House of Fun

Here's a bit of random stuff from last month that I haven't had the chance to post until now. 

There's never a dull moment around here!

Our Little Explorer!

What our car looked like 15 minutes after it got washed.
Remind me why I even bother!

What Ricky looked like.
Hmmm... I wonder who the culprit was?!

Evie LOVES water!

I wish every moment between these two was this sweet.

Happy boy on his bike.

Melts my heart every time.

"Alright boys! Outa my way!"

A Tribute

On April 21st of this year my sweet Grammie passed away after a hard fought battle with cancer. She played a significant role all throughout my life & I will always cherish the memories I have of our time together. I'm incredibly thankful to God that I was given the opportunity to know my Grandmother in ways many people do not & also thankful to have been given the chance to say goodbye to her. I've made a small video in honor of her & hope it will be a blessing to all of us who are still here with her life & story written on our hearts. Please enjoy & share it with whomever you'd like in remembrance of our lovely Mary.

Click this link to view the video:    http://youtu.be/CRAbD7bCP88

Birthday Camp Out

Our little Ricky turned 3 years old yesterday! Months ago he'd requested to go camping for his birthday so that's exactly what we did over Memorial Day weekend. We all had a great time. How can you not when there's a camp fire with marshmallows & hot dogs, a four wheeler with a plethora of jeep trails, a baby backpack with lots of ground to walk, a wall tent & a camper with tons of delicious food, friends & family, & an adventurous, energetic, superhero birthday boy?!

Yesterday we spent some lovely time with grandparents, Ricky got to open quite a few birthday presents, & we went to Burger King for dinner so the boys could eat ice cream & play at the playground. It turned out to be a nice day for our boy! So, a BIG thank you goes out to ALL the grandparents for their contributions in making Ricky's birthday quite grand. You are all simply wonderful!

Cedric has grown so much in the last year in many ways. His speech has improved immensely & he is getting quite tall. He loves to do EVERYTHING his brother does to a point where it rather irritates me at times. This next year Ben will be starting preschool & I think it will be really good for Ricky as well to hopefully start developing a bit more of his own interests. Ricky loves to play baseball & catch & has become quite good at riding his balance bike. He is an awesome helper to Brian & I when we do projects around the house & is a hard worker (when he's in the mood). He can be a bit fussy at times but is usually surprisingly good at controlling himself when we ask him to stop & take a deep breath. And more often than not, he's very willing to share his toys (even his new birthday presents!). One of his greatest struggles this past year has been staying seated in his chair while we eat... this boy can NOT sit still!! He's always got to be moving! We are incredibly thankful for our sweet boy. He brings so much joy & spunk into our lives!

Happy Birthday, Cedric! We thank God for you every day.

Now, before you scroll down any further, I'll warn you that there's a good possibility of your drowning in pictures!

Grandma Parker visited yesterday!

So did Grandpa & Grandma G!

The camping trip:

The whole crew.
Some friends of ours from church came, too.

"We love our Grandma!"

"Sooo big!"

Papa & his girl.

Our birthday boy

Dad Schultz was quite the chef with his dutch oven!

The boy's quarters

We were singing "Happy Birthday" to him... he was thrilled!

Ricky requested a train cake... so he got one!
The boys made sure that no details were missed.

The boys enjoyed the cake.

Mmmm... Cake & ice cream for Evie!

Opening gifts

A real super hero!

Evie had a ball crawling around in the dirt.
She didn't care one bit how cold or dirty she got!

Ben resting on the cot. He thought it was quite cozy!

Roasting hot dogs & mesmerized by the fire.

Even Evie got a ride on the four-wheeler!

"Oooh... Not quite long enough for me to pull. "

The boys loved climbing the rocks.

"Here I am!"

This girl was a mess, but boy did she have fun!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

First, let me mention that our boys (especially Ben) love to wear capes. Everywhere. All day. Sometimes they even wear them when we go grocery shopping. To demonstrate how serious they are about them: today as we were in the car & half way to town to watch a parade (yes, horses, marching bands, fire trucks, floats, & the like) Cedric realized that we'd accidentally left his cape at home & he insisted we go back & get it even if it meant completely missing the parade. Mind you, these are simply just blankets that they tie around thier necks. Well, yeterday evening I had asked Ben to get undressed so we could put on jammies & get ready for bed. Since Ben still wears a diaper at night I had gone upstairs to gather all the bedtime hoopla when suddenly I hear a little patter of footsteps running up & down the hallway gleefully yelling,

"Naked superhero to the rescue!"

It made me smile. So stinking cute! There is just something about being naked to a kid. I think all my kids would run stark naked all day if I let them. 

A Glorious Day

It's official. As of yesterday afternoon Evelyn is no longer in need of constant oxygen! She had a great check-up with her cardiologist in Missoula and after a thorough exam he gave us the okay to take her off the oxygen. We will be going back to see him in 3 weeks so he can confirm that her body is handling it well but I am confidant that our little peanut will pass the test! There may come times down the road when she will need it temporarily (when she gets sick) but otherwise we are free of chords and heavy tanks and noisy concentrators. So excited! And it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Evie had really started to become annoyed with the tubes on her face & the chords were becoming much more of a hassle as she is much more mobile these days. We celebrated her victory by stopping to get ice cream on our way home which she LOVED. She was quite mad at Papa when he took it away from her!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

"Just get it off & get me out of here."

"Ahhhh... This is much better!"

"Mmmm... this is yummy, Papa,"

"Life is good!"

Getting a Good Start

We've gotten an early start on home projects this year and Brian has already completed a big one in our back yard. I mentioned it briefly in the last post as a patio though I'm not sure that's exactly the right name for it. I am so excited about it because it REALLY cleans up our yard and basement walkout area, it's much safer for the kids, and it has a built in fire pit! Brian worked extremely hard on it for two weeks straight and he did an amazing job! I'm kicking myself for not having taken a picture of what it looked like before, especially the stairs going down to the basement. They look 10 times better now! The first night we used it was on Evie's birthday though I don't think she particularly enjoyed it much as she wasn't feeling very well, but she'll have all summer to enjoy it and we're all looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it. Thank you, Brian, for blessing our home and family in this way!

Not the best before pic. but you can kind of get an idea of what it was like before.

In addition to the fire pit, my sweet husband bought me a new bed spread this weekend. Mostly prompted by having a thick comforter that can only be dry cleaned and having a certain sweet child of our get sick on it, but Brian suggested it all on his own and I did not hesitate to comply. Now we have a set for summer and a set for winter... I am so incredibly spoiled & I love our new bed!

Our Birthday Girl!

This past Friday our little peanut turned 1 year old! God is so good! We set out planning a big birthday bash to celebrate this big milestone in her life & to thank God for the incredible mercy & kindness he's shown her in this first year. It was all planned out, food prepared, tables & chairs picked up and hauled home, new outdoor patio completed, gifts made, and over 40 people were planning to come when not just one but three of us (including the birthday girl) came down with some sort of flu bug. HUGE bummer! I had to call everyone on Friday and cancel the party that was supposed to be held the next day. Not only was it a major disappointment to have to cancel the party but it is no fun feeling crummy. Despite it all we still had a little bit of a celebration amongst ourselves. 

We are thankful beyond words for our sweet little Evelyn & the miracle that she is. May she continue to astound us in her strength, in her good health, & her joy. May God be glorified through the life story He has written for her. And may she continue to be blessed immeasurably.

Happy 1st Birthday sweet little Evelyn!