Welcome summer!  

And swim team - year number NINE!

We have four swimmers this year and all are amazing to watch!

Ryan and I went out for a moment one evening and left the boys in charge....we came home to find sweet notes from our big girls who cannot wait to have their sister home with them!

Maddox prays for Chapman always and says, "Please take care of Chapman in China because we are far away from her in America."

Little Debbie

Our children have never really indulged in these little cookies so I thought it would be fun to have a Little Debbie a week during the summer and decide which one we like the best!

This girl is one tenderhearted baby!  We went to Publix one day this week and she asked for a balloon.  When we arrived home she ran upstairs and got a marker and wrote, "To Nannie.  I love you! Love, Maddox."  Oh my heart!  I am so thankful that my children knew my Nannie.  And, more importantly, I am so thankful they knew how much they were loved by her.  She was so proud of me and of them.  I miss her everyday.  Maddox later looked at me and said, "You know Nannie probably didn't get many presents on Mother's Day in heaven so I am glad I sent her that balloon!"

Our little Maddox has started a new era in her life.  She has asked and asked to do gymnastics.  I FINALLY signed her up and she was/is beside herself!  She loved every minute and told me she was going to be working hard in her class!

Miss Maryn is learning to write her name!  We began with the letter M and she was thrilled she could make it all by herself!

Maryn had her preschool performance and rocked every bit of it!  

These three were thick as thieves this year in school.  The one thing I worried most about with MK going to school were friends....I prayed for her to make good friends!  She met Caleigh and Camden and never looked back.  So thankful for their time together!

And Ms. Fortino

She made our third grade year a dream!  We are beyond thankful for her love for MK!

Lastly, we received 12 new photos of our girl!!!  We were so excited!  We can't share her sweet face just yet but here she is sharing candy with her friend!  Her hair is amazing!  And she just looks so happy in every picture!  

US National Whitewater Center

We are all about giving our children the gifts of experience.  With that in mind, we tend to do "experience" gifts for Christmas and birthdays.  This past weekend, we cashed in one of their Christmas experiences, a day at the US National Whitewater Center in North Carolina.

 The boys were in heaven!  And I was having a mixture of heart palpitations because I was worried and "aww man" moments because I wasn't going to get to experience it all with them!  They began their day with a whitewater rafting trip.  Listening to the guide do the pre-rafting chat, I could tell our guys were a bit nervous....all the talk about falling out of the boat, going under the boat, etc., etc., etc....they were white as ghosts as they made their way to get geared up for their whitewater experience.  

 However, they jumped onboard and off they went with smiles on their faces!

 And I was breathing a sigh of relief....

 well into their trip, they were looking like professional rafters, shifting side to side and gripping their paddles accordingly....

 and no one fell out....at least, no one fell out of their boat....their were people falling out here and there but the boys were thankful they were not one of them!

 Feeling good about the rafting experience, they decided to go over and do a zipline.  Or so we thought.  Next thing we know, we receive word that they are jumping!?!?!  Nothing huge, just 100 FEET!  

 And then they graced us with a zipline ride above our heads.....

 and though ziplining was a good fit for them, the jumping, by far, was their favorite!  

 And then there were the girls....Maddox is the female version of Spiderman....she is our climber and though she be but little, she has the strength of an ox.

 Gymnastics and/or yoga was always an option as we hung out in the great green grass!  The girls really had a fun time just being outdoors and having a large, grassy area to roam about.

 MK loved the ropes course and went back for more and more of this challenge!  

 There were moments when it was just me and Maryn watching the rafters/kayakers go drifting by.....she had a great time waving to all and just having a moment to herself with mommy.

So very thankful for our time together as a family this weekend!  I love that we all, age 42 to 3, enjoyed our day spent at the US National Whitewater Center.