A Cold Treat

So, I didn't have to go very long without internet access. Nae got us hooked up to Cricket so all is well.

We took the kids to the park this evening and Nae treated them to a snow cone which they all shared.

Not a great picture, but I had to show Eden standing up and with shoes on. She has taken a few steps and does pretty well pushing something and walking, but I think she's still a ways away from solo walking which is fine by me.

One Last Shot

of our kids on the steps in front of our house.

It's the last one because as of yesterday afternoon it is no longer ours! We're so thankful to have this house selling behind us and are ready to move on to the more fun (hopefully!) buying of another house.

In the mean time we are living in a rental with no internet access (I know it's like being in the dark ages) at the moment. Nae's attempting to remedy this but until then posting will be very rare as I'm posting this from Panera and I don't think I'll be able to escape here very often.

First day of first grade

We technically started school at home a couple weeks ago but for picture purposes we're going to say yesterday was Gabe's "first day" since it was his first day of going to school. We've switched schools since last year but same idea - he'll go 2 days a week and be home 3. I think it's going to be a good fit; he had a great time yesterday. I was glad that I snapped these pictures as we were walking out the door because once we got to school he had no interest in getting his picture taken. He told me it was "silly" to get your picture taken in front of the school building.

The rest of our vacation

I'm afraid that our vacation has almost come to an end, but not without a few more pictures to remember all the fun we've had.

There's been lots and lots of wave riding in the ocean.

and of course a game of putt-putt. Can you tell how hot we all were?

There's been lots of good time with family,

and plenty of good things to eat (like juicy watermelon out on the beach.)

We've had a wonderful time!

What we do when not on the beach

Since some time must be spent indoors even when at the beach, we've spent much time already playing games. One of the kids favorite is Uno Attack and a rousing game of it was played this evening before bed. (Thanks to Carrie for taking the pictures.)

Grandaddy and Alena
Chrisa and Mya
Megan and Ruth Anne
Sam and Will
Gabriel and Emma
I love this picture of Alena and Aunt Jane sharing a book this afternoon.

And finally the smallest person enjoying time with Daddy and Mommy - both of these are a little blurry but I still like them.

The First View

I love to watch the kids the first time they see the ocean each year.

It took Gabriel about 2 seconds to get in and get fully soaked - clothes and all.

Alena was very unsure of the water so she stayed mostly in the sand filling up her bucket. I like how you can see her reflection in this picture.

Mya jumped right in as well although she made sure to stay close to the edge.

Eden thought all that sand and water was the best thing ever. I don't know how far she would have crawled if we'd let her.

I think everyone is going to like this vacation just fine.

How to pack a POD

So, earlier today our garage looked like this:

and our bedroom looked like this:

and that was just the boxes we had packed up. Still scattered all around the house was all the empty furniture.

So, when this 16 ft POD was delivered this afternoon, I thought there was no way we were getting everything in there.

I don't know why I was worried, though because with helpers like these:

and these, of course it was going to be no problem.

A few hours later we had this. Every single box we had packed along with every piece of furniture other than our kitchen table and the mattresses off our beds fit in this trailer.

Really, we couldn't have done this without our incredible friends who gave up their afternoon and evening in the very hot weather to help us get this thing loaded. I told Nae they should all form a packing business - it really was amazing how much stuff they got in there. Thanks guys for all the help. Now we have a couple weeks to live in a house that's so empty it echoes.

I Spy

Because at the end of the day, this is what I want to remember; not the paint on the carpet, or the milk spilled all over a book, or the boxes in our room that are stacked higher than my head ...

1 year old

I wanted to make sure and get some pictures of Eden in this cute hat, but they didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. She wasn't crazy about wearing said hat and she really wanted to just crawl around. Oh, well, here's the best of what I got.

Celebrate

One year ago today this little girl entered into our world

and we've loved her from the very first moment.

Happy, happy birthday Eden Vanh. We are so thankful that God placed you in our family.

{and}

Nine years ago today I married this guy

and haven't regretted it for a moment.
Happy anniversary, Nae. If I had it to do all over again, I'd still choose you.