It has been a busy weekend, despite the fact that life has slowed down. Erin finished soccer tonight and Sam was done on Thursday last week. Jacob has a few games left and then we will have some time to relax and breathe. Friday night we enjoyed an evening with a wonderful family. Every year, they have an incredible party to celebrate the fun of the season. Ri and Elizabeth had a great time. There was a wonderful inflatable moonwalk (or at least that is what I called them as a kid) for the little ones to enjoy. It was a highlight. But the biggest fun was watching their eyes light up each time they brought out a new surprise for the kids. Just about every 20-30 minutes, they presented a new "glow toy" for the kids. It was fun to watch. My favorite was the glowing cups. I have never seen anything quite like them. Elizabeth and Ri thought they were so cool to drink out of. Even the straws had glow stuff in them. I think Jacob liked the straws the best. It took a while to figure out they glowed, but once we did, we had a lot of fun with them. I truly enjoyed listening to all the kids run around squealing with excitement as they ran around with a new glow stick or toy and playing all kinds of pick up games.

Saturday, I spent the morning taking Senior pictures for a friend. Mark and the kids spent the morning burning wood piles from the pond. For those of you who do not know, we are in the process of building a pond. It has been a dream of Mark's for 12 years. I have such joy watching him as he watches it take place. He has worked so hard and given, given, given of himself for the kids and I.... It is nice to finally see him get something that has meant so much to him and he has waited so long for. Here is a progression of the pictures from the building of our pond. From the beginning until today:
















The rest of the Satuday was spent at Jacob's soccer game and then spending the evening with some good friends by the fire. Sunday, we spent the morning at church and headed to Mamaw's for the afternoon, finishing our day at church. Here are some pictures from Mamaw's.
Uncle Paul doesn't get these kind of snuggles too often, but when he does, he soaks it all up! Just check out her face!
JAcob told us that he would like to go to WAshington with us as a family.. but then decided it would be even better to go with his Uncle.
She loves her Uncle Paul!
This is our precious, precious neice.. Lydia. She adores Emily and Emily adores her!
Our other adorable neice..Chloe.... sitting in the middle shielding her eyes from the wind. They love riding Mamaw and Papaw's golf cart.