Strawberry Pick'n

Since we happen to be in the states in May we decided to take advantage of strawberry season and go pick some strawberries. We had a lot of fun. Zeb had a blast and was eating the strawberries almost faster than I could put them in the bucket. Kayleigh also had a great time eating them and both of them had strawberry juice running down their face and shirts by the end. We were glad to have a chance to eat some great North Carolina strawberries!

Holly's Wedding

Well much to my surprise Zeb did wonderful in the wedding! He walked down the isle just perfect and stood beside me as we watched Holly walk down. It was like he had practiced it 100 times but in reality none of our practices were a success. Kayleigh and Savannah did awesome too but most importantly Holly was a very beautiful and lovely bride. The ceremony was sweet and the reception was a lot of fun. Holly had all her bridesmaids learn a dance that we performed at the reception. It was a hit!

Getting ready for the wedding. Kayleigh enjoyed a bag of Doritos which was a very special treat.

Me, Johnathan, Holly, and Hayley

Isn't he so handsome?

Holly's Rehearsal Dinner

Here we are at the rehearsal. Kayleigh is the flower girl and Zeb is the ring bearer. Kayleigh did amazing. She pushed my sister's little girl ( 7 months) down the isle in a wagon. Zeb however was a different story. Despite several different tries on following Kayleigh down the isle we were unsuccessful. He either fought Kayleigh to push the wagon or my favorite, threw the pillow down the isle and kicked it the rest of the way. Not what I would call a promising rehearsal. I am a little nervous about tomorrow. I want my kids to do well for my sister's wedding. We will see how it goes!

Across the Ocean

We have flown across the ocean to America this time for my sister Holly's wedding. We have made it safely and are glad to be here. The kids did relatively well. They didn't really sleep very much at all but seemed pretty mesmerized by the movies they could watch. Zeb didn't really like the headphones so he watched most of the movies with no sound. I didn't mind as long as they weren't screaming. The reason I wanted to post about our trip is that I feel like many of our prayers were answered and our trip was not bad at all. The best part of it is that when we got here Zeb slept through the night the first night and has since we landed! Kayleigh was up the first night to eat some sort of meal since at dinner after we landed she literally passed out on the table and a hurricane could have come through the restaurant and she would have never known. We were only awake about an hour and that was it. She also has slept through the night the following nights. I think this is worthy of a post because I have spent many of a jet lagging night awake from 3 to 5 am watching my children play because they thought it was the middle of the day. It has been so good to see family. I am getting excited about my sister's wedding and she is keeping me plenty busy with things to do!

Happy 2nd Birthday Zeb!!!

My dear little Zeb. I can't believe that you are two! Time has flown by so fast. You bring so much joy to our lives. You are funny, energetic, and very loving. Your birthday certainly wasn't what your mommy planned for it to be. I had planned a big party with all your friends and you were even going to get a "Mater" cake. You however, got very sick and we had to cancel your party. When mommy rescheduled your party we sang to you and while you were eating your cupcake you threw up everywhere! Zeb, I hate to brake the news to you but that is certainly a party killer! It didn't stop you though. You wanted more cake after throwing up and you were up running around ready to open gifts while mommy was cleaning up. I certainly won't forget this birthday. I love you and am so glad that God has blessed us with you.

Dance Revolution

As you can see, Kayleigh and Zeb love to break it down once in a while. Kayleigh does this one dance where she looks like she is in a trance. I hope not!

Making Memories

Some of our very dear friends Andy and Erin Ashley are leaving East Asia and moving back to America. I don't even know how to process this. They have been here since we got here and I don't really know life here without them. I have moments when I just cry when I think about them leaving and then moments when I just feel numb because I can't fathom them not being here. A couple of weeks ago several of us got together to celebrate the "Huffman's". We decided to take them on this massive Ferris wheel that is so high that you can see the whole city. After that we walked around the park and then we were off to dinner at a Japanese steak house. We followed our awesome dinner (which has the best steaks in town) with some ice cream. We spent most of the night sharing memories and funny stories that we had about the Huffman's. It was a lot of fun and a time I will never forget.

This was the entrance to the Ferris wheel. Not exactly the thing you want to see before you ride!

All the ladies at the very top. Notice the awesome view of the city in the background.

Random chairs we found in the park. We each told a story about the Huffman's as we sat there.

A couple of videos for your viewing pleasure...

A few of the families in the city got together and went to the ballpit downtown. The kids really like to the balloon room.




Here is Zeb enjoying a cupcake at Bright's 5th birthday party. He loves cake and chocolate!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter! In the afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt with all the kids followed by a great picnic of breakfast food for dinner! It was fun to see Kayleigh really get into finding the Easter eggs this year. In past years we had to "hide" the eggs in the open so she would find them but this year we could actually hide them in real places. Hope everyone had a great day!

We placed candy inside the eggs as a treat. However, as soon as Zeb found an egg he would open the egg and the candy would fall to the ground which meant it was too gross to eat!

All of our Easter egg hunters!

Kayleigh's New Hobby

Recently, Kayleigh has started to be interested in taking pictures with our camera. She picks up the camera says "smile mommy" and based on her aim I'm not sure what she just took a picture of. She might need some coaching if you ask me. Below is some of her "work". We'll see if this develops into a true interest.