Bittersweet

I always get a little bit sad when my babies go back to school.

I would like it if I could have them by my side forever and always.

Last year, I home schooled Caroline and it was lovely, but now it is time for her to go back. It makes me so very happy to see them with their buddies. Is it just me, or does Caroline look so much older??

(check out her new kickers . . . she adores them!!)

Luke will be starting pre-K next week. I'll have to admit that I am pretty excited that I will have two and one half hours to myself four days a week.

What will I do??

:)

Out of the Ordinary

Look what we found in South Dakota.

It's called Devil's Tower and we thought it was pretty cool.

Now this isn't something we see every day.

I had the kids sit and just look at it for a while . . .

just soak it in.

We saw this at the base of Devil's Tower . . . another thing we don't see every day. That is what I loved about our trip out West. . . we saw so many out of the ordinary things.

Blessed Beyond Measure

Right now, I am feeling so very blessed.

Blessed beyond measure.

Blessed because we still have our precious little Caleb with us.

On Sunday, my sweet nephew, Caleb, had a near drowning experience. He had taken his life jacket off for lunch at his grandparents' pool and forgot that he wasn't still wearing it.

To make a very long horrible/wonderful story short . . . they had to air lift him to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Many people prayed. . .

and prayed. The Lord answered our prayers and worked a miracle in Caleb's little body.
The doctors said that Caleb is a lucky little guy.
We know that it had nothing to do with luck at all.

Now he is back in his Mommy's and Daddy's arms and is doing as well as ever.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Your prayers meant so much to us.

A friend of ours' sent us this verse while we were waiting for more news about Caleb's condition.

"the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore"

(Psalm 121:8).

Life is so very fragile.

It makes me feel secure knowing that God is watching over us.

God has a plan for little Caleb.

His plan is not finished yet.

Caleb will always have a story to tell about what happened on Sunday and he will always know that God wanted him to be on this earth for a purpose. I'm excited to see what that purpose is.

:)

Mt. Rushmore

I was going to try to do one post about our entire trip out West, but it overwhelmed me.

So, I will show you one place each day. :)

One of my favorite spots was Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

When we first walked in and saw "the heads", I couldn't help but get goosebumps. (even though it was like 100* outside)

It was surreal.

I have seen so many pictures of this, but being there was so very different.

It just seemed so . . . patriotic.

It made me feel proud to be an American.

While I was busy feeling all patriotic and American, the rest of my family was sniffing the ponderosa pines. Did you know that they smell like vanilla??

This is what the presidents were supposed to look like, but they ran out of carvable granite.
One thing I liked so much about Mount Rushmore was the presidential path. It was a beautiful path through the woods. We could see the presidents from all different angles.

And smell the ponderosa pines . . .

I really love this place.


Do you know why they chose these four presidents??

The sculptor believed that these presidents represented the history of the United States.

George Washington represented the birth of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson represented the growth of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln represented the preservation of the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt represented the development of the nation.

I am thankful for what each of these presidents did for our nation.

We're baaaaack!!!

Well . . . after two weeks of driving (4,085 miles!!) to here . . .
. . . here . . .

. . . here . . .

. . . here . . .

. . . and lots of other fun places out West . . . we are finally home.

I can't wait to download all of my pictures to share with you, but for now, good night!!

I am so excited to sleep in my own bed!!

Good "Clean" Fun

I wanted to share some pictures of our kids having some good, "clean" fun.

This kind of fun is free . . .

. . . takes absolutely no planning . . .. . . can keep our kids busy

all day long . . .. . . guarantees many smiles . . . . . . and is appropriate for all ages . . .
To experience this kind of fun, all you need is a few cousins . . .. . . time . . .. . . and . . .. . . a house in the country. :)
The kids had so much fun collecting tadpoles and frogs at my brother's home in Wisconsin . . . it was a beautiful day and the kids never wanted to leave.

While we were in Wisconsin, we visited my Uncle Phil's log cabin in the Middle of Nowhere. (you can't find that on a map) My cousin, Philip, built this house by himself when he was 19. I am amazed by that!

Isn't it lovely?

This is my dad and his two brothers. They love spending time here together.

The kids liked playing in the loft.

Four wheeler rides were fun.

Oh, and look what we spied on our way out of the cabin . . .