Cousins

 The cousins are in town and WOW what a blessing that has been!

I have barely seen them for they are off running through the trees and fields building forts,

planning "Amazing Races" (and running them!)  hanging out, playing Wii, talking, laughing

giggling, holding kitty "tobymac" and eating... lots of eating!

Today the middle two headed to Costco with Papu.

The older two headed to the mall with Grandma & I for a couple hours.

Tonight we packed for a day at Wild Waves tomorrow...

And this is where I just left them getting ready for bed.


The middle two "Emma & Kaysa"

the older two "Kirsten & Sam"

"the triplets..."

and well the little dude was fast asleep...

But let me just tell you he is in HEAVEN with all the girls running around.

He of course thinks he is the boss of everyone... but you've got to learn sometime!

So blessings, noise, chaos, fun, and lots of memories happening at our house.

I love it!

Cologne

A view from my bathroom countertop.

For years my hubby has smelled deliciously yummy wearing his "Fierce" cologne.

The little dude always would come into our bathroom and want a "squirt" of cologne on the front of his shirt... and then would rub it all over.

As I mentioned a month ago when Josh and Sam went on 8th grade class trip...

The cologne disappeared.

Jack was sad, very sad.

So, I just happened to be at the mall looking for Sam's graduation dress...

and there was the kids version of Abercrombie & Fitch... Abercrombie.

They had little bottles of "Clutch" for boys aka "little dudes"  

You know I can't say no... 

Came home with a bottle for the little man...

and now my counter looks like this & both the men in my life smell yummy!

Skateland

Today our family ducked out of church a little early to head north for a family get together.

(can I just say super adorable kids promoting in SS this morning... amazingly adorable baby dedication for sweet Corbin... and a wonderful baptism for Jordan "bsff" Best Saviour friend forever... loved it)

We may have gone skating at "Skateland" for his nieces party.

Josh's childhood skate rink.

I don't think that anything has changed in the last 30+ years.

There was no signage or anything on the outside of the building...

You kind of had to guess that you were at skateland... it was a bit weird.

Anyway,

this dude went skating for the first time.

man he is cute... and he was pretty scared and didn't stray too far from the wall.

here is a shot of the sisters doing the hokey pokey, they had a blast skating in circles.

Honestly I got a little dizzy watching them go around and around.
(can I also mention here that "older" skaters who go 50 mph around little kids trying to show off that they still "have it"  oh my... wow.  I am speechless really.

Dinner out in the country with Josh's mom...

we think it has been 5 years since we have been there.  

But we have been to her Cali house many times in that 5 year period...

Before you get in a panic!

She may have cut the boys hair...

There may have been a drunk man throwing beer cans at cars on our drive home...

My kids were terrified.  We had to back down the main road... drive down a different road and then ended up passing him anyway...

I don't think they will ever drink....

and I would be very pleased if they didn't!

We had a blast with the nona and were sad to leave when it was time to head home :(

In other news of the day my brothers girls are coming to spend a week with us and my girls are BEYOND delirious with excitement!  In fact I hadn't even said anything to them when they started squealing out when they got text messages from their cousins.  Oh my... technology.  Can't even keep secrets anymore!

Quiet.

As of today there is no more music on my blog :(

They no longer allow me to stream my songs onto my blog and I am a little sad about that.

It seems so quiet and I don't like that.  The music speaks to me and expressed things that touched me.

I guess I will just have to figure out a new way to get my tunes on here.

Anyway,

This week has been a whirlwind and it has been anything but quiet...

I miss all the commotion of friends and family crowding around in our home.

This girl graduated 8th Grade on Tuesday night and we celebrated her accomplishments.

 Everyday she makes us proud...

But how wonderful to hear all of her academic accolades 

High Honors, Presidential Award Winner, and Salutatorian for her class.

"Shows Jesus in all she does"

I love that her classmates said that about her...

What a QUICK road it has been from notes like this...

 She wrote this to Janet Rich in 1st Grade...

Here she is with Janet at graduation...

I get teared up thinking about it.

We now have Macs on both sides of the streets!!!

 I know that I am biased... 

but seriously, 

I am BLESSED!!!

 Family Photo - June 2012

(yes it is true... both girls are within a 1/2 of me..)

 my firstborn...

 second born... (who is actually within a 1/4 inch... I am wearing my "super shoes"

 Sam's 2nd family and our best friends.

I hope to see this photo again with different color outfits in the future ;)

 The happy graduate with her Salutatorian medal

 My parents :)

Oh how we all wished that Grandma could have lived to see this day, she would have been so proud of Sam and the beautiful and smart young lady she has grown into.

 Nona :)

So thankful that she could celebrate the moment with us all!

Finally after 8 years we got our other good friends the Champlins up here from Cali.

What a treat to have such great friends that they travelled all that way to support our precious kid!

In other news this week...

• 5 chickens were brutally murdered in a 24 hour period in our coop...  we now have 2. :( 

(really ticked about this)

• We got a new kitten (which will join the other two outdoors when it gets a little bigger)

We named him Toby... aka Tobymac... :)

Libby is officially in love and the kitten has been sleeping in the kennel with her the last few nights!

• I spent the day at the mall with these kids.

Oh my goodness... I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day.
I was like their personal shopper grabbing all kinds of things I would never put on my own body.
We had a blast and the girls all found something cute.

In case you are wondering... the neon pants didn't make it home with us... this time!

a little Yo-Cream before dropping Haley off at the airport.

• Lastly, Please keep the prayers coming.  God is so good and I know He will provide.  Along with Sam's Salutatorian award she received a $500 scholarship which will take care of the first month of tuition!  I just put the final touches (or the last two years) on my resume and will be dropping it off at one school and mailing one to another.  My heart is in teaching and I know when God sees fit I will make an excellent addition to some fabulous school, until that time I thank you for your words of encouragement and your prayers that my dream can become a reality.

So... now that summer is here I hope to be a little more regular with posts and updates on life.  

Hope you all have a fabulous Sabbath and a great weekend!