Choo Choo...

Our youngest son Elijah is totally into Thomas the train. This past Saturday our family, my parents, sister and nephew all went on a train ride. It was the first time I had ever been on a train, and the kids were so excited. The look on all of their faces when the train pulled up was priceless, but the look on Elijah's face, well it was just precious. He could not believe that a train was coming and he was going to get on it. The entire trip he kept saying "choo choo" and was loving being on it. The train traveled about 1/2 hour and then stopped at "Santa land". The kids all got their pictures taken with Santa and Mrs. Clause and then we got back on the train to head home. We had hot chocolate, cookies, and there were elves doing some tricks during the journey. Here are a few pictures I wanted to share with you. We had such a great time. Oh, everyday we get up, Elijah asks if we can go on the choo choo again! It was so worth it, and he is going to get a "Thomas" kind of Christmas too. I am excited for all the gifts we are giving, and for all my kids, but I think I am really excited for him. It just seems to kind of all go together this year. Maybe it is just because he is only 2 and is really getting it this year. I don't know, but I do know that I can't wait for next week!

World of Bounce!

My husband is on vacation this week and we have been doing some fun things around town. Today, we went to the world of bounce and had a blast. Here are some pictures. I hope to be back on some type of routine next week and catch up on the blogging world :)

This weekend...

We had an exciting weekend. My husband heard about this park close to his office that has water fountains the kids can play in. So we picked up a friend to play with and headed there Saturday afternoon. The kids had a blast running in and out of the fountains. The water was cold so when the wind blew it did get a bit chilly, but they had so much fun playing in the water. After that we went McDonald's to eat and then to another park to keep wearing them out. We don't get to spend as much time with our friend as we would like so we play and have lots of fun with her when we get the chance. The kids went right out when they got in bed Saturday night and I am glad because we had to get up early for church on Sunday. We ended up having lots of family come to church with us and support us in dedicating Elijah. It was such a blessing to look out and see them all sitting there with big smiles on their faces. It actually made me get teary eyed. We had one of our pastors praying over Elijah during the prayer time of the dedication and his prayer was just right on. It was so neat to hear the Lord speak prophecies over him through this pastor. It was so exciting, and Elijah just sat there and watched him intently during the prayer. It was such a blessing. Here are a few pictures of our incredible weekend!

The first stop on our vacation!

One of the places we went on our vacation last week was Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati Ohio. We had a great time. The kids had so much fun going down the water slides. It wore me out. Joyona was tall enough to go by herself, but still not ready to. Tra, our oldest boy, was just a couple of inches too short to go by himself, but was able to go with an adult. Elijah, well lets just say that he wasn't tall enough and that was okay with him. This was our first time to this indoor water park and we will definitely be back. It has a slide that is big enough for the entire family. We did all go on it twice and we laughed all the way down at Elijah's expression on his face. I wish I had a picture of that.

This is a slide in the kiddie area. Elijah was not sure about it but liked sitting on the top of the slide and watched his brother and sister go down.

Tra loved this slide the most. It was the fastest of the kid slides and had the most water going down.

Joyona, well she liked these slides second to the big slides. She mostly just had fun playing with her brothers.

In the evening there was a story time with the wolf. The kids loved it. Elijah would not take his eyes off of him to take a picture. He just kept smiling really big at the wolf. It was so cute. The kids are already planning our next trip. It was the perfect time because there was no crowd. Hopefully we can make this a little get away for our family once a year, but we will see. For now, we have the memory of a great time and can't wait to see what is next!

The Best Gift!

I have had a busy sleepless weekend but it has been the best weekend and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Friday night my nephew spent the night and tonight a very special little girl is spending the night. The best part of this is this afternoon they were all in our van and we were headed to my parents to celebrate mothers day. My dad fixed us all dinner and it was great! Steak, baked potato, salad and shrimp. It was the best dinner I have had in a long time, mostly because I didn't have to do anything, but it was really yummy. Anyway, at one point I looked back at all the kids in our maxed out mini-van and they were all playing and having a great time together. This brought a tear to my eye, realizing that the Lord has hand picked each one of my children, and even though I don't know how or when He will reveal all the details of bringing us all together to live in the same home with the same last name we can still be together. Tonight was a great night and I hope every mom has a great day and enjoys their families!

Saturday update

I normally don't post on Saturday mornings. The weekends are very busy for me as with most people, but this morning I just wanted to give a quick update on some things I have posted in the past few days. They walking is going good. I walked this morning which made my fourth day this week and I have met my goal for this week. Now next weeks goal is five days - yeah! My love dares are going great. I can see a change in my husband and I have shocked him a couple of times already and it is only day 5. Today could be a challenge for me as he is going to have to tell me a few things about me, but actually, I am ready for this because I really want to change for the better and this way I will know some things that effect him and how I can change to be a better wife. I am so thankful the Lord has called me to this love dare book and encourage everyone who is married to read it. God has blessed me with two other friends doing the book with me and it has been encouraging to go through it with them. Okay, now last night, I had so much fun with our friends. The food was good, slow, but good. Then the playing was fun. The kids went off and played in the play area, the older kids (Dad's included) went off and played and the babies and moms sat around and talked. It was just so much fun being with friends and playing. I really wish I could do this more often. So, I guess this wasn't really as quick as I thought but it is just some ramblings on my heart this morning. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has an incredible encounter with the Lord!

Something Fun!

Since I have been an adult the Lord has convicted me to watch what I do and say. In doing that He has shown me more about Halloween and what it really stands for. So, for many years now we have not done anything this time of year except for decorate for fall and hide until October is over. Trick or treat night is not the same as it used to be when I was a kid and now we don't even want to be in our home that night. Well, a few years ago we changed our plans from hibernating in the dark to spending the evening with our best friends and we are so glad we did. Now we leave early, meet for pizza and then go to Magic Mountain for hours of fun. This is so much fun for everyone. I let the kids pick out a bag of candy that way they still get their candy and then we go have lots of fun with our friends. Our entire family is so excited about going out tonight and we can't wait! I hope you have a fun alternative to this evil holiday and I pray that you are able to shine the light of Jesus where ever you are!