Family Hike

A few weeks ago, Ellis came home unexpectedly at a very early hour. It just so happened to be beautiful outside, and we decided it was the perfect day for a family hike.  

We thought we should pick a nice short loop...just a little something to give us a breathe of fresh air so the kids could be back in time to get a nap and Ellis could catch up on his work. I said, "No problem, I know just the hike!"

Yeah...

We went on a hike with Kelly and Dan about a year ago, and I thought I remembered it being pretty great. (The fact that it was a year ago should have been the first red flag that maybe we might not end up where I thought we would). But, as you can can see from the pictures, we still had a pretty great time.

Mac was so excited that he pretty much ran the entire time.  Here he is running back to get us...mommy and daddy hike so slow!

Mac kept yelling, "Come on Guys!!!!"

Finally, he found a good little log to sit on as he waited for the rest of us to catch up :-)

Here we are, a few miles in and Mac is still running. Ellis kept offering to put him the backpack, but those little legs just kept going!

Mommy and Corrie just enjoyed the scenery at a nice pace. See that glove Corrie has on? And the hat? Yeah, those went missing for a while before we noticed they were gone.

We finally got to the end of the hike and we realized my memory may have been a little foggy...We came out to the road (wasn't part of my memory), and by this time even Mac was ready for a rest in the backpack. We had no clue where we were, but we were pretty sure we had at least a few miles to hike back up the mountain!

We eventually got tired and desperate enough to start flagging cars down to ask them what mile marker we were actually at. The first car said we were still 5 miles away from where we parked our car. My first thought was "Woah Nelly...this is gonna be a long time hiking along the side of the road!" Thankfully, it turned out that we were only about a mile away. And we got some good pictures of the beautiful views.

And we got a super cute picture of Corrie. I think she knew we would be getting back to the car soon :-)

Remember how I mentioned that we went on a hike a year ago with Kelly and Dan? Well...I guess it's been a about a year since we looked in the pockets of the hiking backpack. These sippy cups were filled with milk at one time...

Makes me want to play and coach again

Hey Mac, you are 3!

Well Mac, it's official: You are 3 years old today buddy! 

You didn't quite understand what was going on, but we gathered at Grandma and Grandpa Johns' house on Saturday to celebrate your birthday. It was an extra special birthday party because you got to celebrate with your cousin EJ, who just turned 6. Congrats EJ!  

All you cared about from the second you stepped out of the car was getting to eat a piece of birthday cake. We have been reading Winnie the Pooh books, and one of your favorites is the one about Kanga's birthday party because everyone sits at the table with a piece of cake.

However, before the cake celebration, you got to play with your cousins and Landon and Bryar. 

Grandpa Johns' sure knows how to make a little boy's dream come true. You got to play in the dirt at your very own construction site! (Mommy is still trying to get the sand out of your hair.  And I am using the word "trying" liberally. I mostly just shake it off of your pillow in the morning).

After playing outside, we all enjoyed the most delicious food we have ever had at a birthday party. Your uncle Eric outdid himself preparing the meal for all of us!

Then, it was finally time for the cake. When you heard we were gathering for cake, you went and sat at the table by yourself and waited patiently for the cake to come, excitedly putting your hands on your cheeks and laughing. Finally, the cake arrived on the table! We sang happy birthday to you and EJ, and you could hardly contain yourself!

Daddy got to spend some time with Uncle Derek, his best friend. 

This is how you show us you are really excited about something: you make little fists with your hands and put them up to your cheeks and smile!

Just look at how you are eying that cake! You loved singing the birthday song to EJ and hearing it sung to you.

Finally! Your turn to blow out your candles! (It was hilarious. You spit all over the cake).  Thankfully, Uncle Eric was looking out for you :-).

We ended off the evening with a great big bug hunt! Everyone got a bug catching net and ran around the yard looking for plastic bugs. Who knew how exciting that could be? 

Turned out there was a live frog included in the hunt! Can't beat that!

Corrie Potato Head

She must dress up in everything! Even Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

Sorry Corrie...

Remember that post a while back with the picture of Corrie playing in her favorite little princess ball-pit? Unfortunately, Mac played just a little too rough with that beloved toy, and Corrie is now stuck with the alternative: the rubbermaid ball-pit.

Sorry Corrie...but I guess this is what happens when you have a big brother to deal with! 

And just to add insult to injury...

Returning House Guest

Anyone remember the bats we had when we moved in here? That was quite a story on many levels.

Well, I just saw that one of our old friends has been stopping by to say hello.

The amazing part of this is that I honestly have a complete peace about our little friend.

We know what to do now to keep our family safe, and God has changed my heart about many things...I guess that includes freaking out about bats. What can I say? I guess I just trust Him in a way I didn't a year ago.

Just your average day at Walmart

Mac kept telling us that he was "tickling" the fishies!

The Rockes

Last weekend me (Amanda), Mac and Corrie received the best surprise gift: we got to go and visit our dear friends, the Rocke's, in North Carolina! We enjoyed so much laughter and made so many memories...it's hard to believe we fit all those great times into just a few days. I guarantee I will not be able to do justice to our visit with this post, but for the sake of anyone who has been waiting for months for a new post on the Rocke Blog, I will try and paint a small picture of our visit. :-)

When we first arrived on Friday afternoon, me and the kids were pretty hungry because we drove straight through lunch. I was treated to one of the Rocke house specialties: the Jelly Sandwich. I was warned that Jack had a knack for sneaking other people's sandwiches, but I wasn't expecting to see his cute little face sitting in my chair, eating my sandwich when I got up for a minute to get a drink!

Just look at that face. What could I do?
I gave him rest of my sandwich.

One thing that I especially loved was seeing all of our kids eating together at mealtimes. It was just so precious seeing them all sitting together around the table and eating much more peacefully than we expected. Kelly and I would just look at each other, thinking to ourselves, "is this really happening?" Before meals we would pray, and I will never forget Calvin and Corrie stretching out their little arms and leaning toward each other so they could hold hands while we prayed!

Please excuse how cheesy this sounds, but I just have to say it. Whenever I look at this picture or remember our times together last weekend, this scripture keeps coming to mind: "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." -Psalm 127:3. Thank you Dan and Kelly. It is really something special to enjoy the gift of our children together. 

I wish I could tell you more stories (like the one about Dan pushing the stroller in the mall!), but I only took one other picture. Not too exciting:

We noticed on Sunday night that Calvin's special helicopter drill had gone missing. We looked for it with genuine concern, but decided we would wait for it to "turn up" sometime, somewhere. It did turn up, in the back of the minivan when I unloaded all of our stuff after we got home. Mac found it and drilled me the face. Kelly said, "don't worry about mailing that back to us," but I think I will!

Before I end this post, I just have to include a link to the Rocke Blog from a couple of years ago (click on the word "link" in this sentence to direct you there).  Even then, you can see that a special friendship between our two families was growing. It is such a happy thing to see how it continues to blossom! 

We can't explain it...but we can enjoy it!

Yesterday we embarked upon the road trip home from North Carolina back up to Virginia.

Here we are taking a break from driving at the Chick-fil-a play 

place. A little boy came over to Mac and said, "tickle my back," to 

which Mac responded: "I can't! I have a phone call!" The things 

these little goobers say!

I can't really explain this phenomenon, but we actually enjoy our road trips. Most people think about me driving 5+ hours with the kids in the minivan and they tell me "I am sure glad that isn't me!"

But you know what? I think we just like being together. We don't care if we are in a minivan or anywhere else, as long as we're together. It's just plain fun.

I can't explain this phenomenon, but I can tell you the source of it: it is the very work of God in our family - making our hearts come alive and enjoy Him and each other.