Posted by Amanda | Posted in Daily Life | Posted on 24-04-2011
Tags: church, cookouts, friends, Meredith and Justin, mud, popcorn, small group, the Peddi's, the Sahli's
We are part of a small group at our church – an independent little unit comprised of a few couples/families that gathers together once a week to fellowship and study. During the past two months our group has struggled with work schedules, sickness and time availability to get together as consistently as we had been, so we were excited for our small group cookout and get together thrown by the Cook’s. It was fun to have more time than usual to chat with everyone and of course the kids had a blast running around William and Shanna’s huge yard!!
This small retaining wall provided an unbelievably large amount of fun for the kids. They would work together to get boosted up….
…until finally they all mastered the art of getting up and over by themselves.
Which resulted in immense feelings of happiness and pride in their efforts, as demonstrated by Victoria:
It was also a much needed break for Jim from his ever-hectic work schedule, and Lincoln was thrilled with all of the time and tickles with daddy:
Ever have one of those perfect afternoons? When the weather is unseasonably warm and everyone heads outdoors, drinks tea and plays so well together that you wish you could capture the feeling in those moments forever…then you walk around to where the kids were playing silly games and giggling together for 20 minutes and discover mud plastering the entire front of your home:
Oh well, it was still a great time and that’s what hoses are for 
We were so excited for our friends Chris and Elizabeth as they welcomed their second son, Joseph, into the world in late March! The kids were all eager to meet him (but not as much as me!), but none so much as Lincoln which was surprising and hilarious. When Elizabeth first brought him in, there was a covering over his carseat and Linc was really anxious to see what was underneath.
The big reveal:
“Oh my gosh, mom – there’s a tiny PERSON IN THERE, can you believe it?? Can I love it and squeeze it and give it endless kisses?!?!?” was basically Lincoln’s response 
He yelled at Elizabeth constantly to put Joseph lower where he could reach and touch him.
All of the warm weather we were experience, coupled with rain showers here and there, made for some great playing-in-the-mud days. Lincoln was really excited to dive right in the fray with his sisters, or so he thought. Come to find out, he wasn’t sure whether or not he liked the mud after all.
Feeling hesitant, he armed himself with a sizable stick:
“Hmm, maybe if I dominate it by standing… EW! It’s squishing!!”
Foiled! The mud seems to be winning:
One thing this boy DOES love, however, is popcorn. Set up for a movie with his own bowl on the floor
One morning I had to run a couple of errands and was packing up the kiddos when Scarlett declared that she would like to stay with Mikayla. This was totally out of character for her, but I told her that was fine if she talked with Mik about it. Sure enough, a plan was made and when we came back an hour later, Scarlett was all dolled up – hair curled, nails painted, lipgloss on and dressed to perfection. It was some great cousin bonding time!
So pretty. She is absolutely a 14-year-old trapped in a 3-year-old’s body. I love how she is sitting and no, it was not posed! That’s just Scarlett
Of course once Sissy saw her cute Scarlett looked, she wanted to get all dolled up too and Mikayla was kind enough to oblige. Cutest sisters ever!
Later that evening, Erica and Elizabeth joined us for a work-widow’s dinner, and all three girls put on a spectacular dance show for us. Love these girls!
On the last day of the month, we were treated to a visit from Meredith and Justin. Gram made her famous roast beef dinner, and after much eating, playing chase and being silly, Lincoln went to bed and the girls were able to convince Mere and Justin to watch a movie with them. Thanks guys for taking the time!!
