Family Day

I woke up at 4am this morning and sat down to work on the blog.  But then I decided I would try to get out of that habit and get to it later in the day.  Who am I kidding?  There's just no time during the day! :)  So here I am, late at night...trying to end the day.

We've been so busy lately and there's been a lot of stress.  We decided we needed a family day with nothing but fun!  So we headed to out to play...

First stop, Chuck E. Cheese!  We haven't been here as a family since Sarah and Abby were little!  Most of the children have never been.  But when Sarah and I went with one of our wish kids awhile back, I was pretty impressed with how it's changed.  And the children had a great time!

 Wallace wasn't too sure about going when he found out it was all video games.  He said, "But we need something to DOOOOO..."  He ended up liking it, though!

 Andrew had so much fun!  He probably drove with Chuck E. a dozen times! (Which means I have a dozen of those little pencil drawing pictures!)

This was a fun simulator of roller coasters.  Titus wasn't too sure what he thought of it!

Next stop, 11 Below Ice Cream Roll.  The girls had seen this on YouTube from street vendors in NY.  I have to admit, it was really neat!  And tasted AMAZING!!!

Last, we headed over to Ted's Cafe, one of our favorites (well, some of us anyway)!

It was a much-needed day of relaxation and fun.  It was nice to break away.

Next week: something a little more personal...

Super Sydnee

We recently celebrated Sydnee's 19th birthday.

Sydnee is so much like her father in many ways.  She is absolutely a jokester, although not a lot of people get to see it.

She can get quite silly with Sarah...

And she has a lot of fun with Abby...

She can get pretty goofy with Sherrod...

And a little silliness with the girls...

She can get the boys riled up like no other...

She is the ice cream maker deluxe!  Not really a cake person, for her birthday she made her own ice cream and Abby made a chocolate shell for it to go in.

 The traditional birthday prayer...

Such a sweet and precious girl...

Sydnee is generally quiet and reserved.  She's pretty introverted, but we get to see the super fun, boisterous, and outgoing side of her.  Not many people really get to see that.  She loves a good prank and having a good time, but she is fiercely protective of those she loves.  Sydnee is so comfortable in the home, taking care of all the details and making things run efficiently.

I had fun looking back over old pictures tonight.  Here are 19 of my favorites:

So little and super cute, but she was always into something and quite a mess!

Growing into a beautiful young girl, both inside and out!

Always looking for fun (or trouble😜) or creating her own...

Active and joyful in all things...

Quite ornery and a little bit crazy...

Sydnee makes all of us smile!  I'm so thankful for this precious lady.  I often wonder what God has in store for her life.  Always a science girl, she is interested in marine biology.  I wonder if that will tie in to her future? 😀

Isaac

Sarah and I recently had the opportunity to spend the day playing with one of our wish children and his mother.  We had SO MUCH FUN!!!!

We had such a great time with Isaac!  And he had a blast playing on all the games!  If there was a 2-player option, he was insistent that Sarah play with him (which she loved)!

This game was so funny!  Sarah kept turning her car around and driving it backwards! 😂 She said it was harder than driving a real car!

This game was hilarious!  You had to shoot at all the insects flying at you...you know how Sarah loved that!  At one point there were thousands of large spiders coming at them and I commented how great it would be to have a fake spider to throw on Sarah.  Everyone knows how much she hates insects, especially spiders!  She said it's a good thing I didn't...she might hurt Isaac trying to get out of that thing! 😆

It's nice to be small so you can fit in the PlayPlace! 😍

What a joy!  Isaac is a super fun and sweet boy!  We are hopeful that we will be able to send him off to DisneyWorld soon...

Just for fun, here's a great picture of Isaac and Velvet from when we took her up to his house (back when it was warm!!!!):