Avery's 4th Birthday

Avery was thrilled to celebrate her birthday. She is the last of the siblings and she was happy to have her day finally come! Choosing her gift was an easy one. A big girl bike to help her keep up with her brothers. Hopefully she won't be taking the training wheels of (like Ryan) any time soon. She happily cruises back and forth on the driveway which allows me time to play sports with the boys.

 Our family celebrated last weekend, at the pool with a pizza party.

 She was VERY eager to open her presents.

 Another costume :)

 I think she likes being the center of attention ;)

Happy 4th Birthday, beautiful girl. We love you!

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 ;)

Loving the OBX

We spent last week with friends in the Outer Banks of NC. 

Day 1 proved the most time we'd spend together as a family ALL week. 

The drive down and loaded up with extra groceries to share.

We took our chances at a roadside seafood food truck (per ye1ps recommendation). 

It was YUMMY and the perfect pit stop.

 

We opted to leave early to avoid traffic and then killed time in Manteo, NC until we could get into the house. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed the calm before the storm of 21 kids ;)

 Later in the week, Courtney took a few pictures of our family, it was too sunny but I wanted it done!

 it was also Avery's 4th birthday

 

She enjoyed a doughnut with lots of friends

 and later that day, a LOUD rendition of "Happy Birthday" from 21 children!!

        

I promptly burst into tears at the joy on her face and the love in the voices of our friends. I only wish I had zoomed out and taken a picture of those surrounding her. 

More beach pics to come!

Cubing

“If you are curious, you’ll find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them. ”

Erno Rubik (invented the first Rubik's cube in 1974)

This summer, Owen has done just that. What started out as a fun challenge (the 3x3) during the school year, has turned into a slight obsession ;) His collection is growing and the speed to which he can complete them is increasing. He solves the 3x3 in under 40 seconds.

"The beauty of the Rubik’s Cube is that when you look at a scrambled one, you know exactly what you need to do without instruction. Yet without instruction it is almost impossible to solve, making it one of the most infuriating and engaging inventions ever conceived." (author unkown)

Owen has taught himself with tons of research and instruction and memorization of moves. His determination and patience inspires me. He want's to teach me how to do it, but I just can't sit still that long ;) My brain is not wired for algorithms and parities.

 The "Mirror Magic Cube" is his newest, he solved it the first day!

Thankfully he agreed to this photo shoot because I want to remember the summer of 2015 was full of colorful cubes, constant clicking noises, speed cubing, finger tricks and most recently the making of his own "how to video tutorial" coming to youtube soon!