Summer Lovin'

We are soaking up every ounce of summer over here. 

The kids are having a blast!  

As I downloaded these pictures I couldn't help but smile at the raw joy in their faces!

This may just be a summer to remember with how well they are getting along and having a blast together. I know there will come a day when there is a pull of other activities and the slip in slide in the back yard may not cut it.  There will be friends that will be more fun than little brothers but we will take this time and soak up every ounce! 

I love the brother to brother pep talk happening in the background!

 Max loved the end result ... water in the face!

New plans were made as they decided to try to head down backward with a little help from their siblings!

  

 Almost every picture I took when Max was on the side lines looked like this ... complete excitement as he is screaming, waving his hands and jumping up and down! This little boys knows how to embrace life with every ounce of himself!

It is amazing the joy that a little bit of water and a $5 slip and slide can bring on a hot summer day!

These were shot with my Canon 60D and my 50mm lens.

They are SOOC!

I am linking up to Stephanie's Sunday Snapshots this week.  

Strawberry Picking

One lazy summer evening I decided to google "strawberry patches." I wondered if there was one in the area. I thought it would be fun to take the kids strawberry picking. Wouldn't you know there was a new strawberry patch just 20 minutes from our house and they were open for picking.

 

The kids had never been strawberry picking before. This picture pretty sums up how Max felt about his first trip to the strawberry patch. The other kids echoed Max's sentiments toward the strawberry patch. They thought it was so much fun, where grinning from ear to ear on the tractor ride and ate their fair share of fresh red strawberries. I am pretty sure the red fingers, red shirt and red face are a dead give away ... Max loved strawberry picking.

Emma went right to work eager to fill her bucket. 

Max also went right to work ... but instead decided to eat each strawberry he picked. 

Max watched over Shane's shoulder to see how it is all done !

He too the cue that all those red strawberries were fare game.

 

The girls worked hard but also ate their fair share of berries.

The girls were trying to show Max how it is done.  It looks like they couldn't resist those bright red strawberries either.

Every time we turned around Max had a strawberry in or near his mouth. The farmer who owns the field told the kids they were safe to eat and they could each as much a they want but had to stop when they reached their body weight.

The girls went right to work and were more than excited to fill their buckets.

 

Shane decided to take a little break and wait for the tractor. 

Emma was busy trying to get those last minute strawberries in the bucket before it was time to head back. 

 The kids loved hoping on the tractor for a ride out to the patch and back to the van.

 

We had a couple yummy buckets of strawberries to take home.

 

This picture pretty sums of how Max felt about having to get off the tractor and leaving the strawberry patch behind.

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I am linking up to Stephanie's Sunday Snapshots this week. As I fall more and more in love with hobby of photography I love taking in others work especially when they share their work so generously. Head on over to Stephanie's blog to see some amazing photographs. I used a Canon 60D camera, my 50 mm lens at various settings and a little bit of Florabella 1968.

Telling The Kids

The kids have been so excited about adopting a little sister from China.  We have talked and prayed about her a lot. The kids knew we could find out anytime who there sister was and we were praying it was some time this summer.  On Tuesday after we got the call it was a whirlwind.  Eric's mom had flown in from Africa, where she does mission work.  We were all sitting around the table and Emma said, "Grammy, we could find out who our sister is anytime.  We might even find out this summer while you are here!" Shane interjected, "And we will get to see her picture too!" Little did they know they had a sister already and in no time they would see her face for the first time.

Eric is heading to India for business this week.  He pulled up the map of India on his computer and they talked about what he was going to be doing and the orphanages he was going to visit while he was there. He then showed the kids where China was and they found where Max was born but then Eric said, "And this is where your new sister is from!" Their expressions were priceless as they saw their sister for the first time. Complete joy and love in all those little eyes!

Max kept looking at Eric saying, "Baby, baby!"  I am pretty sure he has no clue how this little baby his going to rock his world!

There were a ton of questions asked as they poured over her picture.  They wanted teachers emailed and   pictures printed so they could show their new sister to their friends.  Their eyes and hearts have been opened through our journey to Max.  It has been so fun for us to sit back and watch their little hearts fill up for love for their little sister.  When Shane tells people about his sister he also asks people to pray for her!

The Tulip Festival

We headed to my home town last weekend for the annual Tulip Festival. The kids were so excited to see papa, grammy and all their cousins. They were anticipating all the fun that was in front of them.

 

On Friday we got to town in time to watch the parade. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Max on my dad's lap during the parade. Max isn't afraid of too many things. One thing he isn't a fan of is bugs and we quickly found out bands are not a favorite of his either. When the bands would come by he would hang on to papa's neck for dear life.

  

  The kids could hardly wait to hit the rides with their cousins. It was a bit of chaos for all the adults to keep tabs on everyone as kids were wanting to head in different directions. Good thing there were 8 adults with 16 eyes to keep tabs on everyone. The excitement was running pretty high!
 

Max was beyond excited as he jumped in the puppy with his brother. I am pretty sure you can see just how Shane feels about life by the expression on his face!
 

The big girls are growing up ... insert sign .... they no longer love the little cars and slides. They have moved on to bigger and better things. I couldn't keep up with them and most of the rides they chose moved so fast or were so high I couldn't even get a picture of them. You can see the top of Darby's head in the bottom of the octopus. This is about as good as it gets.
 

The three middles also thought they would move on to a bigger and better rides. They decided to hop on the Ferris Wheel. There was a bit of screaming coming from the bucket #11 when it reached the top. I wonder who was in there?



 Shane wanted another shot at the Dragon Roller coaster. We reminded him that just 2 years ago he was in tears when he rode it because he was so scared. Well this time around his expression was a little different.
 

The Tulip Festival is not complete with out all the yummy treats. Papa treated the kids to some mini doughnuts and lemonade. Max was happily sharing his doughnut with papa. This will give you an idea of the eating rules at Tulip Festival ... for lunch on Saturday papa had purchased some funnel cakes for the kids to munch on while their parents were getting them some real food. No wonder we are chopped liver when papa and grammy are around.
 

On Saturday we put on the Dutch Costumes and headed to main street to get the streets ready for the queen and her court. Max was the cutest little Chinese Dutch boy around.
 

I can't believe how fast these little Dutch girls are growing up! We had such a nice spring that we actually had a stem fest, there wasn't a tulip in sight.  We had to find some other flowers to take pictures by.
 

Shane wanted to take his pictures by the windmill!
 

A few other pictures before the street scrubbing began.
 

The boys headed out and filled their buckets with water to pour on the road so the girls could come behind with their brooms to scrub the streets. I love Shane in action getting the water out to those ladies. Max was pretty excited about throwing the water out too!
 

The girls were ready. We pretty much fill up the road here and Alexa and Darby are even a few steps ahead!

Max was loving life!
 

The girls had a great time too. Look at Mataya, the cute little Dutch girl I am holding. I can't wait until next year, hopefully our little Asian princess will be home for the festivities.



  The boys reached the end of the route! What a fun weekend with a lot of fun memories.

Eyes That Are Opened

A desire that Eric and I have for our kids is that their eyes may be opened to the world around them. We are blessed and so often take what we have and the way we live for granted. We pray that our kid's eyes and hearts would be opened to those around in need. We also pray that they can experience and appreciate other cultures and diversity around them. We want to expose our kids the beauty of other cultures and feel blessed that we had the opportunity to do that during our get away! 

This is one of my favorite pictures of our trip to Cabo with the kids. I feel like this pictures speaks for itself.

It was fun to see the kids eyes being opened to the Mexican culture as we journey to town most nights. We were staying at a beautiful resort but that is not the real "Mexico!" As they walked through the markets they took it all in and we were able to have great conversations with them along the way.

 

The markets in Mexico are such a fun experience.

 

We would spend about an hour or so each evening walking through the markets after dinner before heading back to our resort.

 

The kids had so much fun checking out all the amazing treasures.

 

They also experienced little ones coming up to them trying to sell them stuff right on the street. It is a way of life for the Mexican culture but once again a eye opener for our kids.

 

They were troopers and tried new food!  Some nights they resorted back to chicken fingers and french fries but they did have fun trying new things. The classic nachos were a favorite of theirs.

The first night they discovered Shirley Temples and it was all over after that.  

    

At many of the resturants they had local people that would come in an try to entertain you with singing, magic tricks, balloon creations ... you name it. The kids thought the balloon guy was pretty cool.

 

We had such an amazing time seeing the Mexican culture through the eyes of our kids. Their eyes were opened in a new way on our trip!