Catching Up...the Post That Never Ends

I know, I know...my posts have been few and far between!!

Lately I have been doing the quick facebook post with a photo 

instead of taking the time to write a true blog post.  

It is a season...and one day I may be able to blog regularly again:)

For now, let's catch up on what has been taking place in our world!

Somehow, the end of April,  I missed writing a post about Kylee's forever family day!

That is the day we celebrate each year

 remembering how God moved mountains to make Kylee a part of our forever family!!

We are a bunch of foodies in this family so special days... call for special treats:)

Her choice for breakfast was stuffed french toast

Lunch was homemade burgers and fries

She had a special middle school event at church that she didn't want to miss so she spent time with her friends doing girly things and eating pizza:)

Then we met up with her after the event for her favorite dessert spot...sweet frog!!

Kylee's self photo...oh to slow down time:)

She is still our baby, growing up too fast!

Sweet girl, we love you so very much and are blessed that God hand picked you for our family!!  

HE has tremendous plans for your life and will use EVERY situation for your good! 

Also the end of April...

Our oldest participated in a fine arts competition.

This was a bit of an emotional journey for our daughter 

and for her mama as well, truth be told!!

The emotional had little to do about the competition

and everything to do with God's calling on our daughter's life.  

(there are two other band members hiding behind those pretty girls in front)

You see, Mélika knows that she has been called to full time missions.  

We do not question that for a second!

The struggle for her has been the path to getting there.

Everyone and their brother has told her what THEY feel is the best path for her to take to get to her goal.  The problem is...it has been THEIR ideas and not GOD's plan.   

It would be very easy (for her), and appealing for our sweet girl to run off to do foreign missions.
The opportunities have been there.
But right now God is leading her to do the hard (for her).
He is asking her to stay home and minister to her siblings...
and lead in her local youth group.
She was very comfortable in the wings, in supporting roles...
and oh how she longs to be on foreign soil sooner that later.
We are praying that she will seek Christ for further direction
as HE stretches her to do the "hard" for HIM!!

Then...someone became a teenager in our home!!

For his first birthday in his forever family we wanted it to be special.
I took out my cake boss wanna be skills...

Aaron looking at the cake tiers for the first time and trying to figure out what it will look like:)

This blurry shot shows evidence of the all nighter required to finish his cake
on one of the busiest weekends of our year:)

The finished product...He may just like it:)

Daddy found a great birthday deal at Adventure Landing!
This mama loves coupons...especially when hubby decides to use them!!
I won't mention that when we arrived for the party we learned that hubby booked the wrong day and we were almost turned away with this crew of friends already there.  
Hats off to adventure landing for honoring our request to still have the party on that night!!

Aaron and his friends had a great time riding go carts...

playing laser tag...

miniature golf...

And there were lots of video games in there!

And the parents during all this fun...

well...

we were...

um...

just hanging around:)

After that...
God blessed our family in such a very big way!!
We were given the opportunity to get away
at the beach for a week with my extended family!!

It was very cold the first day...

But the rest of the week was gorgeous!! As you can see...we had the place to ourselves!!

We were able to get another family photo to send to ICAB

 And my middles and big humored me for a few EXTRA shots:)

(I have been asked several times lately why we call them the middles...
that is quite simple...we fully expect God to bring us some littles in the future!!
Unless HE changes our course...
we will not change up the birth order again and will adopt younger than Kylee:)
She will be 13 in November so I will not even try to guess the ages of the next ones to come...
there is a large range open there:):)

We had some beach races...

(there is an obvious winner on the far right)

some fishing...

 some sand sculpting...

Some ukulele playing...

some toe warming...

Some Daddy loving...

 some beach strolling...

some big sister pranking...

Some light house climbing...

some light house holding...

and shark catching!!!

YEP, CAUGHT HIM AT THE SAME PLACE WE SWAM DURING THE DAY!!

ok...this one was sooo funny!
Aaron said, "Daddy, I miss (and he mentioned a sweet boy from his orphanage in the Philippines)
Kylee said, "Oh Aaron, I miss you (as a joke) and started hugging him.
Aaron, as you can see from the body language...was trying to stop her
 saying,
"Kylee...Kylee...I am right here!!!!!"

 I did come out from behind the camera on a few brief occasions...
just to prove I actually went on this trip:)

We had one of these sweet photos right after Kylee became part of our family.
Aaron let me know while at the beach that he was not in the last one.
Oh yes sweet boy...we are ready for an update!!!
(oh how I wish I knew just how many foot prints God will add to this beach tradition!!!)

On the way home from the beach we did some berry picking!!
It was not the best timing, but our jam supply has quickly dwindled,
and our window of opportunity for berries in these parts was quickly closing!!

I could only stay up to finish half the berries.

On Tuesday we returned to our local organic farm

to help my dear friend and her littles pick berries for their jam.

That night I we got around to finishing our jam...

with the help of the peanut gallery!!

and our last batch has been put away!!

JUST IN CASE YOU THOUGHT THIS POST COULD NOT GET ANY LONGER...
I will continue:)

There has been much medical and dental going on around here these last months!

We have had the fillings, the sealants, the spacers, the retainers, the removals...

We have had the scary allergic reactions, the doctor visits, and a surgery...

The highlights...
Kylee will not allow me to take photos at the dentist/orthodontist...
so you will have to imagine:)

She finally has the room she needs in that cute little mouth of hers
to be able to bring her teeth to their proper location.
By the end of the summer we expect to move from the
make room stage to the metal mouth braces stage.

My dear love has had such a difficult spring/summer with allergies!!
He has always been an allergy sufferer...
but...

This

and this...

is not his idea of a good time!!!

So extensive testing and needle in a hay stack has been underway.

So far we have learned that he is 5+ for
7 kinds of grass, dust mites, house dust, horse hair, cat, dog, and mixed trees!!
(there are other milder allergies as well)

It may just be time to put him in a bubble:)
OR...I may have to do a much better job at the cleaning around here:(

We had been considering a move to the country for some land (insert grass and trees)
and hoped to have critters (insert all animal allergies)
so, we may just need to reconsider our wish list!!

THEN...
our sweet boy, after overcoming his fear of dental procedures, had to take another step.
He had a mass on his leg when we brought him home.
I asked him if he knew when he got it, or if it hurt and he didn't say much about it.
As time went on, it continued to grow...
and he started to complain about it hurting.

So, we were off to the doctor again:)

After several appointments and ultrasound...
it was determined that it was a cyst needed to be removed.

He was not going to be able to submerge the leg in water for 2 weeks after the surgery
so we postponed it until AFTER the beach trip.

On June 6th we put a very apprehensive Aaron into the van.

He spent some of the long wait time time watching tv

and then he was off to the OR

Although it was a minor procedure...
It did this mama's heart good to be able to see those beautiful eyes open!!

AND...
Aaron being Aaron...

He pretended to still be asleep
(after he already gave his popsicle order to the nurse)
and then proceeded to pretend to not know who we were when he opened his eyes!!

Yep, this practical joker didn't miss a beat!!

And waisted no time devouring this cherry popsicle!

This dear friends is my absolute FAVORITE photo of the day!!

And, this is the side few people get to see:)
He was back to joking again!!

When Daddy had to go back to work he decided to hit the iPad.

and because the staff took forever to springing him out of the place...
he had a second popsicle!!
(what else is a starving boy to do???)

Here we are on the way home!
Tired of having his picture taken...
and very much wanting some REAL food.

and this is the surprise shot he took of me on the way home:)

So if you made it to the end of the blog post that never ends...

you must have really missed my posts...
or...
you really need a hobby:)

If you made it to the end... leave a comment to tell me you stuck in there for the long haul!!!