Joshua's and Ruth's Birthdays.

Well, I'm still behind on posting but I'm not going to quit. Hopefully I'll get myself back on track and post at least once a week again.

Joshua and Ruth both celebrated their birthdays this month. I should have posted much sooner but it's been a busy few weeks. So this is my catch up post for both of their Birthdays.



Joshua's birthday was June 27 but we had an early celebration with his cousins. My brother and his family came back to Texas on furlough from France. I made a homemade pinata and let Joshua paint and decorate it however he wanted. We spent that Friday night at my parents cottage with my parents, my brother, his wife, and their 5 children. It's amazing how little space can accommodate 6 adults and 11 children.

We had planned for the boys to spend the night in our tent but wound up with only three of them stayed out there all night. Saturday we visited my paternal grandmother, which we affectionately call Mamaw.


Mamaw lives in a nursing home. She always loves to see us when we visit. We took a couple of pictures while we were there.

Mamaw holding Elisabeth

After a nice visit with Mamaw, we visited my maternal grandmother, affectionately known as Mema (pronounced Me-maw).

Mema with her eldest great grandson and her youngest great grandson (my cousin's baby born a month before Elisabeth).

We actually took a family picture with Mema just before Elisabeth was born. Now we need to take another.

Ruth's birthday is 2 weeks after Joshua's. She had a good birthday as well.

Ruth's 12th Birthday cake.

Joshua went to a teen camp with the youth of my parents' church during the week of Ruth's birthday. Scott was still on vacation at the school so we celebrated her birthday all week. That Monday, I took all the girls antique shopping. We were looking specifically for tea cups. Both girls found a set they liked and a tea pot to go with it. We visited another store next door to the antique shop. Ruth and Hannah both found fancy umbrellas that they wanted. I'm not sure what possessed me to say, "yes" to buying them each a $27 umbrella but those umbrellas had better last them a lifetime. :-) That night we had tea in their new tea cups along with birthday cake.

A before picture of Ruth's first professional hair cut.

Tuesday was Ruth's actual Birthday. She wanted to go to a Build-A-Bear workshop. She wanted to buy her bear, Frosting, a husband. So we went to the Workshop where Ruth arranged her bear a marriage to a very kind and handsome bear she named Teddy. We bought both Teddy and Frosting a full wedding wardrobe.

Frosting and Teddy posing with Ruth's birthday tea set.

They have been happily married 13 days now.

We had karate class that same evening. There is a tradition in our karate dojo that for our birthdays we get to spar everyone in class that day. Our instructor calls it "iron man" sparring. It was nice getting to spar again after not being able to for a year. I enjoyed it and kept having to remind people that I'm not pregnant anymore. :-) I think Ruth might have hoped it would be a smaller class. She's not real fond of being in the spotlight. She did well though and at the end she said that she really liked her birthday.

Ruth in the process of her first "real" haircut.

Wednesday, we went to a Children's Museum. There were a lot of educational activities for the kids. I want to take the kids back again where they can have even more time to go to all the exhibits.

Jonathan, Elijah, and Hannah in one of the exhibits at the museum.

After the museum, we went and visited our friends at a sister church in our fellowship. We always enjoy visiting them when we are able. This was the first time they got to see Elisabeth.

Thursday, I took Ruth to get her first professional haircut. I was about her age when my mom took me for my first haircut. We have a friend that goes to our Church that had gotten a new job in a nearby town as a beautician. I was excited to get our hair done at her salon. We were also able to enjoy visiting with her. We both like our hair and plan to go back again.

Ruth with our friend, Karli, who gave us both great haircuts.

We had so much going on this Summer that I'm way behind on blogging. I still plan to catch up but not everything will be in order. However I'm going to try to get everything recorded on here before summer is over.

Ruth looks so grownup with her new hair.

I'll hopefully get another post done in a couple of days. So be sure to check back.

Vacation

We are enjoyed our vacation. We don't get to see Scott's family very often. The last time we visited Michigan Elijah was just a few months old. That year Scott had gone to Thailand and I took the kids to Michigan while he was gone. Last Summer he wanted me to go with him.

We left on our vacation Monday night June 25th just as the sun was setting. The air conditioner isn't working on our van, so we decided to take advantage of the sun being down. We planned to drive until we were too tired and then stop for the rest of the night. Scott was feeling good and awake and drove the whole night while I slept. Then as the sun rose, I took over driving while he slept.
Elijah is pretending to drive after one of our stops where he was the only child to wake up.
The kids slept fairly well in the van. We had to stop every 2 or 3 hours to feed Elisabeth.
We finally stopped that afternoon of the 26th at a hotel.

No, we decided not to stop at this hotel we saw. Although the kids did want to look inside it.


The hotel we did decide to stop at had an indoor swimming pool. The clerk gave us a real good price on two rooms. She has 5 biological children that are grown + 5 adopted children she is now raising. So she was very helpful. We got plenty of rest and were back on the road Wednesday afternoon, Joshua's 14th birthday. We stopped at a gas station and Scott bought Birthday Candy Bars. I'll need to do another blog later just for Joshua's birthday.

Elisabeth in the hotel.


Jonathan and Elijah were so cute looking up at me at one of gas station stops.

Joshua turned 14 on this trip.

Scott's mom, Judy, gets to hold Elisabeth for the first time. We gave Elisabeth the middle name Rose after Judy's mother, Rosa Elizabeth.

"The girls"- My in-laws' boxers.


We went to the beach of Lake Michigan and had a picnic with Grandma Judy.


Scott carried Elisabeth over to the beach area in the baby carrier we have. He said that it was a piece of cake. He could carry her like that for 9 months. :-) I've always teased him that I carried the baby for the first 9 months that he should get the next 9.

Judy enjoying some more grandma time holding Elisabeth while everyone ate.


Scott was showing his mom how the camera on my tablet works.

I wasn't able to post a blog during the time we were in Michigan since I didn't have a Wifi connection. This post is about the first half of our trip and this will have to make up for the post I missed. I'll post another one tomorrow about the second half of our trip to count as this week's post.

I will get caught up on all my posts soon. Then I'll be back on track posting once a week. Please check back during the next few days as I play catch up.