Hilton Head pictures!

Changes

It is hard to believe that summer is nearly over! It seems crazy that just because the season changes our days, schedules, and frame of mind changes as well. The biggest change for us is the end of Daddy's soccer season......which brings family dinners back, no more long weekends without Daddy, and a family vacation! It brings another soccer season for Ty and Bryce. This year they will play on different teams, Bryce with the 5 year olds and Ty with the 7/8 yr. olds. We are excited to see them excel separately and get their own identity. School....time for school. We are starting much later than most people in the world, but that is the joy of homeschooling! We get to take a family vacation then dive into Kindergarten and Pre-school. We are excited to experience the joy of watching our boys learn many new things this year! The fall brings the Chicago marathon, CLF, and fun, new challenges to parenthood.

We decided after soccer season to get all boys haircuts and they get to choose what they want done. Ty really wanted it to be short. He had a complete conversation with himself in the mirror post hair cut. "Wow, I am a different boy! No one will ever recognize me. They will be like, 'Who is that boy? Is that Tyler??!' I look good" He is very excited to go to Grace Academy to take a Spanish and Science class and get a take of "real school" as he calls it.


Bryce wanted his hair cut like Gregg, a guy on the team. But right before Daddy started cutting, he changed his mind and said he just wanted a "trim cut". He is very excited about being on the five year old team again this year with his buddy Tait. He is such a smart little guy and really wants to do Kindergarten too with Ty. School should be fun this year.

Dylan wanted to keep his hair long like Sampson, so a minor trim was all we could get away with. He is a fun little guy with a lot of spunk and a great personality. He keeps us on our toes that is for sure. He loves playing soccer at Bryce's practice. I am sure it will be a chore to keep him off the Field during games again this year!

Ava Joy is getting so big! She is starting to eat dinner like the boys! She wanted to eat on a plate like them so much, she squealed with delight when I put the plate on her tray! She is by far our best eater and will eat pretty much anything before her. Here is the classic first spaghetti dinner picture that I am sure we all have. She was a bit of a mess. Ava loves, loves those little kittys! She walks around the house meowing all day long, it is so cute! She "snuggles" them a bit tight most times, but they don't seem to mind too much.

The boys are loving the tree house! We put up a "bed" that they can read on, well they usually swing on it to be real honest!Here we had just finished a picnic lunch and read some stories before nap time. We are hoping to have it completed shortly after we return from Hilton head so Daddy and the boys can sleep out there! We hope you are enjoying your "season change" as much as we already are!

I need help!

There are days when I wonder how in the world this marathon running came about?!?! But here I am 8 weeks away from running the Chicago Marathon with World Vision! I am so excited. We will do 19 miles this Saturday. It sounds so insane until I remember that I still have 7 to go! Who does this!!!!???? I have struggled with Plantar Factitious a bit during this training and ended up getting a Cortisone shot in my heal to try to relieve some pain. Thankfully it has helped...I can run a lot better now.
Most of you know that I am running as part of Team World Vision! I get to raise $900.00 for Africa's most needy. I need YOUR help in order to reach this goal. I am currently at $400.00. How awesome is that! However, that is still $500.00 short. Would you consider helping me reach my goal? Any dollar amount is appreciated! You can also sponsor a child for $35.00 a month. One person sponsoring a child can almost cover my need as well as a sweet child. You can check out my world vision page by clicking on the box to the right of this post.

Thanks, I appreciate you!

Catch up

Two days after Tyler turned 6, I loaded the kids into the van and we were off to Ohio. Grandma rode with us to Charleston where we parted ways, she to Columbus, us to Cincinnati. After 11 hours of travel we finally pulled into my dad's driveway. Ah the kids were so ready to get out of the car and run! They were amazing travelers! We had a great time seeing all our cousins and Papaw. We had a huge cook out ( 9 children!) and even got to go to a really cool pool with a huge diving board and twisty slides. The life guards were a bit nervous to see Dylan standing on the edge of the diving board, but he did great! We made a stop at my grandparents house in Columbus where we enjoyed some very yummy meat loaf before heading to Cleveland the next morning.
The Charlotte Eagles were in Cleveland to do a soccer clinic and play a game that evening. It was fun for the boys to see the Eagles on the road. We were excited to see Daddy and to get to have some great time with some friends. The boys loved going to a soccer clinic in another state and still having all their favorite coaches! Miss Ava was a champ and took little naps here and there on the road. She perfected her car seat dance and discovered a greater love for books.







We got back from Ohio and seemed to arrive to a whirl wind of a week! Dustin was officiating a wedding that weekend as well as playing in a soccer game! It was a great time as the Eagles clinched 1st place in the league and a sweet time celebrating Rob and Jessie as they took their wedding vows. It was amazing watching my sweet husband officiate the wedding of someone he is so close to. I must say he was the hottest "minster" I have ever seen!
Dustin and I rushed home from the wedding to grab the kiddos and take them hiking up Kings mountain! We had a great time on our first family hike! The boys did amazingly well on a 3. 4 mile hike that was so incredibly rocky, windy, and uphill. Ava enjoyed her ride in the Moby wrap and ended up falling asleep. When we finally made it to the top, the boys said they wished the mountain was a diving board and the view was a pool. The thought of that just made me want to throw up! On the way down, Dylan feel 10 times and screamed bloody murder every time! Ah the joys of no nap and an exhausted 2 year old. We made it up and down in just 2 hours! I was excited for early bedtime for the kids and myself. I can't remember the last time I went to sleep at 8:15!
I can't believe the summer is coming to a close! It has gone so fast! The Eagles have just 2 more games of the season. The marathon is 8 weeks away. The boys will start their soccer season in the next few weeks, women's Bible study will start up and we will start the "other, off season " life. Will you pray for us as we transition into a new schedule?!

Calling All Super Hereos!

I sit here amazed that my 'baby' is 6!! WOW, 6! He woke up this morning certain that he had grown an inch! It was one of the cutest things as his face was just glowing. He could not wait for 3 o'

clock to roll around and all his "super hero" friends roll in. So fun as Daddy was in charge of the party and had some seriously good games fighting bad guys and looking for Green Lantern rings.

Ty is such a delight! He is a sweet little guy that loves that he is "the leader", the biggest brother that gets to help lead, protect, and love all his younger sibs. He is such a little lover and loves to please. We are so blessed to have him in our family. We are excited to see what this next year holds for him!

"A milk baby"

A suprise delivery

Sound asleep after a long day.....I ran 13 miles at 5:30 in the morning, Dustin scored two goals in his match against Wilmington, and of course we have four kids! We collapsed into bed exhausted only to be awakened by little sounds. Our sweet cat, Grace, hugely pregnant, delivered her litter on our bed! I just laughed in disbelief as I woke up to the little mewing sounds of little kittens at 3:30 AM! Dustin looked on line to see if we could move her as I just watched her deliver #3 in complete silence. Dustin just looked at Grace and said, "you aren't the only one to deliver in this bed!" Too funny!

Dylan can swim!!

Shark Fishing!

Ava loves her cake

Happy One Year Ava Joy!

Yup, Again!

How I LOVE Davie Park! This is the 2nd time Ty has fallen off the monkey bars and broke his arm! As soon as he landed, he knew that it was broken and just screamed, "mommy, I broke it, I broke my arm!" Well he would know!! I calmly leave the park with all four kids in tow,(Daddy of course was on the road) and head to the house to feed them lunch and put the two little ones down for a nap before seeing our favorite Dr George! Ty got to pick a color this time as we got water proof casts! Yes, casts, yes Bryce has one too! Bryce was so upset that he is the only one that has not ever broken a bone that he actually tried to break it by hitting against anything hard! So when Bryce asked Dr. George if he could have one too, we said yes! He was so excited. He has had it on for 9 days without much complaint! Such a silly boy. You should see the looks I get when we are out. People whisper (LOUDLY), surely that can't happen. I look and explain one is really broken and one is a sympathy cast. Oh the stares I get!

Week of Champions

We were so blessed to be able to go to Hilton Head for the Week of Champions again this year. We had a great time sharing a 3 bedroom place with 13 people, 7 of which were children 5 and under! It was great fun watching all 3 boys learn to swim without the life jackets!!! Ava actually liked the water this time and loved to splash around and drink all the water she could. The two big boys and Daddy went with "Captain Bill" one morning out on the boat and caught SHARKS! They LOVED it. One day we had to exit the water as hundreds and hundreds of sting ray swam right by the shore. It was wild! Ava girl loved eating the sand and the boys enjoyed surfing the waves. Daddy enjoyed all you can eat crab legs, while I enjoyed a sweet game of signs! It was a great week of relaxing, trying new things, and wild and crazy fun!

CAROWINDS water park

Dustin and I took the boys to Carowinds water park one hot afternoon. It was such a fun time running from slide to slide and swimming in the huge wave pool!

The Cash Family Farm

We got to spend an amazing week with the Cash family at their family farm! We had a blast swimming in the lake, learning to kayak, fishing, and floating about on tubes. It was such a treat to spend time with Chip and Em and their sweet children. The boys loved jumping from the dock and doing silly jumps. Ty loved loved kayaking, and Bryce really enjoyed fishing. Ava girl did great just hanging out and being thoroughly content and entertained by her brothers.