Our Competitive Gymnast

Our little Pink Fish's dream has come true . . .

She was invited to join the competitive gymnastics team at her gym.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to check out a new gym in town as we had some safety concerns at her current gym.  She went in for an evaluation so they could determine what class she should join.  Imagine all of our surprise when they came back with an invitation to join their competitive team rather than a class!  She was super nervous and excited at the same time :-)

Last week she started practicing with the team and LOVED it!

She was so bubbly and excited at the end of each 3 hour practice.

To see all of her hard work paying off has been such a blessing to her!

And to us :-)

We are so excited for our little gymnast!

Daddy Daughter Dance 2016 {Wichita Style}

Alli and I had a fantastic time at the Daddy Daughter Ball tonight!  The two of us are masters of the Chicken Dance, YMCA, Limbo and the Twist (seen below).  We really cut a rug.  

This was a for real Ball so of course, a corsage was a must!

Such a beauty!  I pray that God will just freeze time for me and keep things just like they are right now.  Only one boy in her life.....Daddy!

The mini cupcakes were super scrumptious.  Alli had to get one of each color.  I had such a wonderful time with my little girl tonight and just treasure these opportunities.  Time is going by fast....can't believe she is nine years old (neither can she.....I love that she doesn't want to grow up).  

Alli got a new camera for her birthday and took her first "old-school selfie" with it before the date :-)

Alli's Christmas Choir Concert 2015

One of the biggest disappointments with the move to Kansas was that Alli wasn't going to have a Christmas Concert.  Anyone who knows Alli, knows how much this sweet girl LOVES to sing and perform.  The new school only does a concert for K-2nd grade and by the time we return to WA, she will only get to do the Lighthouse concert if she joins choir {which she may not desire if she inherited her Mommy and Daddy's singing ability!}  She was completely bummed :(

THEN . . . we got an email from our church that any child K - 3rd grade who wanted to perform in the Christmas concert at church was welcome ~ woo hoo!!!!!  Alli was super excited!

Tonight was the first performance and she was precious!

She was so happy to be on stage and sang her little heart out! 

We all loved watching her and the boys made for a great cheering section :-)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Eli's bow tie and so did he ~ I'm ready to find more in lots of colors ;-)

After the concert, all three little fish were happy to munch on cookies . . . 

Can't wait for tomorrow's performance!

Alli's 3rd Grade School Picture

Where did my baby girl go???

In her place is a very beautiful young lady!

Still has the precious smile and freckles but definitely no baby face anymore.

What a joy it has been to watch her blossom at LCS!!!

2015 XC Season Begins . . .

 Today was the first meet of the 2015 Cross Country (XC) season and it was GREAT!!!

Much to my great delight, all three of the little fish enjoy running so when the bigs both wanted to run XC for Lighthouse, I was happy to help coach Kindergarten with Lukey as my assistant :-)

Eli (and his buddies) were super excited for their first meet . . . 

EZ E could not stop looking at his ribbon when it was over :-)

He did such a great job but the BEST part was at the beginning of his meet ~

one of his teammates fell and Eli stopped to help him up.  I nearly cried, I was so proud of him.

His heart is so big and he tells us God gave him a heart to share Jesus with others.

YES He did Buddy!

Luke was excited for the meet too . . . UNTIL he realized that he didn't get to race.

Given that he runs most of the practices, he was NOT impressed ;-)

He finally settled for running on the sidelines and cheering on "his" runners.

He crashed when we got home so it definitely wore him out!

Alli was thrilled to be racing again and did great!

She finished strong and so loved the cheers at the end :-)

One of the biggest excitements (and surprises!) was seeing Barbie Gramma and Grandpa.

The kiddos loved their cheering section :-)

The only bummer was Daddy wasn't there but thankfully he will be at the meet next week.

To celebrate such a great first meet, the kiddos and I stopped by Menchie's for some yummy fro yo! 

2nd & 3rd Days of School 2015-2016 = A Fat Lip :(

The second day of school {Spirit wear for Eli} started off so well . . . 

He was super excited for another fun day at Kindergarten.

AND Alli and her buddy Lilja were happy to pose for a pic together outside their class :-)

All was going so great . . .  both kiddos were happy and smiling at the end of the day and ready to play with neighborhood buddies for a while before Karate.  Even better, G was coming home that night so we were all looking forward to seeing him.  

Around 4pm, while talking to G on the phone, I called Eli over the walkie talkie to let him know it was time to come home to get ready for Karate.  Less than a minute later, I heard the screaming.  

I quickly hung up with G and opened the front door to see our wonderful neighbor 

carrying Eli to our door ~ his face covered in blood.

While running home, he tripped over a neighbor's bike and landed on his face, biting through his top lip :*(  He was in so much pain and it was clear a trip to the Doc was in order.  My dear friend was fabulous and took Alli and Lukey so I could get Eli to Urgent Care.

He was a trooper but he was in a lot of pain.

Thankfully, he got in right away and they were able to close the wounds with glue.

I am amazed by how resilient this little man is, after ice, Tylenol and getting glued, he was ready to eat some Subway and wanted to go home and play some more ~ Wow!!!

The next morning, he looked worse as far as swelling and scrapes but he said he felt better.

Mr. J even gave him a "Brave Boy" prize so life was great!!!

This was all the smile he could muster with his fat lip :-)

The best part about this day was that Daddy was home!!!!!!!

All three kiddos were thrilled to see Daddy and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

First Day of School 2015-2016

I still cannot believe that summer vacation is over ~ it went by so quickly!!!

But here we go for another school year with our now 3rd Grader and Kindergartener.

Although she was excited to see her buddies, Alli wasn't too sure she was ready for summer vacation to be over.  Eli, on the other hand, was beyond excited to begin Kindergarten :-)

After I made lunches and went up to wake the bigs, I found Eli already up and ready to get dressed.

He could not stop grinning and telling me he was a "Lighthouse boy" now.

I got such a kick out of him wearing his backpack while he ate breakfast :-)

Though not nearly as excited, Alli wanted her hair curled for the first day of school so she was in a fairly good mood.  Plus, she LOVES french toast so it made for a happy morning.

She was so excited with her new teacher {Mrs. Mathisen} and having best buddy Lilja in her class.

Both kiddos were troopers with our traditional "sign" pictures.

Thank goodness!  I will be so sad if they ever fight me on this ;-)

I get such a kick out of how they aren't too far off in size and even wear the same size shoes!

Eli's great excitement, besides starting "big" school was taking his lunch.

It was definitely a hit because he ate every last bite ~ something Alli has never done ;-)

When we got to school, we dropped Alli off first then headed to Kindergarten.

Eli was not even a little nervous, just ready to get started.

He agreed to a couple pictures but really wanted to just get down to business ~ he had a coloring sheet to do after all!!!

It was so fun because Luke and I got to help with Eli's class during library.

He was so cute with his classmates and giddy to be checking out a Star Wars book.

They both had a FABULOUS day and were all smiles when the day was over.

It was definitely a GREAT first day of 3rd Grade and Kindergarten!!!

After school, it was off to gymnastics and soccer practice . . . let the fun begin :-)

Last Day of Summer Vacation 2015

I cannot believe how quickly this Summer vacation flew by!!!

On our last official day of Summer vacation, we decided to squeeze in lots of fun :-)

The morning started with Lukey's "Meet the Teacher"

Lukey is so excited for school to start and chatted nonstop in the car on the way there but then acted shy when we got to his classroom.  That didn't last long as he headed for the blocks and began playing.  The morning got even better when his best buddy from last year showed up, turns out their in class together again this year and they had a blast building (and destroying!) block towers.  Two new little boys joined in the action and the four of them appear that they will be great buddies :-)

He also had a blast making a "snake" bracelet with Mommy.

After a fun morning, we grabbed the bigs from the Ellis Fam and we all headed to Chuck E Cheese.

2 moms + 7 excited kiddos + lots of other families with the same ideas makes for a fun afternoon :-)

These four loved being in a cage :-)

After a couple of hours of playing, 

we parted company and I took the kiddos to BluBerry's for some frozen treats.

Always a hit!  Once again, Lukey ate all the candy and none of the frozen yogurt ~ silly boy!

With all of that fun, I guess we wore out the little guy ;-)

Poor guy crashed in the car and continued snoozing on the couch for over an hour, 

until it was time to leave for karate (bigs) and Ducky Gramma's (Luke).

While Luke snoozed, the bigs took the opportunity to play with buddies and Alli insisted on taking pictures of Mommy on the last day of Summer vacation too . . . 

Gotta love the silly face! :-)

After karate, the bigs and I enjoyed a fun dinner talking about what we looked forward to most in the coming school year ~ lunch, recess and friends are high on both their lists :-)

Then it was time to read "The Kissing Hand" and a special note from Miss Huber,

complete with "magic confetti" to help Eli sleep.

They are both zonked now and hopefully dreaming of a great 1st day of school.

Praying for a great first day for all!

Back to School Night 2015

Hard to believe it is already time for Back to School Night again but that it is!

Our 4th LCS Back to School Night ~ WOW!!!

The kiddos were super excited to see friends and "meet" their teachers.

Well, Lukey was simply excited for the ice cream that came at the end of the evening :-)

 Playing on the Playground before the festivities began was fun for all.

Eli was particularly excited for his very 1st LCS Back to School Night and seeing his classroom.

Hanging out with Miss Huber {aka Miss Kaitlyn} was exciting for all of us!

Eli was so precious sitting at his chair and listening so intently.

How is it possible that my sweet little man is starting Kindergarten?!?!?!?!

Alli's biggest excitement of meeting her teacher was getting to pick her own desk.

She made sure to sit next to two good buddies and is hoping that she gets to stay there.

3rd Grade seems so much older to me ~ how did she grow up so quickly????

Aaahhhh!  Time is passing so fast, wish I could slow it down just a bit ;-)

Praying for a wonderful 2015-2016 school year for the little fish.

I must admit though that I did tear up a bit knowing we will only be at LCS for 2 months this year.

Karate

Eli has been asking to take Karate for a couple months and we signed him up for the summer.

He started on Tuesday and was beyond excited :-)

He absolutely LOVED it and has been showing us all his techniques ~ he especially loves the kicks!

We love it because his Sensei is very big on respect and discipline, 

which is how Alli found herself signed up for Karate as well and started today.

She was less than pleased to be taking it and would NOT allow any pictures after she changed into her uniform BUT she came out of the class with a huge smile and said, "That was so fun, I love it!"

Score one for Mommy!

As promised at the beginning of the week, I took the munchkins out for frozen yogurt

 as a treat for completing the first week of Karate.  Yummy and fun for all!

Gotta love the boys' faces.  Perhaps one of these days they will flash sweet smiles like their big sis!

Pretty Pigs

As a thank you gift, one of the amazing moms on the boys' t-ball team gave me a gift certificate for Alli and I to get pedicures so after church, we headed to the spa.  When it came time to pick colors, I started to choose my favorite standby . . . bright red (perfect for summer I think!)  Well, my sweet daughter sighed and said, "Mommy, you always get that" in a very disappointed tone.

Not wanting to disappoint her, I asked her what she would pick for me and this is what I got . . .

I realize glittery blue toes don't see too exciting for many people but this is wild for me.  

I would like to say they are growing on me but I think next time I will stick with my standby :-)

Garrett thinks it was the right thing to do because it made our sweet girl super happy!

BLAST OFF! Discovering the God of Creation

This was Alli's second year participating in CRCC's Spring Musical and she did AWESOME!

This year was a space theme . . . 

Alli LOVES singing in the choir with her buddies and we love learning the songs with her :-)

She began rehearsals back in January and this weekend she had two performances.

She was so excited to have her family there . . . Ducky Gramma, Papa, Uncle Tony, Aunt Jenee and Cousin Bella made it to Saturday's performance (unfortunately, no pictures from the first night).

Tonight's performance was just as cute and the kiddos seemed a bit more relaxed!

Her fan club tonight included Barbie Gramma, Grandpa, Uncle Z, Miss Kaitlyn, Uncle Danny, Rhonda, Cousin Sophie, Mrs. Ferrell and Sammi!!!

The best part about it being the last performance was the kiddos could go up on stage to get pictures with the set ~ they couldn't wait to sit in the spaceship seats :-)

I absolutely LOVE the picture of the cousins!

Of course, Alli also had to pose for some pictures with one of her favorite church buddies!

What an amazing opportunity for Alli and her friends to share the truth about God in such a fun manner!  She did such a great job and we love seeing her shine on stage :-)