Beach Week!!!

We had a great week at the Beach! It was so nice to get away and relax and spend time with family.

The kids enjoyed the warm spa after getting wet in the cold ocean

Even the little ones got in and "swam" around :) 

The house we stayed at had bikes we could ride....Dave, Tera, Brod and I rode to pick up dinner one night. We had so much fun! 

One of the highlights was going to the Boardwalk.....we sure got our money's worth by going on most of the rides over and over :)))

Sissy even got Nana to go in the big roller coaster!

Here are Dave and Tera at the end of the ride....it was our favorite! 

Kaylee had a BLAST! She went on every ride that she was tall enough for ~ even the Log Ride ;) This helicopter was her FAVORITE! She laughed and giggles the whole time she was in it :)

Anna was her BUDDY all week ~ they had so much fun together! Anna is so sweet and helpful with Kaylee and Kaylee just LOVES her to pieces! 

Hold on girls!

Silly boys on the roller coasters

And the girls :)

Uncle Dave and Anna :)

The dads took the kids paddle boarding

Alese even came for a visit! Kaylee started off the week with not wanting to touch the sand at all (she hasn't wanted to the last few times we've taken her to the beach). But as soon as she saw the big kids running from the waves, she couldn't resist! By the end of the week, we couldn't keep her out of the water! 

So much fun!

It's Summer!!!

Wa-Hoo!!! We are super excited that our summer vacation officially started today! We started celebrating Friday :)

Sissy had some friends up to the cabin this weekend 

Kaylee even rode on the tube (She was so excited!) 

We were out on the water a lot :)

We had a super fun time! Although we did loose an iPhone in the lake and one of the girls chipped her tooth :(. But overall we had a blast! 

Kaylee started swim lessons a couple of weeks ago :)

She LOVES every minute of her time with Teacher Amy!!!

And she works SO hard! 

I'm really proud of her ~ she was pretty worried at first. I told her that she will swim with Teacher Amy and Mommy will sit in the chairs and watch. We went one day to watch some of the other kids at swim class so she could see what I was talking about. 

This is the first time that she has separated from me and gone to someone that she had just met ~ so that was another hurdle for her to overcome. And she was so BRAVE! She kept looking back and asking Teacher Amy for me....but Amy is SO awesome with her ~ she just distracted her and showed her toys in the pool or fun things around her yard. 

So at her 2nd lesson, she was excited and ready to go.....except she decided she would really rather not put her face under the water. She kept telling me, "No thank you under wa-wa" over and over. I told her that I would talk to Teacher Amy about that ;). Amy explained to Kaylee that she needed to learn to swim so she would need to go under the water. Again, she just got this look of determination on her face and did just what Teacher Amy said! I could see fear and worry creep up every so often, and then it was almost like you could see her set her mind to do what she was being asked to do and she would go full force! 

Now she can't wait to get in that pool and swim all around! Sooo proud of her!!

We also went and watched Rachel and Anna's play that they were in a few weeks back....they did an amazing job!!!

Yay for summer! 

Girls/Boys Weekend

We had the BEST of weekends :)

We started off with the guys heading up to the mountains for a Father/Son Retreat at the lake....so us girls made it a Girls Night! We went out to dinner, got our toes painted and enjoyed some yummy yogurt ;)

 This was Kaylee's first time getting her toes painted professionally ~ usually her daddy is the one who paints her sweet little toes
(because he is WAY better at it than Sissy and I are ;)

 She started off on my lap.....
but soon ventured over into her own chair in between Sis and I :)
Sissy and I chose a teal blue color and Kaylee Grace chose purple with sparkles ;)

 This is what I saw as I looked over after paying ~ Kaylee giving Sis a pedicure :)

 Yogurt time!

I LOVE these girls so much!!!! It was such a treat to have sweet time with just the 3 of us girls :)

We had SUCH a fun night....we had a sleepover in Mom and Dad's room, then woke up and packed our stuff to head up to the cabin! 

The boys had a GREAT Father/Son Retreat :)  They ate great food, fished, hiked, did devotionals, watched a movie and had some great quality time!

Here they are hiking the Falls ~ Keeg and Kols say this was their FAVORITE part of the weekend. They said they liked it because it was SO dangerous.....they told me, "Mom, you would have Nnnnnnever let us hike that if you were with us!" I said, "Well, that's what brave dads are for - taking their sons on things that us moms would worry WAY too much about :)"

They said that their favorite devotional was when they learned about a man who sacrificed a lot to help the Jewish people hide and escape during Hitler's reign. What stood out to them is how sometimes as Christians we are called to give up a lot in order to lead others to Christ.

Boys, you are blessed beyond what you'll ever know to have such an awesome daddy who loves you so much :)

Kaylee Grace ~ One Year Video

Our church, New Harvest, is doing a series on 3 pillars that are foundational to our faith: Prayer, Love and Mission. We started this series on Easter and we were blessed to be able to share our story of God's AMAZING love in Kaylee Grace's life and how He has forever changed our family through her precious life. They did a beautiful video that really captures just how GREAT our God is!!!

Below is a link to our New Harvest FB page ~ just scroll down a bit and you will see our video :)
(the link isn't working so you may have to copy and paste it in address bar)

https://www.facebook.com/nhclife

All praise and glory to our Lord Jesus who LOVES enough to rescue the weak and vulnerable!

More Food?

I'm pretty sure this is what  Kaylee Grace is thinking every time I make another meal for her and call her in to eat.

We've been REALLY working on our eating over the last few months ~ well, we've been working on eating since she came home ;). 

But we've been really pushing her over the last few months. Some days we make great progress ~ like last week.....

I made a half of a PB & J and sliced a large strawberry. It was the first time she tired PB & J ...... And she liked it! Like, she actually asked for MORE on her own rather than me bribing her in one way it another ;)

She even put a bite or two in on her own :). This is huge because she is still really funny about touching most foods other than Cheerios or goldfish ;)

She worked and worked on getting it down ~ she doesn't quite have the oral ability to move the food to her side teeth to chew and therefore get it down. I put it in at her side teeth and it ends up right behind her front teeth- and stays there (even when she chews and chews- it just stays stuck there). 

So I put Cheerios in at her side teeth and have her drink LOTS of water....and eventually that bite gets down and we start again :). 

It takes about an hour for us to get a half of PB & J and 1 full strawberry down...

But here is what her plate looked like after an hour!!

If I do a slice of turkey and cheese, that takes more like 1 1/2-2 hours ~ same with the egg and strawberry we've been working on lately

She's not as into the egg~ but will let me put it in her mouth nonetheless ;)

Here's what her plate looked like last week after 2 hours....almost all gone! I was really proud of her!!

So, today when I busted out the egg and strawberry, she just didn't have it in her....we worked and worked (I offered reward after reward) ;). But we really didn't end up getting anywhere....

So, I finally gave in ~ which was hard for me ;). When it's something as essential as eating, I can get pretty determined ;). 

She kept asking to swim (even though it's early and only 64 degrees out) and I could tell she just wasn't going to help me out with the whole "feeding therapy" thing today......it had been over an hour and we hadn't really made any progress at all. 

So, I told her, "two more bites and finish your strawberry and we will go swimming"....she was ALL in! She got her two bites down cheerfully; without crying and refusing to open her mouth ;) and ate her strawberry and we were off~

And her happy smile appeared again :)

She really is working so hard....overall she has made such great progress! So I 

am praying that today was just one of our "off" days and we'll be back at it tomorrow ~ or maybe even this afternoon ;)))

We still supplement her with a packed full bottle about 4 times a day (depending on how much food she takes in with eating). We put yogurt, baby oatmeal, fruit squeeze pouches, coconut milk (she seems to be bothered by cow's milk) and even olive oil for some extra calories! 

I keep reminding myself of how far she has come~ she takes her bottles consistently so we no longer have to worry about dehydration or calorie intake, she lets us put different foods in her mouth and she tries to get them down, she drinks water throughout the day when I ask her to.....all steps in the right direction!

We praise Jesus for how He leads and guides us step by step everyday! 

Introducing Hershey.....

Kennady's new Bunny.....

He is a Holland Lop Bunny and is only 5 months old!

Kaylee has liked chasing him around the yard!!

She sure loves him!!!

Here's his cage.....

The kids are having fun with him :). And learning how much work it is to keep his cage clean ;)

Easter Break at the Beach :)

We LOVE our breaks from school! As soon as school got out on Friday before Easter Break we headed to the beach!

Kaylee Grace has been to the ocean one other time so she knew just what we were talking about when we announced we were going to spend a few days at the beach :)

We had a blast.....relaxed, watched movies (Frozen - Kaylee's new favorite!), read books, played in the sand and just had great family time.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your Love and sweet time away! 

He is RISEN indeed!

We had a wonderful Easter celebrating our Risen Lord Jesus
with family and church family :)

 Easter is for sure my favorite day of the year

 The JOY....the AWE....the WONDER of the price that our Savior paid for those that call Him Lord to be REDEEMED ~
bought back from the punishment that we deserve for our sins

 That the One and Only Son of God would love us enough to absorb ALL of God's wrath so that we could stand before the Lord covered in Christ's Righteousness....

 How thankful we are everyday for the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus....and I LOVE having a special day each year set aside just to GLORIFY Him!!!

Kennady with Rhys

 All the cousins (Baby Emma wasn't the most photogenic at the moment)

 Anna and Kaylee

 Grandpa Gibson (picture taken by Kaylee) ;)

 Anna and Claire

 The big kids and Kaylee

Everyone on the right side of the picture ended up on the ground and we couldn't figure out why....until we looked at the picture on my camera! Keegan, being the big brother that he is, had to add some fun to the photo shoot ;)....
Kols obviously thinks it's funny....Kennady- not so much :)

"HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN, 

JUST AS HE SAID." Matthew 28:6

A thought we've been contemplating more and more as a family ~ If Jesus loves us enough to be willing to take the punishment for our sins and die for us....how much more should we be willing to LIVE fully for Him!

Happy Easter!!!

***Professional Easter Photos by Stacy Marini Photography***