Summer

Summer has come and gone (for the most part), and I am loving these cooler, mid-80's, August days.  I know I have been bad to blog this summer--maybe because we were too busy for me to get my thoughts together.  Summer Missions training, Super Summer camp, Branson, Green Ridge, Rolla, St. Louis Mission Project, Branson, Nashville (and I'm probably forgetting a few other things in there).  It was a great summer and our boys did awesome as we hauled them all over the place.  I am excited for fall though.  I love all the fall things-- pumpkin, college football, soup, crisp weather, hoodies...you know, all the great fall things!  Plus being home and having a slower schedule and more routine is good for me too.  I lacked taking a ton of pictures this summer...but I'll dump some of the ones I have!

Part of the Super Summer crew as we left for Hannibal

An afternoon at the pool in Hannibal

Playing Legos with the big kids (or messing up their Lego creations)

Cooper and his friend Myles (who we ran into at Old Navy on the weekend between camps)

Hanging out with Julie & her niece watching the Morning Show at Super Summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father's Day 2015

Whitney's wedding and getting to catch up with some of our SEMO friends!

Tornado warning in Joan's bathroom on Girl's Night

4th of July -- Hudson

4th of July -- Cooper

Runge Nature Center -- Cooper with his buddy Parker

My dad's retirement party

St. Louis Zoo

St. Louis Zoo

Swimming with dad (and it's blurry because they love to splash and are hard to keep still for a picture)

Branson with cousins

Picnic dinner at the Capitol with some of our favorites!

We spent a lot of time with this crew this summer--and miss the ones that have moved back to college

Our first time at the Pancake Pantry in Nashville

SEND Conference in Nashville

And now we're home (for the most part) and have a lot more of this.....

Cooper was pretty proud of himself for putting this puzzle together ALL BY HIMSELF!

Big family pictures

I wanted to have pictures of both our immediate families taken this year.  Well here we are at the end of the year....and it actually happened.  My friend Bonnie took pictures of my side of the family while we were in Rolla for Thanksgiving and then Eric just set up his tripod/camera for a few pictures with his side of the family during Christmas in Green Ridge.

Here are some of my favorites!

Weekends away

Back at the end of September, we got to spend some time in Marshfield with friends and family.  It was a quick 24 hour trip, but was a lot of fun.  Cooper got to spend time with his friend Ree and we had a sleepover at her house.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of Cooper and Ree's bath time together.  I know that would have come in handy in the future ;)  They had fun playing together, and Ree also enjoyed checking out and holding Baby Hudson.

On Saturday, we went to see cousin Drew's soccer game and then celebrated his 14th birthday.  Cooper wasn't very interested in the game, but would occasionally yell out "Go Drew" or "YAY!"

We went back for dessert and to play at Drew's house.  Cooper really enjoys his big cousin and all of his big cousin's toys ;)

Barb boys

Hudson and grandma

Happy Birthday Drew!

The second weekend in October, we made the four hour trip to Cape Girardeau for the weekend.  We had talked with some of our former students from SEMO about all getting together.  It was hard finding a weekend when everyone would be available, so back in July, we just picked a weekend that was hopefully far enough out for people to come.  It was great to see those who could come and of course, there were people that we missed.

When we got into town on Friday night, we met up for dinner with the Greenes.  I'm not the greatest at keeping up with people, so it is so nice to have friends that you can just pick up with right where you left off.  They are the family that would invite us over for New Years Eve and Easter, who let us live with them for 3 weeks after our house had sold, and are just some of the kindest people you will ever meet.  We loved getting to spend a few hours with them and then to get to hear Mike preach at church on Sunday.

Emma, Cooper, Bella, and Andrew

3/4 looking each time :)

It was so fun to catch up with former students on Saturday.  They have moved on to hair school, social work, grad classes, accounting, teaching, church planting, more schooling, magazine writer, medical assistant, and more...  There has even been an engagement and pregnancy since we last saw them (congratulations Whitney/Wes and Austin/Macy)  Thanks everyone for taking the time to come to come to Cape!