Friends and Good Weather

We have really enjoyed the warming weather the past couple of weeks!  Well, minus that freak snow storm that happened on Monday...that better be the last of it!!  The kids have been playing outside and burning lots of energy which leads to better sleeping at night, which I always appreciate.  :)









Playing outside with dad.

















Dave trying to avoid getting hit by a snowball.

I watched some of the neighborhood fellas one morning while Dave was at school.  So cute!












Bennett and Ike enjoying some sunshine at the park.

Alec and Ike swinging-don't know what Dave was up to!








I think we are all finally getting over the latest round of stomach flu-ugh!  At least it was quick this time.  In other news, Ike has learned to climb out of his crib.  Not a very fun development for us!  The kids are gearing up for Gamma to get here tomorrow-Josh and I are taking some students to the Lecrae concert in Marion on Friday.  So excited!  And then we are running walking a 5k on Saturday.  It's supposed to be a balmy 20 degrees so really looking forward to that, haha!  

Spending some time with Brooklyn and Sophie

Since Britt came back to Indiana to work for a few days, we got to spend some extra time with the Smith girls!  The boys loved having some of their cousins up here to play!






Love the smiles!

















Dave was such a good help with Brooklyn.


















We had lots of dress-up in old Halloween costumes.

Dave had to hold Brooklyn all the time.

I don't think Brook was too impressed with Ike holding her!

We went to Logansport to celebrate Grandma Bertie's 85th (!!!) birthday.

Such a happy baby!









Finally, our family would really appreciate prayers for Josh's cousin Jordon.  He was injured while dealing with farm fertilizer and is currently in a burn unit in a hospital Fort Wayne.  He seems to be improving (off of the ventilator), so that has been really encouraging, but he has a long road to recovery.  Thanks!!

Florida with the Smiths

Josh's sister and her family have relocated to Florida (at least for now), so we were so pumped to get to see them while we were visiting!  We got together a couple of times and the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins that they hadn't seen in several months.

The plan on Sunday was to have a picnic at the jetties and then go out to the beach, but it was crazy crowded (Sunday was the nicest weather we had all week), so we changed it up and went to a park instead.

Josh, Grandma Mary, and Brooklyn.

















All the kids-notice Brooklyn being propped up at the end of the table.  :)

Grandma Mary and Zac.

Zac loved having his picture taken.
















Playing monster and some kind of jail game at the park.







After lunch and some playing, we decided to brave the crowds at the beach.  It had thinned out a lot, so we got a good spot and the kids got to play in the sand.






Caleb being buried.

Not sure what this move is.  He does it all the time.














Dave was so excited to see his newest cousin!

Playing outside til past dark.









When we came back to Indiana, we brought Sophie along because Britt is working a couple of days up here.  The kids had a blast in the car ride (well, for the most part!) and then we spent the weekend in Evansville.






Josh captured the beginning of the trip...then 15 hours later.  Getting a little grumpy!












Now we have Sophie and Brooklyn visiting with Josh's parents until the weekend, so the boys are really excited to see a couple of the cousins for a little bit longer.  We are certainly missing Florida weather-we came home to about 8 inches of snow!!  Wishing for spring  :)







Josh made this montage via Instagram-here the kids are at the beach.  This is from Monday when we went to Anna Maria Island.

Florida 2015

We are back in Indiana and already missing the warm weather down in the sunshine state!  We had such a fun week of relaxation-we don't typically do much while there and it is so nice to just hang out with family and enjoy some warm weather in the middle of winter.  On this trip, we got to see Josh's sister and her kiddos, but I will devote another post to all of that!







The kids and I ate the grove-had to go get some of their ice cream, it's a tradition!

Ike loved being driven around in the three-wheeler!

Ike at the community pool. While we were there, Dave learned to swim!!!  Here is a video  :)

Playing at the beach by the jetties.

Dave went  golfing with grandpa Dave and Josh.

Family selfie on our last day!

 The kids did really great on the way down-Grandma D (Josh's mom) rode down with us and provided entertainment-mostly in the form of intense storytelling with Dave.  Josh and I passed the time by binge-listening to podcasts all the way there and back.  It was great to see Josh's grandparents (and eat all the delicious food they cook up for us!) and awesome to see the sun for several days in a row!!  The weather was pretty great the first several days, then got a little cloudy towards the end, but we were outside most of the time regardless of the weather.  As I noted above, Dave learned to swim and Ike glued his eyelashes shut with superglue.  Quite a memorable trip!  Don't worry, Ike is fine, just a little dried superglue left in his lashes...

Already looking forward to next year in Florida-a huge thank you to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dave for putting up with us every year!