story fam

story fam

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Gift

Introducing
Oliver Levi
August 26th
10:36am
The beautiful Mommy


I love these boys!!!!!



For Oliver

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10



Happy Birthday Peris




I'm not sure starting school was the best birthday gift, but we started the day off traditionally! Which means that Peris' door was festooned with streamers that she walked through to start her celebration. Before enjoying a breakfast of donuts, she got to open up her gifts. This year she was dying for some cool Playmobile stuff-the house and a few additional sets. She also wanted a Webkinz to keep her account alive.
We finished off her day with her dinner of choice: homemade pizza.
Now for some Mom sentimental business.....I cannot believe that Peris is 11! I can clearly remember the day she was born! At 3:23 pm looking down at her and realizing in an instant that my life would never be the same. Looking deep into those dark eyes and embracing the new role I was taking on. My life was changed in that moment. Now eleven years later I look into her eyes and realize how much she is still causing me to change. To dig deep into my own emotional reserve. To be strong for her when I want to be weak. To have a fresh perspective on what it is like to be a tween. To continue to love her with a fierceness that still shocks me.
Happy birthday sweetie. I pray that this year you see how much value you hold in my eyes and in the eyes of your heavenly Father who loves you more than I can even imagine.
You are a precious gift. Beautiful. Generous. Kind. Giving.


We are ALL Wildcats!!


6th grade

3rd grade


3rd grade


2nd grade


1st grade
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Again I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them
Matthew 18:19-20
For every prayer that was offered in faith for Michael I say thank you!
I give thanks for my children being together for the first time since we have started school. It is a wonderful gift!!






Sunday, August 22, 2010

Thursday..Happy Birthday to Me...

Happy Birthday to Me
"Happy 39th Birthday"-written by my hubby in the sand

Let the rain begin


Walking to Painter's Homemade Ice Cream
for my birthday lunch





On our evening walk we saw this sand beetle bug-this is for you Uncle Timmy!
All the kids said "Uncle Tim" at the same time!






After the rain storm, I got a special birthday rainbow-truly amazing. Ella said, "Mom! It's God's promise to never flood the earth again!" Yes my genius child that is exactly what He said.

Hanging at the indoor pool




Michael and I took a walk (just the 2 of us) and saw the lightening off in the distance. We didn't get very far because we both sort of got nervous.



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What an awesome birthday! I woke up, took a walk, saw a gorgeous sunrise, hung out on the beach, ate ice cream for lunch, and then it rained-not my favorite part of the day.
We took a break and played card games, watched t.v., took naps-it was great!! I opened up my gifts and loved everything! I got a new Vera backpack, flip flop earrings, and a cool necklace with charms. My Mom sent her package and I got cook books, ME socks, and a journal.
After the storm (and the pretty rainbow) the sky cleared up and we went for a nice walk. Weather changes quickly and by the time we returned the skies were clouding up so we hit the inside pool.
Michael and I took a short walk and then it got pretty stormy again.
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Friday we woke up early and it was really foggy and rainy so we decided to head out for home a day early. We packed up our stuff in record time and hit the road.
What a wonderful way to end the summer! We had such a fantastic time!!
Good bye Garden City Beach! We hope to come back next year.











What a Wednesday! At the Beach that is.....









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Wednesday was another awesome day!! We had great weather and a lot of beach time. On our walk last night, we met a family who made these really cool sand castles by taking extremely wet sand and allowing the sand to drip into formations. Wednesday was our "drippy" castle day. The kids loved it!! We sat on the beach for a long time making fairy castles and recreating Narnia. It was fantastic!! When the kids tired of the castles, they would grab a boogie board and head out to catch some waves. After a late dinner, we took another walk down but this time we went towards the pier. This laid back schedule is just what we all needed! I am so thankful that we had the time and resources to get away.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Terrific Tuesday at the Beach!

Waiting on the girls to get up!
It took us a few days, but we jumped on the bandwagon of getting out to the beach early to stake out a spot! Seriously! If you aren't out there by about 9am, there isn't much room left to set up shop!

Notice our new addition? The beach umbrella. Sadly, the cabana that served us perfectly when the kids were little just isn't big enough now.


Michael running towards the ocean-his reward for helping Derek set up our stuff. Michael has loved getting out in those waves!

The boys going out to boogie board

Ella conquering the waves!

Our new beach set up

The girls taking a shade break-it is hot today!!!


Alright..no shocker here..Fiona was the ONLY one brave enough to get close to the (real) enormous pelican. We walked down to the pier and as we got out towards the end we saw the bird. She was like, "THAT IS SO COOL" and got pretty close!
Fiona has been fascinated with the ocean life, shells, and other scientific things that we have seen. She is loving it!


Enjoying homemade ice cream at Painter's. After our long walk down to the pier, we needed a little treat before the hike back.
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Tuesday was a great day here at Garden City Beach! We got up early (well relatively so) and got out to the beach by 10am-thank you Derek and Michael for staking out our spot! We learned quickly that if you don't get your stuff out early, there isn't any room! Our day consisted of hitting the beach in the morning, taking a break and going to the outdoor pool, getting dried off and walking the beach to the pier, getting ice cream for lunch (yes we are super cool parents), walking back to our spot, getting re-sunscreened, spending the afternoon at the ocean, making sand castles/sand cakes/sand tarts, boogie boarding, and around 4:30pm coming back in for dinner. My favorite part of the day was heading out around 7pm for an evening walk in the opposite direction down the beach (see Facebook for those photos). The kids are fascinated by the little shells (we aren't sure what they officially are called) that turn on their sides and dig back down in to the sand. Fiona and Emmy could watch them all night long!!
It was seriously another perfect day!! We are very fortunate-beautiful weather and wonderful family time!
What a fantastic way to end the summer!










Monday, August 16, 2010

Monday at the beach (day 3)






















Day 2 with the fam at the beach

Day 2 is just gorgeous! This is our view off of the deck.
Michael is a boogie boarding fool!!!


Emmy getting brave


Peris riding a wave in to shore



Ella finding (and scientifically classifying) different shells and coral



Emmy and Peris having a great time

Sand mermaids

Fiona buried up to her neck


Taking a walk


and stopping for shells

and writing messages in the sand

headed back

Nightmare adventures on the beach