Brave Girl!

I got to go to the creek tonight! :) We met Lance's cousin and his family at the creek for a cook out and swimming.  It. Was. So. Much. FUN!!  Cold!, but fun!   We cooked hot dogs, went off the rope swing, swam, caught crawdads, and had a blast!

I went off the rope swing twice. Much to my kids delight!  Luke went off of it several times.  Sara jumped off the "cliff" a couple of times.  It's about 6 feet off the water, so it was a big deal for her to jump by herself! I was a proud momma.

But to top it all off and make me an incredibly proud momma, Emma jumped with Lance!  Well, he held her as he jumped, but that is a scary thing for a 2 year old!  And she asked him to do it.  Then got out of the water, walked to the top and asked to do it again! 

Enjoy!  She's just toooo dang cute!

Lazy Days of Summer

I LOVE SUMMER! I know I've said it before, but I do! Last night Lance had a meeting so it was just me and the kids.  We went out to check the chickens and gather eggs and discovered we had another visitor! There was poop on top of the coop! Lance had just caught a raccoon the day before in a live trap. I called him and informed him we had another guest, so he went out to the farm and set the live trap again.  (Success again today!  Little boogers!)

After we gathered the eggs, the kids and I headed home.  I had put dinner in the oven before we left, but when we got home, we still had a little over an hour before it was ready.  The kids had played with our neighbors the night before in the water hose, so they were begging me to get our hose out and spray them.  I told them to get their suits on and surprised them by getting out the slip n slide!  They were sooooo excited!



Jack joined in the fun! I LOVE those kids!!!




Emma LOVED her first slip n slide experience!

 We stayed out for almost 2 hours.  I just turned off the oven when dinner was done and let it stay in there warming.  I think we ate around 8:45!  Once again, I love summer! 

Today, I called Lance this afternoon and asked him if he could watch all 4 kids so I could run some errands by myself.  He did and when they got out to the farm to check the chickens, he had trapped another coon! Guess we showed them! Ha!

He couldn't kill it with the kids there, so he took it far away to let it go.  He knew of a spring/creek that his cousin had told him about.  He decided to go there so the kids could play in the creek.  His cousin and his family joined them.  There is a swimming hole and a rope swing! I was almost upset I hadn't gone with them! (Then I remembered the wonderful massage I got during my pedicure and I was ok again!)  The kids had a blast! They went swimming in their clothes and were all talking over each other trying to tell me all about it when they got home.  I can't wait to go back with them!

Once again, we ate around 8:30 tonight.  But I don't have to even worry about it!  They can just sleep in in the morning.  I am looking so forward to many more days like yesterday and today the next 7 weeks!

Letting Go

Luke is away at church camp for the first time this week.  I have to be honest.  I thought this spring about looking into sending him to a camp, but they were just too expensive for me to justify sending my 9 year.  I had totally forgotten that he was old enough to go to Kids Camp with our church!  When I realized that, I was soooo excited for him!  He is at Siloam Camp.  It's run by the Arkansas Baptist Assembly.  I grew up going to Siloam during elementary years!  I am pumped that my son is going to the same camp that I have so many good memories from.

Tonight was family night.  Lance and I drove over tonight to eat dinner with him and attend worship.  It was wonderful!  It started a little shaky.  Bless his heart.  While we were walking down to his cabin, one of the other mom's from our church saw us and said that Luke had just been hit in the eye and was wanting him mom.  :(  As soon as our children's pastor saw us approaching the cabin, he walked inside and got Luke.  He came running out and when he saw me, he ran to me and started crying.  Bless his heart.  It just took a couple minutes and some hugs and kisses and he was back to his happy self!

It's been a great experience for us all.  For Luke and for Lance & I.  It is so good for Luke to be "on his own" in a controlled environment.  And Lance and I are learning an important lesson in letting Luke be himself without us squelching him.  Every single person that Luke introduced us to told us what a great young man he is.  And told us something special about him.  We were so proud of him.  He is such a great kid. 

The camp theme this year is Viking, hence the viking hat he had just gotten at the camp store. :)

I was so proud of him tonight.  Everyone at camp knows him! Ha! He's been there 2 1/2 days and everyone from the camp director to the camp pastor to the summer staff knows Luke.  :)  But everyone of them told Lance and I was a great kid he was.  Made me so proud.  The camp pastor is Tommy Toombs.  I don't know how many people remember Tommy Toombs, but right when Veggie Tales was getting started, there wasn't much out there for Christian Kids entertainment.  Little Tommy was big!  I had told Luke about him and that he was going to love him.  So after chapel tonight, Luke went up to Tommy and introduced Lance and I and told him, "My Mom is a big fan!"  Haha!!  Awkward! 

It was a proud Momma moment tonight, too.  Towards the end of the service, Tommy was talking about the prodigal son.  He mentioned having eaten lunch with a boy named Luke today.  He told the crowd that Luke had told him about his dad.  That his dad was a Doctor and that he was representing his father's name well at camp.  He was very impressed with Luke!  We have drilled that into his little head.  That he needs to represent both his earthly father and his Heavenly Father well at all times.  Glad to see it's registering!  :)

He has 2 more nights at camp.  We pick him up Friday.  I can't wait to hear all about his week!  (after he crashes and sleeps for 14 hours!)

I Love Summer!

With Sara and Luke in science camp all week, it really hasn't felt like summer yet.  We only had 2 days off last week then our mornings and days were just like a school week all over again.  We've still had to be aware of bedtimes.  So tonight kinda felt like the start of our summer. 

We went and ate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Smokin' Joes.  The kids always love to get a ring pop after dinner.  :)  It was about 7:30 when we got done, and I didn't feel like going home yet.  So we drove downtown.  We LOVE the downtown square.  It is so Mayberry feeling.  :)  Every Friday night during the summer, there is Pickin' on the Square.  It is awesome!  All kinds of different people set up and play bluegrass music while people stroll around the square.  It is so fun.  We haven't been down there in years, and the kids LOVED it!  We'll be doing that so much more this summer!



Emma playing in the fountain!



We ran into Mrs. Neta, Emma's preschool teacher. :)

 

Our family portrait!


We tried to get a snow cone, but 1) had trouble finding the place! ha! and 2) when we did, the line was insane!  So we'll save that for next time.

I'm so glad summer has "officially" started for the Faddises!  Can't wait for lazy nights, sleeping in, going to the pool, camping, snow cones, and whatever else we want to do!

2 Parties and 7 Staples

That describes my week last week!  We started the week on Sunday with Hope's birthday party.  It was soooo much fun! It was a beach themed party.  One of my dear friends let us have it at her house.  She has the best yard for a 5 year old's party!  All the kids got a shovel and bucket filled with a beach ball cup, water gun, and beach ball goody bag to fill with pinata candy that came out of a beach ball pinata! :)  Here are some pics to recap the day...

The table all beach ball colors! (and my brother being goofy!)

The Cake!

Love that smile!

Blowing out the candles

Time to eat!

Pinata!

Love Emma's determination!

Present time!

Next in my week was staples for Emma.  :(  On Tues, she was stepping into the shower and she slipped and landed on her head and had a huge gash.  I didn't realize it was even cut at first until Lance grabbed a rag in the kitchen.  Lots of blood and a trip to the office for Lance to put in 7 staples later, she's fine.  She was so brave.  We were in and out of the office in 30 minutes.  And the nest day, you wouldn't have even know that she had been hurt.

Then on this past Sunday, we had Luke's party. Whew!  (Now you see why I haven't blogged in over a week!)  Luke's party was a blast!  We took 5 of his friends to a Natural's baseball game.  It was awesome!  The best party for a 9 y/o boy! Kids eat free so all the boys had a hot dog, chips and a coke.  I made cupcakes for desert.  They played freeze tag on the berm. We tried to stay and run the bases after the game, but it went into extra innings and we had to go at 9:30.  I was kinda bummed, but the boys seemed ok about it. They all had sooo much fun! And we loved it so much, that Lance and I are taking the girls to a game this Sunday! 

LOVE this picture!

The cupcakes

The boys!

Freeze tag :)

It's been a busy but really fun week.  Luke and Sara are in Science Camp this week and loving it.  Emma and Hope and I have eaten at McDonald's, gone to the splash park, and had fun while they are gone.  It's going to be a fun, fun summer!  So glad it's here!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke.  My firstborn.  How have 9 years come and gone???  You are the person who showed me what it is to be a mom.  Who showed me what a mother's love is.  I never knew I could love someone I didn't know as much as I loved you when you were born. 

You have grown into a wonderful young man.  You are a fun loving boy! (too much so at times! ha!) You are so tender hearted towards others.  Even  today, you offered up your $2 to Hope for games at Mad Pizza when Hope lost her money.  You are friends with everyone you meet. 

You love the Lord and share your faith openly.  I have never had a prouder moment than when a teacher at your school told me that you quote scripture to friends and that you share your faith.  That, son, is the most important thing.  Keep the Lord first in your life, and He will bless you abundantly.



I love you, Luke.  You are a light to your Daddy and me.  We are so proud of you.  Happy 9th Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Lance and Hope!

We couldn't have planned it if we tried, but both Lance and I have a child born on our birthday.   :) 

First of all.  Happy Birthday Lance!  You are the love of my life.  I could never have dreamed up all that you are.  God gave me the greatest gift of my life when you asked me out, then later to marry you.  Sometimes, it feels like we've just always been us, but then I think back to the science building at Ouachita and I feel like the teenager with the crush on the cute upperclassman.  :)  Now, almost 14 years later and 4 kids later, you still make my heart skip a beat.  I long to hear your voice, see your face, and feel your arms around me.  I love you!

Now, Happy Birthday to my precious Hope! FIVE years old!!!!  How is that possible?!?!  I love your spirit, your enthusiam, your spunk, and your loving nature.  You are a blessing to all you meet!  I love you sweet girl!

We started the day with balloons, streamers, and confetti at breakfast.  A pink sprinkle donut with a candle and Happy Birthday at the table. :)  Then Mom joined us and we went to Claire's and Hope got her ears pierced!  Plus she got to pick out anything she wanted (with in reason) at Claire's.  Following that, we went to lunch at one of her favorite places (Mad Pizza) and then we had a family birthday party at Lance's parents house.  It was a good day.  :)

Getting ready!

She laughed after the first one

Then got really nervous about the second one!

But in the end, she got them both done and was so happy!

Then lunch!

And one tired Birthday Girl. :)

Playing Catch Up!

Holy Cow! It's been almost a month since I've blogged!  I think that's the absolute longest I've gone.  It's a testament to how busy things have been the past few weeks.  I really wanted to blog all the events separately, but that's just not going to happen and today is a special day that deserves it's own post so I have to catch up to today all in this post!

1) Sara and I had a couple fun days together.  First, she was getting over a stomach bug and wasn't able to go to school, so we had a girls day!  Pedicures, lunch and a stop at Claire's. Then a couple days later we went to a Naturals game on a field trip.  It was a little crazy, but a lot of fun!



so much fun!



love that girl!

2) Luke participated in the 3rd grade wax museum.  He was Orville Wright.  He LOVED it!  I was so proud of him.  He took it so seriously.  The entire 3rd grade picked a person in history and then looked up facts about them.  They had to memorize their speech. Then the all the other grades and parents came around to the 3rd grade hall to visit the wax museum.  You would "push" a button in front of them and they would come to life and give their speech and then return to their wax state.  It was really cool!  a GREAT way to learn history and have fun doing it.



Orville Wright

3) Lance and I had the BEST. WEEKEND. EVER. Our good friend Erin got marriend in Nashville so Lance and I took a long weekend getaway to go to her wedding! We had the best time!  There is no way I could sum up our weekend in a paragraph, but it was such a wonderful time for us to just getaway from being parents and just be two people in love.  :) 

Self Portrait! Ready for the wedding!

Us and the newlyweds! Love them!

Can't even begin to tell the whole story of the afterparty at Hard Rock with Third Day and Tenth Ave. North! Awesome!

Me and Mac Powell! (Took this one for Luke!)

4) Luke and I went on a field trip to a fish hatchery and state park in MO.  It was a great field trip! The kids learned a lot and also got the chance to play and be kids.  I want to go back as a family. :)

Love that boy!

I was so proud of him! He was one of only a couple kids who knew how to fish!

Love this pic!

5) Hope "graduated" from pre school.  She was so excited!  It's all she talked about for days.  :)

Absolutely LOVE that girl!

6) Luke had his crossover ceremony with Cub Scouts.  He's officially a Weblos now.  The special treat was that Lance surprised everyone by dressing up in his Indian stuff that he wore when he was in Boy Scouts and and Order of the Arrow.  It was awesome!  Besides his salvation, I've never seen Luke so serious about something.  He really got into the ceremony.  I was so proud of him.

 

Look at Luke's face.  So serious!

It was so cool!

Me and my boys. :)

7) Luke and Sara had field day at school.  It was soooooo cold!  Who would have thought???  But they had fun. :)

8) Lance's brother and his family came in from CA and all the Faddis clan spent the weekend in Branson for Memorial Day.  We had a blast!

 



My American Cuties!

OK, so that catches us up on the highlights! Whew! Longest post ever!