Fun at the Lake

We went to the Vinyards lake house over the weekend. This was Sydney's first experience with a lake. She loved it! Her favorite was playing in the sand. I forgot to mention in the previous post that Philip broke his arm a little over a week ago. He has a buckle fracture & will wear a cast for 3 weeks :(. He was the designated boat driver for the weekend! This was Ashlyn's first year of really experiencing the lake. We could not get her out of the water! She loved everything about the lake--tubing, playing on the beach, jumping off the boat, etc. We can not wait to go back!

Friend of ours wake-boarding.
Sydney just playing in the water.

PJ & Ashlyn just having fun!

End of the School Year

OK--So I'm a little behind with blogging. I'm hoping to catch up with everything in the next couple of weeks. The kids had a great last week of school. Philip was chosen out of 52 kids to share his experience of his six years at our school. It was a wonderful little speech--he did awesome!! Philip was also given the President's Award. The award is based on academics & citizenship for 5th graders. We are so proud of you Philip!

Philip with his President's pin.
Family picture!

This is Philip's teacher! We will miss her next year. Feel like she is part of our family now.

Miss Ashlyn Grace at her school celebration! We are so proud of you Ashlyn!

Baptism

Last night was a BIG night in our house--Philip & Ashlyn were baptized during our church service. We are so proud of them! And can not wait to see what God has in store for them. They were so nervous. Philly was teary during our prayer with Shawn (elementary pastor). Love Philip's sweet heart. Ashlyn felt like she needed to go to the bathroom every 2 seconds! And I love her enthusiasm for everything. Thank you to everyone that shared in this experience with our family. It meant a lot to Philip & Ashlyn.

Philip III & Ashlyn Grace before the service.

In the blue suits!

Love this picture. A sweet memory--glad I captured the look on their faces. (yes I know it is dark!!)

Thank you Shawn! You are wonderful with the kids. Philip will miss you next year.

Your love for Jesus Christ
Shines through in all you do
For there are many that will see
The hope of Christ in you
We thank the Lord for you
For bringing you to this place
To be baptized in His precious name
And to walk on in His grace.

Cadillac Ranch

The big kids & Mimi went to Cadillac Ranch after school yesterday. Philip & Ashlyn LOVED it! You can spray paint cadillacs anyway you want. The cars are buried nose-down in the ground. If you are ever driving through, you should stop by & paint one!

New Family Photos

After 5 months of having Sydney at home with us, we finally have new family photos! About time--I know. Hope you guys are enjoying the last weeks of May. Summer is almost here!

Outdoor Education for 5th grade

Every year at our school, the 5th graders attend "Outdoor Education" for a whole day. Parents fundraise throughout the year so all of it is FREE to the kids. This is a big deal for the kids! They get to leave school in the morning & hang out at Ceta Canyon for the whole school day doing really fun activities--archery, marshmallow guns, Geo Cache, cookout, smores, campfire, storytelling and a Challenge Course. Unfortunately, this year it rained almost the entire day :(. So we were unable to do all of the activities. We made the most of it & I think they still had fun! Philip's favorite part was building the marshmallow guns. I thought the archery & Geo Cache was really neat.
Can't believe that Philip will be in middle school year. I'm impressed daily with the young man he is becoming. God has big plans for him. One of his teachers said that it is rare to have a child that radiates the life of Christ each & every day. That totally made me teary.

Philip's group after the marshmallow guns. We had six groups & every group has a different color. Their team name was "Longhorns"--I know shocker!!
Philip getting ready for archery.

That is his teacher's face he is aiming at. We will miss her next year!

Doing the Geo Cache. Great view from here.

At the end of the day. We were exhausted!

Sydney's Dedication

First off, I need to apologize for my lack of blogging recently. Our lives have been full of end of the year school stuff, track & martial arts & adjusting for all of us. Sydney is done with her checkups for now. We just go back for our 4 year old check up. Yeah! The kids are looking forward to summer.
We dedicated Sydney last night at our church. Wonderful experience. I think about how this time last year we were adjusting to a surprised referral & now we are adjusting to our Sydney. Love this little girl. Sydney is such a joy. Mother's Day was different this year. I feel so blessed that God chose me as her mommy. I also think about Sydney's birth mother and how thankful we are that she chose life for Sydney Hope. Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!
Thank you to my hubby, kids & family for making this a wonderful day!

Church Carnival

We went to the carnival at our church over the weekend. The weather was perfect! All of us had a great time. Sydney loved the bouncers! She tried a corn dog for the first time. Yummy!

Ashlyn's arms were tired after this ride! Sydney & her smiley self. She should not be sitting like that but we will not tell her physical therapist BECAUSE we are done with PT. Yeah! Sydney's leg is much stronger now!
Philip loved the sports type bouncer!

Frienemies

Praise the One who paid my debt.

Oh praise the One who paid my debt.

Sydney is a Daddy's girl!

My cuties! God has blessed me with amazing children.

Sydney came up to me & said "Momma pea-ty". Such a sweet little beautiful girl!

Philip being the awesome brother he is--hanging out with his little sister.

My dad, Philip and PJ before lunch.

Sydney hunting the eggs.

My handsome boy. He is getting so big :(.

Sydney getting sprayed with water guns. She is not a big fan of getting her clothes wet. But she is coming around to it. We had wonderful weather today!

This is what a tired princess looks like.