A family trip...FINALLY!!!

While we were in Germany, we travelled A LOT!  And we loved it A LOT!  But when we got back to the States last summer, we were content to stay put for a while...a long while.  But by the time R got home this summer, we were definitely ready for some travel time.

I NEEDED to get my feet into some sand, so we decided to head to Orange Beach, AL for a week away.  We had to squeeze it in between Abbi's two cheer camps, but used every single minute we had.

It was a great trip!  We needed time to just get away and reconnect and relax, and Orange Beach was the perfect fit for us.  MiMi & PaPa met us down there and spent a couple of days at the condo with us, which was great.  Great trip, great memories!

A different kind of Paris for us this year!

It had to be done...R insisted. 
 

LOVED our condo!  4th floor with a balcony looking right out onto the beach.

First day headed down to the beach.  MiMi & PaPa brought the country to the beach...straw hats, and jeans over our swimsuit! : )

We decided to "disconnect" during the trip and go basically technology free.  We took games, and bought these UNO cards as a last minute thought.  Little R was a natural!!  He LOVED the game, and I couldn't even begin to count how many games of UNO we played during the week. 

You gotta eat seafood at the beach, right?  Wonderful dinner!

You also HAVE to do family beach pictures!  Even if your "best friend photographer" can't come along to snap the pics.  Little R was dressed and ready to go!

A little Daddy/Son arcade fun.

This little guy is LUCKY!!  He got TONS of tickets, and even picked out prizes for his sisters!



Frozen yogurt!  There was also a Dairy Queen in Orange Beach (which we don't have in Edmond), and all I'm going to admit to is that we visited more than once during the week! : )

One afternoon we decided to build a little sand castle.  It turned out alright!  Okay, not really...but we saw a couple of guys working on this thing all afternoon.  It was neat to return after dinner that evening and see it finished.

This little guy LOVED the sand!  He doesn't love dirt...but he definitely loves sand.  Our kids haven't been to the beach very much in their lives...but they are all three like me...it is definitely their "happy place".

Can you say PHOTO BOMB???

Our handprints.  We did this on the beach in Ireland, so now its a tradition.

Last photo of the trip.  Final evening on the beach before heading out the next morning.  Great beach, great trip, great memories!

Welcome Home Daddy!!

FINALLY....R came home from Germany in July.  It has been a long year of separation for our family, and we are so glad to have him back!

I arranged a surprise welcome party for him at the airport, and we had quite the turnout!  We have so many great friends here in Edmond, and they are always here for us when we need them.

And thanks to Katy we have these great pictures of the welcome party at the airport!!

R was VERY surprised!!

Little R's sign...he designed it himself, and the finishing touch was the "Jesus cross" at the top.

The group all gathered up and waiting for him to come down the escalator!

This is the moment he heard the cheers and spotted the group!

Our sweet boy was the first to run up and give him a big hug!



Hugs...

Hugs...

And more hugs...

High Fives for the kids...

And some friends are so good, you just gotta pick 'em up! :)

Sweet hugs...

Our little guy was SO EXCITED to have his Daddy home!

And finally a kiss for me!!  And our dear friend Katy was sweet enough to bring him Chick Fil A for his first dinner at home!

Again, we are just so grateful to have R back home with us, and so grateful for friends who chose to spend their Monday evening sharing in our happiness!!

Happy Easter!

It was great being back in the States for Easter this year!

On Saturday, our friends hosted a wonderful Easter egg hunt at their home!  Little R got lots of eggs, without the mad dash at most of the public egg hunts.  It was a great change of pace!

Little R has his Skylanders bucket, and he is ready to go!!

Fillin' up that bucket!

Even the big kids got to hunt!  A found mostly money eggs...she was a happy girl!

Having some lunch before digging into the candy.

Unfortunately, T didn't get to come with us because she had to work!  But on Sunday we went to church, and even got to enjoy service together since they didn't have children's activities that day.  Little R rarely goes to service, and I had him armed with lots of paper and a pen to entertain him.  But he kept tuning in to the message...any time the pastor would say "Jesus", little R would look up.  And he thoroughly enjoyed the music, singing along "Hal-ya-yoo-yah"....too cute!

No fancy new Easter clothes this year!  We decided to keep the focus where it needed to be...on Jesus!  (Actually, in all honesty, I did buy Little R a snappy little suit with a vest and tie.  But he decided that morning that he didn't want to wear it after all, so I returned it, and used the money for something he needed...a new swimsuit!)

Merry Christmas from the Willis Family!

Christmas this year was a little different.  On one hand, we were so happy to be back in the States at Christmas time.  On the other hand, it was hard going through all the preparations without R here.  But we were excited because we knew he would be here for Christmas, and that was enough!

We bought a live Christmas tree this year.  I had these dreams of going to a Christmas tree farm, picking the perfect tree, and chopping it down.  In reality, we went down the street to Lowe's and bought a tree.  And a pretty small one at that, since I was the one that had to bring it in and get it set up.  But the kids enjoyed the real tree, no matter where it came from!

I let the kids hang most of the ornaments this year, since I was unpacking everything.  I handled it better than I thought I would....I only "rearranged" a few ornaments! : )

LOVE having a fireplace!

The final product!

Everything decorated, and all the shopping done!  Now we just had to wait until the 20th for R to come home for an extended, much-needed visit!  It was a great time together as a family!

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone had a blessed holiday season! 

Girls' Trip to Tulsa!!

In December the girls and I headed to Tulsa for a show on the Hits Deep Tour.  It was an amazing lineup of Christian artists, and I thought it would be a fun way for us to get away and enjoy ourselves.  It was just what we needed!  MiMi & PaPa came up and stayed with Little R, and off we went to Tulsa on a Thursday afternoon!!

The view from our 9th floor hotel room.

Jumpin' for Joy!

We had VIP passes, so we got in early and had a little acoustic performance with some of the guys, and a question and answer session.  It was pretty cool!  We were thrilled that Brandon Heath was one that we got to see "up close and personal".

Toby Mac during the VIP question and answer.  We had R on the phone (even though it was the middle of the night in Germany) and Toby Mac said hi to him...made his night!! 

Capital Kings. 

Colton Dixon.  We LOVE this guy!  Followed him on American Idol, and we love the music he is making!

Jamie Grace.

Brandon Heath again...this time a little less personal!

Mandisa.  First time we had seen her live.  She is AH-Mazing!! 

Toby Mac...doin' his thing!

The girls with Chris August after the show.  Love his music, and he was a great guy....talked to the girls for several minutes!

Brandon Heath after the show...LOVE him, LOVE his music!!  We had seen him in concert and met him before...he was just as great this time!

And last, but not least.  A short video of my very favorite Christmas song!  It's called "Just a Girl" by Brandon Heath.  Love, love, love the song!  And it's even better when you're sitting right in front of him, and he's singing it TO YOU!!  Look up the song, listen to the whole thing...it's wonderful!

SNOW!!!!

We saw A LOT of snow in Germany.  We didn't expect to see much snow once we moved back to Oklahoma, so this was a nice surprise for the kids.  Me, not so much.  I'm not a fan of the snow.  It's wet, it's cold, and it's messy.  But I do enjoy watching my kiddos have fun in it!  And this was Hazel's first snow...and let's just say she was definite fan!!

The view from our front door...several inches of snow!

Little R bundled up and ready to go!

Pretty girl Hazel in the snow.  She LOVED it! 

And now, a video of the fun the kids (and Hazel) had playing in the backyard.  It's a little long (just over 3 minutes), but I promise you, it's worth it!  There are some real gems in this little video.  I still can't watch it without laughing!  These 3 kids (and now this dog) that we share our lives with are something else!  They keep things interesting around here, for sure!  Hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!!

 

 

Celebrating T's 16th Birthday

T had a pretty mellow 16th birthday celebration.  She's not a fan of big parties, and she is still finding her group of friends here in Edmond.

MiMi & PaPa came up the weekend before her birthday.  So we had some hotel swimming, s'mores, and of course gifts!

Then on her actual birthday we went out to dinner, had cake,  and presents, too.

A "jump for joy" for T's 16th!!

She requested a pumpkin pie cake...and said it was delicious! 

I forgot to buy candles, so we had to improvise...

Sweet friends came by to sing Happy Birthday to her, and their son (the king of origami) brought her this sweet paper bow he made.  Thanks Luke, it was one of her favorite gifts!!

The next weekend it was laser tag and frozen yogurt with some more sweet friends!  Fun!!

T, I can't believe you are 16!  It truly seems like yesterday that you were 3 years old, strutting around the house in play heels and pink tutus!!  You are totally different than I ever expected you to be...from pretty, pretty princess ballerina to a t-shirt & holey jean wearing artist rockstar!!  But you amaze me pretty much everyday with your sarcastic wit, your musical and artistic ability, and your intelligence!  You are an amazing girl, and I wouldn't change a thing about you!  Well, okay, maybe the affection for black t-shirts, and maybe the lack of room-cleaning motivation....but not much more than that, really! : )  I love you girl, and no matter what...we've got your back!!

Fall Fun!

We are thrilled to actually have some trees at our current house.  We have one tree in the front yard, and five trees in the back yard.  But while trees are great, they equal work when the leaves start falling.  So we had a day of work/fun raking up and playing in the leaves.  This isn't something the kids have gotten to do very often...for some reason the houses we end up in usually don't have a tree on site!

They raked up a pretty good pile

And then took turns jumping in it!

And now a video, just to show a bit of the character we share our lives with.  No one can ever say this boy doesn't have personality!!  He is a ham!!