Breaking Habits--Part 1

For as long as I can remember I've been a nail biter!!I think I might have been born biting my nails! It is a habit that I have always "just had" but that my husband HATES!! :) About 4 weeks ago we were hanging out with some of our besties and the wife mentioned that her husband used to bite his nails!! So, being the annoyed husband of a nail biter, my husband whips out "How did you get him to stop??" She went on to tell us {me} how many germs there are under your nails and how grimy our hands are!! Well, of course these are all things that I know, but after hearing it from her...I had to think!!! After I thought about that for about a minute, I decided that I was DONE being a nail biter!! :) So, here we are 4 weeks later and my nails are gorgeous!! I LOVE painting them and having them long!! (Well for me they are long, but they are growing!!:)) So {YAY} for breaking one bad habit!! I am excited to share with you all a few of the other bad habits I am working on breaking!!

A Princess Party

We celebrated my Maddie's 4th birthday with a Princess Party!! She LOVES Princesses through and through!! She loves to dress up as a Princess, she loves to read about Princesses and she loves to talk about ANY thing Princess!! She is my girly-girl all the way {and I wouldn't have it ANY other way!!} We woke up on her birthday, sang to her and told her her birth story (of course without the "interesting" details, just with all of the cute parts! :) Then we headed over to my parents house so I could finish up the last minute details (which I LOVE!!:)) Wyatt took M and Z for a delicious breakfast at McDonalds so mom and I could have a few minutes to finish everything up!! I have to make a HUGE shout out to my parents for graciously hosting Maddie's party every year!! I think they love it, just as much as we do, but we are SO THANKFUL for their thoughtfulness and generosity!! It is one of our favorite traditions!! :):)

Finally our Princess came and we got her dressed in her *new* Cinderella dress that we got her from the Disney Store, complete with a sparkly tiara!! Oh, her eyes lit UP as she twirled in the mirror just admiring herself! :) She was SO EXCITED for her friends to come!! One by one her sweet friends came through the door!!! She was such a good little hostess!! We started off our party by decorating cinch sac's for each of her guests, then we colored Princess pictures and played dress up!! After a lunch of ALL of Maddie's favorites (mini corn dogs, mac and cheese, cheeto puffs, chips and dip, spinach dip and hot dogs) she opened her birthday gifts (given so thoughtfully by each friend) decorated cup cakes and then sang to our favorite birthday girl!! She was just delighted!! :) It was the perfect day and we are SO THANKFUL for all who made it fabulous!! :):)

A Love Note to My Maddie

Dear Sweet Daughter!

I can hardly believe you are going to be 4 on Saturday!!! Can that really be true!? You are my pride and JOY, my Maddie Joy!! God knew that I needed you in my life and I am SO thankful that He blessed me with your precious little life!! He knew that I needed a little girl to enjoy the beautiful things in life with!! I love hanging out with you...you love crafts and baking and all things girly, you just make me smile! I LOVE this about you!! You bring me so much joy! Never could I have imagined how much you would be like me...it is a blessing and it is also kind of scary! I pray over you SO much, knowing all the things that lay ahead for you...I pray that you will make better decisions than I did during certain points in my life!! I pray you will SEEK Him, in ALL things!! I pray that God will bless you with some awesome girl friends and that you will stick tight to each other all throughout life! I pray that you will find your identity in Christ and that He will be the center of your life, even when it gets tough!! These things and SO many more I pray for you my sweet, precious daughter!! You are the daughter of my heart and I love you so much!!!

You are such a beautiful girl, both on the inside and out!! You are so happy and full of JOY!!! You love your brother and your friends and you would do ANYthing to help them, or make them feel better!!! You are such a good listener and at night when I am tucking you in when you ask "Mommy, did I obey you today?" it melts my heart!! You have such a gentle spirit and you are so soft hearted!! I love the way you love your family!! You would always choose a girls' day away with your Ga-Ga, Tre-Tre and I over anything else!! I pray that we can be a good example to you!! The three of us are all very similar, but also very different and I pray that we can lavish love and affirmation on you, in all of the ways you need!! Oh, how we love you!!

I have never seen a daddy melt with love, the way your daddy did when he saw you for the first time!! OH, he is SO proud of you!!! He often tells you stories about how you and he would nap together every day when you were just a little baby!! :) You would lay on his chest and off to sleepy time you would both go!! :) That was such special bonding time for you two!! You love to hear stories about you when you were a baby!! (You are so cute!:)) Sometimes, when you are feeling sad or a little insecure about something, you climb onto your daddy's lap and rest your head against his chest!! He and I LOVE you SO much!!

Maddie Joy, I pray that this year will be your best year yet!! I pray that God will continue to knock on your heart and that you will continue to listen to Him in all that you do!! As you start school, I pray that you will SHINE for Jesus!! I am SO proud of the little girl you are!! You are a blessing to your mommy!!! I love you my Maddie!!!!

My Favorites!

These are some of my new favorite pictures of my kiddos!! :) They LOVE each other SO MUCH and love to be together!! :) It is pretty precious! :) This top picture was taken as we were heading out the door to have our weekly Tuesday lunch with Ga-Ga!! I love the way the wrapped their arms around each other, even without me asking! :) They are truly great friends!! They love to be together, no matter where they are!! If one of them goes somewhere, the other usually follows!! I hope we can raise our kiddos to NOT be competitive against each other!! I want them to have a healthy and fun drive to be great at whever they do, but I DON'T want them to feel like they have to out do the other at all times!! We want them to grow up being proud of thier siblings for their achievements!! {Lord, hear our prayers!!}











The picture was taken just last week as we were getting ready to go swimming!! It is definitely a PERK to have a really nice swimming pool in our neighborhood!! We look forward to swimming ALL winter, so once the pool is open, we are THERE!! :) They look SO cute in their swimming suits!! :)













BEST friends!! They melt my heart!! I LOVE them SO much!!!!

Today I got to spend the day with a dear friend! I woke up with JOY just at the thought of the conversations we would have, and the laughter we would share!! :) Veronica and I go waaay back and I am so thankful for the history that we have together!! It is so wonderful to have a lifelong friendships!! God has blessed both Wyatt and I with several life long friends...and for these true friends, we are deeply thankful!! I have been so excited for her to come and hang out with us and today was a truly blessed day!!! My sweet friend is a missionary (so I am going to be pretty careful about how much I write!! :))!! Her and her husband and children have taken on God's awesome call to teach His Word to people all over!! It is A-MAZING to hear her stories and to watch her share about her friends that are coming to know and love God!!! She loves, serves and honor's God in EVERYTHING that she does, I love to watch her in action!! I am SO PROUD of the woman she is! She is simply one of the COOLEST ladies I know!! Someday, when she moves back here, I am fairly certain we will hang out every day, talking and laughing and living it up!!! I love you Vern, thanks for an AWESOME day!! :):)

4th of July

We enjoyed the BEST 4th of July weekend!! It was jam pack with all of our favorite things to do!! :) It started out with Wyatt being on vacation and has gotten better and better each day!! Here is a run down of our 4th of July festivities!!

Friday--Wyatt was OFF and a wonderful day of our sweet little family!! Friday night, we had our friends the Colvette's over!! They have 3 precious kiddos that LOVE our kiddos, so it was just perfect evening for our family all the way around! :) After we put our kiddos to sleep, we enjoyed an evening of friend time!!! We LOVE the Colvette's and are so thankful for the friendship we share with them!!

Saturday--Breakfast at Hemingway's with my family and my Grandpa Hoffreth and his lady "friend!" My kiddos L-O-V-E Bass Pro, so you can only imagine their excitement that we got to eat there before we roamed around!! We had the best time!! That night we went out to dinner with the Grider's and then headed to their house for dessert and games!! We put our kiddos to bed there and enjoyed the grand 'ol game of Domino's until about 4 a.m.!! It was a BLAST!!! Again, we are so thankful for dear friends!!!

Sunday--CHURCH!! We LOVE our church and are so blessed by the time we spend there!! The sermon was just what we needed to hear!! We spent the afternoon and evening at my parents house!! It was the perfect Sunday!!

Monday--We got up EARLY to begin our 4th of July festivities!! Our tradition is to go to Marshfield (where my grandparents live) to watch the 4th of July parade (it is the old fashioned parade that is about an hour and a half long with all of the bands and floats and old car's, etc!! We LOVE it!! :)) and then we head out to their house for the afternoon!! This year we were SO blessed to have two of our favorite families join us! The Wessley's and the Grider's came out to hang with us for the day!! It. was. PERFECT!!!!

Tuesday--Our DOWN day!! We slept in and enjoyed the morning around our house! Then we got out to meet my parents for lunch!! After everyone enjoyed a nap (we were wiped out!!:)) wegot up and watered our new flower garden and enjoyed some time outside!! Last night I enjoyed a girls night with some precious new friends!! *Blessed!*

We love each season of life and we are so thankful for all that God provides!! :):)

My Little Dancing Machine!!

We pretty much have dance parties like this EVERY day!! But today, my little guy decided to jam to the music of one of his super cool toys!! (This is his fav right now!!:)) Don't you LOVE it that he has his perfect ending!! :):) I LOVE this little guy SO SO SO MUCH!!!! (Disclaimer: please ignore the annoying proud momma's voice in the background!!:))

Happy Father's Day!

We had the best weekend!! :) I LOVE spending time with my sweet husband, and, I LOVE to celebrate him on special occasions for the wonderful man that he is!! We have a lot of traditions in my family {which I love} and Father's day is one of them!! So early yesterday morning, Maddie, Zack and I got up, and the kiddos and I made breakfast for our sweet daddy!! I asked them what they wanted to make and they said chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter on top! (Of course this is THEIR favorite breakfast, but I knew Wyatt wouldn't mind too much!!:)) They are such good little helpers, and they were SO proud that they had helped for daddy's special day!! :) During breakfast we talked about ALL of the things we love about daddy! (Some of my favorites-Maddie: Daddy, you are soooo handsome...Zack: Daddy you are SO good at playing trains and flying the "heli-hopter"!! :)) My two J's L-O-V-E their daddy! :):) Then... it was time for gifts...and they were SO excited!! They presented Wyatt each of their gifts and, as he was opening each gift, they told him what it was!! :)

On the way to church we talked more about daddy and how much we love him!! Wyatt was just beaming, he LOVES being a daddy!! He loves being a daddy SO much, and you can totally see it in the way he plays with, and loves on our kids every single moment of every single day!! After church we headed to my parents and enjoyed lunch with them!!! After lunch, we put M and Z down for naps and Wyatt and I headed out to run a few errands! When we got back, we put on our walking clothes and headed out the door for a long walk!! I love walking and talking with Wyatt!! I think we have had some of our deepest conversations while taking long walks! We love to dream together!! You know, like really talk in depth about all of the things we desire for our family...what we want to see our kiddos become...how we want to live life with them at home...ALL of the things we want to teach them that matter, and ALL of the things that DON'T MATTER!! We had the best conversation (and walked for well over and hour! :)) When we got back to my parents house my sister, brother-in-law and nephew were there! After talking with them for a few minutes, I heard two little J's voices...they were ready to get up and PLAY!!! So, we spent the rest of the evening enjoying Mexican food, swimming and hanging out together as a family!!! :) We got home late last night, but didn't mind at all!! It was the perfect day!!!!

An exciting June!!

Here are ALL of events I LOVE that take place in June and July!! I LOVE THE SUMMER!!

** June 19th--Father's Day!! I am so thankful for Wyatt!! He is an AMAZING daddy to our kiddos!! When he comes home, they just want to be in his presence and follow him around telling him ALL about our day! :):) I couldn't ask for a better father for my children!!

Also, I LOVE my dad so much! He is an awesome Godly man and has taught me so much about loving God, honoring Him and serving Him! His entire life is an example of that!! I love the tradition we have with Father's Day! My Grandpa E. will also be there, and my kiddos are SO excited!!

**June 21st--Wyatt's birthday was last Tuesday and we had some SUPER fun surprises for him!! It was his 30th birthday and I hope a birthday he won't forget!! ;)

**June 24th--Wyatt's SURPRISE birthday party!! It was AWESOME!!!!!!! :):) We ordered pizza and hung out with our friends until VERY late, or should I say EARLY in the morning! :) {PERFECT!!}

**June 25th--Our Anniversary Dinner!!! Oh, it was just perfect!! Some dear friends of ours hung out with our kiddos so we could spend an evening together, just the two of us!! We had the best time remember our special day together!! It is always fun to hear "his side" of our day!! :):)

**June 25-27th--my Grandpa will be here (my mom's dad!:)) He hasn't visited Springfield in a LONG time (4 years to be exact:)) so I am excited to have him hang with us for a few days!!

**JULY 4th--We have a fabulous family tradition in Marshfield, where my grandparents live!! They have an awesome old fashioned parade that is SO fun!! We always sit at the same spot and have for as long as I can remember!! Then we head to my Grandparents house for the rest of the day! Some of our friends have started coming with us, so we are thrilled to have them joining us again this year!! It is absolutely one of my FAVORITE holidays with my family!!

**June 30th-July 11th Wyatt is taking VACATION TIME!!!! WHOO-HOO!!! We look forward to this time every year! I can't WAIT to fill up our week with fun!! We are going to head to Branson for a couple of nights/days, hang out at the zoo, go to the pool and SO much more!! WHOO-HOO!!

**July 12th-17th--Rally!! I get to go to Texas for almost a week with some REALLY cool girls!! We are going to SHOP, laugh, hang out, and LEARN!!!! :):) I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT!!! :):) This will be my first time away from my two J's, but I am EXCITED!!! :):) (What can I say?! I LOVE my kiddos?!!?:))

Can you see why I am so excited for summer!?!?

Wal-Mart

Today, my kiddos and I headed out to Wal-Mart!! We were is DESPERATE need of some groceries, and there is no one I would rather shop with than my M and Z (and of course Wyatt!!:))! So we got in our "silly cart" (you know, the ones with the little seats on the "outside" of the cart?? My kiddos named those the "silly carts" and now we look for them everywhere we go! :) It is a fun game for us!!:)) Anyhoo, as I was wondering into the store, I realized that I have not been there in quite a while!! My husband is absolutely amazing and always offers to go for me, and, he takes the list AND coupons and price matches and everything!! (Yes, he IS an Accountant, so perhaps it is a fun game for him!!:))!! I am SO thankful for that guy!! He loves me and takes such good care of me...even when it means something as little as grocery shopping!! I can't WAIT for our BIG weekend away in a few weekends!! :):)

My Big Boy

So this morning I went into my son's room to get him up from bed (it was 9 a.m. by-the-way :)) and was totally surprised at how BIG my baby boy looks!! Seriously, did someone give him growing pills while he was sleeping?!!? He is so tall and SO sweet!! His legs have gotten so long and he is so strong!!! In my eyes, he is still a little guy, but I know he is growing up to be a strong and healthy man, just as I want him to be, it is amazing to watch!! He is just my sweet little guy, he has always been my baby, although we have never said much about him being the baby brother and Maddie being the BIG sister!! Honestly I don't think we made that big of deal about it, because there just isn't that much difference inbetween the two of them! AND, when Zack was born, Maddie was so little herself, we didn't want her to feel like she had to grow up right then! :) WOW, what a blessing it is to watch them grow up!! :):) I am so thankful that God has allowed me this time to stay at home with them!! :):) I LOVE MY JOB!! :):):) I often wonder where the time has gone with my kiddos!! I pray that our time together has been as big of a blessing to my M and Z as it has been to me!!! I love you little J's and I can't WAIT for more play days, just us!!!! :):)

Scripture

It is amazing to me how God can bring a scripture to my heart when I need it the most!! He is so good to me and He knows me SO well! :) Oh, I feel so loved by Him when He meets me right where I am at!! Here are a few scriptures He has brought to my heart in the past few days! :) (I LOVE that they all have to do with "JOY!":))

”The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7

”Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

”Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, sister, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.” Philemon 1:7

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

”When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” Psalm 94:19

THANKS GOD for the JOY that only YOU can provide!! Please bless our week with unconditional JOY, peace and love! Thank you for being constant!! :)

2 Questions

So apparently the two biggest questions that are on people's mind about the Jenkins 4 are: When are you having another baby, AND, when you are moving into a bigger house!? :) Seriously, we get these two questions a LOT!! Hmmm, these questions often lead to quite interesting conversations! :):) First, let me point out that I am not mad at ALL about these questions, they have really allowed Wyatt and I to think about and pray through what we want for our lives and get on the same page about where we are headed!! Wyatt and I love a good conversation, we could sit and chat for hours and hours weighing the pro's and con's of a certain situation! We have undoubtedly had MANY conversations about these two topics! These questions have challenged our thinking and our prayer lives!! God is SO good and He hears us (and gives us peace) when we pray!! :)

We are really praying for God's perfect timing and for God's direction and guidance for another baby! I don't know if it is His will for us to have more babies, but we are open and praying! (if you ask my kiddos if they want more siblings, Maddie will SHOUT YES!! :):) And...Zack will say, "I'm the baby!!" Which translates to NO! :) Its pretty cute!! :):)) Honestly though, if God just chooses to bless us with two, we are SO THANKFUL for our little Maddie and Zack!! We love them SO MUCH and are so proud of the little individuals that they are and will grow to be!! We love living life with them and are enjoying them more and more every single day!! So, when we are asked when we are going to have more...that is what I tell people!! (Which they really don't like! But it is a great reminder when I think it is my business to ask others these questions!!! He he!! :))

Secondly, we LOVE our house!! It is the house that God choose specifically for us and we LOVE it!! Wyatt and I decided a long time ago that it is a choice to "grow" out of a house!! We have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, a gorgeous kitchen, a great pantry, a BIG backyard and a house payment that we can afford and live comfortably with!! Now... I realize that some people only have 1 or 2 bedrooms, so I can see literally growing out of your home when you have several kiddos, but we haven't "grown" out of our house and we don't plan too!! If we do have more kiddos, we have a boy and a girl, so whoever joins us could share rooms! I had to share a room when I was a child and it didn't hurt me at all! :):) God has really laid His peace on our hearts that we are exactly where He wants us!! We love our house and will only move when HE moves us!! :)

As many of you know, I am a jewelry lady (and I LOVE IT!!!:)) Well, doing jewelry home shows has taken me to some pretty interesting houses!! God has really used these experiences to magnify how blessed we truly are!! If I didn't realize how blessed I was before, I absolutely know how blessed we are now, and I am SO thankful!! I don't want to live my life asking or begging God for bigger and better things! I want my family to be content with all that God has given us!! We want to live a simple and blessed life without all of the stress of having bigger and better!!

So... if you already have, or plan to ask either Wyatt or I these questions, here are your answers! :):)

Mommy Robin

We have a beautiful mommy Robin in our front "tree!" (I use "these marks" because, well...our tree might be a little stunted!:)) We are THRILLED that she has decided to make her little nest and love on her eggs in our front yard!! Wyatt and our kiddos found her nest over the weekend and every morning the first thing M and Z want to do is to go check on the mommy Robin and baby eggs! :) (It is SO cute!!:)) So this morning, bright and early Zack snuggled with me in my bed (at 6:45) and said, "Mommy' we need to go and check on mommy Robin!" So we got up, put our shoes on and headed out to check on her! :) SO precious!!!! :):)

I LOVE the way my kids love things...family, friends, animals, the park, the pool ...ANYTHING!! They just love to love!! And, they let you know what they love and why!! The three of us have had some of the most precious moments in the past two weeks!! Often one of my little J's will snuggle up to me for a few minutes and tell me that they love me!! It always brings tears to my eyes! I hope my kids ALWAYS know how much I love them!! I hope they always feel snuggled and loved with Wyatt and I! I also hope and pray that they feel the love that God has for them!! Maddie is REALLY interested in the Bible and wants to hear Bible stories all day!! I LOVE to see her learn and grow!! What an incredible blessing it is to teach our kids about God!!!

I hope that mommy Robin loves her babies as much as I love mine!! :):)

JUNE!!

I cannot BELIEVE that it is June!! :) WOW!! Where is this year going??! June is absolutely one of my favorite months!! There are two very special occasions that take place in June! My husband's birthday (this year is EXTRA special because he is going to be 30!!! :):)) and our wedding anniversary!!! Whoo-hoo!! I remember setting the date for our wedding, it was in December of 2002! We had just gotten engaged and we knew we were going to have to wait awhile to get married! (We wanted to honor my parents and their wish was that one of us would be graduated right around the time we got married!!) So... as we looked at the weekends in June of 2004, we decided on June 26th! As we we traveled for the holidays that Christmas, we talked and talked about whether we wanted our wedding date to be just 5 days later than Wyatt's birthday!? He kept saying he was totally ok with it, so we stuck to our special date (that, of course, I had fallen in love with!!:)) The week of our wedding, Wyatt birthday fell on a Monday so we gathered our dearest friends and celebrated with him, looking SO forward to what the end of the week held!! :):)

Oh, I LOVE remembering those wonderfully special minutes, hours and days!! We were SO EXCITED to get married, and we had been together for so long, it was a very easy transition for us!! Lots of people talk about how hard their first year of marriage was, and I am so thankful to say that we didn't experience that at all!! We just knew each other so well!! :):) I am still so wonderfully in love with Wyatt 7 years later! Actually, I am more in love with him now!! God has truly sharpened our love for each other, and our marriage gets better and better!!

Of course, I am planning a surprise party for Wyatt and I can hardly wait!! I LOVE my husband so much and I am so thankful for his life!!

Wedding Weekend

One of my favorite people is getting married on Saturday so tomorrow starts a whirlwind of activities! :) I am totally excited for her! She has waited a VERY long time for this day, and now God has provided for her, her hearts desire!! I have only been friends with Angela for about 2 years, but she has become very dear to my heart!! She has so much joy and zest for Christ, she is such an encouragement to me!!! I can't WAIT to share in her special day with her!! More to come later!! :):)

My Little Helper!

Yesterday my Maddie took a shorter nap, so she got up waaay before brother bear! After we snuggled for a little bit, she asked what I had been doing!? I happened to be cleaning the bathrooms at that time so I told her that and she looked up at me with her gorgeous blue-green eyes and asked if she could help! Of course I said, "YES!" I LOVE her willing and helpful heart, she ALWAYS wants to help and she isn't afraid to try anything!! And she just loves working next to me! PRICELESS!! :) She asked me what she could do and I gave her very simple instructions which she followed perfectly!!! She cleaned our bathroom SO PROUDLY and met daddy at the door when he got home so he could see her handy-work!! My Maddie is so much like me! She is a people pleaser and a lovey!! She just LOVES to love!! I pray that she will ALWAYS have a pure and innocent heart, and that she will continue to be a Light to those around her!! I love you Maddie Joy!! :)

Monday's at the Park

This summer we have decided that Monday will be our park day...no, we will not be going to just ant ANY park, I have a list of all the parks I want to take my kiddos to this summer!! I am SO EXCITED!! :):) All during the winter we "found" parks hidden here and there, but, since it was winter, we didn't get out to explore! So, NOW is our time to EXPLORE! We will be exploring a different park each Monday and we are SO EXCITED! We have had this list on our refrigerator for several months now and my Maddie and Zack know EXACTLY what the list is! :) Of course, we will also visit some of our FAVORITE parks, but I am excited to go to some new parks! We are going to take a picnic lunch and enjoy the morning there! So yesterday we started our park outings! We headed to Phelps Grove park around 9:30 a.m. and enjoyed the morning there!!! My kids just LOVED hanging out and exploring the new-to-them play equipment!! It was a BLAST and I can't WAIT until next week!! :) Next up on our list is "Griffin's Park!" We named it that because it is right next to our Griffin's house! It is a BEAUTIFUL, NEW park that has the "latest" swings and slides! :) Whoo-hoo for our summer Monday's!

Our Weekend

We had an AWESOME weekend!! I can hardly believe that it is over, but it ROCKED!! Here is a run down of our weekend! :)

Friday:
* We met Amber, Maddox and baby Brody to garage sale at 8 a.m.! We found some good deals and then headed to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast! It was FREEZING and we needed a place to warm up! :) After some playing and a few hash rounds... we felt better so we headed off to the mall!! :) The Gymboree there was having a sale $12.99 or less for EVERYTHING in the store!! Oh yes, it was a gooooood shopping trip! However, our excitement over the sale, meant we were a bit late to meet our husbands at Q'doba for lunch!! :):) Thankfully they got there at the same time and were able to hang out for awhile!! :) So thankful for Travis, he is such a good friend to my husband! :) After a wonderful lunch Wyatt surprised us and came home with us!! It was SO good to have him home for the whole weekend!! While the kiddos napped we just hung out and talked!! I LOVE to talk to my sweet man, for sure!!! :):)

*That evening we met back up with the Griders and enjoyed dinner with them!! Our kiddos get along so well, it is an awesome blessing!! :) After dinner we headed back to the mall for a few more shopping minutes for mommy at Gymboree!! :)

Saturday:

* OUR GIRLS SHOPPING TRIP TO BRANSON!!! Whoo-hoo!! :):) Maddie and I have been looking forward to this day for a looong time!!! Wyatt and Zack loaded up and headed to MArshfields to spend the day with my Grandparents and my mom came to pikcus up!! She had already done some shopping so she brought with her 4 gorgeous Princess dresses from Dillards! She had found them on clearance for $15-$19!! Needless to say Maddie (and I:)) were beside ourselves!! :):) We loaded up and spent the whole day in Branson together!! It was just the BEST day!! My mom is such a cool lady!! She is so loving and giving, so thoughtful and compassionate, SO patient and kind... and she loves my children (and Wyatt and I) totally unconditionally!!!! Sometimes it is overwhelming!!! :):) I am just so grateful for the amazing woman in Christ she is!!! She is an amazing example for my children and I!! I LOVE you mom!! :)

Sunday:

We LOVE our church and were so excited to go and worship there on Sunday! Our minister talked about family and respect! It was SO what we needed to hear!! Wyatt and I had a GREAT conversation about it on the way to my parents house and that afternoon out by the pool! (YES!! Summer is here!!:)) We spend most Sunday's at my parents house and we LOVE it!! It is such good time for our kiddos to get to hang out with their Ga-Ga and Mze! I truly believe that the investment of time we have spent out at my parents has made ALL the difference in my relationship with them, with Wyatt's relationship with them, AND with my kiddos' relationships with them! What a BLESSING!!!! This Sunday was pretty special because it was my parents 35th wedding anniversary!! My dad is always out of the country on May 29th, so we usually try to make it special for my mom!! So on our way there, we stopped by Sam's and picked up a cake!! M and Z were SO excited to surprise her with it!! :):) That afternoon Wyatt and I mowed for my mom and then we spent the afternoon poolside!!! Ahhh, it was BLISS! :) Later, my sister and Brother-in-law, nephew and two cousins and Grandparents came over for dinner!! It was SUPER FUN family time!!! I LOVE my family!!!

Monday:

*M and Z were SO EXCITED to have daddy home when they woke up!! They both shouted "DADDY!!!" :) It was presh! :) Then daddy surprised them even further with our day of plans!! We got dressed and hopped into the car to go to Krispy Kreme for breakfast, a TRUE treat!! After enjoying a doughnut (SO NOT on my "diet" but delicious none-the-less!!!:) we headed to the park! Yesterday started our summer of "Monday's at the Park" (more to come on this topic later!:)) so we played there for a long time! Then we took a long walk around the Phelps Grove park neighborhoods!! This was especially fun for me since I grew up around these neighborhoods!! Wyatt and I looked at houses and dreamed about what our next house will be like!! I love dreaming with him!! For lunch we had pizza! YUM-O! :) When we got home it was nap time...for ALL involved so we all enjoyed a 3 hour nap!! After our nap we played outside and enjoyed the gorgeous day!!! We ate a quick dinner and then headed out for a drive and ended up at Braum's for ice cream!!!! It was a great weekend!!!

We are so looking forward to all that this week will hold! Play dates, lunch with my mom and extra time with Wyatt!! WE LOVE THE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!! :):)

Zack's new favorite phrases!!

I LOVE my son! He is HILARIOUS and absolutely cracks me up!! His two new favorite phrases right now are: "LET'S SMASH IT!!!!" and "What sister says?!" or "What daddy says?" and on and on!! I LOVE that he is ALL boy and isn't afraid of ANYTHING!!! He will pretty much jump off of anything with complete and total joy! He loves to find critters and dig in the dirt and he LOVES TO RUN!!!! He is absolutely the most adorable thing EVER!! :):) What a blessed momma I AM!!!