! The girls scored new Macks shirts Carlie loves her some Snoopy! My little monkey Our garden is really coming along! These tomatoes will be ready soon :) Another swim with some friends...sweet baby Kynnlea. She loves the pool now! Today we swam with our friends/cousins Megan and Hadlee. I love sunny days at the pool :) We are loving our new summer schedule..which is pretty much "anything goes"!

To my Carl. He is such a good Daddy to our kids! We love him to the moon and back :) To my Daddy. He is a great example to all of his children and grandchildren. I love him more than he will ever know. Enough of the mushy gushy stuff, this is how we spent Father's Day weekend: Carlie was getting her tan on. I try to make sure she wears plenty of sunscreen and doesn't lay there too long. My mom has had a time with skin cancer so I know what the sun can do. I think Trey and Makena were going to try and dump Nanny out of her float! Cool dude! Trey loves playing with his Daddy Upside down Daddy! My water baby (yes, I know she is almost 12). She has basically grown up swimming and the majority of the time she is underwater. She 's my mermaid girl :) It was a pretty quiet weekend. We just hung out. As bad as Carl needed to be planting beans, I'm sure glad he was home. For the first time in the history of our family, I missed church on Fath...

It finally arrived...our last week of school! We had been waiting on this since the beginning of May!! We had a fairytale day one day and Trey was a pirate Some of the kids in his class wanted me to take their picture too! A group of kids in Makena's class went as the seven dwarves and even performed a couple of songs for the whole school. I wish I could get the video to upload. They did one (they made up on their own) called "What does the Dwarf Say". It was really cute. Some of the kids in Carlie's class during the June/July birthday party. Of course she wouldn't look at me! Noah came down to stay the night with my parents, so I brought him back to the birthday party with me. Trey was so excited to show him around. Graduation Night Trey with his teacher for the past 3 years. It's hard to believe he will be moving up stairs in the fall! Maddie and Makena Camryn and Carlie. Most of Carlie's friends didn't show up for g...

All the cousins swimming and having fun in the sun! This one is my cousin, Hadlee. Trey is never extremely excited when more girls come to play, but he gets over it! The summer has just started and we are having a blast! The pool is still a little cool, but the kids don't seem to mind at all.  I am savoring each minute of this summer....they go by way too fast :) Happy Summer, Friends!