Spring Break!

We decided to take a Spring Break trip to Tennessee this year. Thankfully, the Lord was planning ahead for us. By chance my mom also had the week off work and no grandkids to watch for the week, so we invited her to go with us. The morning after we arrived Mark came down with a bad case of the flu. He couldn't get out of bed for two days. Without Mom I'm not sure that I would have felt comfortable taking three kids out and about all day. Despite Mark's illness we had a great time, and by Friday night he was even able to join us at the Dixie Stampede. We stayed in a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo. In one of the bathrooms was this gigantic jetted tub. Even though the place had an indoor pool, the kids loved to play in the tub as well.

Friday evening we took in the show at the Dixie Stampede. We couldn't take pictures during the dinner/show, but got a few before and after. If you've never been to a show at the Dixie Stampede we highly recommend it! The kids loved it!

Brock and Hope playing at the Wonder Works museum.

The aquarium in Gatlinburg is also awesome!!

Here are just a couple photos from the AWANA Grand Prix (a few days before we left on vacation). Claire and Mark made 'Pink Panther'. I'm not sure who was more proud when he placed 3rd, but I'm pretty sure it was Mark.

The last few months in pictures

After Claire's tumbling recital with her flowers. Claire, Brock, and our neighbor Hannah built an igloo. At the end Mark got involved and put a tarp over the top and christmas lights inside for the coolest igloo in Jasper County.

Claire and Hannah eating supper in their igloo.

Hope and Angel playing in the snow.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Christmas morning

New Year's Eve! The Sharp and Hurley kids. L to R : Charlie, Hope, Brock, Libby, Claire, Addie

Hope turned 3 at the end of January. She requested a puppy and kitty cake.

Claire's tumbling recital

I'm really trying to get updated on technology. We recently got a new video camera that uploads to youtube and somehow I was able to post it to my blog. I know a lot of people out there are probably saying "duhhh", but it was a real milestone for me. Anyway, this is Claire's tumbling recital from Saturday. The video really lost some quality during the upload. If anyone knows how to correct that let me know.

What we've been up to

I can't believe summer is gone and fall is upon us. Actually, this morning I thought winter was here. This post contains pictures from the summer up to Halloween, since I can't quite seem to find the time to post more often. Here we have our little princess, Bat Girl with her little bat dolls, and a famous pit crew member of Lightning McQueen

Our neighbor girl Hannah invited Claire to her birthday party at the American Girl store in Chicago. Claire and I got to go and have lunch. It was quite an experience that I'm sure she'll always remember.

Our vacation this summer was to southern Indiana. We stayed at a cabin by Patoka Lake. Some of the highlights were swimming, spulunking (cave exploring), going to Holiday World, boating, train riding, and enjoying each others company.

This sign was at the closest gas station/store. Needless to say we did not dine there.

The kids actually got to see Santa at Holiday World. He took the time to talk to them and everything. We were listening closely when he was asking what they wanted for Christmas.

We also got a retaining wall and landscaping around our house this spring. This picture was taken sometime in mid summer.

Another highlight for Claire was her first year in 4-H. Here she is with her steer, Oreo. She did a wonderful job, placing first in the class and winning beginner showman. She also was in creative writing and photography.

Hope and Kidest hanging out close to the time that Kidest left for Lebanon

This is one of my favorite pictures. Brock and Toby on the beach at The Dunes State Park chasing seagulls. These two guys are such great buddies. Toby now lives across the world in Lebanon.

We had a friend from church take our family pictures last Friday night. They are definately the best family pictures we've had in a really long time. Amazingly enough they were taken at a cemetary. Hope, being true to herself, wouldn't smile for anything. Finally, at the end of the photo shoot I remembered a line from her favorite book 'Who put the Pepper in the Pot'. She couldn't help but start smiling and giggling.

Birthdays and more!

The last few months have been enjoyed by celebrating birthdays. Claire turned 9 on May 18th and celebrated with a few friends. We had the typical "girl sleepover" with everything from spa treatments to gymnastics. Notice how Claire's hair changes with the pictures. She's now into experimenting with her hair. I think she's really just bored with stick straight hair. The pictures on her cupcake tree are ones she had taken of her dolls. I surprised her with this on her actual birthday, not the sleepover weekend. Posing in Mom's old formal, doesn't quite fit yet.

Claire and a friend at VBS

Brock turned 4 on June 12 and couldn't be happier. This is his shy, yet very excited face at his birthday party at the park. He wanted both Lightning McQueen and Thomas the Train again this year for a cake. It wasn't too hard since he has more than enough characters to pick from. On the 12th he wanted to stay up until his actual birth minute (10:01pm), so we let him. As I was rocking him for bed he said, "Mom, I didn't feel anything happen. I still feel like I'm three." Too cute!

Hope brushing Cookie's hair. One of her favorite pastimes. And yes, she did name her doll Cookie, which is better than the other one who is named Jish.

Brock also got to have a sleepover for his birthday. Cousin Toby and Brock had a great time racing cars, playing farming, and doing art projects. They even stayed up late just chatting in Brock's room. It was so cute standing outside the door listening to them. They are such great buddies.

Brock really hamming it up for his birthday photo shoot. He doesn't quite fit in Daddy's old jersey either.

First Day of Summer Vacation

Claire is officially out of school for the summer! She has been planning for a while now a big trip to Disney with her girls when she got out of school. This, of course, is all in make believe land. She has for months been researching the Disney Parks and what it takes to plan an actual trip. If we ever decide to take a 'real' trip there, we should be all set. This included everything from the airport, airplane, hotel rooms, different Disney rides, etc. To be honest she has more fun planning the event than actually doing it. Partially this is because in her head she has planned her siblings to be part of her play, but in reality they never do what she wants them to do. Here are just a few of the pictures that I thought were too funny from her 'trip to Disney'. This is a couple pictures of her girls (Carly, Sonali, and Kaylee) with CinderellaHere is the progression of Tigger and the girls. It goes from Happy to be Tigger, to take the picture quick, to get these kids off of me!

It's so fun to see your kids playing together and getting along so well!