Visit with Grandpa and Grandma VanCamp, and cousins William and Joshua

At the end of February, we took a trip to Charlotte to visit Dad, JoAnn, my sister Elizabeth and her family.  We had a fabulous time and it, as always, was like no time had passed!  Wish we lived closer!

Dad and JoAnn took us to a REALLY neat place called JAARS  Headquarters which translates the Bible into many dialects/languages of extremely remote villages around the world.  Sometimes taking decades to first learn the language, linguists then translate God’s Word so that they too can know the Truth.  This charity is amazing…made me want to be a missionary!  On the grounds were training airplane runways so that the pilots can land in the middle of jungles and an alphabet museum which had the boys utmost attention!  It was GREAT!  Thank you gma and gpa!

Engine room…

One of the jet engines used by JAARS.

The hanger…thanks to many gracious donors, some of these planes cost over $1million.

Although a majority of the tourists and guides were 6-7times the boys age, they were so interested!  Everyone was so kind and intelligent, it helps that my Dad returns to his childhood whenever children are around.

Ryan couldn’t get enough…

Andrew stamping his name in hieroglyphics…

This was their favorite part…translating Chinese

Lily learning about the airplanes…trying to stay awake.

After a long but fun day, we picked up the cousins, William and Joshua, and had a super fun cookout/football game/lego extravaganza!

Grandpa’s so funny!

Joshua and Andrew

William and Ryan

Dad’s beautiful posing skills…haha

Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Eric with Lily…

I think William wants a little sister…haha!

Mommy and her baby!

Dad hasn’t aged a bit!

We had a long drive home for a baby, but we were all happy to have had a wonderful visit with our family!  We love you all very much!

Good morning…back to the Ireland daily life, and what a blessed life it is!

Thank you Dad and JoAnn and Higginbothams for such a great visit!  One day we’ll all live close together hopefully!  Until then, we love our visits!

Valentine’s Day and my birthday!

Maybe I am not of the right age yet, but I still look forward to my birthday and really have no fear of getting older, of course I don’t have to look at myself constantly as I start to wrinkle…haha!  I love my birthday week though because it falls on V-day week and I tend to get lots of heartfelt goodies!  One thing I look forward to are my flowers…this year was AWESOME with a couple roses and all sorts of Lilies…how appropriate!  I want to grow one of each of these.

                   Absolutely GORGEOUS!

I also LOVE this week, because I know Matt and I will get to have a date and catch up on adult things and each other!  Thank you Grammy!

We also took the kids to a hibachi restaurant…the verdict is out if we will return…the fire was a bit much for Andrew!

He warmed up quickly though!

Ryan was a natural!

Lily needed Daddy’s lap to feel safe!  I feel that way too much of the time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!

I have the perfect husband…just sayin!

Sure, sure, the only perfect human was Jesus Christ but Matty is in the running for second!  I caught him doing chores and taking care of the baby the other day.  He is awesome!  I’d say that’s why I love him, but that would be a lie.  I would love him if he did absolutely nothing but play golf and watch TV,  that’s what love is. Loving someone the way they are, not the way you want them to be. It just so happens my hubby is both!  Thank you God for my greatest gift EVER!

Nana’s new house…

So, Nana (my mom) moved near Amy (my sister) and she and got a great small foreclosure that Amy/Joey fixed up for her to live in.  We helped a little but being 2hours north, we weren’t there much in the 3weeks it took.  Matt did some painting though!  So we got to go in February to check out the digs and boy did they do a great job!  Of course, with all the grandkids, it did not stay pristine like Nana likes it, but from the pics, you can get the idea!

The new living room: carpet, paint, and tile.

The new kitchen: cabinets, paint, uh pretty much everything in here.

The hallway:  paint, carpet, molding, and new doors.

Nana said “No eating in the living room.”  How funny are these kids at the edge of the rug!

What a happy Nana!  This IS her happy face!  That silly girl!

Lily and Michael approve the new carpet…frieze!

This place is what?  A mess!

Just for you Nana!  We love you!

So I noticed a picture of myself that I hadn’t seen in years up on Nana’s freshly painted walls.  I guess I just never noticed it until we had our own little girl.  So does she look like a little Mommy?

Some days she looks just like Matt though!  I guess maybe Matt and I look alike.  Haha! Well, whatever, we love our little perfect mix of us!  God found both of our best attributes but most of all I hope she acquires our heart that is SOFT for the Lord!

Lily turns 4 months…January 2nd

With all the excitement of January, I forgot to post Lily’s 4 month pictures.  Oh that sweet girl!

She is such a happy baby!  She is VERY busy too, so busy she does not have time to sleep through the night!  Not so happy for Mommy and Daddy, but really, these times pass so quickly we have to eat them up!


It was hard to keep her in this position because she kept rolling over!  I wish I could stop time and enjoy every minute for hours with all the babies…especially the 8 and 6 year old babies.  I realize now how fast they have grown and how much they’ve learned.

More January fun…basketball and Grammy’s bday

Unfortunately, almost all good things come to an end and this season’s upward basketball was one of them.  The boys got to play on the same team which at first we thought would take from their individuality, but once it started we realized what a fabulous opportunity it was for bonding!  These boys really enjoyed working together and it was great to see that the first person they celebrated with after a good play was each other!

The boys also got the coolest trophies we had ever seen!

I started out January teaching Lily how to coupon…I see a crazy coupon baby on the horizon!

I love catching Ryan loving to learn!

Busted!

Andrew sure does love his baby!

And Lily loves him … and being cute!

Grammy’s Birthday was also this month and we had Peepaw, Grammy, Aunt Megan, and Uncle Billy over for a small celebration.  We had big fun though!

Grammy did great at Earthketball

Uncle Billy had an unfair advantage.

Andrew was the official cake taster…I mean cutter!

The “Mosierlands” will be such great parents!

Grammy got some nice things….

…and some nice visiting time!

Peepaw got some Lily-love…

…and Ryan got a Grammy ride!

She truly is a Daddy’s girl!

She was quite happy with her Aunt Megan time too!

She found the tickle spot.

We were happy to have everyone with us and to celebrate and thank God for giving us another year with Grammy!  We wanted a family picture since we really have few of them with all five of us, but Andrew was having a “six-year-old” moment and decided he was not doing pictures!  Maybe when he’s seven…haha

Regardless, we love each other and hold our“family pics” in our hearts and memories!

 

 

3.