Photos from "Back Home"

"Having someone to love is family

Having somewhere to go is home

Having both....is a blessing"

~~~~ Happy Weekend ~~~~

I hope everyone is having a "Happy Weekend"! It doesn't get much "happier" for me! We are home visiting my parents and relatives! It is beautiful out and we are all enjoying the great outdoors! Lyza and Chloe are having the best time just toddling around the yard looking at flowers, trees, rocks...etc! Doesn't take much to keep them entertained! Chris, Madisyn, my Mama and I have been enjoying the golf cart and riding around all over the countryside and creeks! We have been having so much fun.....Chloe even went for her first swim! I have taken so many great photos and I cannot wait to download them when we get home. I have taken some great scenic photos that are going to make wonderful artwork photos on the wall plus I've taken a lot of "fun" photos of everyone just goofing off and having a good time. My mom and Maddy got a little carried away and even pushed each other in the creek. I should have had it on video vs taking photos. It was great! We have all been soak - n- wet today I think! My dad has been hard at work doing some new landscaping today while we have all been playing around.

I got to spend some time with my niece and nephew last night and they were just so darn cute as always. My sister in law is a massage therapist and she is GOOOOOD! Thank you Trish~ She worked on me for two hours last night and agreed I am in terrible shape. Some parts really hurt and I am sore today.....but I know I am going to feel much better in a few days! She is coming back to work on me some more today......she is really really good! I was so thankful and slept like a baby last night. I wish I lived closer so I could have her work on me more often. The knots and kinks were terrible,but hopefully soon I'll be feeling better and hopefully the orthopedic surgeon will find something out when I go in a few weeks!

We will be heading home tomorrow....but we are going to make every minute count until then! One of my princesses just woke up from a nap....so must go! Again...have a happy weekend and look for photo updates soon~

Misty

Favorite Foto Friday....Spring Has Sprung!

Lyza Being Silly!!!!!

Lyza and Daddy having a great, squealing time.....make sure your volume is up, well, maybe down!! Just push the play arrow! Enjoy

PLAY

Lyza talking up a storm, doing some tricks, saying some of her favorite words and just being cute!

PLAY

Spring - Summer - Lyza- Chloe- Madisyn Photos!

So there you have it....some of the nature photos I have been promising you! Outdoor photos are by far my favorite to take. The natural lighting is awesome for pictures! I love taking floral/tree photos "ALMOST" as much as taking pictures of my kiddos and dogs! Notice I said "Almost"! We have had some beautiful sunny weather in Indiana and the kids have had a lot of fun outdoors. Lyza has taken to the sandbox and goes straight to it immediatly.......all along the way picking up sticks and holding them in both little hands......mostly to whack "Chloe" if she comes near her.....and then she even lifts the lid off the sandbox herself. Her favorite thing to do still is go to the dog line ( we have underwire fencing) and yell "Doggies" repeatedly at the top of her lungs. The girl can scream....and I mean LOUD! She also loves to gather mulch and place it in piles all along our porch. She is a funny girl........funny, funny, funny! We get some really great laughs out of her. I have a video of her and her daddy to post tomorrow. They weren't really doing anything but she was excited and screaming at the top of her lungs! Madisyn also loves to play in the sandbox with Lyza...but it cracks me up with the 10 year age difference because Madisyn yells at Lyza when she messes up her sandcastles just as if they were only a few years apart! She also likes to push Lyza in her swing. She has gotten in some great soccer kicking time out in the fields and tonight she practiced her "Long Jump" while Chris measured her distance. She is gearing up for this District Finals she is in. FUN times......she's also been practicing hard for dance with her upcoming recital. She also just made final plans to visit her grandparents in Wyoming the day after we arrive home from Florida! The girl never stops....she goes on more planes in a year than most do their ENTIRE lives! She is a pro at it and doesn't seem to bother her.......I'm so thankful she takes things in stride. She loves it at her Nana and Pops though, they have horses, a really neat log cabin at the base of the mountains and they do lots of fun stuff! After her dance recital in June she will go to her dads for four weeks, return home for a little less than a week for a family wedding...then head back for another few weeks to finish out the summer and take a vacation with her dad/family in Pennsylvania! Good times ahead for her...I am sure she is going to have a great summer!

As for me, I am still in some severe back pain and go to a orthopedic surgeon in early May. My sister in law is a massage therapist and going to work on me this weekend. I simply cannot wait.....first of all I get to go home and spend Three days and TWO full nights at home with my family....then massages on top of that and my moms tempurpedic bed???!!! I am going to be feeling good next week! The pain is terrible in my lower back and by the end of the day/early evening I can barely walk across the yard. I hope they adjust me soon!

Have a wonderful evening......

Misty

Go Maddy Go!

Ok....instead of Lyza's "Go Diego Go"...today it will be "Go Maddy Go"!!! Much to our delight and surprise they put Madisyn in the "Long Jump" event at her track meet last night. It was a city wide meet to take the top three places in each category to the districts. Normally 6th graders do not even know if they will get to participate until they arrive at the meet. She has been faithful and attended all practices, games and has ran a few. She called at 3:30 pm to ask me how to do the long jump....so I told her and she said she would compete in 15 min. I jumped in the truck and got to the high school just in time to see the little booger get a 2nd place ribbon and continue on to the District competition! That little booger.........guess that will show us to doubt any abilities that she may or may not posess!!! We are so proud of her and she is, of course, over the moon because they will announce her name over thei intercom this morning at school!!!!

GO MADDY GO!

Love,

Mama

Happy Tuesday....full of photos!

I will be posting lots of "outdoor" photos tomorrow. I've taken a lot of floral and nature photos this past week and intended to do that today for Earth Day, but things just got a little hectic, so I am posting them of the family today! Enjoy!

Chloe Bleu a little stuck, can't seem to get that belly over the side of the sandbox! :-)

Papa Bear

Mama' Bear

Peek - a - Boo

Getting in the Hot Tub!

Ahhh....this feels good!

Not bad for her first try with the circular raft!

Yes...I know I look funny!!!!

I am a BIG GIRL NOW!

Hair Washing Day!

More pictures....but the rest will have to wait!

So these are a few of the photos at the hotel this past weekend! I wil post more tomorrow, as I am extremely tired! We had a great time and of course, the girls are always cracking me up!! I got some wonderful outside photos today that I can't wait to share with you later.

Enjoy

New Photos.....Happy Sunday!

Miss Chloe.......7.3 lbs at 5 1/2 wks!

Lyza checking out the new railroad ties for our driveway!




Our New Driveway

Miss Madisyn

Lyza in the "Baby Cage" while we worked outside!

Mama got a new haircut....and color! Big step for me, my hair was REALLY getting long! Here it is fixed.....

Mama....with my hair "not fixed"....:-)

We are really enjoying our second night at the hotel. We are little ready to go home though...why is it you can't wait to get away from home for a little while, then you can't wait to get back home all at the same time? I guess that is a good thing. I went to visit my Nanna today and told her that we went home 3 or 4 times yesterday and had already been home just as many today checking on our dogs, cats and other critters! She got a chuckle out of that. To make it even funnier.....it was supposed to be a "getaway" for Chris and I since we have never left Lyza for over three hours since we brought her home last June.....and we ended up falling asleep in separate beds! :-) We had a good time hanging out in the hot tub, pool, playing cards etc....but what I think we really lacked was just SLEEP! Not that we don't get sleep, but you know how when you have a new baby or kids in the house your sleep is very interrupted because you have to check on them a million times.....(ok, maybe everyone doesn't, but I DO! ). I have always had that obsession of checking on Madisyn and Lyza since they were born! Just being a mama' I guess!

Today so far we have gone home..ha ha, this morning we went to get Lyza at her grandparents (she did very well.....AND the little booger slept until 9 am and went to bed at 7:30 pm last night!). She is normally a really good sleeper and goes to bed early but I NEVER get her to sleep in. I am going for new shades this week!!! I think most of it is due to Maddy getting up and ready for school and it wakes her. Either that or she knows that Dora and Diego are on in the mornings and she can't miss it! She did very well at Chris' parents and to be honest, I wasn't real worried at all like I thought I would be. We missed her and about 9 pm Chris wanted to go get her last night.....but I told him we had to let her stay (plus she was already asleep). So after getting Lyza....we went to pick Madisyn up from her mission trip weekend! She had a WONDERFUL time and is blogging about it on her site (www.maddysgab.blogspot.com/). She is SOOO very tired though, so she is writing in shifts. She was telling us all about it this afternoon and the girl is VERY long winded like my daddy (sorry dad) and it takes forever for her to tell a story. SO, my attention span was not as long as her story...so I guess I will read more about it as she blogs!!! I could tell that she had grown in FAITH over the weekend and learned so much....mainly to be thankful for the things she has, her family and that her family (all of us...mom, dad, Donna, Chris and grandparents) raise her in a Christian home and are setting good examples and values (we try anyway). It truly was an investment for those who helped to fund her trip...I know it was done anonymously, so THANK YOU to each of you who helped in some way whether it was monetary, clothing drive, food drive or just encouraging her. Also, if her financial needs were met, the money went to less priviledged children so they could go.

This afternoon we all went swimming, had dinner and now we are getting ready to head to bed!! We did some bible devotions before hitting the pool and Madisyn shared some of the verses she learned. I know both of the kiddos and us parents are tuckered out. We just ordered our room service breakfast and I will take Madisyn to school in the morning and drop Chris off to sleep for the day. I am coming back to the hotel to take Lyza swimming again. I can't wait to post the photos of her swimming like a big girl in her floaties!!! She is so funny....and she loved big "sista" throwing her around in the pool and splashing!

Have a blessed night.......

Misty