Back to the land of blogging...

Okay, I know it has been a VERY long time since I have posted, and I am so sorry for that! We have just been soooo busy!! I am determined to get you caught up on what has happened in the last few months since my last post, and then I WILL start back with weekly updates...I WILL!!! So bear with me on this EXTREMELY info-packed post...from now on they will be short, sweet and frequent! :) So hang on tight, this is quite a ride! Here are a few of the things that have we have done in the last few months...

We participated in the baby dedication at our home church in Clarksville-dedicating our precious little R to the Lord was exciting and important to us as a family. He was definitely the oldest baby being dedicated, but it wasn't something I wanted to do while big R was away.

A was baptized on our last Sunday at our church in Clarksville. She was saved last summer at VBS, but she wanted her Daddy to be present when she was baptized, so we waited until he returned home.

T graduated 6th grade!!! They had a graduation ceremony because in Arkansas they move to Jr. High in 7th grade. Here in OK she will still be in Middle School for 7th grade. But the graduation ceremony was great, and she had to wait for several minutes while they read all of her academic accomplishments before handing her the diploma. We are very proud of her!

We packed up and moved to OK!! I think I was unpacking boxes for a full month! But now everything is unpacked, things are hung on the walls, and we even had a garage sale to clear out all the clutter! Our big 'ol house is finally feeling like our home!

Grandma and Grandpa Willis were our first visitors at the new house. They came down one evening for a quick visit, and we were very happy to have them.

MiMi and PaPa were our 2nd visitors...we were very happy to have them too!

We have had a mini waterpark in our backyard...all 3 kids have enjoyed playing in R's boat and the sprinkler!

R celebrated his 38th birthday with a homemade German Chocolate Cake...yum!

R and I went to a Casting Crowns concert with Christie and Jason...fun times and great music!

We have visited White Water and Frontier City numerous times (gotta love the season passes). Little R has discovered Bob the Builder at Frontier City, and he is his new favorite person. Bob fits right in with R's love of tractors!!

R tried watermelon for the first time...and kinda liked it!

The girls were jumping/dancing on our bed (yes, they DO know better) and they BROKE it!!

T introduced R to the joy of building a fort in the living room...lots of fun!

MiMi and PaPa came down for the 4th of July. This was R's 2nd 4th of July, but our first together as a family. The 4th is one of our favorite family holidays...it was great to be together for it this year!

We made a quick trip to AR...just me and the kids...rented a hotel room and the girls had some friends over for some swimming and pizza!

We went to Branson for the Willis family vacation. It was great fun seeing our kids with all of our cousins. Little R really enjoyed "the boys" and wanted to know where they were at all times! :)

We drove to Cuba, MO to attend R's 20-year class reunion. Yes, he IS old!! It was great to see where he grew up and meet his high school friends. We discovered that we have very similar "small town" roots, just in different states.

We got to spend a week in AR while R attended a class. It was an unexpected chance to spend more time with family, which we always appreciate!

T went to church camp the week that we were in AR. She is officially a "big kid", even though we have a hard time admitting it. She had fun, learned a lot, and didn't even miss us too much!

Last weekend while driving down the road, we saw a monster truck (the real Bigfoot) doing a show. We pulled in and little R got to see a REAL monster truck jumping over cars and sloshing through the mud...it was a little scary at the time, but he LOVES to watch the video we got on the camera! He said "BIG truck...AWESOME" at least a hundred times in the following days. Big R enjoyed it tremendously...he was giddy with excitement!! :)

And now we are 12 days away from the girls starting 7th and 2nd grade at brand new schools. We have had a great summer together, and I really will miss them being here during the day. The house will be a little quieter (but not too quiet, as the noisy little guy will still be here), and I have a feeling little R will find me a little less entertaining than his sisters. But we will be back to the time when the highlight of his day is seeing that bus pull up in the afternoon...not only because he LOVES a big yellow bus, but because he knows his sisters will be getting off that bus and the fun will begin!

I know this is a very long post, but I haven't been failing to post for lack of postable events, but rather because I have been so busy living those events that I haven't taken the time to reflect on them. Well, those days are over...let the blogging begin!