raisingthreeknightsandaprincess.com

Well hello…

It seems so long since I’ve blogged. We’ve been busy enjoying the summer. We spend a few days at home and then a few days at the lake. I don’t get to do very much except keep off my foot but I’ve enjoyed watching the children play, jet ski, and ride the tube behind the boat or jet skis. We have wonderful friends who camp all summer and we love spending time with them at the lake. Our sweet little pop up remains under our carport where the boys sleep in in several times a week. It just hasn’t made it to the lake yet this year.

I think everyone has caught a fish except for my poor Rocket Man. He’s tried so hard but nothing!!!
Baby girls’s fish…..

Big Brother’s fish…

Lots of horseplay….

And lots of swimming….

My sweet friend Tonya driving and posing crazy!

Even Sparky got to go for a swim. She’s not much for water.

Gymnastics…..

The boys love the tube!!!

I also wanted to share some photos I took of the girls at the beach. I was able to take some great photos and I think I’ve been meaning to post them but never did.

My cousins are beautiful and of course my sweet “not a baby any more” baby girl is precious.

My baby girl loves her cousin Kensley.

Kensley showing off her RunWay look

All the girls….

One of my favorites of Kensley

One of my favorites of Korey

I like this one too.

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Happy Crabbing!

I don’t watch the news. It depresses me. It makes me want to control all the things I can’t control. It makes me angry. It scares me.
So I don’t watch it.

But I am in the know enough to know about Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucette, and the Pitchman passing away this week
So I’m not completely out of the loop.

But I choose to remain mostly out of the loop.
I like it here.
It’s my quiet place.
And tonight I’m so thankful that my Jesus lets me be in this place.
I’m so thankful he’s here with me.
That he loves me.
Just like I am with all my flaws and all my quirks.
And I’m glad I have friends that love me that way too.
They’re “Jesus with skin” to me.
And I just needed to say tonight how grateful I am to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you one and all.
Thank you for loving me.
I have so many wonderful people in my life.
My sister, my friends, my hubbie, my kids and there are times I feel so blessed I could just pop. I hope that I share that blessing with others and that what The Father gives to me I pass freely onto others.

I wanted to share a family tradition with you tonight. You saw these photos a year ago too if you read my blog back then.

One of my kids favorite things to do each night while we are at the beach is to go ghost crab hunting. They always bring home a bucket full of those creepy, crawly critters and each night we say “Wow, that’s the most yet!”

It’s a blast. I’ve gone with them a few times but I love watching from the deck.
I see little headlamps shining up and down the beach running after crabs. It’s a hoot to watch from afar. And my husband has such good netting skills. If there’s ever a need for ghost crabs we’re your family.

So here’s the crew after a night of “ghosting”

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Posted: June 29, 2009 by Julie |Category: Our Family, Our Lives | Tags:

Beach Photos

I’ve been dying to blog some beach photos since we got home but breaking your foot on the day you arrive home doesn’t leave much time for photoprocessing. I did manage to get a little done today. So here they are with very limited captioning.

This one describes our trip…..relaxing.

Here’s baby girl WITHOUT her cast!!!! and playing in the ocean.

Here she is catching those little “fishes” that always show up in the surf.

Putting the fishes into the bucket and counting how many we had…

Number three son learned how to skim board this year…

I love this one.

Number One son already had skim boarding down to an art…

Playing with the kids in the surf. I did so much more of that this year. We had a blast.

Say “cheese” for Nana

Number one son dared me to rid him from my back…..oh little did he know.

A hug from baby girl after she drank a gallon of ocean water….

Dad caught a sand shark and Number three son had more fun playing with the dead shark than anything else on the beach…

Lots more of beach photos to come later.
Off for a nap. My foot feels better today. Not as much pain.
Until …..

3 Comments

Posted: June 25, 2009 by Julie |Category: Photography and Tips | Tags:

Day One Post Op…

And I’m really hurting. I can put absolutely no weight on my foot. And crutches and pain meds are scary when used at the same time.
My wonderful sitter took the kids to the dentist this morning and I have meals coming this week which is a blessing.
Thanks for all your prayers.

2 Comments

Posted: June 24, 2009 by Julie |Category: Happenings | Tags:

Good News and Bad News….

Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.
Our vacation was awesome. We had a wonderful time. My Rocket Man ran on the beach (I didn’t). I got my exercise in the ocean with the kids. The weather was mostly great! We went to the aquarium, the fort, the sunset cruise…..
Peace,
Love,
Joy,
Happiness.

And I think you all know baby girt got her cast off before the beach. Yippee!!
We made it home safe and sound, stopped at Nana’s Saturday night for the evening and arrived back home around 3pm Sunday.

We unpacked.
We washed clothes.
We got ready for bed.
And then I missed the bottom step coming down from telling the boys goodnight and broke my foot.
Surgery is tomorrow.

At least we made it to the beach and back before hurting anything.
God is good!

6 Comments

Posted: June 22, 2009 by Julie |Category: Happenings | Tags:

Guess where we are?

We haven’t had much of an internet connection until my brilliant brother in law got here but now we’re up and running. So guess where we are?????

And a whole 10+ days of it!!

Alive and IN HIM!!!!

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Posted: June 13, 2009 by Julie |Category: Our Family, Our Lives | Photography and Tips | Tags:

Slip N Slide

OH What fun to get wet in the sun….

And then at last….

Shake your head fast…

Then run side by side….

It’s a fun ride….

on the slip-n-slide!

But baby sister with the broken arm and rat’s nest in her hair is so sad she can’t join in…

But Praise God that after Tuesday she’ll be right in there with them!
Cast comes off, pin comes out and she’ll have “an arm like other one”.

Thursday Blessings to you all!

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Posted: June 4, 2009 by Julie |Category: Our Family, Our Lives | Tags:

God is Good….

ALL THE TIME!
But today HE feels exceptionally Good.
For weeks we’ve prayed about Baby Girl’s arm being healed, the pin taken out, and a waterproof cast on before we leave for the beach.
Today we found out her arm is healed, the pin is coming out AND she’ll only have to wear a splint!!!

I love it when God lets me see his answer to my prayer the way I’ve prayed it and beyond!
For HE is far greater and can do far greater things than I can even imagine (or pray)!!!

2 Comments

Posted: June 3, 2009 by Julie |Category: Happenings | Tags:

The Birthday Party

I have a confession. I hate birthday parties. Especially when I have to give them. I"m very hospitable, you see. I’m just not a hostess.

Any time you want to come over, step over the dirty laundry and have a sandwich or cup of coffee I’m fine.

But getting everything together to pull off a birthday party?
I’d rather be put in front of a firing squad.
Literally.

But even tho my anxiety got the better of me yesterday the evening went off without a hitch.

Here’s the cake baby girl and I made together.

She was so tickled when everyone was singing to her…

And she had no trouble with the five flaming candles. She blew them out twice, in fact.

Dad stole the Birthday Girl’s glasses

Present time was the best and each friend got a hug

From Aunt Lyn….

From mom and dad….

From Nana

A dress from Mama June

It was a happin’ good time.
And I didn’t die or pass out.
Whew.
No more until October.

3 Comments

Posted: May 29, 2009 by Julie |Category: Happenings | Tags:

Baby Girl is 5 today…..

….and this is what homeschooling is looking like now!

We took these shots last night. We really weren’t in the middle of school.
But Baby Girl is so happy about her birthday she was dancing on top of her desk. And of course Boy #3 who is the sneaky one in the family was having fun while I was shooting with my friend, Rod’s brand new Nikon D90.

Oh, it’s sweet. Enough to make this Canon user think twice. He was kind enough to let me borrow it for a few days and his lenses are out of this world sweet. One’s so heavy I have trouble holding it still. But the color is definitely different than a Canon. I love the skin tones with the Nikon. They are much smoother. Reds and Greens are a little muted but that’s about it.

I’m thinking about keeping his camera and moving to Alaska (don’t tell him).

These photos are completely unedited so you are seeing the real deal with the Nikon.

They really do love each other!!!