A Day at the Museum...

...continued from our weekend trip. We spent the night in Hot springs and enjoyed a day together of exploring the mountains and a very coooool museum. The pictures tell the rest of the story.



Enjoying cupcakes ...Mandy's birthday celebration included dinner at a Mexican food place and these cupcakes at the hotel.

The kiddos...exploring the mountain scenery in Hot Springs.

A Day at the Museum... Nolan constructing a tower...is it earthquake proof?

Workers hauling bricks...

Most of the group decided to build this....

While Nate was determined to fix this...an earthquake safe building.

He worked......and worked

...and worked...when he pushed the button,the machine simulated an earthquake... Guess What? ...his building didn't crumble!

Back to the Arch builders...

Here comes all the helpers....

Almost there...

Just a little more adjustment...

Hooray ... Look what we built!!

Nolan...Oh so STRONG!!

Can Garrett really hold up this wall???

Miners Forty-Niners... their favorite exhibit...The big boys found this exciting too...the Faraday cage and Tesla's conical lightning machine...

Making mountains... Mandy was so excited about the museum and all the fun things that she was almost "giddy".

Mia and Levi's favorite exhibit...the boat races

Nate created a windmill...

The nature trail...so peaceful...(even in the rain)

Mia and her Nolie...

Happy Birthday,Sweet Mandy

**Mandy's birthday was officially Saturday. Since we were camping (or so we thought...see post below), I didn't get to write her birthday post.**

Here goes:

Mandy is one beautiful young lady both inside and out. We are amazed at all the changes and growing that she has gone through since joining our family. She still occassionally has trouble with family concepts, but we are amazed at the progress she is making.(We will celebrate her second year FFD at the end of July.) She has a very sweet heart and disposition. She loves to help her younger siblings and is very patient with them. Her courage continues to astound us. She will try almost anything at least once...whether it is a new food or a new adventure. She is learning to be less "princessy" in this houseful of boys; however, she is still a "girly-girl" loving clothes, jewelry,and (if mom would let her) makeup. God has blessed her with an amazing talent for ballet and dance. Her dance teacher told us that she believes Mandy has dancing "in her bones". We know that she loves to dance and looks forward to her classes each week! She is quickly learning to read and speak English fluently. Just recently Mandy dedicated her life to Jesus, and we look forward to all that God has planned for her. She is one amazing little girl, and we stand in awe that we were chosen by God to be her parents.
Happy birthday our sweet Mandy!

Best laid plans of ....Parents and Kids...

Our Tent...and the bigs...

Our view...

Fun at the campsite...Our group of kiddos....
They were all having some much fun together...
Fun at the playground...

Acting goofy...

Always in motion... finally a picture of Nate

This is FUN!!
Of course, we had to have a baseball (sandlot) game...

and then,....THE RAIN

The DISAPPOINTMENT...

Some good food and good friends to warm the heart.

Back at the campsite...the flood was falling...

Our soaked,soaked,soaked tent...

Well, we planned a trip for camping. We packed,packed and packed some more all the while checking the weather. It had been raining in our town for over a week straight. According to the weather, the forecast for our trip was a slight (20%-30%) chance of isolated thunderstorms. So, we made the decision to continue on with our camping plans,hoping and praying to see a little sunshine. After all, we won't melt with a little water... we can handle a few "pop up " showers. We began our trip mid morning on Friday and left with rain showers in our area. Once we had traveled a little distance, the showers ceased, and we began to see the clouds move. The sun even came out as we neared the camp. There was plenty of cheering in our car for "Mr Sun". Upon arriving at the campsites, we had to relocate simply because our original campsites were unsafe for little children. Not to worry, we found a wonderful spot to spread out and for the kids to have a space to play. Once we had located our new spot, we began setting up camp, and our fantastic family friends arrived. We did our best to assist them in their camp set up...but really the mommies got too excited about visiting. You see we had met these friends via our bloggy sites and through God's amazing adoption stories for our families. We felt like we knew one another from forever(K and I share the same name, and we are both Native Texans... even though I am now transplanted elsewhere. There is nothing like getting to visit with a sweet sister from the "motherland" ... we are proud Texans and it will always be home.) The daddies got the campsite all set up, and our friends fixed dinner for the first night. Our children took up like fast friends and played to the point of exhaustion! We had a bit of rain as we slept through the first night,but we awakened to partly cloudy skies. Brad and the boys fixed breakfast for the whole crew. The off we went to explore and play, never once worried about the weather.

To make a "long story" short(this is getting a bit long), we had a fabulous time for a night and half a day,Saturday. Then... a "Thunderstorm" hit... we thought that we could ride it out(after all they were "isolated" right). We were making lunch...had to abandon that idea...piled everyone into the cars and drove to a little town for lunch. It turned out to be a terrific Italian food stop. I just love it when you find a local spot that is clean and has awesome food! We ate warm rolls( they were so good that we actually gorged ourselves) and had a few favorite dishes. The rain had stopped..so thought we... so we head back to the camp to check out the damamge. Five miles back, the rain begins again, and it is a diluge. We continue to wait a bit,but it's not letting up... camping is awash. Bless the daddys hearts, they packed up both sights,getting soaked to their very bones. We had a van full of soggy stuff and very upset kids. We could have canceled the whole camping trip before we got ourselves into the mess...but, you know, we would have never gotten the chance to meet our new friends... and that folks would have been so very sad.** I got to hug Max and Vivi Jo... I got to hug Max and Vivi Jo(no, I am not bragging...okay,well just a little bit)** We had such fun and made so many memories in a very short amount of time.

Our Texas friends opted to go on back home...they had a lot of very wet stuff too(a flooded tent). We (really only to help take the "sting" off of the kids disappointment) took the kiddos on into Hot Springs(the campsite wasn't very far from there). I will share the remainder of our weekend story and more pictures in a future post. In spite of the dreary weather, we are so thankful that we had this time to meet friends, have fun and create memories of fun times as a family.

Thankful Thursday

A few things I am thankful for:
*My husband,of almost 15 years...he is my best friend. I am thankful for his giving and loving heart. I am thankful that he wants to provide for his family and because of that I am able to stay home and care for our children. I am thankful that he is a "hands on" dad...he loves spending time with his kiddos. God certainly blessed me and answered my prayers when he sent this man into my life.
* My six children and the gifts they are to our family. I am thankful and amazed at the way God has formed my family.
* Friends and prayer warriors.
*God's amazing creations... birds of the air, all kinds of animals, the beauty of the world around me.

"I will praise your name,O Lord,with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders.I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name most high." Psalm 9:1-2

Game Day

The big boys played their first game tonight. They played really well, but unfortunately they lost their game. This is a rebuilding year with very few return players. They rallied somewhat at the end but couldn't pull it out. As they learn and grow together, it looks as if we will have a really strong team. We look forward to seeing more games this season. Levi played another game tonight,as well. He loved playing; although, his game was late and he was tired. Nate will play his game tomorrow night(his first game was rained out). So, as you can see, our season is off and running.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Levi played his very first Tball game tonight. He was so very excited. He is a very serious ball player, and we had so much fun watching him play his heart out.

Ready and waiting in the outfield...

Working Hard to make that catch... he was able to stop it but didn't quite catch it.

Gotta get that ball to homeplate(the tongue out makes it easier to throw :-) )
Levi was "smacking" the ball all night... he had an amazing hit on this ball. In our t-ball league, the coaches pitch 3 balls and if the kids are unable to hit,they will then hit from the T. Levi hit off the coach pitches everytime...He really is a talented ball player.Watching the game with great intensity...

Can you see the pure joy on his face?... It is becoming a toss up...I think he might love baseball almost as much as his daddy.
A most important part of the game... snacktime at the end.

School Assignment...with a little help from God

Mama Bird...she usually flies over to a nearby tree if we get to close...and she scolds us soundly!

Three beautiful eggs... During the second semester of school, we have been studying about birds and insects. Our science book gives lots of good ideas for observing and watching birds. We have been so busy that we hadn't been able to accomplish many of the experiements and projects...However, we had a little help. The kids had been playing outside and left some string laying around...one day we noticed that the string had been wrapped around our house light by the garage. Several days later,we had a birds nest. The mother robin has offered the kids many opportunities to watch nest building and egg laying/brooding. We are anxiously awaiting the hatching of the eggs. Before our studies this year,we had never paid much attention...and now we are avid bird watchers.

We saw this guy at the ballpark tonight...he was singing very loudly(and had a beautiful song)... we are checking out our field guide until we find out the type of bird he is...any guesses?