Alabama trip and more

Colin--1 week old.

The older cousins outside of Uncle Brett and Aunt April's house--

Naaman, Kyra, Lauren, and Kelsie

Kelsie looking quite beautiful in Nana's yard.

Kyra posing at the fun playground outside Uncle Larry's church.

Cousin Audrey is getting ready to go down the slide in the background.

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything! Life has been a bit hectic, especially as we've been nearing the end of school for the ISU students and for our kiddos. Rudy's been out of town for over a week now in Texas, and I think we're making it ok. I've been so exhausted from doing everything around here that I've been falling asleep with the kids at 9PM, getting up around 3AM to roam the house and clean-up, get on the computer, etc for a couple of hours before going back to bed. Of course I have to get up soon after going back to bed because I have to get the kids ready for school and then go to work. I've been working late because I've been going in late because I have to get Naaman and Kyra off to school, Kelsie to the babysitters, etc. It's been quite a schedule. Tomorrow I will be mowing the lawn (again.) I last mowed it on Mother's Day so I could find the best place to plant my new flowers given to me by Kyra and Grace Church. To think...I had never mowed a lawn in my life until a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say, I took the kids out for Krispy Kreme donuts tonight--not too bad since I've resisted eating out the whole time Rudy's been gone. We can't wait to have him home late next week!

Speaking of having kids home...I can't wait to have Naaman and Kyra around all summer! I especially can't wait to not have the rigors of the school schedule and to be able to enjoy the pools and parks here in Normal. We've even planned a few vacations out of state this summer as well as some day trips to Chicago. We are headed to Estes Park, Colorado for a Cornerstone staff time for a few days at the end of June. Of course, I will be vacationing with the kids the ENTIRE time, but Rudy will have to work 2 out of 4 days of the trip--sad for him. I am actually off work for 5 days in a row around the 4th of July, so we are going to drive down to Panama City Beach, Florida to visit my Mom and stepdad. I love a road trip. Rudy might not be so keen on it after his Texas trip and after the drive to Colorado and back just 2 weeks beforehand, but he seems willing to humor me. I can't believe my Mom owns a beach condo, and my (almost) 3 year-old has never seen the beach--a travesty. Of course tonight the kids were telling stories about what happened at school today, and Kelsie made up a story about going to the beach to visit Nana. I think she gets annoyed by her boring life and decides to just make something up:)

I hear Chicago is beautiful in the summer, too. Plus we have reciprocal Children's Museum passes, which will allow us to go to the Planetarium, the Science and Technology Museum, and the Field Museum for FREE (one of my favorite words.) The Chicago zoo is ALWAYS free. Trust me...the cost of parking in that city makes up for all the free stuff, but it will be worth it. I can't believe we have such a great city only 2 hours away!

Well, I wanted to blog about my Alabama trip, but here I am getting carried away with everything else. We made a semi-spontaneous trip to Alabama over the kids' Spring Break in March. It was semi-spontaneous because I found out I could get a day off work to go only a few days beforehand. Rudy was able to go at the last minute, too, because he brought his work with him. I was just really sad about missing out on going to visit my family at Christmas because of the Disney trip (quite the hardship, huh?) We had a great visit with my aunts Cherry, Donna, and Pat and got to spend lots of time with my Granny and PaPa. We also got to eat lots of good southern food, which is always a plus. On the way home, we stopped off in Birmingham (only 1 hour out of the way) to see my brand new nephew, Colin. He's quite adorable, as you can see from the picture. He let me hold him while he slept for an hour, and it was very sweet. All the pictures posted are from the Alabama trip since Rudy has the camera with him in Texas right now. We haven't downloaded the more recent photos.

A few things going on recently that will need more blogging later (or at least a few pictures): Kelsie was a flower girl in Erik and Gina Meeks' wedding on April 17 (she did great--what a relief!), Naaman turned 8 on April 19, Kyra turned 6 on April 27, Kyra got her ears pierced on her birthday (so grown up now!), we attended the ISU circus on April 24 and saw our friend Charis do a great job, Kelsie potty-trained in about a 4 day period starting the night of the circus, the kids had a joint Pokemon birthday party on May 2, the ISU students finished up finals and left town last weekend. I have also had a couple of opportunities to teach at Cornerstone events lately--the Women's Overnighter in March and the Women's 1st and 3rd Breakfast a few weeks ago. It's been a blessing to have an opportunity to share some life experience and scripture with the young ladies in our church. Can you believe I'm the oldest woman in the church? Bible Study Fellowship is ending this week. I'm happy to take one more thing out of my schedule, but I'm sad, too, because I've learned so much this year through the book of John. The Isaiah study starts in September.

Well, that's my life so far! Hope we will meet again soon. Thanks for reading!