Happy 4th of July

Happy Birthday, America. We had a wonderful 4th this year. Perhaps it was because this is Sydney's first. We bought her 2 little American flags and she carried them everywhere with her. She woke up VERY early today and because of that had to nap early which made her a bit late to the bar-b-que. Oh well, mama don't mess with nap times. Especially when we have plans for the evening. After a good day with family. we all piled into the Big Mama Van and headed to Viburnum for fireworks. This could have gone two ways. One: Sydney enjoys the experience and is facinated by the lights and sounds. Or two: we all quickly pile back into Big Mama and book the screaming Chinese child back to Oates! Well, when the first blast of fireworks exploded, Sydney jumped and climbed frantically up Sarah into her daddy's arms. However she didn't cry and as long as Daddy held her tight, she pretty much enjoyed them. About 3/4 way through the display she fell asleep. So precious.

Happy Day Before 4th of July!!!!

I love the 4th. It could be my favorite holiday. To be totally honest I do not enjoy most holidays because of the business and the pull to be everywhere at the same time. But I do enjoy the 4th of July. This year we celebrated with dear friends on the 3rd. Deb & Raymond and their children came over and we grilled. It was sooooo good. Wayne is the king of the grill, at least in our house. Just as we finished eating and huge thunderstorm came up, so we ran everyone out of the pool and inside. We put in a movie and watched the little ones play. I love seeing Faith and Sydney play together. Even though one is Chinese-American and the other Korean-American, they seem so similar in many ways. They had a blast playing on Syd's slide. It was a nice relaxing day spent with beautiful friends.

Time to Catch Up

Hello all. We are loving summer and all that goes along with it. I absolutely love it when the kids are off school. I wish they could stay home always, however that would create some stupidity. So in the intrest of actually creating adults who function in the world, I must let the outside world in. Here are some updates:

Lesterville Graduation rolled around again. This year was especially hard because I graduated 8 seniors from our Youth group. This group of kids has been my guinea pigs on just about everything. Whatever I asked them to try, they were all for it. I love these guys and will miss them so much when they go off to college. Hopefully they will continue to grace us with their presence at church, if not, I pray they find a Bible believing church of their own to attend!

Also this summer brought news that our family is expecting another baby! Emily surprised her parents with a bib for Mother's Day to let them know that they would soon be grandparents again!

Sarah had a end of the year field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. Sydney wasn't too sure about all the animals, although she is doing much better around most dogs and cats. The elephants and bears, however, she did not like. She loved the butterfly house!

Bryce also had a field trip, play day, and preschool graduation. He is such a funny and sweet boy. We went to all his activities and of course took tons of pics!

That brings us up to summer break! Did I mention that I love summer break! Here is just one example of why:

Wayne has began the work of digging a pond in our yard after the first day of digging, we had a period of rain which resulted in a giant mud puddle! And you know boys and mud puddles! Naaaaaaaasty!

Just a few quick pics. The first are of Ashlyn ready for prom. The next few were taken at the Athletic Awards Ceremony and the last one is of Sarah with 4th place volleyball medal.