memorial weekend...

 Some of my family came up and camped at our house this weekend!

 We decided to have a normal campfire and save the big fire for another day.

We sat around the campfire, ate lots of food, went fishing, unfortunately it rained and stormed a bit, but at least we were able to take shelter in the house...that is my kind of camping!

Grama had a scavenger hunt planned out for the kids, winners got cool glasses with sparkling grape juice and a big candy bar, losers got a juice box and a mini size candy bar!

We had a big fish fry on Sunday.

lots of goofing off....

a trip to the dunes...

lots of fun and laughter...

lots of bb gun action, even the crazy dads got in on it!

Always fun to spend time with family!

 We are so blessed to live in this beautiful country and are thankful for the men and women who have, are and will be fighting for our freedom!

Soccer....

Wow, what a crazy busy spring we have had with 5 kids in soccer.  Ryan coached 3 of the teams and we still somehow managed to have soccer practice 5 nights per week! 

 I didn't get a picture of Spencer standing still, but check out this action shot!

 This was Anaya most of the time, waving and not paying much attention to the game, surprised?  Nope, me either!  She had fun though!

 Jayden  injured his toe and missed half the season, but was able to come back strong for a few games!

Dylan scored a sweet goal on his last game!  Way to go Dylan! 

This weekend Ryan and I, along with a few friends, attended a home school convention.  It was just what I needed to fill me with a renewed passion for teaching my kids at home.   I love it when our days are peaceful and everyone is doing the things they should, as pictured below. 

When the littles sneak in between the bigs and learn right along side of them, it fills my heart with joy!

When kids decide on their own to go above and beyond what they need to do and ask if they can make Australian meat pie for dinner because we were studying Australia...GLORY!

Unfortunately, not every day has peaceful, productive and abundant learning taking place...however...I would not trade my job for anything else in the world!  I get to spend time with some of the most precious people on the planet. 

 Psalm 127:3-5 says that "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from Him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." 

"Oh God, Thank you that my quiver is full, I don't want to waste my arrows, please give me everything I stand in need of to send them off in the right direction, then guide them in the way they should go."   

Happy Birthday Anaya!!!

5 years old!  This girlie was so excited to turn 5, she had been talking about it all week!  Last week one day, Easton made her a chain to count down the days to her birthday. Each day she (or Easton) eagerly ripped off another link.  But, the last 2 days have almost been too much, she just wouldn't stop talking about it, I surely hope she isn't disappointed!  We celebrated her birthday Friday since Saturday is filled with soccer games, 5 of them to be exact, from 8:45am till about 2:30pm!  {Yay*sarcasm*} and then she gets to go on a much anticipated birthday date with grama T!

Happy Birthday Anaya, we can't believe you are 5 years old!  We love you so much and are excited to watch you as you learn and grow this coming year!