waterslides & watermelon

we had a church wide picnic on sunday... and it was SO much fun! shout-out and special thanks to ken and debbie for opening up their beautiful home/yard to us! my family and i (and by family i mean my WHOLE family, which is pretty cool to worship each week with my entire fam) attend argo christian fellowship. i've grown up in that church, and i love it! recently we've had a lot of new members join, and it's neat watching the body of christ grow and making new friends. if you are looking for a small - but- growing friendly church with awesome people who love god, come visit us! there's something for everyone!

back to the picnic... there were waterslides for the kids (and adults. i played on them for a while and boy did i pay for it the next day!) and volleyball games that may or may not have lasted for 2-3 hours! :) there was also badmitton, croquet, food, just a whole lotta fun and fellowshippin' going on! i took a ton of pics. i know you are all shocked! :) so here's your warning: if you don't wanna see a bazillion pics of some super cute kids, just stop reading this post now! ha. seriously, i did combine a TON of them by making photo collages at shutterfly to try and reduce the number of pics. ok, i also made the collages b/c i think it's really fun! just like i've been editing my pics at photobucket, which is also very addicitng fun! all in all, trace LOVED the slides. seriously. he barely stopped to eat 2 chicken nuggets and a chunk of watermelon. his lips were chattering by time nate drug him away from the slides, and his skin was all wrinkly like a dried prune! lucas on the other hand, HATED the slides. however, he did enjoy walking around like a big boy everywhere, chasing balls around, and eating anything that he could get his hands on! whether it was offered it to him or not! ha.

old look new...

since i don't have many new pics to share, i thought i'd just share a few that i have edited recently. i want a new camera so bad, but for now, i will use the one i have... and make the old pics look new by adding a few fun touches!! *the trike pics of lucas are new. i forgot i haven't posted them yet! EnJoY!

hOw GrEaT!

CBS = Community Bible Study. i'm sure a lot of you have heard of it, or maybe are even a part of this awesome group of women. i grew up going to cbs, and now i am so glad that trace and lucas have the chance to go as well. although i work 5 days a week and can not attend the weekly bible study, my sister watches my kids on thursdays, so they get to go! trace is in a big boy class and he has learned so much this year. i always hear him saying bible verses or singing songs that he has learned there. it makes my heart happy to hear him in the bedroom, when he thinks noone is listening, singing about zacheus or david. :) lucas is still in the nursery, but mom says they always tell her how sweet he is! that also makes me happy to hear! well they recently had the end of the year program, where the parents come and the kids get to sing their songs they have learned throughout the year. nate and i got to go see him sing. he was so excited when he saw us there! although he was kind of doing his own thing, in his own little world (no, not trace!) he did sing a few of the songs! they learn their memory verses each week by singing them to the tune of popular kid songs, and i think that is a great idea. trace knows all of them! * oh yeah, and i should mention that my mom is the music teacher for all the age groups. so her grandbabies think it is super cool when bitsy comes in their class to teach! * anyways, so the big song they have been working on each week is from the glory revealed album, the song is "how great." trace loves this song! when it comes on the radio he gets so excited! so it was so neat to go see him sing. he has been in a class with lala this year, and caden is in the next class up. they all stood near each other (thanks to bitsy!) so picture taking SHOULD have been easy... except for my camera was screwed up and all but 1 of my picures are so blurry! i'm very disappointed, but i know shannon got some good pics of them! i wanted to go ahead and share these. again, they aren't the greatest, but you get the idea! :) i did take a video, i'm just not sure if i can load it. i will try...... but for now, enjoy the notsogood but itwillhavetowork pics!

how great is the love the father, has poured out on us, that we should be called the children of god.
how great, how great, is god's amazing grace, that we should be called the children of god. how great, how great, that we believe our faith, and we can be called the children of god.how great is the love the father, the he sent his only son. that we could be called the children of god. we will never perish, if we believe in him, and we can be called the children of god.

how great, how great, is god's amazing grace. that we should be called the children of god. how great, how great, that we believe our faith, that we can be called the children of god.that is what we are, sons and daughters of god. oh by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.

how great is the love the father, has poured out on us, that we should be called the children of god!

how great, how great, is god's amazing grace, that we should be called the children of god. how great, how great, that we believe our faith, and we can be called the children of god. yes, we can be called the children of god....

the children of god!

fifteen months

my little sweet cheeks.

seriously. i could just eat him up and kiss him forever.

lucas is 15 months old now. he is talking like CRAZY! i will try and list all the words he says, but i'm sure i will forget some. the old list was uo-oh, no, daddy, mama, bubba, bye, hey, stop, kitty, pop pop, bite, and cheese. now he also says where's trace, lala, up, down, stop, go, bath, toes, sock, shoe, ball, baby, cat, dog, car, bottle, juice... and a lot more! i love it when he asks "where's trace?" he loves his bubba so much. and i would say the word we hear most is BALL. he is obsessed with bouncy balls, soccer balls, basket balls, any kind of ball... he will spot one a mile away. and chase it all around. anyways, back to him talking. he has the sweetest little voice. i just love listening to him talk. even when he is just babbling it is so precious.

i heart him!

and guess what else? he is finally starting to walk! his primary mode is still crawling, b/c i'm telling you, he is the world's fastest crawler. the kid can go! he puts his head down and just goes at it! but lately he will stand and balance on his own for a while. and when he thinks noone is watching, he will just take off walking! usually when he falls he just starts crawling, but i know soon enough those days of crawling will be gone!

he loves to play outside. oh.my.word. the kid is ALL BOY. when i pick him up from meme's he is covered in dirt. like so filthy that i don't even want to pick him up! he will monkey crawl in the dirt or grass, he will stick his butt up in the air and walk on all fours so he doesn't have to touch his knees to the ground. it's so funny. soon he will learn that it's just as easy to walk!! and i bet he goes from walking to running in no time. but he doesn't let that stop him from getting anywhere!

he loves to eat! seriously. lucas is a bottomless pit. here is what he might eat on a typical day. he still has a morning bottle (please hold the comments. he is only 15 months old. i swear he will be off of it soon, but for now, he still takes one. ok i feel better now!) then he might eat 2 pancakes and fruit for breakfast, or whatever he can get his hands on. he loves biscuits, muffins, cereal bars, anything! he usually has a snack of somesort mid morning. and then a huge combination of stuff for lunch, such as a piece of pizza, 3-4 chicken nuggets, or maybe a sandwich or hotdog, i'm telling you... he will eat all day long. then he eats more snacks, like an oatmeal creme pie, crackers, fruit snacks, etc. and for dinner, well whatever we are eating, and then he is still hungry so he usually has cheese and yogurt after that. and then if he is in the mood, he has milk before bedtime. it is safe to say he eats twice as much as trace on most days, sometimes probably more!

~ he now weighs 22 pounds 12 ounces, and is 31 1/4 inches long. that means he has gained 2 pounds 11 ounces, and grown 3/4 inches in the past 3 months. he is in the 25th% for weight, and the 56th% for height ~

~ he got a pretty good report at the dr today... he has an ear infection though, but it's his first one since tubes almost 4 months ago, so i am happy the tubes have done so well so far. the ear drops weren't working well so they put him on amoxicillan as well. other than that he's great! ~

~ he wears a size 4 diaper, and he is in mostly 12-18 month clothing ~


~ he has 16 teeth... yeah, that's a whole mouth full ~


~ he knows where his eyes, mouth, nose, hair, and ears are. most of the time, he will point to them when you ask where they are ~


~ he is kinda trying to outgrow his morning naps... they are hit and miss! but he usually still takes a good afternoon nap. and he is still going to bed around 6:30 pm and waking up around 6 am. usually when i open the door to get him from his bed he says HEEEEYYYY! it's so cute! ~

it is so hard for me to believe that he is 15 months old. that means it was 2 years ago when we got pregnant with him. wow. time flies. i know people say that all the time, and they will tell me not to blink because my baby will be grown before i know it. and now i really believe them! i love seeing lucas grow and learn. he is so curious and he is always into everything. other than the fits he is still throwing, he is usually very happy and a joy to be around. he keeps me smiling and laughing all the time! he is so cute that sometimes when i get onto him for something, i have to turn my head to keep from laughing as i am telling him NO! he's a stinker!

i feel like i say it all the time, but on the same hand, i feel like i could never say it enough. we are so extremely blessed with 2 healthy, beautiful, sweet, loving boys! they have shown me a love like i have never known before. and i realize now more than ever just how hard parenting is. not really parenting in general, but christian parenting. it's tough. to try and teach them how to behave, and why we behave that way. to focus it all on the lord is hard. but we are trying to teach them early, and i pray they will come to know and accept christ at an early age, and that they will long to live for him and please him in all they do! i know as a mom, i mess up. a lot. i lose my temper. i scream and shout. i say things i shouldn't. i am impatient as they come. but i am learning each day. and together nate and i continue to ask for god's grace and help along the way!

~ proverbs 22:6 "train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." that is my prayer! ~