Amazing News!!!

Our friends, Jeff and Tanya, who are in the process of adopting a little boy from Haiti FINALLY got good news this weekend! Praise the Lord!! His visa was printed on Friday and they are leaving TODAY to go pick him up!! Tomorrow will be such a joyous day for them, and we would love it if you would all pray with us for safe travels and that everything goes smoothly for them. Stevenson is 5 years old and has 3 sisters and two brothers at home waiting to meet him in person! Can you imagine the smiles in that house?!!! It has been a REALLY long wait, but the Lord is SO good and always faithful.

Would You Believe...

These 3 little stinkers are going to be in a wedding on Saturday??? Well, at least that is the plan. I don't know how the boys will do, or if they will actually do anything, but we're up for giving it a try. My cousin Jason is getting married to a wonderful girl, Andrea, and we are all so excited for them! It will be a great weekend to have fun and celebrate with them, as well as see all the Ballew family. I think there will be some dancing at the reception...so watch out, Cole has been practicing!

We Just Can't Get Enough...

Cole and Marcus

Carson and Marcus
The twins
Look! It's a bird, it's a plane...YES it is a plane!
Carson demonstrating how a plane flies

Being Silly

Mmmm...Lunch!

Carson taking a break...he was worn out!

We got home from church this morning and within 5 minutes everyone had their swim trunks on and was headed outside. They absolutely LOVE their swimming pool (amazing the joy a $19 pool will bring a kid), and can't get enough of being outside! It's funny all the things that catch their attention, such as birds, chipmunks (yes chipmunks...we don't have squirrels here), airplanes, ...and we have plenty of other distractions right here on I-29 so they are always chatting away (whether we understand them or not). They had a good time and decided to eat their lunch outside too. Levi has been really busy working on a presentation for school and studying for a test he has tomorrow so it was probably good we took all of our "noise" and distraction outside for a bit. Now for the best part of the day...NAPTIME! Have a great Sunday!

Hot Summer Days

Water baby
Fun in the pool They love to throw water on the plants...
and on each other

Singing...sort of
Growing boys
Carson
Cole
Marcus and his new scooter!

Marcus on his scooter and Cole following after
Carson enjoying a car ride

Here are some pictures I took this week. It's been a pretty normal week around here. Of course Levi has been studying a lot and I have been taking care of life's little details...fun things like cancelling health insurance, applying for new health insurance, and planning details of what needs to be taken care of regarding our move, etc...you'd think I'd remember since we moved here just a year ago, but I think I forgot how much work goes into moving your family around...plus last time most of our stuff was already packed up we just had to get it loaded out of storage. We're so excited though, so it's fun each time I get to mark something off my list of "things to do"...(I am totally aware I will get a lot of flack from my previous coworkers at Cerner...I was known to have many "lists", even a notebook they affectionately called my "book of life", there were a drawer full of volumes by the time I "retired") Truth be told, I'm probably the least organized person since leaving the workforce and being a stay at home Mom...organized or not, the job is getting done!

Sometimes you just need to DANCE!

Here is a short video of Cole dancing earlier this spring when we were in KC. He just loves to dance and make us laugh...if you want to hear the sound along with the video (which is mostly us laughing) you will need to scroll to the bottom of the blog and click on the pause button on the music player. Enjoy!

Our Dad: A Father's Day Interview...with a 3 year old

It's Thursday afternoon, Marcus and I (Jenny) are sitting out on the back patio visiting about life (he loves to just sit and talk)...I thought it would be a good time to interview him about Father's Day and his Daddy.

1. What is Father's Day?

Marcus: Ummm, it's Daddy day, and we're gonna make Daddy a pitcher (picture)!

2. What do you love about your Daddy?

Marcus: I love Daddy so much, I want to play with him again (at the moment he's gone taking a test)...and I like my teddy bear too.

3. What kinds of things do you like to do with Daddy?

Marcus: Play cars in the brothers room up there (pointing to their window)...and we like it too. We like to put train tracks together. I like it when he prays with us and reads to us. I like it when he give us horsey rides....and the brothers like it too. Sometimes we fall off.

4. What are some things that your Daddy loves?

Marcus: Ummm...He loves you Mom. He also loves hearts. He loves me and the brothers...And I love the brothers and you.

5. What does your Daddy like to eat?

Marcus: He likes to eat cheese...and i do...he likes potato salads, he likes hamburgers

6. What things does your Daddy like to do?

Marcus: He likes to study...but I don't want to talk about that right now...I think I done talking about all of it.

END of INTERVIEW... :)

One last question...On Father's Day, what's one last thing you want to tell your Daddy?

Marcus: Ummm, I think I want you to tell him that I was being good for you. (typical thing he tells me everyday)

Happy Fathers Day sweetie! The boys and I love you very much. You are an amazing Dad, making your family your hightest priority all the time. It is wonderful to see the joy you bring to the boys each day!

Change of Plans

Yesterday Levi came home from school with a slight (actually HUGE) change in plans...The director changed/moved the date of the end of summer semester up a week!!  We both were a little freaked out for about 5 minutes, then we got busy and got on the phone to take care of business.  Levi and I were both a little strangely irritated (only because we already had everything all planned out...we're planners you know), yet excited about the news.  This news meant that Levi will have 2 weeks off before clinical rotations start in the middle of August, but also meant that we could get moved a week earlier as long as everyone involved (landlord here, landlord there, moving truck company, all our parents who are helping) was flexible. Within 30 minutes we had all bases covered and it actually worked out better for most people.  Yeah!  So, our move date is now Aug 2.  We are very excited, that's only 7 weeks away!

Playtime

Brothers

Teddy bear getting a thrilling ride
The car got the best of Carson and pulled him under!

Marcus
The boys enjoying some fruit snacks
Marcus, Cole, and Carson
Carson
Cole

This morning the boys and I played outside while Daddy was studying. With all the stormy weather we've had here (and from the looks of the forecast for the next week) and all that we are going to get, we definitely take advantage of getting outside when it's nice. I think they'd play all day out there if they could!

Cell Phones + The Washer = NOT good

Ok, so I washed Levi's cell phone in the laundry this week by accident...nice huh? We tried to revive it all day long to no avail. Now the kids have a new play phone, and they were pretty excited about it! Above are a few pic's of Carson playing with the phone and "practicing" laying in his brothers big boy bed. When I came into Marcus' room and saw him laying there I tried to explain to him that he would have a big boy bed too very soon. (2 months to be exact) We're going to put the twins and Marcus all in the same room when we move and all in twin beds. We'll see how that works out?! It may be rough for a few weeks, but I think they will settle into the situation ok...I just hope and pray that they aren't up playing all night long. :)

Also here are some pic's of a storm that went through last night. We just avoided several tornado's...so you can imagine the excitement that was going on around here!  One funny thing that happened as we were watching the weather on the news...the weather guy must have thought that he wasn't on the air anymore, because he was turned around in his chair talking to the other weather people, then leaned down picked up his cell phone and called home!!!  He said, "Hey Honey, we're getting some terrible storms moving through here, could you and the girls try to get the things in off of the deck?" Ha ha!!!  He had no idea he was still live on tv.  We were cracking up!  On that note, have a great weekend!