Cabin time

Off to the cabin...back in 10 days!

Max's first trip there...

Ohio Cousins

We have had visitors from Ohio here since Friday. Scott's cousin Lisa, her husband David and their 3 children, Jacob (9), Laura and Kasey(4) have all been with us visiting Iowa. Lisa grew up less than 3 miles away from Scott, she grew up at their Grandparents farm. Scott spent a lot of time at that farm when he was little, and a lot of time playing with Lisa. We have had fun trying to show them a little bit of Des Moines culture and the boys have enjoyed just playing. These are the boys "Shisler cousins" as they refer to them. They are really the only cousins on that side our kids know. They don't have any first cousins on that side, so we count these second cousins as it.

Saturday they went to see one of Tommy's baseball games, the boys both had their state tournaments. The rest of the day they just enjoyed being here and playing together. Sunday we went to church and then in the afternoon went down to Union Park to ride the Heritage Carousel and go down the Rocket Slide there, later in the day we turned on the sprinklers and the kids had a great time running around and playing in the backyard. Scott had to leave early this morning to head to Indiana for work and we all went to the pool for a couple of hours. They left later in the afternoon to start the long drive back to Ohio.

All of the kids, but little Max who was napping in his carseat

Jack loving the carousel ride...Tommy not too big for a ride either

Max's first ride on a Carousel...

We hadn't been to this carousel since Jack was born, we went there often with Tommy and Drew when they were little...great memories and now 4 boys

Loving on Max

The Weinman family at Union Park

It was fun having family here. The boys LOVE having people come and visit them. It was a real highlight for them.

Thanks Lisa and David for coming all this way to visit...oh and for the yummy Lerch's donuts they brought along with them. mmmm....

Tommy's home

We picked Tommy up from bible camp this afternoon. We had several notes from him this week, sad notes, saying he was homesick and missed us a lot. We called camp a couple of times to check in on him through our friends Josh and Sarah, who were there this week. They assured us after checking with his counselor, that it was only at night time that he was homesick and sad, all day long he was happy and loving camp. So we opted to keep him at camp, wrote him emails that we knew he could do it and how proud we were of him sticking it out.

We arrived at camp this afternoon and saw a little boy running to us sobbing, so happy to have us there. I don't know that I will ever forget that moment of him running to me with tears streaming down his cheeks. I really don't. I didn't have my camera settings right, I wasn't planning on using it yet and Scott was carrying it. Scott tried to get one of him and I hugging first and the images are all way overexposed...:( and then I grabbed the camera and snapped this, it was a little better. Regardless of the imperfections of this photo, I still love this moment it captured of him hugging his Dad.

He talked the entire way home about how great camp was, how much fun he had, all of the fun games and his wonderful counselors...he just didn't like the overnight portion of camp. :) Thinks he would love it even more as a day camp, hmm a 65 minute commute one way to camp. :)

We are PROUD of him for making it all week, we even gave him the option to come home on thursday and play ball games today with his team, he chose camp. :) He was given the Cabin award today for "Joyfulness", what a compliment that was for him, knowing he had some struggles at nights.

Way to persevere Tommy! God protects you ALL the time, if we are WITH you and if we are AWAY from you.

We are happy to have him home...

Living History Farm Camp Boy

No More Perfect Moms

This encouraged me today...from Hearts at Home newsletter

No More Perfect Moms Insecurity. Every mom struggles with it. It shows up most when we compare ourselves to another mom. I experience this when talking with other moms of teenagers. In a recent conversation with another mom we were talking about dealing with our teenager’s attitudes. She explained how she had recently handled a situation and I immediately thought to myself, “The last time I dealt with my teen’s attitude, I blew it. She’s a better mom than I am because she handled that situation so well.” I just saw it this week in my daughter who is a new mom. She was with some other new moms who were talking about how quickly their babies nursed. Rilyn usually nurses for 30 minutes at a feeding, but these moms were saying that their babies were so full after only nursing for 10 to 15 minutes. The conversation caused Anne to question herself. “Do I have enough milk? Am I doing something wrong?”

When we compare ourselves to other moms, we will always come up short. Why? Because we’re comparing our insides to someone else’s outsides. That’s not a fair comparison at all. We’ll never know someone else as well as we know ourselves so this is a game we can never win.

Besides, I’m the mom God chose for my children and you are the mom God chose for your children. We are unique individuals who will parent differently than the mom next door. And that’s ok!

Let’s celebrate our differences and enjoy our unique qualities. Let’s thank God that the world is made up of individuals who have different strengths and weaknesses.

Let’s commit to stop playing the comparison game.

Just in case you’re not ready to completely give up on comparing…

…I yelled at my boys last week.

…I forgot my friend’s birthday.

…I was irritable with my hubby two days ago.

…I forgot to call one of my adult children back after they called me.

…I’ve served leftovers to my family more this week than I’ve made meals.

Feel better?

A laughing baby, mud and a baseball party

Yesterday was a full day...

Max has now started to laugh out loud to himself when playing in his exersaucer, guess he thinks it's funny.

Jack went to Living History Farms camp and came home a muddy mess.

And then last night we hosted Jack's baseball team for an end of the year party. Pizza, chips, cupcakes, whiffle ball...it was very hot out but the boys had lots of fun!

No word from camp so assume all is well with Tommy. We sure miss him.

Cousin Debbie

Please pray for my cousin Debbie, she is in the ICU in Mpls. Debbie's organs are failing and she is not a candidate for a transplant. Debbie has had a fairly rough adult life, she has struggled with alcoholism and depression for as long as I can remember. She is only 53 years old. She is the mother of 2 adult daughters Brianna and Tara. They have had a rough relationship with their Mom as well.

Please pray for her salvation, for her Mom as she sits with Debbie. Her Mom, Marilyn, was married to my Uncle Dick, Dad's older brother who passed away many years ago of lung and brain cancer. So hard to sit and watch your daughter dying and not have your spouse with you. Cannot imagine. Pray for her to have closure with her daughters too.

Please pray for peace for the family, for a miracle in Deb's life. Please pray that she knows God and has that peace.

Camper Boy

here he is yesterday as we settled him into his cabin...

before HIS tears, and MINE started.

We are hoping he is having a great time despite the weather conditions. He is there with 4 of his best buddies. We sure miss him today.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Love!

Thank you for all you do to love ALL of us...

Happy Birthday DAD!

Happy Birthday today to my beloved Dad! I adore my Dad, always have and always will. He is every little girl's dream of a Dad. The kind of Dad who is never afraid to tell you how much he loves you, how proud he is of you, how you still can "light up his life", how much he loves your smile and how much he respects who you are and have become. My Dad is kind, gentle, caring, protective, encouraging, honest, filled with integrity, hard working, loving and affectionate.... I gushed about him last year on his birthday, you can click here to go back and read all about even more of the little details.

Dad, I hope your day is special and filled with lots of great memories of many years of blessings. Wish we could be with you to serve you breakfast at the end of the dock like we did many years ago...know my heart is with you on your special day. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Happy Birthday to you...I wish a Dad just like you for every little girl in the world.

I love you SO very much and I am so proud to be your daughter,

XOXO

Your baby girl,

PS Happy Father's Day to you too!

Camp

Tommy goes to Bible Camp tomorrow at Hidden Acres. He is very excited and pretty well packed to go. He is going with 4 of his closest friends and they have all been to this camp so he is confident it will be fun. He has only been to Bible Camp one other time, and it was a camp 7 hours from home in Southern Missouri. It was not the best experience so he has a few reservations...but all in all is excited.

Please pray for him this week. Pray for his protection most of all, but also for his heart to be open and his ears to be listening. He is such a sweet boy, and loves God. I want his roots to be DEEP and I want them to be HIS roots, not ours. It is so important to Scott and to me that he owns his own faith and that his desire to grow in it would be from the holy spirit not the nagging Mom. I remember bible camp like it was yesterday, how much I learned about God there and how my heart changed at camp. With my brother, as a fellow camper and my big sister, a counselor, we were all there the same week I learned about "My Heart being Christ's Home" as we went through that mini book. It changed my life. If I close my eyes I am can be right back in that chapel today. Tears come down my face as I type this....it was one of the most special times of all of my life.

Cool

Just in case you wondered what the latest cool look for basketball is...well this is it. Long Nike socks, black with stripes up back are best...a Jordan tee shirt...and flip flops to the court then you change your shoes there into the basketball shoes.

We love our Tommy! Off to basketball camp he goes...

Bath baby *sigh*

I had Scott grab the camera tonight, I knew this could very well be Max's last bath in the baby tub. One thing I have made such a conscious effort of doing with little Max is savoring each moment, and trying to burn them all into my brain. Knowing he is our last baby I don't want to wish any of it away. So tonight, I knew...especially after I put this BIG little guy in the tub, this would be his last bath in it. We have used this tub for all of our boys. We had given it to my brother for his kids, and he happily returned it for Max. So here are some of the photos of his last bath...and yep I am choking up with tears in my eyes. *sigh*

here comes the water

such a very happy baby

relaxing and looking in the mirror

Smiling up at my Daddy

Yep, I then tried to roll over in my tub...

Why I love photos

As you ALL know...I love photos. I have ALWAYS loved pictures, taking them, printing them, hanging them all over the room, scrap booking them. Love love LOVE photographs. When I was younger I scrap booked LONG before it was the "in" thing to do. My bedroom walls were covered with lucite, plastic, shadow box frames always filled with the most recent photo of my friends. Not kidding when I say COVERED, and I had plaster walls so making nail holes was NOT an easy task. Nor did it leave the walls neat when I moved out.

I read this today on a photographer friends blog...and I loved what it said so wanted to share it here and remember it on the days I refuse to allow Scott to take my pictures because I feel like I don't look like I want to look, or the house is too messy, or some other unimportant reason NOT to take the photo.

Below is the photo off her blog and her comments that were posted below the photo...

Mom also would've liked to trim our bangs before the photographer showed up at our home in L.A. to shoot this portrait of my twin sister and I... But its my favorite picture of us...ever! because we're weren't smiling... and because our bangs weren't trimmed...lol To me, this is real... this is as close to the way we were as I'll ever see.... and I love it! .. Understandably, Mom and Dad were very busy back then....and hiring photographers to document family life just wasn't something a lot of people did back then.... maybe this is why I'm so passionate about what I do... yes, I am a photographer, but really, I am a historian!...with an artistic flair of course, lol.. and I know that the children of today will grow up and cherish their photographs even more... to see the way Mom smiled when she hugged us... the way Dad laughed when he picked us up and twirled us around... it's "love" in a picture! Not having photographs like these to look back at?....well, it's like missing the first 15 minutes of a really great movie, but the only thing is... This movie won't be playing again.. It's a "one time" show...

Daddy's home

We are all very happy to have Daddy home...

Max tried a ride on Daddy's shoulders for the first time this afternoon too.

What a guy award

The Celine Dion song "Drove all night" has been going through my head since about 6:11 am. "I drove all night, just to get to you...." Scott left Ohio last night and was going to stay part way home and get up early and drive the rest of the way. Well, guess who walked into our bedroom at 6:11 am while I was nursing baby Max? Yep my Love, Scott. He drove all night, he said he just wanted to get home to see us.

Bless his heart. It is storming here, baseball all delayed, most likely canceled for the day. He is now asleep in our bed.

So happy to have him home...I love that man.

Max and Sophie

Max is 5 months old today...

Sophie the Giraffe is his very favorite thing.

Guess who made dinner

Menu

Main dish: Chicken in the sauce (think it's offically called Orange Chicken but we grew up calling it Chicken in the sauce)

Side 1: Minute rice

Side 2: Steamed Peas

Drink: Milk

Dessert: Fresh Strawberry smoothies

All prepared and served, and even cleaned up, by Tommy and Drew! Thanks guys for a delicious dinner.

Plan B

I would like to highly recommend this book by Pete Wilson. I just finished it and have one packaged and ready to sent to my sister in law Cara as she is going through her Mom's ALS suffering. Pete Wilson is a pastor of a church in Memphis...he also has a blog that is excellent, you can click on his name to find the blog. I once read that he looks more like Keith Urban than a Pastor, I believe that is true. Although who knows what a "Pastor" should really look like. Let's just say, with all due respect to our Senior Pastor at our church...this guy does NOT look like a Pastor. Sorry I digress...

This book is so wise in many ways. It talks about what to do when we face our "Plan B" in life...something that doesn't go as we had planned. He has such Godly wisdom and is so very REAL in the book sharing many of his own personal struggles.

As awful as Plan B is for so many...I am grateful that we have the hope of heaven and of God's saving grace. I want to remember that in my own Plan B's of life.

Miss Emily

Our beloved Miss Emily came over today...we hadn't seen her in awhile with our schedules and hers conflicting so much. We plan on seeing her more this summer. :)

Today she came over for lunch. We gave her a belated bday gift, celebrated Tommy and Drew's birthdays (Tommy's is coming up soon), loved on Max a lot too. It was pouring rain so Jack snuggled up with Miss Emily and we all watched a movie together. What a blessed afternoon.

We love our Miss Emily.

Surgery Update

Kathy Shisler's surgery went well yesterday. They found no cancer in the lymph nodes and believe they got all of the cancer left in the breast. I talked with Kathy last night and she sounded great, just spoke with her again this morning and she sounds like herself. She is in very little pain and was enjoying a belgian waffle breakfast. She will be released later this morning.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for her. We pray she is now CANCER FREE!

Max's Message to Daddy

What Tommy learned today

It's been a week of learning around here...

Monday the boys all learned in more detail than I have ever taught them before, and with higher expectations than ever before....how to clean toilets and bathrooms...dust properly, vacuum everything including the stairs, mop tile floors and scrub hardwood floors...so much summer fun. I figured they can be expected to do more than I have asked in the past. My eyes have been opened recently to how I truly should be asking more and expecting more from their help at home. Not sure they love my new found wisdom in that area. But I have decided if I don't "train" them in what I expect "cleaning" to be, I have no right to be upset when they don't do it as I think they should. So let the training begin...

Today, with Scott out of town and the yard growing into a jungle I decided it was time for Tommy to learn how to do this...he did an awesome job!

Drew and Tommy are also menu planning, they are making one meal a week for our family. Ah the joys of summer! :) I am loving having their help and they are so proud of all they are learning. Their wives will thank me one day....

P.S. before you feel badly for them...they each had friends over today to play or went to a friends or went to the pool with a friend. So their lives aren't that rough really...

Bonus video from earlier this week

Coming up for air...

The past 10 days have been a whirlwind and I have missed posting so much...we have so many in need of prayer right now that has been my focus on posting lately. But we have had so many fun things happening too.... Hope this catches you up.

The 6th graders went to Adventureland on Thursday. End of the year class trip. Scott went along too, it was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed it.

Adventureland with Mr. Lambert principal

Friday we went to Drew's class party. It was fun to be there for that. Max was the hit of the party. Drew has had a great year and enjoyed Mrs. Osborn so much.

Drew holding Max, Max a hit with the girls in his class

Proud big brother

Drew's end of the year class party pizza with buddies

Drew and Mrs. Osborn at class party

The last day of school was Friday...Tommy is now a 7th grader...yep last day of elementary school for him. Hard to believe. Drew a 5th grader and Jack a 2nd grader.

Morning of the last day of school

With Dr Bob superintendent

with Mr Lambert principal

We went to the pool after school...Max was in his swimsuit for the first time. We didn't make it into the pool but he was ready.

Saturday night we had a BBQ at our friends the Hawley's house, they were celebrating the end of school and the turning of a chapter in many of our kids lives...some done with elementary school, some done with Jr High. What a blessing to have such wonderful friends and wonderful kids. A joy to share our families with each other.

Dinner at the Hawleys..the kids who have just hit a milestone

Tommy had a baseball tournament this weekend. They came in 2nd place. They played their championship game against one of Tommy's best friends, Will, who lives across the street from us. Scott and Drew played in a Father/Son golf tournament as well, no pictures from that sorry. :( We do leave a few things to our memories and not photos I guess.

Tommy and Will

Tommy's team the Dbacks

Last night was Jack's first game of their season ending tournament for Little League. They lost but had a great time playing. Celebrating at DQ afterwards was a real highlight.

all smiles at short stop

note first base coach for Jack

That's what we have been up to. A lot of praying these days for so many in need too. My heart is just aching for so many close to us. Scott has been in Ohio all week for meetings, he left on Sunday night. It is our first official week of summer. :)