Summer Stuff

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Let’s start this post with a weather report!

The weather has been FANTASTIC.

BEAUTIFULLY FANTASTIC!!

I love all the seasons – but 80 degrees and sunny?

YES, please!

We relished a little bit in the weather this weekend and headed to the bike trail for some exercise!

It was sunny, breezy, cool, and the perfect day for a bike ride!

Tate rode almost the whole 3.5 miles.

Until he needed a break, so we left his bike parked knowing we would turn around to go back the same way we had just came.

He took his break from his bike RUNNING.

This boy takes our breath away!!

Eliza had sprained her ankle last week, so we dug out the stroller we bought her when we were in China and she rode in that!

Blake and I do not have bikes anyway!

It is one of our goals to get some when the budget allows!

Such a fun afternoon!

We plan to do it again soon!

Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees!!!!!

Eliza spent quite a bit of time like this over the weekend.

Sweet baby.

Blake and I had date night Friday night!

We are on a journey to deepen our marriage, and I hope the Lord will give me the words and opportunity to share it all appropriately someday!!

Did I mention that our fourth grand baby is A GIRL!!!!????

If you watched that video in the last blog post, you probably can’t get the voice of the crazy lady who was screaming in the back ground out of your head to forget the fact that our grand baby is a girl!

I was a smidge excited.

Just a smidge.

Tate wanted a photo of the baby, so Kayla brought him this!

Library day.

We do it often.

It will be a good memory from these kiddos childhood!!

Always the tutus.

Tutu.

That is a weird word!!

So funny!!

Haircuts.

Another normal thing.

Every three weeks whether I like it or not!

Ruby got a haircut too!

It was our first attempt!

It took four days…..really, it did!

We just kept going back to it to finish it up, teaching her to be calm each time we did.

This is before we cut the hair on her face!

She looked SO funny!

It has been the desire of my heart to have some one-on-one time with my grand babies!

Well, as much one-on-one time I can get with all my kiddos at home, that is!

So we stole one leaving church one Sunday!

Things to work on.

ALWAYS a normal thing.

My guys are a blessing!

They got another door painted!!

I have been enjoying the weather as much as time allows, and worked on planning fall school one day with my sunglasses on!

I also spent a morning on the phone scheduling all of Tate and Eliza’s medical appointments for their check-ups.

We have our trip to UW Children’s Hospital in Madison coming up in September!

Ruby is a good pup.

She is catching on very quickly!

I watch her a lot for Addie Mae.

Don’t tell her I love it – ha, ha!!

The boys help me with her, but Chad still is a one dog boy.

Even when it’s cold and rainy!

We were thankful for the gentle rain that day!

We did not have to water the grass seed!

Food.

Such a normal thing.

They eat.

Everyday.

A LOT!

I love to make it!

And I love to keep the kitchen tidy and organized!

We were blessed with several boxes of zucchini lately!

Addie’s friend was here (our friend too!!) and we quickly shredded it all up and froze it!

And then she made this zucchini cake with the littles!

They said it was yummy.

Stir fry is a great meal to make the day before grocery day.

To use up any leftover veggies and chicken!

My daily view.

I love them.

I love that island too.

We use it HARD.

Just saying.

Thankful for summer.

And all that the Lord has allowed!!

Hope you all are having a thankful summer too!!!!

Gender Reveal Party

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This past week Kayla had an ultrasound to check on Paco!

Yes, Chad nicknamed this baby Paco.

I think it has stuck.

The ultrasound showed that all looks well with baby Paco!

David and Kayla hoped to also find out the gender of baby Paco!

But they wanted to wait to know the gender until family and a few friends were gathered together to celebrate with them!

So the ultrasound tech wrote the gender of the baby down on a card and sealed it in an envelope!

David and Kayla then gave that envelope to this sweet girl!

Our Hannah!

Hannah got the appropriate powder cannons ready for the reveal party WITHOUT TELLING A SOUL!!

Sunday afternoon it was time for the gender reveal!

We wore our votes to the party!

There are lots of pink votes here!

The party started with the reveal!

Everyone gathered on David and Kayla’s porch, and David and Kayla stood below us all and shot off the powder cannons!

Baby Paco is A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

I think we need a new nickname!

After all the excitement it was time to have dinner.

And enjoy being together with friends and family!

We were SO excited to celebrate the gender of our fourth grand baby!!

It was such a wonderful party.

Our hearts are SO full and our cup is overflowing!!!

It will be hard to wait till mid November to meet this precious little girl!!

In the mean time, I think I have some shopping to do!

Congratulations, Kozelek family!!

Your precious daughter is already SO love and SO celebrated!!

We cannot wait to meet her!

And welcome her to our crazy!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Four Years Of Forever

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It’s been four years.

FOUR years!!

Four years ago on July 14th, I held Eliza for the very first time!

What a blessed journey it has been!

We talk about our Forever Family Day anniversaries with Eliza and Tate as the date approaches.

And then we listen to their responses and let them choose how they would like to celebrate them – if at all.

Eliza wanted to celebrate!

She was VERY specific!

It was SO cute!

So we set our celebration for Sunday evening!

She wanted four presents since she has been home four years.

So four presents it was!

Eliza wanted to spend the afternoon in the pool!

Chad was glad to bless her and take the kids swimming, because it was 95 degree heat index on Sunday!

We also made a meal of her choice!

She wanted chicken, but chicken “with the skin,” mashed yams, asparagus (which she calls asparsssgus) wrapped in bacon, and grilled pineapple.

It was delicious!

Eliza also asked for a vanilla cake with vanilla chocolate chip frosting and strawberries on the side.

Addie will never say no to baking a cake!

And making it a beauty!

I think this photo says it all – her special day was a HIT!

I cannot even find the words for the emotions of celebrating Forever Family Days.

What a time of reflection.

What a time of thanksgiving and praise.

WHY?

Why did the Lord choose to trust us with SO MUCH?

It is never lost on me.

Or my heart.

We just simply are not worthy.

But we are ever so thankful.

Being Eliza’s Mama has been the most challenging and fulfilling thing I have EVER done.

I love her so fiercely that it makes me ache.

HOW FAR WE HAVE COME.

I am tearing up just typing these few words.

Eliza Claire, you are our sweet baby.

We love you more than life itself.

We are SO THANKFUL we are your forever more.

Happy, Happy Eliza’s Day, sweet baby girl!!!

It’s July

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I wrote that title just in case you didn’t realize the fact that it is July!

Like me, that is.

JULY!

The goal I have as a start date for full-time school is four weeks from Monday.

FOUR WEEKS.

Thankful for photos and videos to hold on tight to each season’s memories!

These photos of Ruby are a treasure!

She won’t be a puppy forever!

We really enjoy looking back at puppy photos of Sadie.

I know we will enjoy these photos just as much!

We had some visitors this week!

Blake’s folks!

I did a SPLENDID job of taking photos while they were here.

Did not take ONE.

Thankfully, Kayla took a few when she had lunch with her Dad, sis and grandparents!

We ran around one afternoon to show them some of our favorite places!

We also spent time with our favorites!

Which we do A LOT….and LOVE a lot more!

Blake and I had date night last Friday night!

We are working hard right now to bring our relationship to a NEW level!

Date nights help with that!!

Our van left me stranded on the side of the road on the way home from date night.

It was late and DARK, I was on a country road….but Blake was in front of me a bit, in his truck.

My cell phone had service (SO glad!) and I was able to call him and say, “TURN AROUND!”

SO thankful for how this all went!

All of the kiddos had been in that van all afternoon that day with Addie Mae!

Needless to say, our van is headed to the van graveyard.

We spent all day Saturday looking for a replacement.

Monday night we were able to pick up our new wheels!

I did not realize how bad our van was until I drove this beauty home!

I feel SO blessed!

I took the kids for their first ride in it yesterday!

We went and had ice cream and then went to the library!

We have been spending time doing all the normal life things lately too.

There is always something to fix!

Like the fridge door that would not stay shut!

We also had a huge electrical problem this week, but Blake found the problem!

It’s the second mistake we have found in our electricity here – so I am thankful for all Blake knows about this stuff!!

There is also always something to clean too!

Like our little “mudroom” in the garage!

The weather has been lovely lately.

I know you know what that means!

Some sky photos, of course!

Beautiful weather gives you a great reason to hang out with your pup in the very early morning!

We also have been grilling out quite a bit.

Have you all ever grilled peaches?

Please do!

They are SO yummy!

And when you have helpers they are more yummy!

Addie had a visitor at work one day.

Isn’t this photo SO cute??!!

Thanks, Kay!!

This is the way the littles head to bed every night!

I wonder how old they will be before Blake cannot do this anymore?

They giggle the whole way down the stairs!

How’s that for July so far?!

I say pretty GREAT!!

Looking forward to many more summer days and getting ready for school to start!

I need to start working on that a bit, I think!

I will have a high schooler again this fall!

Hope you all are enjoying July to the fullest!!!

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