Pray for Uncle Brian

Brian is now a 1st Lieutenant in the US Air Force, and he will deploy to Afghanistan in late September. He flies the C130 Gunship, Special Forces. We are so proud of him, and we ask for all of our friends to pray that God will watch over him and keep him safe! These pictures were from Brian's pilot winging ceremony in February 2007 in Corpus Christie, TX. He is now stationed in Destin, FL, but will spend at least 3 months overseas. Our Madeline says she wants to be a pilot when she grows up, just like Uncle Brian.

Nana's Girls

I found this great picture of 'the girls' from Nana and Megan's trip to town earlier this summer. Meg had just completed her Junior year at LMU, and we had a great time showing them around Fayetteville! This was taken right before we took the girls to a special brunch at Soul, one of our favorite restaurants in town.

Soccer Game #1!

Meet the Dynamo Team (Fayetteville U-6) and Coach Mark! The girls played a great game on Saturday morning, and every single one of them had a goal! Our little Madeline had 4 goals, 2 assists, and some awesome defensive moves! She absolutely loves soccer, and of course loves having her Daddy coach! What a coincidence that she's been number '3' for the past 4 seasons of soccer...of course we had to keep her Dad's lucky number in the family!

San Antonio

We spent Labor Day Weekend with Pa Pa Doc and family in San Antonio. Uncle Brian flew in from Florida, and Aunt Megan flew in from LA. It is a great town, and we enjoyed visiting the Riverwalk, the Alamo, and Sea World. We had a Dora birthday cake for Ella, and of course she is a proud 3 year old! Another highlight was trying the kids' Guitar Hero! We all enjoyed getting to know Madison, Davis, and Riley; they are good kids.

Visit with Jay's Family and Branson

7 am before heading out - are we there yet?

These are a few snapshots of our fun summer visit with Jay, Tracy, Caden, Colin & Carmen Wilburn in early August. The kids always enjoy spending time with their cousins! We celebrated the 3rd birthdays, too! Carmen's birthday was July 27th and Ella's is August 28th. You can see that everyone had fun with the Diego art kit!

We enjoyed 3 days in Branson, MO and Silver Dollar City. Our resort was on Table Rock Lake, just a few minutes from all of the attractions. Check out the 'statues' posing above. Madeline, Aunt Chrissy, Aunt Tracy & Colin enjoyed riding the Thunderation roller coaster. Uncle Mark convinced Caden to go down a speed racer waterslide. Ella and Carmen loved the tall swings. Uncle Jay enjoyed winning the race to the top of the tower (even though Uncle Mark thinks he won!). The best part was the 'family time'!

Singing in the Rain

Dora the Explorer chairs, new princess umbrellas, and singing in the rain. Life is good.

First week of School! Kindergarten & Pre-K 3's

St. Joseph's School, here we come! As of August 18th, Madeline is in Mrs. Neumeier's Kindergarten class, and Ella goes to Mrs. Ashley's 3 year old class on Tuesday and Thursday. The school had a very nice picnic for new families on Sunday after church, which gave the girls a chance to meet friends before school started.

Miss Madeline doesn't like her mom and dad to walk her into class (she knows how to get there, mom and dad!). She's already learning a lot, but she doesn't understand why they haven't taught her how to read yet (in week 1). On Thursday, we had to hurry to school because she had a 'plan' with her friend Kirsten to meet at the front door and walk in together.

Ella came home doing the sign of the cross. She loves 'dipping into the Angel'. She is also amazed that boys can stand up when they go to the bathroom!