Bell Family Update–September 2020

Beautiful month full of soccer, choir, school, soccer, choir, and school. And also soccer, choir, and school.

The month started with some alone time for me. It was a sweet time away for me to breathe, read, hike, and think.

Warriors

While I was gone, Bill watched some sweet kiddos in addition to ours

And got to drive their grandparents’ Tesla…

I can’t tell who had more fun: my kids, or my friends’ kids

And this was the response to Bill’s extras

Soccer game with my parents who faithfully attend every one they can.

Celebrating one of my favorite redhead’s birthdays

He looks so calm and cool. But right before this, the baby was forced into his hands and he flipped out, worried he’d drop him.

Leaving pics on our friends’ phones

And kids leaving pics on ours

Family walk. This little man is still the cuddler.

Trampolines are for more than jumping

Our dear friends had their sweet little nugget this month! She’s perfect, and the baby hog thinks so, too.

The baby’s dad and our long-time friend tried to teach Liam how to do a backwards somersault.

Victoria left her earrings on her sink for weeks, so finally a child decided to make soap art with it.

Such a cool drawing of a Viking ship!

Sporting some spirit wear for our favorite soccer team.

When you tell the child most like you that her hair looks pretty, she’s going to do something to make her hair gross.

Chilling one day in a big chair after busy week

Our soccer crew

Gangsta coaches

When your church eats together each week, sometimes you need dessert for dinner.

My silly little boys

We’re pretty serious. Emphasis on the pretty.

One of our friends pointed out that our choir nametags make him think of a CVS receipt. Now I can’t unsee it.

And Aiden had his turn with the teeny baby…

Clashing mask problems

Bill’s boys. This group makes my heart swell.

Never ever ever will I tire of hearing little ones read.

Getting ready for Liam to have two teeth pulled

I get to teach five sight singing classes online each Wednesday. No matter my mood, I’m always smiling after hanging with these people.

Cute new Trailblazer spirit wear

I love getting videos from one of my gorgeous nieces who lives in California. Dang, I want to hug her neck.

Oldest boy Bell and youngest boy Bell

Playing with our little friends again

Hey, Cap!

Headed out for a weekly date

These two. Cheesy and hard working. They worked over the course of several weeks for one of our lovely neighbors to fill this whole area in with stone.

I see this couple almost every day I walk this trail. I’d put them close to eighty. Always holding hands, always chatting with each other with joyful smiles. I tear up every single time. Obviously I don’t know their story, but what a beautiful glimpse of a marriage to Jesus I get to see fully one day.

None of these girls share my last name, but does that really mean they aren’t mine? No. No, it doesn’t.

More baby snuggles

When you tell snarky child she can’t bring her food into the living room…

Taking this motley crew in the car with me to soccer

He can’t whistle in the normal way. But he watched a YouTube video to try to learn to whistle this way. It didn’t work.

Finally a pic with my mama

I’m so proud of this pic because I’m talking to another friend and soccer mom AND I’m watching the field. It’s a rare picture to capture.

Face paint on the arm

Accidentally twinning. Firstborn and baby.

When you go to a dairy farm, you gotta wear pigtails.

The crew learning about pigs, cows, and poop

Piglets are pretty much the cutest thing ever

A newborn cow!

Time with my girls jamming to Pentatonix

I don’t think I’m going to say anything here

Obligatory weird pic

Being manly in their pink and purple

Again, she doesn’t share his last name, but does that mean she isn’t his? Nope!

My girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them with all my heart.

Can’t attest to the “like Mom” part, but she truly is beautiful.

Bell Family Update–August 2020

If I wanted to complain about being bored, this month would shut me up. Whew!! Everything our family does and loves is in full swing now. Sweet to see others’ faces (even if masked) and to return to something that feels at least a bit normal.

Our kids’ “Uncle” Tony makes beautiful pens. Now he’s teaching the kids to turn their own pens!! Esther and Heaven got a turn this month.

Thug youth group

Haircut time

Double snuggles on the couch

And our fourth teen!!! She asked for an oatmeal cream pie cake. Creative as always for Cheyanne. And maybe the easiest cake I’ve ever done because it didn’t matter how messy I was!

“Aunt” Holly and “Uncle” Tony supporting our first day of choir!!!! Choir is long and tricky this year with COVID. In the past, all the kids were in the building at the same time for a couple of hours, and that was it. Now, there can only be two ensembles at a time spread far apart, and with all ten kids involved and Bill and I as directors, it means we’re at the building five hours one night a week, most of which is spent in the van. These two made shirts, bought a transportable grill and a million hotdogs and chips, and had a choir tailgate party in the parking lot!!!!! Because they are the best of the best.

Our dear friends who moved in behind us wanted to paint their door yellow. She went around to neighbors asking us to hold a sign to convince the HOA to let her. It worked! Their door is now beautifully yellow!!!

Double date night with two of our favorites!

Went to hear our friend sing on Sunday morning. We segregated boys and girls so Lee could get his man snuggles.

We started having our kids who were done earlier at choir go to our close friends’ house until the rest were done. Oh the bravery of Barb to take this motley crew…

How we found Miriam one morning…

Sweet sunflower date with this lady

Some of our Micro Blazers (kids too young to play on the official soccer team)

A pic a friend sent me when her daughter couldn’t get online for my sight singing class. She was stressing that I’d kill her. I’m pretty hardcore, Emma, so stress on.

New specs!!

These two had a fake wedding in our basement officiated by an older brother. Josiah got to hold another friend’s baby one night, and I’m wondering if this pic is prophetic as to how their future will be if married for real with kids.

Dunes Day!!!!

And eating at our traditional restaurant afterward

I’ve faithfully mocked Bill’s dance moves for 19 years now. Lee joined him, intense dance face and all.

My Dunes traveling crew!! So much fun to spend six hours with this group. And this lady is balm for my soul.

We didn’t get a single pic of all the kids together at the beach, so we took a rest stop photo instead.

This picture fills my heart. I don’t think we have a pic of just these two. Bill and I have been blessed with fabulous relationships with both sets of our parents. He treats and loves my parents as though they were his own, and I adore these two together.

Fun selfies

Taking my choir outside for a mask break. These girls are amazing!

Forlorn little brother waiting for older siblings to finish soccer practice.

Seriously beautiful

I tried to take a selfie. I have ten kids.

These are a few of my favorite things.

The smallest Bell giving his all!

This was so fun!! A hot air balloon landed close to us during one of our soccer games!

Trailblazer family attempting a pyramid during halftime…

Ending in total success.

“I want Aunt Courtney to hold me!”

School projects

Sweet playdates with friends

I’ve been sick half the month with a Crohn’s flare-up. This little man comes for snuggles and to pray for me often.

Last minute hugs before heading out for an overnight with Bill

Hiking trip with this guy

I keep my door closed in the mornings while I have coffee and read. This is why. These humans were in my room within three minutes of the door opening. Two minutes later, I had seven kids on my bed. I adore them!

No caption, except the caption I’m currently typing…

OK, these two. They have this fantastic relationship where they’re the most like each other, which means they understand each other and also totally rub each other the wrong way. This was Bill going over Malcolm’s logic one night. After several minutes of Bill trying to explain a concept to Malcolm and Malcolm mistakenly sure he’d gotten it right, this was the moment when comprehension finally set in. Bill’s at the end of his rope, and Malcolm is dying laughing at the whole exchange. They’re so good for each other…

I sat on the ground to watch a game. Some of my favorite little people lost no time making sure I had my priorities straight about who should be getting my attention. My heart overflows when I see these faces!

Teaching my online sight singing classes!

I’m not obsessed with this baby–you are!

Double date night!

Cheering on her big siblings, or just talking it up with Aunt Holly?

Taking two of my kiddos home after soccer and treating them to Taco John’s

The only time you’ll see this crew serious… I love this team and cheer myself hoarse each game!

Bell Family Update–May 2020

What do you do on month three of quarantine? According to these pictures, you make lots of weird faces.

Bill and I were playing ping pong. I have no idea what happened that made us laugh so hard, but I love that Ariana captured it.

Posed

Real

Still real

The cutest thing about this is that there was a movie on behind them. And they BOTH about halfway through just sat here with books! It was probably a boring movie with lots of kissing…

We feel pretty. Oh so pretty.

Grilling the dogs!

My friends are weirder than yours.

Told you.

It’s been a few years since I got to fold laundry with this lady!

I warned you in the intro…

Malcolm’s 14th birthday!!!!

These pics make me laugh when the little boys are in them because they’re always blowing with the birthday kid.

My favorite person

We went to a lake house for Mother’s Day weekend. So relaxing! It was fun to do a couple of puzzles together.

And we had a couple of chilly pontoon rides…

The kids practiced a song for me and my mother and performed it for us!

Again, see intro…

And the firstborn won’t stop getting older. Ugh.

We had an amazing visit with Bill’s brother, Michael, and one of our nieces, Hannah! I didn’t want them to leave and believe the most responsible move for this girl is to finish her degree in the state of Indiana and live with us. I’m going to wear her down.

We got to do a social distance walk with my mom to raise money to dig wells in Africa.

Unintentional twins!

Showing good form for the crane.

You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends, but…

We needed at least one masked pic in the update.

Bill and I got a perfect weekend away to the Louisville area for our anniversary weekend while my mother wrangled the kiddos. Here we are at Southern Seminary reminiscing. Flooded with sweet memories!

Eating at one of our favorite restaurants.

We just wanted to point out that the bridge into Kentucky is fine but meh. The bridge into Indiana, though? Fancy, new, and full of hope.

I can’t even write about this couple without tearing up. Fifteen years ago, we lived with them for a year and a half, paying nothing. I went into labor with Liam two weeks after moving in. They taught us more about hospitality and opening our hearts than any other humans have. By far the most generous people I’ve met. They invited us into their home when we were babies and selfish to the core, and they loved us and extended grace at every corner. We love our Halls!

And this is our friend from the pic above, still wonderfully old wearing a calculator watch!

Relaxing in the hotel.

17 years of marriage!

Of course part of our anniversary was spent in masks.

Our traditional Melting Pot anniversary meal.

And then we came home to this amazing restaurant the kids made for us! It was an hour before we hugged our kids because all ten were dressed up, bringing in our luggage and serving us, either in the dining room or the kitchen. Incredibly sweet and perfect!

Two of our servers

And a live performance of a song Ariana and Miriam wrote, complete with 80’s style key changes, drama, and fade out.

She got to wear one of my mom’s masks when they were out for an errand.

Memorial Day with friends

Creek stomping.

Bell Family Update–November, December, January, February 2019-2020

Clearly, I’ve not stayed on top of these… So here goes! Four months of pictures of our crazy lives.

Sending Mom tie pictures for her opinion. Which Mom then just made another mom decide.

The guys on Liam’s soccer team who got awards. He got Man of Honor.

Little man arm wrestling with his Uncle Tony.

Victoria and Josiah with their choir listening to a book by their fantastic choir teacher and my friend.

Our third teenager!!

And her birthday “cake.” Yep, 13 candles on a sugar cookie.

She wanted to decorate sugar cookies for her day.

Even Aunt Holly participated.

These six did choir this year and took this picture for a fundraising brochure, offering to do jobs around the neighborhood.

Aiden’s way to clean my bathroom mirror.

School with my littles.

Day date with Daddy

SkyZoning

A Children’s Museum day with some of the kids.

A weekend visit from Bill’s brother, Paul, and family.

Cousins!

Victoria being big and reading her cousin, Sarah, a book in the morning.

Stacking bears

One of the hundreds of pictures I find on my phone every month that I didn’t take…

Working on our basement. Bill made a marketplace!

And our new hanging tent!

I know this is super exciting, but I had this designed for our laundry room. Oh my stars I’m in love!

Earrings made for Ariana’s birthday party.

Some of the food for her Gilmore Girls Birthday party. Cause Gilmore Girls know how to eat.

Have to have coffee

And a pop tart cake

The girls made hair ties along with the earrings.

And tried to answer these questions.

Did I mention Gilmore Girls know how to eat?

Al’s Pancake World!

Then the second November birthday–Nana!!! She wanted a smoke machine. We just had her blow out all her candles instead.

Did I mention hundreds of pictures?

Decorating for Christmas

They wanted me to take this picture and make it my screen saver. Cause they’re more special than their siblings…

Bill and his man crush.

Christmas mantle. I WILL get all twelve knit someday. I WILL get all twelve knit someday. I WILL get all twelve knit someday.

Already beautiful girl wearing makeup for the first time.

Getting to attend a friend’s gymnastics event

Her dad and little brother. I love that little man!

Legos with my girls.

Ariana at a Christmas party

Concert day with three besties!

Victoria decided Noah was her best friend.

Two Bells (and a Grunden and a Bagnall) playing bells for the kids’ choir concert. Cause Bells play bells. In case you didn’t get it.

It’s not yellow.

Ariana took this picture at a children’s museum in Dayton, OH. I think it’s beautiful!

And so is she

She took this one, too.

These three pastored together for a few years. So good to have them together again celebrating Dan becoming an elder at his church now.

Creating together

Another surprise pic on my phone. And it makes me laugh every time cause my Cindy friend got in on it!

Do you think Santa will leave that under the tree?

We are so special…

And so is he

And they are, too.

Taking Miriam out to shop for a gift for Heaven’s birthday.

Double date to Taco John’s

While our sixteen kids held down the fort. Without adults…

January bubbles

I wasn’t there. I don’t know what’s happening.

They’re so pretty!

This looks so sweet. I’m pretty sure, knowing these two, there was more to the story.

When you go in for a selfie but bump heads instead.

Our sweet neighbor who’s become an eleventh Bell kid. We love her!

So flattering

Like I said, an eleventh Bell kid. Lol!

Right after I had my hair dyed darker.

Visiting the Home and Garden Show with one friend and seeing another!

And seeing Shannan, too!

It’s science really

The kids took this when I was in one of my infamous laugh-can’t-breathe moments.

Kids aren’t the only ones who find your phone when you aren’t around…

Another pic with my oldest girl

Me on the trampoline with the kids

We’ve joked for a bit that these two couples will get married someday, so we cracked up to see them at the island together. The parents called it a double date. I think the kids just gave us dirty looks.

Birthday dinner with Bill

He took me downtown for a couple of nights in celebration of my 40th.

Downtown Indy one morning from our hotel room

The welcome home from the kids. Best birthday gift.

Lincoln Square Pancakes family breakfast on my birthday

And a family walk

My mom made my birthday cookie, and Ariana decorated it!

And the final part of my birthday–a surprise 80s party!!! My friend, Cindy, took all these pictures. They are so gorgeous and fun!!!

Homemade earrings from a sweet teen friend of ours!

I’m obsessed with my new dot to dot book.

Our girls cleaning toys at our local library.

Attending our friend, Sean’s, masters recital. Josiah was totally into it.

Walk with friends

Celebrating each other’s 40th birthday! I love this friend.

Cause it wouldn’t be a family update without sleeping kids.

We’ve made the same future joke about these two getting married someday. Same dirty looks afterward. This pic will go in the slideshow.

There were sweeter pics of these two on my phone, but this one was the most real.

Got to spend a weekend in Cincinnati with these besties! So much fun. And so quiet with no kids around.

Bell Family Update–October 2019

What a fun month! The first pic below pretty much sums up what dominated the month–soccer!! Both state and national soccer tournaments were this month, and it was such a joy to be with these people who have become family to us. Though Liam still couldn’t play with his healing arm, he stayed with his team on the bench, and we obnoxiously cheered on the sidelines for Liam’s teammates we’ve grown to love.

Getting ready for a soccer parents’ meeting.

We found this piece of artwork on a walk we took! Though we haven’t blogged on our family blog in next to forever, this is very similar to our logo, so we had to get a photo.

My heart still melts with these two.

Showing his Trailblazer spirit! Josiah became a little cutie who led cheers on the sidelines at almost every game.

Liam’s smiling arm that’s healing nicely.

We took a trip to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. It was gorgeous!!! Half the kids have full mouths here, but family breakfast the first morning in the cabin.

There was this fun pencil sharpener museum at the visitor’s center.

Lots and lots of gorgeousness in this park!

Coloring Daddy’s hair in the cabin

This pic is my favorite in this post. She noticed Bill was about to take her picture, and this was the moment she tried to stop him.

Crazy huge snake we spotted on a tree.

A fun arcade game in the cabin.

When we got home, our new dining room tables had been delivered. This was the first nutritious meal some of us shared late at night.

This sweet friend is a professional face painter and always joyfully and patiently painted my kids up each game. We love our Judith!

Is this not seriously amazing???

Little guys are practicing sitting on their bums for 30 minutes each day. This was them during one of Daddy’s sermons one Sunday. I’m not bored, you are!

This is just my life at this point. Kids who were looking for an excuse to stay up late kept trickling in to a photo op. There were like forty more pics than this, but these are our highlights. Here we’re doing our 1st/2nd grade school pic, complete with tooth smile.

Prim and proper. This is as prim and proper as Miriam gets.

Sad faces. And sad that Liam and Miriam can’t follow directions.

Closed mouth grins.

Drunk faces. My idea. I’m a stellar mom.

Gross family=real family

Farm day!!

Super candid shot. He’s so serious. And contemplative.

Hay ride! Oh, Miriam…

And the two who couldn’t fit in previous pic.

When a teen lays a pumpkin…

Teeny pumpkin

Giant pumpkin

All six girls joined American Heritage Girls this year. Our family had fun at a bonfire hosted by one of the leaders.

She’s so gorgeous!

My Josiah, what big eyes you have!

Victoria with some of her besties. Love our kiddos’ friendships.

Burger Bell from the Veggie Tales’ Cheeseburger Song. My mother 100% made our kids’ Halloween costumes this year!!! She’s truly the best.

Miriam laid out her candy…

and then took inventory.

Bell Family Update–March, April, & May 2019

Maybe I should have just titled this to be our spring update. We’re maybe possibly in the middle of transition right now, and we maybe possibly have little regularity in our lives, including family updates. We sold our house, are living in a rental home for four months, and building a home that should be complete at the end of the summer! Though transition has been real for sure, we’re actually in a pretty sweet restful season while we wait, and we didn’t realize how much we needed it.

I finished up the year teaching my preschoolers. I will seriously miss them more than I can say. What a sweet year with two littles who made me laugh hard every week and put me in awe of God and how he created little minds and hearts to delight in him! This was my absolute favorite pic from the year because it sums them up perfectly. Both being rascals during prayer and the best of friends. I love them deeply.

Got a day out with my oldest. Ridiculous laughter and fun. Here we are racing at K1 Speed. Or was this when we robbed that casino?

At Comedy Sports with our super candid reactions to the show…

Visited some of our dearest friends during their church gathering.

A yard sale we had to prep for moving.

My mom’s choir concert.

First step for our new home–digging the basement!

Twin boy and girl born to our friends!!!

Pizza out as a fam

Pi Day!!!

Girl/Boy Weekend–Girls mining for gems

Girls crawling through a “cave”

Hot chocolate!

Boys eatin’ it up

Girls can make campfires, too!

My sons are super serious.

See, super serious.

Girls on a train!

Boys at a science museum.

Love cooking helpers. And yes, that amount of butter.

Retrieving a tennis ball stuck in the fence.

Delivering cookies to neighbors to say goodbye. Sniff.

Our temporary home! We call it our vacation home.

Moving truck buddies.

Lots of helpers. All sizes worked hard.

The library by our “vacation home” is awesome!

I love movie laughter!

Great little cooking helper.

Volunteering at the Gospel Coalition Conference with my love and one of my besties.

Clapping games

Spoon battles to knock off fruit prepares them for real life…

Lots of bike rides at our vacay home!

Tabletop Curling.

Helping Victoria with her Bible study.

Chicago vacation!!!

The progression of losing to Mom.

Riding the L!

Willis (Sears) Tower

Loved this sweet man I got to sit next to on the L. I could have talked to him all day. People have the greatest stories.

Aquarium

She wanted Daddy to buy these for me on vacation.

The Bean

What is this??? We just saw it out at a park. Seemed too big to be a mouse?

Our friends told us we had to get Garrett’s popcorn in Chicago. Oh my goodness it did not disappoint!

Rare all family pic someone volunteered to take of us!

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home

These are our daughters’ absolutely favorite Christian artists, the Gray Havens. We got to see them in concert, and it was amazing!!!

Ariana started crying when she met Licia. She was amazing with our girls, hugged them and let them talk to her as long as they wanted. It was so sweet!

Get it? The Gray Havens hat? Cause it says “Havens” and it’s gray…

Miriam’s tenth birthday! Um, I just realized Malcolm and Liam also had a birthday but I don’t have any photo evidence!

Our friends were leads in Peter Pan!

Egg hunt!

Dad has no mercy when hiding eggs. It sometimes takes a group effort.

Spring cinnamon roll bunnies.

Dying eggs

Have I ever mentioned I have the cutest mother?? She’s the best, and I dare you to argue, cause here she is learning a clapping rhyme. I love her!

These three baked and decorated a cake 100% by themselves!!! They did amazing work!

Another friend had a baby! My heart has had a happy spring.

Zoo day!!!

Homeschool convention time in Cincinnati.

This beauty filled my heart. Talking on adoption and then letting me continue talking to her in her booth afterward. And her history curriculum is fantastic!!!

Our friend turned five, so we got to celebrate with her in style.

Sherlock Bones

Preschool while getting to visit with one of our dear friends.

Bill getting his baby time in, too.

Why are my kids huge?

This friend who is more dear to me than I can type here without ruining the laptop with tears has taken our family’s pic on our front porch every year since she’s lived directly across the street from me. The man who bought our house let us come back for one more pic. When we got our phone back, we found this gem she left for us! Lol!!!

Officially said goodbye to this house that is full of sweet, hard, and fun memories. It was the hardest move I’ve had. Excited for the next chapter, but this place taught me to love in ways I never thought possible. I think I grew thirty years older here.

Don’t snap, don’t snap, don’t snap!

Style

When your fourteen year old knows you’re taking his picture.

Never too young for coffee

This pic makes my heart sing every time I see it! This young woman and her sister babysat our kids for two years, their mom is one of my closest friends, and their whole family is delightful in every way. We got to attend her graduation party, and the love between these two radiates here.

Bill, Liam, and I got to see Frank Reich (head coach of the Colts) speak during an Indianapolis Theological Seminary symposium. He was fantastic!!! Faith-filled, solid believer who is a stinkin’ amazing coach. He used to be president Reformed Theological Seminary and a pastor!

Creek stomping!

Never too many on a slide

The bones at Hundred Acres

Twinning with my oldest girlie.

Hiking, hiking, hiking.

When Liam and Miriam think there’s an opportunity for fun, they take it. This tractor was randomly in a field on a hike, and they climbed in it looking for keys… Don’t know what would have happened if they found them.

The nineties pose never gets old.

Snuggles with a sickie on Mother’s Day

Our house is coming along!!!

Creations

Liam volunteering at the Children’s Museum as a teen apprentice.

Totally candid fighting…

More creations. She’s so gorgeous.

Last day of preschool with two of my favorite littles on the planet.

Children’s Museum fun.

An end of an era. Liam was the first Explorer (after school program) to walk through the Children’s Museum’s doors when the program was started 5 1/2 years ago. Because of our move, this is our final year to be part of this fantastic group with its amazing leaders and friends. We love them.

When the baby girl shares a bathroom with only boys.

Our sixteenth wedding anniversary!!! We celebrated with a trip to Colorado.

Indiana farmland.

Gorgeous and unique plants in a botanical garden in Denver.

We were surrounded by mountains in our cabin!

Our backyard.

So many amazing animals!

Well that was a close one.

Truly the Rocky Mountains

Cataract Falls

While we were away, this queen watched all ten kiddos for four whole days!!!

Crafting with Nana.

Synchronized swimming teddy grahams.

The kids made us gifts and a scavenger hunt to find them and planned a party to welcome us home!

Exercising with Bill. Work it, Esther!

Dairy Queen with Bill while I spent the day with my mama!

Mom and I spent the day at Garfield Park and Newfield. How sweet that my BFF is my mother!

Bell Family Update–May 2018

I always love May. The beginning of real spring weather with all its smells and beauty. And I’m always ready to see the end of all the busy: school, dance, and after-school programs, to name a few. When these wrap up, things start to feel much less hectic. Bring on the slower days of summer!

One of my dearest friends along with her son designed and gifted us with this picture!!! One of my favorite gifts of all times!

Both Bill and my favorite birds: a blue heron and a red-winged black bird.

Visits to the Children’s Museum

One of our friends teaching at our church’s monthly men’s brunch. Bill and Liam have been enjoying this time with many of their friends.

Pillow fights!

Malcolm’s first birthday with us!!!

Playgrounds galore!!

A snake Liam almost stepped on at 100 Acres. Ewwww!

Nature creations

Getting my baby fix on with one of our friend’s newbies!!!

Our buddy I get to have each Wednesday

I had a day out with my oldest girlie! This was first of many meals that day.We did archery together!!! We’re addicted now!

A couple of friends came in from Louisville and we got to spend a bit of time with them at our house!

Liam’s 13th birthday party!!!! This group was so fun and I want to keep all of them as mine except that would mean this many tween/teen boys and two is pretty much all I can handle at this point. SkyZone!!The Party-Goers

Bill rented a pontoon for Mother’s Day!!! Such a gorgeous, relaxing, and fun day!They even swam. I think Heaven’s face lets you know how cold the water was…

This little neighbor hung at our house for a few minutes one day, and I thought this picture was so sweet!

Our first teenager!!! Yay! And sob…

Orchestra POPS concert this sweet friend blessed me with!

A ministry with which our family is involved had a family fun festival. Ariana got to face paint a bit!

Our Christmas present, along with most extended family, to our kids was redesigned bedrooms! They knew they wouldn’t see the present until April or May and had no idea what it was. So much fun getting this together and seeing the delight on the kids’ faces!!! *This picture makes me laugh really hard because both girls look like they want to cut Bill. In reality, they didn’t know he was there and turned to look right as he took the pic. The next pic he took has them smiling, but I thought this was a much better one to include! 

Explorers Celebration at the Children’s Museum! Ariana and Malcolm both graduated this year.I love so much that my parents get to be here for all the things!!!

Our kids sent us on a scavenger hunt to several neighbors’ homes where they had gifts waiting for us on our anniversary!!! Two of our neighbors especially went all out to help our kids with this. One came up with many of the ideas, and another went all over town and online ordering supplies. Makes me choke up even as I type it! The kids paid for it with their own money. They even had a star named for us!!!Family picnic waiting for us at the end!

Strange creatures invading our house

I had Lasik!!! The second pic is me during the procedure including my eye on the screen, but I had to include this first. A man brought in his pet monkey!!! So so so adorable!!!!

Memorial Day fun!

Family walks

This girl is making so much progress on the guitar!

Cuties with creations