I Couldn't Pick Just One

I got permission to share pictures of our visit with royalty. :)

I love this picture.  You have to remember that 10 years ago Kendra and I met because neither of us could get pregnant.  Now, we have our hands over-flowing with children.  God is good forever and always.  He's got a pretty good sense of humor too.

Top row:  Jaelyn, Princess Hope, Kelly, Kendra and Princess Joy, I think?

Bottom Row:  the legs of Prince Charming, Allie, Princess Grace, Caden, and the puppies Taffy and Honey

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Friends for the Night

It's always good to have something positive to look forward to when we are sad and sad we are because Danny had to go back to Maryland on Tuesday.  From the number of phones calls, I'd say Dan misses us too.  Anyway, we've been looking forward to my dear friend, the Queen of Brussels Sprout, and her family pit stopping with us at my parents' house. Kendra's family has been leading a parallel PCS life.  It has been wonderful to call and commiserate over all the little things that go along with selling a house and preparing to move.  They are moving from Texas to Alaska with pit stops in Florida and North Carolina to visit family.  They are driving cross continent with four kids and two dogs and will call a travel trailer home for the next four to six weeks.  I know she'd appreciate prayers.

Anyway, we weren't sure if they were going to be able to stop at our house, but they did.  Within minutes literally, the kids were fast friends.  I met Kendra on Hannah's Prayer, an online christian infertility ministry, during our primary infertility days; so to see seven little miracles that we thought we would never have playing together was amazing.  They swam together, they played with the dogs together, they ate together, they lit sparklers together, they tore apart our toy room together, they slept lined up together in one big room. They were inseparable.  Kendra called from the road today to tell me her kids have decided my kids are their "new best friends forever."  I have beautiful pictures, but I need permission before I can post them so come back and look.

Thank you to Scott and my parents for agreeing with Kendra and I to the pit stop because we really enjoyed getting to see each other again.  One day, we hope to be stationed at the same base together! 

So Much Fun That...

We had so much fun on Sunday evening that we couldn't think of anything we wanted to do more on Monday morning than go back to the beach.  This time, we used our pass and went to Langston Beach on Ft. Pickens.  Once again, it was perfect.  Picture blue skies with a few fluffy clouds, white sand beaches as far as you can see and calm, shallow water.  We were out there for about 3 hours and spent most of the time way out.  I love it when it's shallow where you can walk out like that. And yea for my new camera because I love the pictures I got with it.

 The kids had a ball letting Daddy throw them around.  He said it was pretty fun too.

On the way home, we stopped and bought our own boogie boards for our next trip!

An Evening at the Beach

Sunday evening, we met my best friend and her family at the beach for a picnic and playtime.  It was so much fun.  Believe it or not, but we've never played with our kids at the beach like this before.  The one time it was semi-warm enough for them to play in the water in Delaware, there was no way Dan or I were getting in the cold water so they couldn't go past their knees.  Well, they were way past their knees this time.  Jackson and Brody brought their boogie boards and I think Allie and Caden will be begging for surfing lessons any day now.  The waves were high enough for fun, but not so high that I was freaked out the whole time.  I see many beach days in our summer!

Cassidy, Jackson, Caden, Dan, Jaelyn and Brody

Our shell collection has increased considerably in the last few days.

Caden had fun splashing Delaney

Jaelyn and Allie

Jackson boogie boarding

Caden and his half dollar

Cassidy

Delaney

Allie catching a wave

Brody

I love seeing the pure joy on Allie's face

Cassidy is such a great helper with the younger kids

The Writing Is On the Wall

I love you.  Baba Roxs.

Love is Forever!

Baba is Allsome (awesome)

Lemon-Blueberry Crumb Bars

Kraft Magazine had the best looking blueberry recipe last month.  My mother in law has fresh blueberries on her bush.  Put the two together and we were meant to make these.  They are AMAZING.  Everyone who tried them complimented them. 

Lemon-blueberry Crumb Bars

What You Need

1/2 cupbutter

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix

2 eggs, divided

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cupsugar

1 Tbsp. zest and 3 Tbsp. juice from 1 lemon

2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Make It

HEAT oven to 350ºF.
LINE 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Microwave butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 to 1-1/2 min. or until melted. Add cake mix and 1 egg; beat with mixer until well blended. Press 2/3 of the mixture onto bottom of prepared pan.
BEAT cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add remaining egg, zest and juice; mix well. Pour over crust; top with berries. Pinch small pieces of the remaining cake mix mixture between your fingers; press lightly into cream cheese layer.
BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift dessert from pan before cutting into bars. Keep refrigerated.

Dinner with Memaw and Grandpop

Grandpop and Memaw came to lunch Friday afternoon.  We made lasagna and Nanny's lemon meringue pie.  The girls each ate a piece of lasagna and LOVED it and everyone loved the pie, even Caden.  I got to use my Dad's mixer to make the pie and I can't wait till I get my own after we get settled in Missouri.  I saved my birthday money to buy one.

Doris loved watching the kids played outside and my Grandpa enjoyed looking at old family pictures with me. 

Doing Nothing is a Whole Lot of Fun

Is anyone wondering where I've been?  I've been having a wonderful time doing a lot of nothing.  Our schedule has been light on cleaning and cooking and heavy on fun and playing and laughing.  So I guess technically, we've been having fun doing a whole lot of something.  It's been great.

The drive to Florida was kind of long and boring. There might have been some whining involved, but the kids did great. Since then, in no particular order, we've...

Played in the pool Baba and Grandpa got us.  Grandpa even got the dining canopy out of his motor home so we can swim in the shade.

Climbed every tree in the backyard.

Played the Wii and gave Baba a challenge in Scrabble.

Discovered Ratuki, a crazy new card game.  Watch out, Nick and Jared.

Played at Grandmother's house with Caleb, our cousin.

Painted everyone's fingernails.

Had a few date nights out.  Our favorite was dinner, donuts and geocaching in the dark and through the woods with Rich and Jen.

Picked bags of blueberries to make blueberry pie and blueberry lemon bars.

Played at the beach with Dan while I went with my mom for Dad's knee surgery.

I'll try to check back in more often as our summer progresses, but no promises.  I'm too busy having fun and letting my Mom take care of us!

Homeward Bound And Homeless

After a very crazy, stressful few weeks, I'm thrilled to report that we are homeless. We closed on our house this morning. While I've loved our house and I'll miss our friends, I am glad to have it sold and be on our way to florida for our long pit stop before ending up in Missouri. I'm looking forward to relaxing and playing and basically not doing much of anything.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Good Bye House

Now You See It

Now You Don't!

Empty!

The last few days have been cah-razy!  The packers started on Friday.  They packed the entire basement and some closet stuff in the bedrooms.  Then we had three days to live with the boxes and not a lot of toys.  Yesterday, the packers came again and spent the day packing the rest of the house and moving the items from storage back to the house.  I gave verbal directions in the kitchen rather than taking the stuff we were moving out and unfortunately, we had to make one of the packers unpack our medicine and food.  They aren't supposed to pack that stuff, you tell them not to pack it and then they still pack it.  I felt horrible, but it was his own fault.  We had four very able guys show up this morning with two trucks to load.  It took them about 5 hours to empty our house.  Today was probably the easiest load day we've ever had.  I usually get so antsy I have to leave, but I hung around all afternoon.

There's still cleaning and touch-up painting to do.  We have to pack a trailer and sign on the many dotted lines on Friday before we hit the road to Florida.  We are excited to get our summer vacation started!

A Maryland First and Last

My friend, Krissy, invited us over to dinner Monday night.  She called a few days beforehand to see if we liked crabs and was SHOCKED when I admitted we had not had the Maryland staple blue crab.  I think it might be blasphemous that we've lived here 4 years without eating them.  They fixed us what they called Maryland Surf and Turf:  blue crabs (boiled with old bay seasoning) and pit beef.

 Ben patiently gave us lessons in how to crab them open and get to the meat.  It was hard and extremely messy work.  I managed two crabs before I couldn't stand the mess on my hands anymore : ).  They were good though.  Dan really enjoyed them and the kids enjoyed their hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

Honestly, the kids weren't too interested in the food as Krissy had about ten new baby chicks.  I wouldn't be surprised if I start hearing "can we have chickens, Mommy?"

It was a hot day.  Jaelyn is experimenting with new hair styles to keep cool.  This one seems to be a favorite.

Caden had a great time playing with his best friend, Nathan.  Nathan told Krissy "I know they are moving away, but they are moving back, right?"  Ughhh....moving is so hard on kids.  Nathan and Caden have been best buds since they were in preschool.  We'll miss him.