Trip to Daytona

Memorial Day weekend we took the kids down to Daytona Beach to visit my dad.

The drive down and back wasn't terrible, but we did do it both ways without a radio. We borrowed a DVD player from a friend and the power adapter blew out our accessory outlets and our radio. I am not a good car trip person so I had to drive most of the way to keep from being bored. Stephen was happy to not drive for once! The 7-1/2 hour drive took us 10 hrs. both ways but that is to be expected with small kids and small bladders! My only complaint regarding the trip is the lack of Chick-Fil-A's off I-95. I kept hoping for Chick-Fil-A playground stops but we settled for McDonald's.

Once in Daytona, we had dinner at my dad's condo and my half-brother, Scott, Scott's fiancee, Laura, my half-sister, Caroline, and Caroline's daughter, Halle, were able to meet us there. It was nice to visit with all of them.

My dad let us stay in a timeshare he had for free. The kids really enjoyed the pool and walks on the beach. We had lots of free time to play.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Brody and I people watching:


Our shoes:



My boys in the kid pool:


Sydney enjoying the pool:


Stephen and Brody again:


After dinner enjoying the view:


The whole Hill family (minus Brian):


One of my favorite pics of Grandpa Hill and Brody:


My half-sister, Caroline, her baby in utero and my niece, Halle:


My half-brother, Scott, and his fiancee, Laura:


Abby eating at Grandpa Hill's (photography by Sydney):


Brody smiling for Sydney:


Grandpa Hill and Sydney:


My dad, the kids and I after dinner our last night:

Last Day of Enrich

To celebrate the last day of our Enrich home school co-op, we rented a snow cone machine and had a picnic together. The girls really enjoyed the snow cones.

These are two pictures my sweet friend, Lee Anne, sent us:

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time there was a little girl riding her bike. And she didn't have any food. And God gave her manna and she was thankful. And then he gave her groceries, and then she got a mom, then she got a car and actually the dad was at work. And then she went on a bike ride and came back home in time for dinner. And then she went to bed. She was thankful to go to bed because she was really tired that day. The End.

By Abby Fowler, age 6

Uno, Dos, Tres, CUATRO

It's finally here. Her fourth birthday. This birthday has been SO anticipated. It was planned down to which color of sprinkles would sit atop her chocolate iced Funfetti cupcakes with Care Bears on top. A big Care Bear candle on top...but Wish Bear could be at the bottom. And her guest list has been made for months. Of course it's included a few too many so I had to use the recurring guests on the list to make the final list. I still follow the "your age plus one" guest list rule. (For those of you who do not know me, I've never met a rule I didn't like.)

I cannot believe Sydney is FOUR. It seems a little too grown up. Four years seems too long. I was in high school four years, college four years, and only worked after college for four years.

Sydney is still so stinkin' cute and so much fun. I don't think we would laugh if she weren't here. (Okay, Stephen makes us laugh, too, but that's where she gets it!) And she is so tenderhearted. She loves to hug and tell you that she loves you. She loves to ride her bike...fast...and doesn't know how to use the brakes. She can outrun any of us. She climbs on top of the Corolla (when we're not looking) and tries to slide down the back window. She and Brody play hard, but she plays girly things with Abby. Sydney is so much fun to watch when she's excited. She is just one of those children who reminds you how much fun life can really be.

Here are some pictures from her special day:

Sydney with her much anticipated cupcake

Reese was so eager to sit in the Gift Giver chair

Abby and Stephen giving Sydney her camera

Mary Grace (our sweet neighbor) and her Little Pony gift

Sweet Tess and her fun coloring/painting gifts

Dayleah and the sweet card she made

Haley, waiting so patiently while Sydney figured out how to open the beautifully wrapped gift

Macy and her cuteness, and the much loved Baby Elephant

t

And the much anticipated cupcakes

Ba-nected

This morning Sydney was playing with her baby elephant, Emily, (build-a-bear elephant) and was telling Abby that Emily was "ba-nected". I thought she was trying to say "connected" but couldn't figure out why she was talking about getting an ambulance, etc. I immediately began to think they were talking about a live birth and wondered where they got this information. Abby said, "Don't you remember from the Zebra video?" I got nervous. I watched that Animal Planet special on zebras with them and there wasn't anything eluding to a live birth on there.

Then Sydney continued to play like her elephant fell down and was "ba-nected" again. She needed an ambulance again. Then it dawned on me. What a relief! The elephant was "infected". Whew. So I told them how to pronounce the word and what it meant. I escaped a very difficult conversation today!

How do I know?

How do we know when our young children are ready to become Christians? Loaded question. One of our pastors wrote a really great answer to this question:

http://childrenatgrace.blogspot.com/2009/03/q-how-do-you-know-when-young-child-is.html

All About Stephen

I don't think I've ever had a post all about Stephen. Someone else beat me to it. He was "highlighted" in a bio on Grace Church's website this week:

http://www.gracechurchsc.org/stephen-fowler/