Driving, Driving, Driving

On the road again, this time to South Carolina.  We left around bedtime Wednesday night and arrived in Florence at supper time.  The little people did amazing, they are such troopers.  Caily and Bria probably had the hardest time getting comfortable and sleeping, but overall they did great. 

We made our traditional stop at Cracker Barrel.  The littles were excited to be out of the car and the parents were excited that we made it through the night!

 Colson very carefully playing with the peg game.

 Silly Daddy not exactly in the mood for pictures.

 Sweet sisters.

 Back in the car again.

More to come of our time in South Carolina. . .

Christmas Fun

The older girls were involved in our church children's christmas program and were stars.  It was a fun time to see all the little people celebrating Christmas together.  

 This was Lexi's first chance to be apart of the program and she enjoyed it with some apprehension.  

 Our good friends the McCaleb's had us over for some Christmas celebrating before we headed off to South Carolina.  Dick and Serena have loved on our kids and us so much over the years, stand in family, when far away from family.  Each one of the kids had a stocking to open and then Rena, read some of the books that they had just received.

Fun with Friends

The first weekend of December we headed out to Katy to see some of our good friends.  I don't know who was more excited to see each other, the adults or kids.  Friday proved to be a gorgeous day and we went to a fun park to let all the little people get some energy out.  

 The crazy crew.  Poor Colson is greatly outnumbered and even more so now because since then, they added a new baby girl!

 The climbers exploring a fun structure.

My loves, love that Bria is mid step.

Love these group shots, goes from sweet smiles, to silly laughter to crazy!

Pure excitement and love for each other.

Colson a little unsure of all the girls

Part of the reason we were there was to celebrate Leighton's third birthday.  The party was at build-a-bear and we got there right before it opened.  

 Colson and Ryan bonded over the trip and Colson loved to hold his hand and walk around with him.

 I was hoping that baby Lennox would make her appearance while we were there so we could meet her, but she held out almost a whole month longer.

 Sweet three-year-old friends.

Silly second borns and their messy faces.  Good times were had by all, always too short, but wonderfull

Sea World Fun

Sunday was youth Sunday, so Darin only needed to be at first service, so we decided to go to Sea World and enjoy the beautiful weather and time together not on the land.  

 Train ride, short and sweet

 Walking with Daddy

 Taking a break for snacks

 The one ride that our whole family can go on together.  Colson loved riding the horses and would cry every time I told him it was all done.

The one thing Bria really wanted to do was see the dolphins, so we made sure to stop and watch them play for a while.  It was a fun day, doing one of our favorite things, being together.

Working/playing on the land

 Caily and Lexi had last week off from school and we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent a lot of time out on our land.  Darin worked on cutting down cedars and trying to avoid the oaks in the process.  I split my time between the little people and trying to help Darin as much as I could.
The girls and Colson played for hours on end and we loved seeing them happily enjoying the outdoors.  

 Sky watching out for Colson or Colson watching out for Sky.

 Sticks and dirt, the best toys around

 Little boy by the big tree, eating his snack

 All the girls loved helping, but Caily seems to stick with it the longest

Colson loves being outside, often bringing me his shoes to go outside.  He played with sticks, like swords and chainsaws.

 The older girls practiced their tree climbing skills

Oh the entertainment little things can bring.  

 This is the before picture...  and this, after many hours of chainsawing and 2 days with a skid steer...

The after, which is to be continued...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Dreaded Stomach Bug!

One of the things that I was fearing the most with living in the RV happened this week.  Sunday night we had all four children throwing up, a record! To keep things interesting remember there is one teeny tiny bathroom.  It started with Caily, then Colson, back to Caily, caring for Caily while trying to get Colson back to sleep, then Lexi, then Bria!  Fortunately Bria and Colson weren't hit that hard, but Caily and Lexi have yet to go to school this week.  Tuesday the girls had fevers, Wednesday seemed to be on the up and up and then early this morning the both threw up.  So, we have been watching a whole bunch of movies and not much else has been going on.  

 This picture tells a lot of the story,  gratefully, neither Darin or I got sick, just a lot of cuddling and cleaning up.  

 This crazy child, after throwing up, wouldn't go back to sleep and happily played for hours in the middle of the night.

 Poor girlies, didn't move and would randomly fall asleep.

So far, we have survived, hopefully the girls will continue to feel better today and go to one day of school before thanksgiving break.  Darin and I would jokingly call the RV the trailer of death, because of all the germs floating around.  I am so thankful for a husband that is not afraid to be in the middle of it all, that sickness is unusual and our children are normally very healthy.  

Bye for now

Getting colder, sickness and haircuts

The weather has gotten much colder this week, which has proven some small challenges with RV living.  One of which is that we had to figure out how to keep two space heaters going at the same time without blowing a breaker.  The RV has gas heat, but using it uses too much propane, so space heaters it is.  On is plugged into the house we are parked at and the other is plugged in the RV.  This has worked well and kept us toasty warm.  

The littles love their pink car and out here, Bria is able to drive it and not have to watch out for cars.  These two are crazy on it, Colson holds on for dear life and Bria tears around.

The cheesiest baby around

Unfortunately, this little man wasn't feeling well Thursday night and threw up a bit.  I think that is top of my list for things that I don't want to happen while living here.  The dreaded stomach bug!  I am hoping nobody else gets it because laundry has to wait sometimes and stomach bugs cause a lot of laundry!  This was Friday morning and he laid still for awhile, that is when I knew he really wasn't feeling well.

Bria's hair was getting to kind of stringy and Darin and I agreed it was time to chop it.  She was excited to do so and we cut quite a bit off.  I like it a lot and it looks a lot healthier.