Fall Festivities

This has been a BUSY past few weeks, filled to the brim with lots of FUN fall festivities!The boys were SO excited to visit the pumpkin patch...
The nursing home requested the presence of the kids at their halloween party...it was an interesting experience to say the least!

The boys drew faces on their pumpkins and then assisted me in carving them....

It got a bit messy!Rich kept his 'masterpiece' a secret until it was fully finished.

The boys were SHOCKED at daddies awesome Tranformer pumpkin carving skills!

The COSTUMES!

BumbleBee

Popeye

Indiana Jones

Our church had their first ever harvest festival last night, it was LOADS of fun for the boys...

Skater Eddie

For the past year or so we've noticed that Eddie is pretty good on a skateboard, but recently he's seemed to improve he's skating skills! (keep in mind that he just turned 3)

Carmel Apples!

Last night we made carmel apples! It was the first time we've ever made them, so the boys were very excited!

VACATION = a week of CAMPING!?!

3 weeks ago we went camping with the Williams family for 5 days! We started out in Blue Springs State Park for 3 nights & ended the week with 2 nights at Disney's Ft. Wilderness campground.

Harry & JJ finally jumped in after much hesitation, the water was COLD...

Eddie only swims with daddy. The picture below cracks me up, it looks like Eddie's head on Rich's body!Donathan giving Kylie a dip in the COLD water...The Williams brought their small boat for us to paddle around in...

FUN times! 5 rowdy kids + 1 tall man + 1 tiny boat = SCARY!
YUM... We attempted to fish...but the fish didn't seem to like us.
JJ decided he was tired of fishing & found himself a nice shady 'resting spot' on the dock.
We entertained ourselves by feeding this overly friendly squirrel.We did ALOT of bike riding that week...SO FUN! Ft. Wilderness had a new pool with slides & sprinklers....the kids LOVED it!
What CUTE campers!
More bike riding...

Good friends & a Disney boat ride....what more could you ask for!

What a FUN week we had...can't wait for our next camping adventure!

Our Little Entertainer

I heard very loud & dramatic singing coming from the boys room the other day & discovered this...

(Dangerous, I know...but I had to catch it on tape before I told him to get down!)

Why I Finally Cut JJ's Hair...

Need I say more...

Ahhhh....MUCH better!

Breaking In Our POP-UP Camper

We were SO blessed to snag this POP-UP camper for $450.00!!! After a few weeks of elbow grease & adding A/C, it was ready for camping. Rich has been working for 3 weeks straight, but we were itching to try it out...so last Saturday we headed up to a local campground after Rich got off work. Our friends Whit, Kristin & Hudson joined us for an evening of hot dogs, guacamole & s'mores!

(cloud watching)

The next morning Rich took the boys down to the dock for some early fishing before he headed back to work.

The boys and I spent the rest of the day fishing, swimming, playing on the playground & best of all napping in our freezing cold camper! - Rich joined us again that evening; we packed up & finished up our MINI-trip with a little more fishing.

Harry caught 5 fish that day!

Indiana Eddie

Recently Rich got the boys an Xbox360 'Indiana Jones Lego' game. Ever since then they have been TOTALLY into reinacting INDIANA JONES (or 'Minnyena Jones" as JJ calls him). Eddie plays an AWESOME role as the soundtrack.

8 Years Ago

I was looking through old pictures today and realized that it was 8 years ago this month that Rich & I first met. I had such a good time reminiscing that I thought I would share a few.

Rich was 23...

& I was 17

(My sister came to visit me @ school )

We met at New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, MI; where he & I were both studying and planning for the tribal mission field. Little did we know that a few years later we'd end up with a totally different kind of "tribe".

(here we are with Jess ; before we were dating. in fact I think we barely knew eachother)

We met in August 2001 & started dating that December.

(this was one of our first "official" dates)

He proposed in February & we were married in May 2002. WOW....alot has happened in our lives in the past 8 years!

( Jess worked at a tanning salon, hence the tans)

A Day To Remember...

Today was one of those days that I think Harry & I will always remember.Yesterday we took him to Wal-Mart to get some new shoes (since the soles were falling off his old ones). As we headed down the boys shoe aisle he spotted these "snazzy RED shoes" (as I call them) & his mind was instantly made up. - Ironically when he was about 2, he had a similar pair of RED shoes from Wal-Mart that he was extremely attached to. They were the only shoes he would wear & he would've slept in them had we let him (he tried a few times). - I was a little hesitant yesterday when he picked these shoes, because they have laces & he didn't know how to tie laces (since almost ALL shoes are either slip on or velcro for small children these days). But his heart was set on them & I couldn't refuse. But I warned him that I would not tie them for him, so he would have to learn how. Needless to say he's mastered shoe tying & it hasn't even been 24 hours. He LOVES it, I even caught him purposely "accidentally" untying them just so he could re-tie them. - He wanted me to video it, so here it is:

On top of mastering his laces Harry went to the dentist today. He has still never had a cavity & the dentist said everything looks PERFECT!

To top off an AWESOME day him & I went for a bike ride after dinner. I got to ride my "new" pink Beach Cruiser, that I picked up today on the way to the dentist office, for $15 at a thrift store!!!

We had to make a shoe tying stop along our journey! - Harry is such a SWEET boy & I am so thankful for these moments/milestones that God blesses us with. As Harry would say: "today was a good day, wasn't it mama".

Our Home...

Our home decor was featured in a style blog today & it made me realize that many family & friends who haven't got to visit our home might be interested in what our house actually looks like....well, here is a tour of our home (contrary to the last post, our house was actually clean the day I took these photos).

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Boys Room:

Our Room:

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Encouraged in the Midst of Chaos. . .

Today is just one of "those days" again! We are blessed that these sort of days don't come often; but when they do come, they sure pack a punch.

The dishes are out of control...

so is the laundry!

The pool turned green.
The "grey" is really showing, meaning I'm in desperate need of a bottle of L'Oreal Preference.

& last but not least, JJ is sick!

Rich took Harry and Eddie to the beach, while I literally carried JJ to the Dr. He had been vommiting since early morning & was so weak he couldn't even walk. ---They tested him for SWINE FLU & thankfully it came back negative. He basically has a 24 hour stomach flu, which when dealing with JJ could be way more than 24 hours. ---So off to the store we headed to get crackers & popscicles (he picked the superhero kind). ---When we arrived home Rich already had the other 2 down for a nap & was ready for a nap himself, so he snuggled with JJ in our bed.---Looking around at all the chaos around the house I began to take pictures (not sure why, but it's sort of a therapy for me), so that I wouldn't ever forget these CRAZY days we have every so often.---Soon Harry & Eddie were up & at FULL speed. Wondering how JJ was & if he was feeling better, Harry asked how the Dr. visit went, & Eddie proceeded to ask if JJ had died and gone to heaven (probably since he was in our room asleep & it seemed he had been gone all day). After hearing of the days events & JJ's current condition, Harry suggested that we pray for JJ. So I led us in a prayer for JJ & Harry followed with the sweetest, concerned prayer for his sick brother (Eddie didn't want to, probably because he was still confused about where JJ really was). We are SO blessed when our boys unsolicitedly come up with something profound, thoughtful & sweet!---Needless to say, JJ is already feeling better & has been able to keep 2 superhero popscicle down so far! Rich just finished cleaning & treating the pool, so it should be back to it's blue self soon. The first load in the dishwasher is done; ready to be put away & reloaded. The laundry, well I better get to that now. Last & definitely least, my "grey" can WAIT until another day.....I like wearing hats anyway!

Breakfast!?!

It seems that everyday we fight the "battle" of contstant snacking with our boys. They are ALWAYS hungry, but refuse to eat big meals to hold them over. So this morning Rich decided to make them a BIG braekfast of eggs & toast and make them sit at the table until it was completely gone. I must admit that I was amazed after about 10 minutes that they were actually still sitting at the table and eating together, until I came around the corner to discover the reason why!!!
Just to clarify, this is NOT the kinda BIG breakfast we had in mind. JJ had found my "stash" & decided to add it to his plate!

Random FUN, CUTE &/or FUNNY Moments. . .

Here is JJ, a few months back, on the way to our first official BEACH TRIP this season.

(That night Rich made me cut his hair....SO sad!)

JJ & Eddie playing "PUNCH the wave"....a beach favorite of theirs!

Harry with his "new" computer that Boppa gave him.
My 3 "SONS": HarriSON, JefferSON & EdiSON!

Who can resist these eyes......not to mention the freckles!

TWINS???

Harry got a "How to Draw Sharks" book from the library, he drew the shark on the bottom free-hand (daddy drew the other one)!

Harry invented these outfits in case the economy ever gets so bad that we have to sell all of our clothes!

Eddie decided to paint his toes too!

You Must Be A Redneck If. . . .

. . . .You make a downhill (or down-ditch) Slip-N-Slide out of black tarp, a blow up mattress & SoftSoap!

Yes, it is true...we are officially accepted in our neighborhood now!

You'd of thought we had taken the kids (& us) to Disney World or something....they (we) were having a BLAST!

By the end of the day it transformed into a "Muddin' Slide"!.........YeeHaw!!!......... Bring on the beat-up old trucks & the chickens (heehee), we are a regular REDNECK Floridian family now!
Check out Rich joining in on the action!!!

FLASHBACK: Amah & Anthony Visit For Harry's 6th Birthday

In late April Rich's mom (Amah) & his nephew Anthony came to visit for Harry's 6th birthday! It was a VERY fun visit, the boys ALWAYS love when Amah comes & spending time with Anthony was a BLAST for them!

........While they were here the boys had MANY lizard & frog hunts!

We went to the beach a few times that week & one of those times we went on a nature trail.

"Uncle Richie" got to teach Anthony how to surf for the first time!


Harry showing off his "moves"!

Fun Times!

A man gave Anthony a fish........boy, did they LOVE it!!!

We went to Memorial Island one evening to watch the dolphins; we just couldn't seem to snap a shot of them though.

We had friends over on Harry's birthday; we ate cheeseburgers, cheeseballs, green punch & cupcakes with blue icing all at Harry's request.


Even after trying to block them, his brothers still managed to help Harry blow out his candles!

Harry & Brendan trying out his new TRANSFORMERS walkie talkies!


One day the boys caught a frog & wanted to set him free in the canal......

It is to steep to climb down to the shore of the canal, so the boys put the frog in a bottle & threw him in.....hmmmm, I didn't think of littering until I saw the bottle floating in the canal, whoops!

What a FUN week we had! We are looking forward to the next time Amah visits & excited to see who she'll bring with her next!

FLASHBACK: Rebecca's Birthday

Needless to say...we have been VERY busy lately. And one of the things that seems to get neglected during the "busyiness" is our blog. So I will be attempting to "catch up" here in the next few posts; starting with my birthday: April 19th.......

Let me preface this post by saying that Rich REALLY out did himself this year; if this was for my 25th, I can't imagine what 30 or 50 will be like!

.......On my actual birthday we headed down to the beach for a picnic.

Then we headed home for cake & presents!!! Rich had made the cake the night before, giving Eddie plenty of time to get his fingers into it.
The highlight of the night was my "boys" singing to me!!!

Harry picked these flowers out for me when he and Rich went shopping, he was SO excited to give them to me!The next morning Rich took all 3 kids to meet my mom, giving me the day to myself. And then swept me off to the Lakesied Inn in Mt. Dora for 2 nights!!! It was kind of a birthday/anniversary get-a-way since we were going to be in Honduras on our 7th anniversary. One of the days we spent off-roading on dune buggies & atv's......SOOOOOOO fun!

This gator hung out on the dock at the Inn.

We met my parents at the Cheescake Factory in Brandon to pick up the boys.....& I was surprised to find my family & many friends there to celebrate my birthday!!!

Here is my brother Joel showing of his muscle skills with Marcus & Jason (my sisters boys)!My sister Elizabeth & I.

My DEAR friend Maranatha & I.

I am SO blessed to have a husband who goes ABOVE & BEYOND to make me feel SO special each year! It was such a FUN weekend, one I will NEVER forget!

GO

This is an AMAZING video that challenges us to "Go into ALL the World".(double click the screen for a FULL window to pop up)

Honduras

We got home last Monday from a week long trip to Honduras. While we were there we visited many different places and ministered to the children of Honduras. Our kids sang songs, we told a Bible story & made animal puppets with the children. Many of them were orphans or left to themselves each day as their parents head off to work. They were SO starving for affection. We were told that since hurricane Mitch in the late 90's, Honduras has had many missions groups come down and help with medical needs and rebuilding the country, but not many that have come and focused on ministering to the children.

Below is a video/slideshow of our trip...ENJOY!

Easter in the Park 2009

Every year our church hosts: "EASTER in the PARK"...it has become such a FUN tradition for us! Rich and the boys camped out the night before to help "protect" the stuff.---Our boys don't ever dress up, so it was SO fun to dress them up fancy! Harry especially liked it.

The park is right on the river, so before the service began we went on a family walk

(so mama could take pictures).

You can't have a photo shoot without a silly photo!!!

Brendan & Harry waiting for the service to begin.

Sarah, Kim & I (& someone's fingers....hmmmm?)

It was a GREAT turn out & we had BEAUTIFUL weather....best of all people responded to the Gospel message!!!! God is SO good & we are looking forward to next years "EASTER in the PARK"!!!