Pitcher

Hunter did a great job pitching 2 innings tonight. First time pitcher struck 6 batters out! He did excellent. I was so proud of him.

Birthday Boy

cooper 2 days old

chloe 2, parker 4 1/2, kamrie 3 1/2, hunter 7 1/2, cooper 1 week

cooper 3 months

I remember

when I was just a couple of months along with Cooper, we were sitting at the table at my parents' house and Parker tells my mom, "I've been praying for a new baby at our house because we have an extra bed."

Brad & I just looked at each other like, "WHAT?! THAT'S why!"

We hadn't told ANYONE we were pregnant & didn't until I was about 1/2 way through our pregnancy. We got tired of comments like "don't you know what causes that?" so we decided to keep it our little secret as long as possible.

Anyway, even though Brad & I didn't really plan on baby #5, we are so glad that God did. We can't imagine life without little Cooper. And we are so happy that our kids all love each other enough to even pray for another family member.

Cooper Maxwell turns 3 tomorrow. I can't believe it. What a joy he has been for all of us.

cooper age 2

getting out of trouble

yesterday as cooper sat on the forklift pretending to drive brad heard it beeping because cooper had turned the key on.

he walked over to him & said, "cooper, you can't turn the key. that is a no-no."

cooper smiled at him, held out his arms and said, "dad, i love you."

does that boy know how to get out of trouble or what?

no offense

as you read this post keep in mind my children have learned about stepmothers from movies like cinderella. please take no offense if you are a stepmother, have a stepmother or know a stepmother...

one day as i was making chloe clean her room and help around the house, she said to me, "mom you're kinda like a stepmother."

guess that day i was being the wicked kind.

lightning bugs

as i sat doing my life journal tonight i heard it start to rain, again. this time it is a gentle rain, no wind. nice change.

i looked out the window & saw a lightning bug.

that isn't something you see everyday in imperial. have you noticed that? i grew up around here, where i remember plenty of nights getting our jars to catch lightning bugs at night. mom & dad would help us poke holes in the lids so they could breathe. we would wipe their glowing guts on us so we had glowing spots. ok, i don't personally remember doing that, but i'm sure someone i knew did. if you don't mind bug guts i'm sure it is pretty cool to look at it glowing on your skin.

it must be the humidity here. i'm sure maybe right near enders lake or a pond or something, maybe there are lightning bugs. but, i don't think i remember ever seeing them in the 10 years we were there.

ok, those of you with ponds on your land or who spend time at the lake--are they there?

broken slumber

nothing like a tornado siren in the middle of the night to break a peaceful night's sleep. no damage here, but there was a tornado spotted north of town.

this has been the rainiest summer i can remember. it is starting to storm here again this afternoon.

we're waiting to hear if hunter will have baseball in loomis tonight...

vbs quotes

for a laugh you should all seriously consider helping the preschool class at church or vbs. i've been with them this week & am enjoying them immensely. they are so funny!

i was wishing i was writing some of them down, but here was my favorite from today:

a storyteller was talking to our 10 preschoolers. he was telling them how he was going to pretend to be a man named peter. our one lone boy in the class, pipes ups & says, "i like to pretend i'm tom. i love tom & jerry."

Official Announcement

I hereby proclaim this to be the official announcement of us moving back to Imperial.

We have our house on the market for sale. Pray it sells quickly!!!

We were talking about possibly downsizing anyway after brad had changed jobs in February, but after a complicated decision process we’ve decided to move back to Imperial. We hope to move by the first part of July, though Brad will start work there next week. Brad is looking forward to it & so are the rest of us. He will work with his parents at Lamar Fertilizer.

Imperial is "home" & we have the unique situation that we can go back. Not everyone who wishes they could go back is able to. We are thankful to Brad’s parents for letting us go so graciously & then welcoming us back when we realized what we want. We feel like we've been given a new perspective about what is important to us. While we don't regret the 1st move (we've learned so much & met so many great people), we are sure looking forward to getting back "home."

We are looking forward to re-connecting with all our loved ones there.

Makeup Party

The girls finally got to have their makeup party they've been begging 2 years for. It was me, 8 little girls (8 & under) plus one very helpful & great sport, Jenna, age 10.

We had Barbie cake & spent lots of time in the bathroom putting on makeup & doing nails. Thank you Jenna for helping them with the polish!

This party celebrated Chloe's birthday last week + Kamrie invited 3 friends since she's never had the privilege of having a birthday party. Her New Year's Eve birthday has proven to be difficult for us to get her friends together.

However, Brad & I decided we won't put it off any more. We will not allow 1/2 birthday parties because we are sick of hearing about her 1/2 birthday makeup party!!

Anyway, it was a fun day, the girls all got along great. Ahhh. Now I can rest until the next birthday rolls around.

1 movie

1 lost library movie=lots of time spent looking & wondering where in the world it is

I KNEW that movie was somewhere in our house. I'd checked with the ladies at the library, searched our vehicles (twice), searched in every cupboard, under every bed, in all the dressers. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where it would have gone. I figured someone (with little hands) probably picked it up in passing & stashed it somewhere.

The librarians said they've heard every possible reason for losing something, they say they almost always show up. They gave me all kinds of odd places people have found their movies including in the freezer...

After a long week spent searching, the lost movie is finally found. Guess where? In the freezer. No little hands swiped it, no one stashed it. Brad found it in a sack of bread that I'd put into the freezer. Not sure how the movie got in there, but sure enough, there it was.

I'm going to sit & watch it this afternoon while the kids are napping. I'll let you know the review later...