Fun Times!

Well the camera is no where to be found but I have a few minutes so the blog will be picture less. Since the last blog Molly has gone and stayed with the McPherson's for a week and was thoroughly spoiled by Grandmommy, Papa, Aunt Jenny and Lucky. From skype and phone chats it was clear to see she loved every minute of it. We are so thankful to have parents who love our kids and that we live close enough that even if we can't visit for long periods of time they can still hangout with the girls. Maybe next year Riley can join in - but Jon and I did enjoy getting one on one time with her so maybe alternating so everyone gets some extra special attention.
Jon put on another Strong Bonds event this time at the Great Wolf Lodge - which is an amazing location - and taught Mark Gungor's Laugh your way to a better Marriage. We did some minute to win it games, watched some Tim Hawkins and got a lot of good conversations with other families in the unit. Also we used the babysitters for date night and got to go on all the rides at the water park and have a nice dinner. Jon does a great job on the retreats I think but others must be starting to think the same b/c his last 2 retreats have filled up within 5 hours of getting word out. I love that Jon's job lets him do so many different things and that this one has nothing to do with death and destruction but building stronger families to make it through military life. I know he can't wait to have an actual weekend where he is not working but at least we can tag along for the break times!
This week and next week we are getting to host 2 youth groups coming to share all over Fort Bragg. They work with an organization called CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) and their mission is to share Jesus with kids! There have been a few kids who accepted Jesus as their Savior from the 5-day club (backyard bible clubs). This week we have 8 and next week 12 youth living with us. We felt bad for the club this week since our A/C broke for 2 days so the house was anywhere from 78-93 but they decided to stick it out here. We pulled out the baby pools - borrowed some from neighbors and all just played outside in the water until bed time. The youth have been fun to get to know and Jon and I are grateful that we get to host people doing a mission trip since we have been on the receiving end so many times. The girls love playing with Molly and Riley and the boys love talking X-box with Jon when he is around.
PWOC - this year I get to serve as the Newcomer Chair at my bible study. So far in our 2 summer sessions we have had over 30 ladies who are either new to the study or Fort Bragg. It is awesome to get to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people and try and connect them with others. I love seeing new people get plugged in and meet others who love the Lord.
Hopefully to next post will have a picture or two!

Riley is 4 months

Today we went for Riley's 4 month check up and shots.
She is growing much faster than her sister did but she in no longer is the 90% for head, weight and length - she is slowing down a little and is 30% head, 50% weight and 60% length. She sits in her bumbo and jumper and basically goes anywhere we drag her. Molly is able to make her smile a lot and cry only occasionally and they have even had a few baths together. The girls both enjoyed the 4th of July on post and the two parties we went to on the Sunday before with lots of boom boom as Molly called it.
Riley enjoying a bath with her sister. Since we have stopped Molly from water boarding her they have both enjoyed time together more.
Happy 4th of July - Riley loves to grin especially at her daddy!
The girls ready to go hear some boom boom and eat funnel cake.
Riley even gets to join us at the kitchen table now - no longer is she relegated to the rocker on the floor. She isn't eating food but really likes the view from the top.
Molly loves have her eye level also.
But meal times can drag on when you are waiting for a 2 year old to finish up so Riley decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes. She looks just like her BertBurt on a Sunday morning when he is absorbing all the preacher has to say - except the whole no clothes thing.

Riley Giggles

Here is the video that wouldn't upload for my last post. This one is for you Granny - Riley is a large part of the family:)

Summer Fun!

So far this summer has been pretty fun for us (ok me and the girls - poor Jon is working and getting little sleep). We have had family and friends who are basically family stay with us and played our new KINECT. That is right we traded in our Wii for a X-box 360 with kinect and are loving it. I have indoor skydiver, we have had bar-b-ques and played games. It is looking like a good start for us this summer and we have done Jon's favorite PLAYED IN THE POOL!! I don't know what it is about him but the pool is just not as exciting to him as it is to others in the family but he endures for us!
We also started McPherson Ministry Monday nights where we write notes to missionaries, do prayer walks or whatever else the Lord inspires us to do. We set aside the time and do some worship songs, pray and go out as a family and so far it really has been a great way to start a week off.

Me at Paraclete - INDOOR SKYDIVING!!
Tina skydiving.
So Thursday my Groupon for the area was 1/2 at Paraclete so I bought 2 hoping we could talk at least one Lewis family member into going with us and TINA was willing. It was so fun we each had 2, 1 minute sessions in the air tunnel - on our second turn the instructor took us to the top and would fly us to the bottom - it was awesome and a tad nerve racking!!
Before - so ready to go!!
Me thinking I hope this is as cool as it looked and Tina doesn't kill me! We had a kid who was no more than 5 in our group so when I came out I let Jon know Molly will be doing this before we leave - it is going to take a little more convincing I think:)

Playing Quelf - Tina was stuck under the table for one who round
Who doesn't love a game? All 7 kids are right there playing or supervising.
Molly, Riley, Spencer, Mason, Will, Wyatt and Olivia. The big kids beat Jon's new game Portal 2 in both single and double player mode - some even bigger kids (Jon and Brad) stayed up playing it until 1am once the kids were put to bed - Tina and I cheered them on or sat on the couch talking and wondering what was going on with that crazy game!
Pool time - the little kids only like to play/watch video games so long but the pool they could play in for hours until a mortal injury with a rock and the slide.
While the guys talked and kids played during the bar-b-que the ladies snuck out for a few hours and got some pedicures coming home just in time for food, fireworks and some laughs!
Another round of Quelf - don't ask?
Thomas and Kaitlin driving with the Kinect - one last great hurrah before they leave to go overseas for a few years.
Jon trying to beat Thomas - it might have happened??

VBS - I was with the yellow team and I loved my kids and co-leader it was a great week. 17 kids made decisions to follow Jesus! The story time was by far my favorite, the story lady was amazing!! We got in the belly of a whale (sardines, tents, wet towels on the ground and see weed - let your imagination finish the rest) and it made me see the story in a whole new like - I bet Jonah got to do a lot of thinking in that dark stinky place b/c 30 minutes was long enough for me!!
Before all our guest I guess Jon was missing our camping across America so we pulled out the tent and set up camp in the living room for a Friday night movie marathon.
Molly was such a good helper!
South of the Border to stock up on fireworks!! Jon thought it was going to be an awesome place and I didn't want to tell him what to expect - needless to say he was a little let down after all the hype!
Family photo on the hot dog at South of the Border - I got my picture taken here for beach week my senior year with Shannon and Courtney!.

Mr Holder Retired

My high school years were highly impacted by Mr. Holder - the greatest band teacher that ever was. I made some great friends and had some amazing times in those 4 years. We traveled all over for marching band and concert band and were pushed to do our best. This week he conducted his last concert at Lake Braddock and a lot of my friends got to go and be apart of it. In honor of those times here are so pictures that no one said I could share - enjoy!
Every Friday my mom let me have friends over for pizza for the 1 -2 hour break we had between school letting out and us having to get back for marching band on football game nights. But you never knew what was going to happen on trips like the time in Chicago when Courtney let us die her hair from blonde to red!!
Good times! Concerts - graduating - ready to conquer the world!
Our graduation party - we finally didn't have to play p&c for an hour!!
Marching Band - the trombone girls:)
High class ladies!!

Mission Trip??

We had another Strong Bonds trip this weekend but this time for the married soldiers in Jon's unit. We got to go to a hotel that had a water park on site, 3 pools and the ocean!! Jon has taught from many different books like His Needs Her Needs, 7 habits of Highly effective Families and this time 5 Love Languages. Since I try to blend in until people know who I am I get to hear some fun things the first night of teaching - mainly how excited the wives are to hear about this book and the husbands well they get there:) Throughout the weekend I did get some fun questions like - does the chaplain ever get mad? is he like this at home? This time Jon had me teach on quality time since it is my love language and I must say it is much easier to have an opinion on how things are going when sitting in the back of the room rather than up front talking to 60 people! We had couples that had been married 6 months and others celebrating their 13th anniversary and Jon did an awesome job teaching them all. We offered a sand castle building contest but everyone backed out when they realized one family brought a garden shovel - they are serious beach people! The nice thing about married retreats is childcare (for me) and a date night for everyone! We got to go see the Cir De Sole show and Jon even got called up on stage to dance - which he did and went all out. I had good conversations with some wives and we got to see the soldiers and their families outside of the military were everything is at a crazy pace. It seems like every 3-5 weeks we have gone on a trip and it looks like it will stay that way for awhile. If we just keep looking at it as a mission trip maybe it won't seem like Jon never gets a weekend with just us as a family right?
Our little mermaid. Every time we walked out the door Molly said pool. It didn't help our balcony overlooked the ocean and our front door over looked the pool. I think by the end of the weekend we at least got her to understand the ocean is not a pool - only time will tell though.
Molly giving Jon a pep talk Friday night!
Playing at the ocean
Riley loved it!
The best way to start a retreat off - minute to win it games!! Couples were laughing and having a good time. This is the oreo game were you put it on your head and have to get it in your mouth without using your hands. Some people were very serious.
But never fear a girl won this game!

Junk in your trunk - lots of laughing during this one. You have to bounce ping pong balls out of a tissue box.

The games were how Jon started each session - to break the ice and wake people up and then he dove right into the serious stuff.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a special day in our household as many of our family have served in the military. My dad's uncle Burton served and died fighting in WWII and both our father's served in the military for over 25 years and now Jon. Actually both my brothers and one of Jon's sister married someone whose father served in the military and Jon's sister Jenn is dating someone preparing to be deployed next month. And let's not forget my brother Brad and our many friends we grew up with or have met now as Jon serves.
This year we ending up staying home since Jon had funeral duty on Friday and we got to run children's church on Sunday. So to make the day special I got some fireworks and after an afternoon swim and cookout we had a firework show on a toddler schedule!

Thanks to all who have served and currently serve - we are thankful for all you do!!
Riley's swimming pool debut - Molly was so excited to have a friend in the pool with her.
The idea was a picture going down the slide together - big failure!
Riley letting us know she is not thankful to be in the pool or have her sister constantly invade her space. Molly is just happy to have someone to play with!
Much better - I like to watch Molly from a distance not in my face.
But in the end they ended up both enjoying pool time together.
We kept Riley at a safe distance for the firework show.
Going to see the loot*.
Here dad let me help you with that!
Boom Boom Boom - that is all Molly kept saying over and over even though not one firework exploded they just shot stuff into the air. She did love the show though!
And what holiday would be compete without dessert - ice cream with hot fudge sauce.



*Note - the order of the firework pictures might have been arranged to cause the grannies to panic but Molly never actually lite a firework and the posed picture with the lighter was post show:)