Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Here are TONS of pictures from our week running a daycare center! Just kidding, we had a GREAT week with Court and the kids. The boys didn't even get to 1/2 the things they wanted to do with them while they were here so Court is gonna have to hurry back.

The girls tradition, doing nails with Aunt Carrie. This time we added stickers, Emma Leigh's were hearts with crowns, Bethens said "wild love"!

Zeke wanted a nail sticker also so he got a blue star.

This is one of the flower hair bows Court made, isn't it so cute?!?!

Taking a break to wave at the camera while sword fighting.

For some reason when Court comes we always decide to take on a new crafting adventure....this time it was hair bows and hair flowers, then she made these bow holders. Its always one of my favorite parts, last time we stayed up past midnight sewing a christmas tree skirt!

Uncle Jonathan calming down Zeke and Jalyn...why? Look below...

Jalyn crying...why?...see the wet spot on his shirt? Its Zeke's tears and snot!

Zeke had gotten in trouble and wanted comfort from Jalyn and Bethen, that's how the snot and tears got on Jalyn.

Kiddo's having popcorn snack after a long day of school, shopping, and playing...don't they look exhausted?!?!

Zeke putting the speedracer hat on Uncle Jonathan.

Smiles from Bethen.

Smiles from Emma Leigh.

Aunt Court showing off her can balancing skills for Jon Michael.

The middle of the bow extravaganza. I loved it! So much fun making cute little girl things! Something I never do since I have boys.

Court working so intently on petals for the hair flowers. (See Jon Michaels naked chest back there? Zeke fits in great with the boys, he doesn't like to wear pants, the boys don't like to wear shirts!)

Donkey (yes, that's Court's dogs name), checking on Zeke...he's crying for chips.

This is an amazing picture! Emma Leigh was the first one in the pool. Last year she was the last and then as Court puts it, she would "spazz" out, but this time she was awesome, swimming from end to end and playing, it was great. So Uncle Jonathan torturing her last year and taking her into the pool really paid off.

Uncle Jonathan getting Zeke used to the water.

It took the whole time for him to feel comfortable steping into the pool.

Playtime at the school playground.

Love seeing Emma Leigh smiling and having fun, she's so serious...yes, like I was.

Jon Michael getting in some ball time with Diego and another boy who was playing at the school. I love when kids just make friends with kids and have a good time.

We made Zeke slide over and over b/c we wanted pictures of his hair...it was so funny! I call this his "pirate smile"....arrh!

Just another monkey hanging around!

Can you believe how big these kids are?

Just a swingin'!

The older kids got to ride bikes to the playground, Zeke got to ride up front with Uncle Jonathan, he was proud.

Look at their faces...totally reflects their personalities!

Jon Michael is so good with little kids. He had a great time with Zeke and would "translate" for me sometimes.

Car time.

Bethen getting hugs from Uncle Jonathan.

It was a great week!

Work in Progress

Some of you wanted to see a picture of my front door/porch when I got finished. Well, its going to be a work in progress until we're totally out of hurricane debt. So for now I'll just show you what I've gotten done. Its been done for awhile but I wanted to add another coat of stain to the porch b/f I posted a picture. Then Jalyn wrote "i love you mom" on it with chalk and I don't want to wash it off so I just went ahead and took a few quick pictures this week.

Obviously this isn't the front porch, it was supposed to be at the bottom of this post but I can't get it to move so here it is. We looked out the kitchen window last week and this is what I saw...Jalyn putting himself in Samsons cage...I PROMISE this is not something that we've taught him! Guess he just wanted to see the world from Samson's point of view....who knows.

So here's the door/porch. I sanded, primed, painted and then lightly resanded the door to make it look a little aged, put the kickplate on the bottom b/c that's the part the boys beat up the most as they kick the door open with their feet. I plan on adding some black metal scrollwork above the door to match the black numbers, door bell, and kickplate, but that will come later when I find something I love and its on sale. I also stained the porch the gray color you see, it was just regular cement that had all kinds of junk stuck to it and melted crayons, etc...The stain did an amazing job of blending it all together.

Just a little closer picture that might show the sanding a little better. The door was just flat black that was really beat up and scratched but not in that pretty aged way, just ugly and beat up and needed a good cleaning. I just sanded it on the corners down to the primer.

And this is just a random picture of a HUGE strawberry that Jalyn ate last week. He LOVES strawberries and was so excited to see that I had found a whole carton of this size. It was huge even with the top cut off. I'm sure it was probably that size from all kinds of nasty chemicals, oh well it still tasted good to Jalyn.

Seeing Red!

Jon Michael tested today for his red belt. He only has black tab and then black belt. He was sitting on the couch just now and said, "I just thought about it...I have a red belt!" It was funny.

This was a hard test for him, he had to know the normal stuff for the new belt but also the names of all the stances in english and korean. He did a great job though and knew his defenition when they asked. He was also the only one testing for red belt so he was all alone when it was time to do his thing. It just shows how much he's grown, never b/f would he have stood in front of a group by himself with all eyes on him for anything. We still talk about the first class he ever went into he had to be carried in by Mr Webre and now look at him.

Self Defense

Kicking

Sparring, he's in the red gear

His break for this test was a "jump 360 reverse turning kick"

Awful picture but he got it after one test try.

Getting his new red belt

2nd Gup Red Belt with his broken board

(gup is kinda like ranking, black belt tab will be 1st gup then black belt)

We are super proud of him! He's really stuck with taekwondo, a lot longer than I would have! He's got a goal and we're proud that he's working so hard on his own to attain it.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. Besides having the worst stomach virus EVER, we've had a great resurrection holiday. I was so sick I didn't make the boys their easter bags so this morning I had them come to my room and while I laid in bed I handed them their bags and then handed them their things to fill them on their own...I think they enjoyed that more than having them ready on the table this morning. There is LOTS I didn't get done b/c we've been so sick, didn't get to make resurrection rolls, easter bags, easter cupcakes, and didn't even make easter dinner. Just the thought of going to the grocery store and then cooking turned my stomach. So I loaded the boys up and took them to Sonic for lunch!!! (They ate, not me.) Jalyn made a cross out of construction paper today and wrote this on it, "Hees crist ovr are livus"...can you read "Jalynese"? Translation, "He's Christ over our lives".

Jalyn made easter bunny ears at school, I love that he actually wore them around the house.

Jon Michael would have showed me and then refused to put them on and then it would have been a game of trying to put them on his head w/o him knowing.

The bunny hat even had a little cotton ball tail, so funny.

This is Jon Michaels easter bunny ears.

Its been a great week to be reminded that Jesus Lives and Reigns. I hope that each of you have personally experienced that new life found in Him.