Ryan turns SIX

This guy is SO FUN to celebrate and SO EASY.

 His first "friends" party, ever. And 3 weeks after his bday. Oh, the third child ;)

 We weren't the slightest bit surprised that he wanted a pottery party. 

Almost more girls than boys ;) This has never happened with his big brothers!

 The dessert isn't the highlight for him, so I kept it simple and easy! Blue is his favorite color.

 The guests were almost more excited than he was for him to open their gifts. Super cute. 

All are classmates from school.

 Girls make way better cards. Not that I didn't already know this ;)

He painted the puppy. The finger-painted plate was a gift from the store. 

Love these special memories.

I am certain he will always be small in my eyes. I suppose that's how you get stuck being the "baby" forever. I know technically he isn't anymore, but somethings just don't change in a momma's heart. I am ok with that and I am pretty sure he is too. He is my cuddling one, my creative one and MY biggest fan. My introverted/shy-self, learns so much from the way he loves and interacts with people, those he knows and makes known to him. His love of God is endearing and I look forward to all that God has in-store for him. Happy 6th Birthday, Ryan! We love you to the moon and back.

Special Guests

We had the privilege of an even fuller house, with guest from CO. Jess and her son Beck came for a visit. We first met in Ch1na getting our girls. We have remained in touch, although not as much as I wish. It was SO wonderful to catch up with her. And they helped entertain Yangcai too :)

 

EJ and Jess took the older 4 to our YMCA rock wall. Yangcai loved it! I am not going to lie, it was a tough weekend with Yangcai. He did not handle having house guests, well. I don't know why, but he struggled for sure. We went to the Science Museum, thanks to a generous friend who gave us free tickets :)

 

Ryan's favorite part of the museum was the craft room. Big surprise. I didn't mind sneaking off with him.

We opted not to bring Avery to the museum which was a wise decision. Keeping with Yangcai requires a lot of attention. Instead she spent the morning with friends. And boy, did she have the time of her life ;) Thanks Jill!

After a rough weekend with Yangcai, I needed a plan for Monday and once again my parents came to the rescue. I took him and Avery to their house to enjoy the beautiful weather, scenery and get somethings off my chest ;) 

He was so peaceful and calm on the dock. A little irritated that the fish didn't bit a single time. But nonetheless it was just what we all needed! God's gift of beautiful spring weather continued his whole last week and I couldn't have been more grateful.

The best shot I got of just the two of us. Too bad I didn't consider my wardrobe ;) Survival mode, people!

Happy 2016

We had SO much fun on New Year's Eve celebrating with some of our favorite friends. The Cassada clan stayed 1 night. This is the kid's dinner. 

5 couples went out to dinner together. Such a treat to go out. 

These ladies are such a gift to me and I loved being with them.

After dinner we all came back to our house to ring in the New Year. It wasn't as much of as a party as I had hoped because our dinner took forever. We waited 1.5 hrs from the point of our reservation to be seated. At least we were all together so it didn't really matter. Except for all the left over desserts in my house :0

The four oldest kids, Owen is one of them, stayed up until midnight. I can't believe I have a kid this old. He actually handled himself beautifully the next day. phew!

The visit with friends went by much too quickly. 

We were all in a bit of a funk when it was back to the 6 of us.

I hope your New Year has started well.

10th Beach Anniversary Luau

This summer our JMU625 crew celebrated our 10th Anniversary of beach vacationing. We celebrated by having a luau on the beach. It was such a big hit we might just have to do it every summer :)

 EJ and Cary were the master minds behind the main course: Hawaiian style Pork BBQ.

A hole was dug by the big kids

The smaller kids found sticks and rocks. Each kid brought a rock from home as well.

They built a fire and after the rocks were nice and hot they buried 17lbs (I think) of pork shoulder following a Hawaiian BBQ method.This included wrapping the pork in banana leaves and covering with corn husks and wet burlap.

Pulling out the finished product

We set the food up on the small deck between our house and the beach. A trail of food formed between the table and our luau spot, as the smaller kids carried their own plates down the steep slope ;)

We ALL enjoyed ourselves, the ones with Rum Swizzle, a little more ;)

It was a gorgeous night and no biting flies this year!

After dinner we built a bonfire (with permit) and roasted marshmallows.

The memories made and the laughter had was well worth the effort and bits of sand in my food!

Our family's Hawaiian garb is compliments of EJ's mom :) The older two have out grown theirs :(

Some of the adults enjoyed the bonfire after the kids went to bed. One things for sure, we don't stay up nearly as late as we did 10 years ago ;) Not sure if it's our age or the additional 18 kids that makes us so tired ;)

Courtney captured these last four shots for me. I love them.

 

Her son Levi and Ryan are the cutest. I asked Ryan what he was most thankful for during our week and he said "Levi."

I love these girls. I did have a tan before Courtney sat next to me ;) Leah is on her left.

Beach Time

I learned years ago, that vacationing with young children is not really a vacation, it's living life (although ideally more fun) in another location. This summer, we may have turned a corner, both trips to the beach seemed easier, EJ and I both found ourselves relaxing (some)! YAY!

 

The kids enjoy themselves immensely and it's a joy to watch their friendships grow.

I barely saw Owen. Which isn't unusual, but this year he even made his own breakfasts and lunches.

Avery's favorite was the "bathtub" because she could "touch the bottom." Once she discovered the hot tub (at 98) there was no going back in the pool ;) She likes to keep her feet on the ground and stay warm. Hmm... sounds like someone I know.

The pool deck was usually chaos as was the inside of the house right before and after meals.

Last summer, the stress of packing, driving, unpacking, and adjusting to the volume of 21 kids sent most of us mom's over the edge. We took on a new strategy this year and it was brilliant. The mom's went out for happy hour on Sunday, the day after we arrived. It definitely helped us relax and catch-up (some of us hadn't seen each other in a year) and get more excited about spending the week together. The dads went out the next night ;)

 

I am amazed at how God has knit us together. Our friendships are a gift. I spent most of the week silently reflecting on God's faithfulness to our group; in our friendships, our marriages and our healthy children. As you will read in my next post, this was our 10 year anniversary of beaching it together. WOW! It hasn't always been easy, but what relationships are? 

God is doing more than blessing us with vacation time. He is giving us time to encourage one another in our walk with Him, allowing us to walk alongside couples who are committed to their marriages, giving us time to share our struggles in parenting as well as granting our children time with other Christian adults and families.

These 4 ladies are awesome. I am blessed to call them friends and thankful to spend a week with them. I am certainly missing them now!

I painted these wine glasses (at home) as gifts for each of the ladies, so we could toast to our 10 year anniversary and our ever growing friendships. My kids had fun trying to think of sentences using all the initials ;)