1st Place Winner!

FORBES MAGAZINE has just rated Hamilton County, Indiana as the #1 best place to raise a family out of the whole United States! Yay! We feel so smart and lucky that we happen to live here! The article basically says that with low home prices, great schools, low crime and an easy commute, Hamilton County is the best! No wonder we LOVE it here! (Not to mention the cooler weather). Anyone want to join us and move here? There are still lots available in our neighborhood at great prices, hint, hint! We miss you all!

PBS Kids Day At the Park:

We recently drove into Indianapolis for PBS Kids Day At the Park; we don't suscribe to cable, so PBS characters are really the only ones our kids are familiar with. They were so excited for this!

The boys got to hug Clifford...
I have to tell you that whenever we see a dressed-up animated character, WesLee gives them his biggest, most sweet, loving, sincere hugs...he just sinks in and doesn't want to let go... whether we're at the Children's Museum or with the Easter Bunny at the library, or even with the O.C.Bee when we're out to eat...It makes me laugh inside so hard when this happens, because you can just see how much love and happiness he seems to be feeling everytime he does this.


They got some 'hands on training' about being doctors, here Faith examines the Panda's ear, but you see she is doing this with the reflex tool, o-well!



They enjoyed playing some board games about health care:



They got to feed some goats and hear a bit about how to take care of them,



We ran in to some friends there too, here is Faith with Chloe, her friend from Sunbeams:



The boys had fun climbing and bouncing, Jacob was not ashamed to hold Faith's pink balloon for her :)



We also ran in to some more friends, the Neys, here is Wes being so sweet to their little boy!



Fun times!

Jacob is SUCH a helper!

He'll see me doing some chore and he'll come and actually ask me, "Can I do that?" He seems to get great satisfaction out of doing a good job on something and just being able to do stuff on his own. Just a few pictures I took of him lately-

He asked if he could put the dishes away:



He asked if he could help make spaghetti:



He wants to help in the garden...



I think one of his favorite things to do is cracking the eggs!



I could go on and on... he LIKES to vacuum! He helps feed the pets, he helps set the table, he wants to be the one to check the mail everyday...also he absolutely loves to help his Dad fix stuff!

Not only is he a good helper, but also a great example for his brother and sister... when they see him so willing to help, they want to help too! That can sometimes get crazy if everyone wants to help all at once, it sometimes is harder than by myself, but I'm just glad to know they are willing.

Tagged!

My friend Suzanne tagged me recently, I guess I've sorta been putting it off because I'm not sure who to tag, since I think most of my fellow bloggers have been tagged recently as well! Well I decided to go ahead and post my answers, but haven't decided who to tag yet, so watch out!

How To Play This Game of Tag:
-Post these rules on your blog.
-Answer these 15 questions about yourself on your blog.
-List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random/surprising facts
-Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.
-Leave a comment on their blog to let them know.

Joys-
1. My family, I love falling asleep thinking about all our sweet memories, especially when the kids were born!
2. Going to church... it gives me that boost that I need so often.
3. Hearing the sounds of nature and seeing the beauty of nature reminds me how great God is!

Fears-
1.I've always been afraid that someone might kidnap or hurt my children.
2.There's a dangerous ledge/dropoff that I have to drive past often in my town that has no barrier.
3.I'm afraid of being unhealthy.

Goals-
1.Wake up earlier... my body still feels like I'm on AZ time!
2.Get more organized! It seems to never end!
3.Keep in touch with people better, have closer relationships.

Current obsessions/collections-
1.I've been collecting wood furniture in the garage to sand and paint.
2.We've been collecting wildflowers from our backyard:


(For a long time I would only let Matt mow the front yard so I could keep the pretty wildflowers growing in the back!)
3.I've been obsessed with using self-tanning lotion lately (Only on my legs to try to make them the same shade as my arms. Hey, it really works!)

Random/surprising facts-
1. I broke my left wrist in 3rd grade.
2.My son WesLee had a pre-K evaluation, & scored at 1st grade level already! Him at his preschool graduation in May:



3.Last but not least, I like to listen to Christmas music all year round!

Who will be tagged next? ...to be determined...

Wet and WILD!

Well, it's official that we have acclimated to Indiana's climate... when we are willing to go out and play in the water when the high temperature is only between 80 to 85 degrees! (And to us it feels HOT) There are some awesome free sprinkler parks around here! I hope they have more of those in AZ by now, because we had to drive all the way over by Tempe Town Lake to go to the splash park there.

Anyway, yesterday, Matt decided to let the kids have a water fight with water balloons and bowls... I wish I'd thought to get my camera out earlier, but I was getting chores done while they played so I didn't think of it. But when I looked out the window and saw THIS going on, I knew I had to take some pictures!


(I know, it's kinda blurry, because I took the pics through the window so the camera wouldn't get wet.)

We've always let the kids use bowls for pouring water over eachother, but now they're getting real smart and using them as shields!



Faith was so funny, getting right in the middle of it, but so seriously trying to protect herself!



...Speaking of water play, WesLee cracked me up the other day when he was pretending to be Santa Claus in the bath tub!