Lila Jewel's 9th Birthday

Lila turned 9 years old in February!  Sad that I am just updating the blog, but better late than never.  I can't believe how time has flown by.  She has such an explosive, fun personality.  She cracks us all up and we love her sweet, gentle heart.  She loves playing with animals and could spend hours training, playing and taking care of any animal that is around!  She hopes to be a vet when she grows up, so her teacher keeps telling her she needs to keep plugging away in math and science.  We are so thankful God gave her to us for our daughter.  She is truly a delight and huge blessing to us!!

Lila made her cake.  She picked out pink lemonade cake with vanilla confetti frosting. 

 Vince being silly.  

Lila loved her new clothes and her gift certificates to Hobby Lobby to buy some art supplies.

Dr. Titus

A few weeks ago, during homeschool one morning, Titus was hobbling around the house.  He showed me his big toe and told me that he had put a bandage on his toe.

This bandage is a blue rubber snake...

I asked him, "Titus, what happened to your toe??"

He replied, "Oh, it's a long story." And then he was off... 

Daddy and Alex Down South

On Saturday, March 16th, Daddy and Alex left on their 1st Mission trip together to Reynosa, Mexico.  About 20 other people, led by Al and Connie Negen, departed around 6 am for the long drive.  They have been caulking and painting the school that's located on the property of Children's Haven.  You can check out their website here: www.childrenshaven.org.  

Vince has felt called for the past three years, and finally decided he had to do it this year! It's been exciting seeing Alex and Daddy get ready for this.  Daddy wrote a devotional to do with the people there about David--both in Spanish and English.  

The Negen's have been taking groups to CHI for 12 years. CHI has many "homes" on their property with houseparents taking care of around 10 kids per house.  Vince and Alex have been playing soccer and volleyball--Vince says they are awesome at soccer. Vince has really enjoyed hanging out with the older teen boys and says he's surprised that his Spanish is coming back to him. Alex has hit it off with a girl named Anna.

Lila really had a hard time when Alex left.  She did not want her to leave!!  Titus had no idea what was going on and really didn't want to stop watching his favorite show...

Can you believe how much Alex has grown up?!!  This picture really took me aback.  It just seems like yesterday she was two years old and next year she'll be in high school!  This is one picture I will treasure for the rest of my life.  I am so thankful to have such an amazing husband and children.

Warm Winter Outing

This has been such a wonderful winter for going to the park and jumping on our new trampoline.  Alex was gone this time around.

Scotty had a great time!

Silly Daddy...  I love Lila's face in this pic.

Haley helping her little brother up the slide...

Then afterwards, we went on a drive to try and find the Flint Hills using the backroads. Crazy that we had a hard time running into them, but we did find this picturesque scene.  There was a clear, beautiful creek on both sides of the road.  So we got out and got pictures.  

We stopped at Olpe Chicken House for some famous fried chicken afterwards.  FYI, they don't serve mashed potatoes until 5 pm.  That was kind of important to me and I was bummed.  But it was a really fun day with the kids.

Christmas Parade

One of the perks of Vince's job, is that we get to drive Santa in the Emporia Christmas Parade!  The float was pretty elaborate with the reindeer going up into the air and Santa riding in a real sled.  The street was packed with people!  But the most unusual and amazing thing about the parade was...

the FREE steak the "Beef Fest" float handed out to people.  Conveniently, the float (complete with grills and smokers) was just a few floats in front of us.  The guy who is actually selling us 1/4 cow in a couple of weeks came up to us and handed us a plate of hot steak! YUMMO!!

Titus was in heaven when SANTA came to get loaded in the sleigh and stopped to give him a candy cane.  He yelled "That was Santa Claus!  I LOVE YOU SANTA CLAUS!!"  What a fabulous night!!!

Sledding

You might want to turn your volume down because I can get a little loud and crazy when I see my kids flying down the hill!