Ella's 4th Birthday

I can hardly believe it but yesterday Ella turned 4!  Why is it that 4 sounds so much older than 3?   She seems so big to me and I can't believe how time has flown by.  This is our little girl that we prayed and prayed for.  She felt like a miracle baby after after we had some losses.  Now, she is 4, Braden is 2, and we can't wait to meet our 3rd precious baby.  Wow, God is so good! 

Ella is our tender hearted, sweet, and loving girl.  She is full of life and is often fearless.  She makes me smile daily and is such a blessing.   She is a delight and we have had 4 years full of joy with her.  God blessed Collin and I with the greatest blessing on June 29, 2006.

Ella has been planning her party for months.  Every trip to a store added another present to her list of what she wanted. Thank goodness she didn't remember everything she asked for.  It was a great excuse to explain why we couldn't buy something she wanted, I have no idea what I will say now.  

Ella had asked for a princess Ariel swim party continuously and has never wavered, so that is what we did.  Once again I feel so blessed for my kids to get to have such amazing birthdays here at camp.  Everyone goes out of their way to help and love on my kids!  Thank you to all of my wonderful help, I couldn't have done today without you, and thanks to everyone who came and made it so fun!  Katie, I love party planning with you!  Maybe there is a future business for us! ha!

 

Getting ready for the big day

Ella getting the birthday rap sung to her

  

The best daddy ever!  

The Party!   It turned out to be so magical.  It was an under the sea theme, with real fish, bubbles, sea shells, balloons, and yummy food.   It almost felt like you were under the sea when you walked in the tent. 

The loot!  Ella is so blessed!

     Mylee and Claire coloring Ariel      

Pass the treasure game.  Fun for big and little kids!

I had to give up on making the cake, too busy.  Thank you walmart!  It was so cute and tasted great!. 

This was probably my favorite part of the party.   I made mermaid towels for each of the girls to take home as a favor along with a pair of flip flops.  They looked so cute in them!  I think every girl needs one of these!

The boys got gold fish and swords to take home. 

Ella and Braden dressed for the Around the World party tonight. 

Close up of Ella's Birthday Shirt

          The last picture before bed.  So thankful for this girl! 

Braden Got a Hair Cut

Braden's hair always makes me laugh.  Whether it is long or short, it sticks staight up.  Most of the time it is just crazy, and he is the fuzzy headed boy that I love.   This is also because he hates hair cuts.   It never fails that he gets hair all over him, then rubs his face, gets itchy, and pretty soon the battle is on.   He just screams and then covers his head with his hands.  The only thing that has come to help is bribery with popsicles and m&ms.  A buzz works a little bit better because its fast.   So I am pretty sure, Braden's head will be buzzed for quite some time.   I always think he looks a little bit like a military kid when we are done but after it grows for a couple of days, he is so cute!

Before.....

...and after!   

If you look close you can see his mouth is blue from m&ms....bribery is great!

Braden loves his shades.  Thanks Nonnie!

Braden is 2!

I can hardly believe it but, on June 4th, my binkie loving, blue blanket toting little boy turned 2!   This past year it has been so fun to see even more of Braden's personality come out.   He is all boy as you will be able to tell from the pictures.  He loves to wrestle, play ruff, find sticks, trucks, and also he is the best snuggler.   I am praying our next boy will love to snuggle too.  Braden has always had a stronger will, but at the same time is makes your heart melt when he lays on your shoulder after he throws a tantrum.  Ha!  He loves to laugh and to make other people laugh.   He is such a joy and I love seeing how this little man is growing up.

Both of my kids birthdays are during kamp and I am determined to still give them an incredible party in spite of things being crazy with kamp life.   So far they are the most blessed kids ever to have kamp birthdays.   Our leadership team along with many others showers them with love and go all out to make the parties memorable.  Thanks guys!

One of Braden's most favorite words is truck. Car trips with him are hilarious because he yells truck over and over again every time he sees any form of a truck. So a theme for his 2nd birthday part was easy to come up with. We celebrated with all things truck and construction. We had hard hats, power tools, street signs, shovels, stop lights, orange cones, and the highlight of the party was the real backhoe! Braden loved getting to see so many truck things at this party! Happy Birthday Braden, we are so blessed to have you as our son!

The benefit of helping mom cook, cake batter!

All my helpers, including Ashlyn our great kidsitter!

The final product!  

Ella in her party outfit

The birthday boy!

He was so happy driving, he really didn't want to get out.

Braden loves to play in the sink, so he got his own.  He didn't even want to leave it to eat cake!

Thanks to everyone who made it so special!

Miss you Jamie Jo!

My sweet friend Jamie Jo and her husband run an incredible camp called Kivu.   Camp Kivu is located in Colorado and offers incredible leadership training along with many options of adventure sports.    Here is a quick excerpt from the Kivu website:
 "As the Directors of KIVU Andy and Jamie Jo have BIG dreams to help teenagers learn valuable life lessons as they experience the Creator inside the boundaries of the Creation. Rock Climbing, Backpacking, Fly Fishing, Mountain Biking, Road Biking, River Rafting, and a program on Vallecito Lake make KIVU an exciting, adventurous place for any teenager.

Jamie and Andy have such a gift at raising up a purposeful generation for Christ.   Check out Camp Kivu website to learn more.

Jamie Jo has also been one of my biggest supporters in life and my fun crafts. She just sent me this great photo of her and Callie wearing the Africa shirts and headbands I made for them! Thanks so much!

Thank you Tatu and Poppy!

Moving out to kamp is one of the craziest time of our whole year. This year Collin's mom (otherwise know as Tatu), was so gracious to come and help take care of the kids for a two weeks. She did everything from take care of my kids to plant flowers. She is always a joy to the entire kamp and strives to find ways to serve. Tatu, I couldn't have done it without you! Collin's dad got to also join us the last weekend of Staff Training. He too jumped in to help during the time he was at Kamp. He even got an awful case of poison ivy because he was cutting back brush for us! I'm so sorry! We love you Tatu and Poppy! Thanks for being great grandparents!

K-Kountry Western Night

During our staff training week we had a western night which always proves to be a favorite night for everyone. We have a square dance association in Arkansas, that is always so great to bring many of their members to teach the staff how to square dance. There were many great moments of Staff training week, but seeing my whole family dressed in cowboy attire was definitely a blog worthy moment. Braden and Ella looked so cute in cowboy hats!

My two Handsome Cowboys!

I don't remember why he was upset, but he still is so cute!

Summer's Here!

Well, Kamp actually started awhile ago, but I am just now getting to blog about it. We officially moved out to K-Kountry May 19th and have been here ever since. Things have been CRAZY, but also so good. I have been so blessed to have wonderful help with my kids and the whole transition. Both kids have loved being back out here and have even adjusted well to sharing a room. Even though we have been going non stop Collin and I feel so blessed to get to do what we do. Our staff has been amazing and it is great to have kids here again!

This is our new pool deck and fence!  It looks fabulous!

More Projects!

These are onesies that I finished a little while ago for my new friend Carol. She ordered these for baby gifts adn I had so much fun working on them. She picked out the onesies and then I got to embellish them. Thanks so much for letting me work on these. I hope you and the moms you are giving them to, love them!