Happy Fathers Day

Today is Father's Day. I wanted to make a special post dedicated to some important fathers in my life (pictures below). Dave is an amazing father to my children. My dad set me such a great example as to the kind of father I would one day want in my home. And Dave's dad taught him so much love and respect for family. I am grateful to all of them for all they have and continue to do for our family.

Since Dave left on Friday, the kids celebrated Father's day on Wednesday. Here is the kids bringing in their presents.
Haylee made Dave a card before school let out and she was hiding it for him.
This is what the kids got him.

I hope you all have a Happy Father's Day!

Book Reviews

Well it is time for me to write in about the books I have been reading again. Since Dave has been home, I haven't read as much as I normally do, but I am still writing. Okay so here it goes

Firefly Lane- by Kristin Hannah
Firefly Lane tells the story of two girls who don't belong together and break through a lifetime friendship. They have dreams of working together and grow up to do very different things. But they are still best friends. The book spans 3 decades of their parallel lives and friends.

I would say this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. This is the first book I have read by Hannah, and I can't wait to pick up another one. I LOVED the book and felt so much like the main character. This should be number one the next time you pick up a book.

The Host- By Stephanie Meyer
Stephanie Meyer takes a chance and breaks out of her vampire series with Bella and Edmond. Instead, she goes into the world of Wanda and Jacob. The book is about a world that has been taken over by bugs that live inside humans. It was thought that there were few humans left when Wanda (a bug) discovers that her host has ties to a community. The book addresses an ability to live in both worlds.

I really liked the novel however I was COMPLETELY confused for several chapters. She really just jumps right in and you are left to figure everything out. I think a prequel would help. But, the book over all was good. It had some funny times, definate tear times, and skillful writing times. I really enjoyed reading it and found myself completely invested in the lives of the main characters (a skill of Stephanie Meyer). Next time you are at the library, this is a definate rent.

7th Heaven- by James Patterson
Okay, so this is the 7th book in his Women's Murder Club book that follows 4 female characters and how they collaborate to catch a killer. These four women have been through everything together. This time, they are looking into the murder of a famous boy and a string of arson cases that hit a little too close to home.

When it comes to the writing of this novel and the story, I liked this book. However, as it relates to the progress of the characters, I was a little disappointed. It felt like watching a TV show where the characters made so much progress in their personal lives (book 6) and then suddenly for ratings sake, the networks asks the writers to stall and draw it out a little more. If you have read the previous books, this is one you should check out, but if not, I would skip this one at your next library visit.

Sunday at Tiffany's- James Patterson
Tiffany is a sucessful business women who is still doing everything her mother tells her to do and it is still not enough. She is completely unhappy when she one day runs into a very old friend. The book follows their friendship and how it has turned into something. As well as the reason the friend has returned.

I LOVED this book. It was very simliar to two others that Patterson has written. I love when he writes love stories because they are simple and sweet. It was definately a girl feel good book but one that has enough substance to keep you interested. This should be near the top of your next library list.

Talking Blanket

The kids like to cover up and pretend that we can't see them. Well, the other night we were having movie night. Dave and I were getting everything ready and Haylee and Trent covered up so we couldn't "see" them. But boy did we hear them. Here is Haylee's original version of "Talking Blanket"

End of Baseball

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Well it is the end of baseball season. Their last games were last Thursday and Friday. Haylee didn't get to play her last game because it was raining, but she still got to enjoy her award ceremony, hot dog, and cupcakes.

Interaction

There is a growing interaction between the babies. I love it because now they will sometimes laugh, play, and babble together. So, here is a video of a few clips of the babies playing together.

Mischief

Well my toddler years begin. Laycee is a real climber even though she just discovered how good she is at it. So, the other day, I made the babies macaroni and cheese. Got them up from their nap, and then planned on waiting about a half hour before I was going to feed them. I thought they went into the playroom and Logan comes crawling in smelling like macaroni. The light bulb clicked immediately and I knew that Laycee used her skills to get their lunch off the table. Sure enough, I went in there and you can see what I found.

Movement

I put together the little clips of video we have taken within the last month of the babies continued progress towards walking and Haylee and Trents funny KungFu day lol. Have fun!

Happy Birthday Haylee!

Today is Haylee's 6th Birthday. We had a slumber party for her with a few friends. Okay, as you can see, I can't count because the cake only has 5 candles lol-- Thanksfully, only Dave noticed.

In the back yard, I put down a tarp and put up a pool and slide. They played last night and again this morning even though they were complaining it was cold.
The birthday girl!

The kids took a break from playing to eat some pizza.

When we went upstairs, we had cake, ice cream, presents, and a movie.

Here are the rest of the pictures I took.

Jesolo Beach

Saturday, we went to Jesolo Beach (near Venice) with Julie, Gavin, Charlie, Jessie, Nancy, Jaron, Terrilee, Chad, Kirra, and Christian. It was so fun to get out and to enjoy the nice weather. Laycee hated it because she got splashed her first time in so her and Dave napped on the beach most of the time. But everyone else had fun.

Luxembourg

During our time in Germany, I looked on the map to see if we could make it to another country in Europe. When I was looking, I saw this tiny country that I didn't know existed. I put it in the GPS (thanks Julie for letting us borrow it!) and it was only 1.5 hours away. So, on Saturday, we set out to see Luxembourg the tiny country bordering, Belgium, Germany and France. It was a really neat country because the architecture looked like it came straight from America. It appeared that some places we saw German and some French. We were confused as to what language they spoke. According to wikipedia lol, it said they are a trilingual country that speaks French, German, and Luxembourgish. It was a really cool place to see and we LOVED the shopping.

On our way back to the car, we stopped in a little shopping alley ( I don't know of an equivalent in the states so you know what I am talking about, but they are common in Europe) Anyway, there was a Brazilian shop that we were looking at and we turned around to see a store selling...

Yup you see that right, weed! After our shock and good laugh, we headed back to the car and saw this cute train in the park along the way.

It was a fun day and nice to see one more European country. We have now seen, Italy, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Austria and Germany. And in a few weeks, Dave goes to Portugal.

Our Trip

These past few weeks, we took a trip to the American hospital in Germany to see the pediatric neurologist and to get and MRI for Laycee. We drove up on the 19th. This time we took a different route through Italy, Switzerland, France, and then Germany and cut 3 hours off our trip! The babies did pretty well on the 9 hr drive.

Tuesday, we went to a preliminary appointment for Laycee. Other than that, we just took it easy. As you can see below, Laycee and Logan love to beg for food!

Wednesday, Laycee had her sedation and MRI at 7 am. We were there until 3pm. She was so grumpy for the whole day from the sedation.

Thursday we took the babies to the park.

Friday, the babies got new crayons for beginner colorers. Laycee loved them!

Saturday, we went to Luxembourg (See previous post)

Sunday, we just hung out.

Tuesday, after Laycee's appointment, we went bowling, but I forgot the camera. Logan said "dall" the whole time. He loves balls.

Thankfully the babies got alone well on the trip home too!

Youth Night

Before we left, we had combined youth night with the boys and girls for Coopers goodbye. We played water games.

We smashed balloons with our butts.

We had a balloon toss.

We played balloon volleyball.

We also played water guns and ate. It was really fun, thanks to Terrilee!

Goodbye

Colleen and Tony stopped by for one last goodbye before they headed back home. We were truely blessed to have them in our lives. I know they are ready to get back to the states and back with their family, but we are sad to see them go.

Checkin In

So we made it back from Germany a few days ago. I wanted to post some pictures that I have from our trip and then pictures from this weekend when we flew kites and went to the beach, but for the mean time, I thought I would give everyone an update on Laycee's appointments.

So, her MRI was clean. YEAH for that and now she isn't due for 3-5 years (as long as nothing changes). It was a horrible sedation and she was very mad about it all when she woke up, but thankfully she woke up the next day back to normal whiny Laycee. She currently has one of the 6 criteria needed to diagnos neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). You need two to be diagnosed. The doctor said his gut says about age 5 she will develop the second criteria. However, in our research we discovered that between 5 and 7 that generally happens. It is rare to have more than 2 brown birthmarks without having NF, but it does happen. NF is a gene mutation and can be hereditary in about 50% of the cases and just a mutation in the other 50%. There is no genetic testing currently available for it, so as for now, it is just a wait and see thing. In 60% of cases, people go on to lead normal lives, so it is a fairly promising condition at least. I wish I had something more concrete to report, but that is all I have for now.

So, tomorrow I will have great pictures to share and less somber posts!