Yay! Uncle Pete, and Cousins Shannon and Matt Ringsmuth come to visit the ATL branch of the Ringsmuths. Matt is pictured next.
Yay! Uncle Pete, and Cousins Shannon and Matt Ringsmuth come to visit the ATL branch of the Ringsmuths. Matt is pictured next.
Matt and Uncle Pete came from Minnesota and Nebraska to run the 10K, Charles Harris, Leukemia, Peachtree Road Race qualifying run with Jess and I in February. SUPER fun!!
Ooooooooohhhhh. Aaaaaawwwww. Cousin Matt has a soft side. Who knew?
We just have so much fun when family comes to town.
Stephen and I went to Braves spring training together this year in Orlando. It's something Stephen has always wanted to do, but with Grandma Tynes living with us, we can now swing stuff like this that requires leaving the kids behind for a bit. We got tickets to hang out on the field with the players, which is where we are pictured now, and Stephen got many fun autographs.
Grandma and the grandkids. . . and Bibleman. Of course, Grandma is never around when the kids don't have gum hanging out of their mouths.
I told myself I was going to take the time to crop this photo because it makes my beautiful house look so junky, but in the end, I'm not going to. This is just another "we find Eli sleeping in the craziest places" photo.
One of our annual passes this year was to the Fernbank Museum near downtown ATL. My kids adore their newly reconstructed children's play/learning area.
Julia lulls her baby brother to sleep with her sweet, Scooby Doo, reading skills.
The kids love to ride their bikes in the bankrupt and abandoned neighborhood across the street from our neighborhood. It is gated off so no cars can interrupt their fun.
I know no cars can come down these roads in the abandoned neighborhood across from our neighborhood, but this probably isn't the best habit to get into.
I know no cars can come down these roads in the abandoned neighborhood across from our neighborhood, but this probably isn't the best habit to get into.
One of our beloved, backyard dear has gone to the wolves. . . I mean coyotes. The kids have a moment of silence.
One of our beloved, backyard dear has gone to the wolves. . . I mean coyotes. The kids have a moment of silence.
Yup, He's really asleep. Why not?
I am sucker for almost any photo of Stephen doing nearly anything with the kids.
Stephen and Evan go on a campout to Ruby Falls with his boy scout troop this year.
My big boy scout on his first tour of a cave.
Panning for GOLD!!! This totally floats Evan's boat.
My kids are climbers and there's no getting around it.
His boy scout troop actually spent the night in the Tennessee aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. During Evan's behind the scenes tour, the guide is showing the kids a frozen rat they may or may not defrost before they feed it to some of the animals. Obviously, this thrills Evan.
If Evan is going to develop a fear of snakes, he will not get it from me.
Grandma Tynes took this photo, and I stole it for the blog. Where did my baby go? He's completely gone.
I love her!
I cannot look at a photo of this boy and not smile. Of course, Eli in the background helps out some too.
In this very exciting adventure, we visit Aunt Jessie at work! The kids were completely thrilled by her posh office and her friendly coworkers.
We went out to lunch with Aunt Jessie and a couple of her coworkers to an Ethiopian restaurant. I wanted the kids to try out the kinds of foods Jess will be eating when she moves there next year. They actually approved. I honestly thought they wouldn't like it.
Pretty girly manicures. . . and then whatever is on Eli's fingers.
Just climbing. Always with the climbing.
Our friends, the Stewarts, decide to start a little chicken farm. The kids had a great time playing with and learning about the chicks. I was glad that the chicks were at my friends house rather than mine.
I can't remember how many chicks there were, but this was a great homeschool sort of experience.
Eli, I mean, Luigi, loved on these poor little chicks.
It took Harrison a while to warm up to them, and when he does finally work up the courage, he holds it waaaaayyy out away from his body on Eli's head.
Pretty babies!
Our sweet, 6 year old, friend Tyler Rogers spent a few days with us this spring while his parents were on vacation. He quickly joined the fold as a member of the family with our daily time over the warm vents.
We take Tyler to our favorite biking spot across from our neighborhood. That has been one faithful stroller for all of these years.
Of course, Eli takes the opportunity to take a quick nap.
We moved him onto the front lawn to see if he would wake up. Nope. It's as good of a place as any other that he chooses.
Tyler Rogers and the kids work on their Lowes building projects at home that week.
Eli worked so hard on his! I hated that these were fortune telling things. I didn't tell the kids what they were and actually threw them away as soon as they were distracted by something else. They never missed or looked for them.
The creek flooded a bit this day so the boys took the opportunity to romp in the puddle it left behind.
We had to pause school for a bit that morning to watch some men cut down our neighbor's tree. They were speechless with wonder. Another benefit of homeschooling.
Evan gets packed up the night before his first big backpacking trip with daddy. He was so pumped!!
Evan and Stephen on Evan's first big backpacking trip. He hiked, I think, about 18 miles in 3 days and hung in there the whole way. So adorable!
Awwww. LOVE this photo of Evan and Stephen.
I don't know. He's just always got something going on.
This was one of the campsites Stephen and Evan stayed at. I'm sure it's cold.
Whoa, Nelly!! What. Is. This?! That's a bed!
The whole backpacking crew. Evan thought he was a big man that weekend.
We made sock puppets and they put on a show. I started this project one school morning on a whim to try to teach them how to sew on a button, but since I don't technically know how to do that either, this turned into an ENORMOUS project with a fun outcome.
I LOVE this photo of another boy who joins in with the crew. These are the Tynes kids, of course, as well as our good friends, the Carmichael kids and then this adorable boy who just wanted in on the fun.
BFF's, Courtney and Julia.
Meleah Carmichael and Eli, cruising to absolutely nowhere, just happy to be together.
The kids stuffed all the Easter eggs we donated this year for the hunt at our church. Niiiiiiiice for me!!
AUNT JESSIE COMES TO BOWL WITH US AND SHE IS AWESOME!! This is definitely a favorite activity of the kids when Aunt Jess comes to visit.
We've done these Lowes building projects a couple of times with the kids. They love it. This week they made their own pinball machines.
There they are playing with the pinball machines they just built. I have no idea who the child is that joined their semi-circle, but she fit right in.
They earned their aprons and the patches. It's hard to get a clear picture of Eli as he is nearly always moving unless he is sleeping.
Sleeping in my lap.
We go on a double date with the Byrds to a Braves game/Avette Brothers concert at Turner Stadium. Love those Avett brothers to-the-max! This was our second time seeing them in concert.
Water balloon fight on the deck.
Julia is making her favorite dessert as she prepares for her 6th birthday party.
Now she decorates her own cake. Quite a lovely process.
Aaaahhhh. The masterpiece.
Everyone is soooo excited as Julia opens her biggest birthday present ever!
Julia and the girls at her birthday party try their hand at hopscotch.
Julia must always have a lovely tea party at any of her birthday gatherings.
The girls at her party design and decorate their own flip flops. Julia did her slippers as well.
Works of individual art to-be-sure.
They settle in for a movie and popcorn at Julia's birthday party.
A beautiful, giant, new dollhouse. The girls were delighted!
Here he is sleeping while sitting at the table.
Asleep at dinner.
I left them at the table to color Batman pictures with their new markers for just a few minutes, and when I came back they were all, and I quote, ". . covered in scabs and blood".
Here they seek out and find the fruits of their Easter egg stuffing labor on our church property.
Score!
In stark contrast to the photo of my boys with blood and scabs. . .Precious Julia and her matching bear on Easter morning.
We went to Julia's favorite restaurant for her birthday/Easter. It is a Mexican place called Pappasitos. She requests it every year.
Easter 2011 family photo. Eli. . . .
Eli. . . Yay for Uncle James getting to spend the holiday with us!
Uncle James takes the boys for a nice walk.
While I was busy upstairs, they made these kitty costumes themselves and taped them to their bodies. Here they are drinking water out of paper bowls. I stumbled on their creativity right at this moment.
We got to go to their first circus just down the road from our neighborhood the morning of Julia's 6th birthday. The kids were mesmerized.
Play shirt, wool dress pants, Julia's heart belt, water shoes and totally asleep on the couch.
We went strawberry picking with our homeschool coop. The kids had a good time this year despite the fact that last year it was a disaster complete with vomiting and fire ants. Yes, Eli's shirt is on backwards but insisted that was the way to wear it that day. He is unapologetically who he is.
We wash up our strawberries after filling our buckets.
Thanks to a thoughtful woman in our coop, we had strawberry shortcake on the spot.
Man is it ever exhausting to watch mom fold clothes!
Evan's friends all come to see him get baptized on Sunday morning the 1st of May.
We hosted a large party to celebrate Evan's baptism that morning at church. There are many more pictures of this event and the rest of the guests in the house, but I narrowed them down to this one.
This is just a fun picture of a typical night just before bed.
Eli fell while running through the house and split his adorable little head wide open. He only cried at home until we could get the blood cleaned up and then seemed to find almost everything else more interesting than alarming.
Here the doctor is sowing Eli up with 5 stitches. Eli is still being very brave. I was impressed.
Ooooooh, Poor baby. It healed up well with no incidence, but there is a scar there now. It should continue to look better with time. This has turned into an excellent lesson I can use whenever any of the kids start tearing through the house.
He got to keep the syringe the doctor used to clean out his wound and then he remembered his pockets were stuffed with super balls from earlier that day at home. He was on cloud 9.
I think this is SUCH a beautiful photo of the kids enjoying the landscaping in our backyard with an imaginative game.
The imaginative game continues with a pretend nap on the lawn.
We drove up to Amicalola Falls for a little family hike.
Amicalola falls is a couple of hours from our house here in GA. We went here within days of when Julia was born, but this was the next time we made it back out here.
We stopped on our hike through Amicalola to let the kids climb this great tree.
Hey, I still love climbing trees. Plus, I wanted them to suck in some of their fears and climb higher.
NOT the most flattering photo of me, but I love that we all still fit on this swing together. This won't be possible for much longer.
This is a typical scene behind the field at one of Daddy's softball games.
We had loads of fanned out, strutting turkey's and their indifferent, soon-to-be mates wondering our yard for a whole month this spring.
Evan routinely tried to move in for a closer look. He is a lover of animals.
This is the best part about baking with mommy, of course.
The kids wiggle and wait for our beloved neighbor boy, Chad, to immerge from his front door and spend the afternoon with us.
We baked and baked and baked our way into stacks of thank you boxes for all of our AWANA leaders this year.
We read one of the original Winnie the Poo chapter books for school this spring. Eeyore loved to eat thistles and the kids wanted to know what they were. I happened to spot several on my runs through the national battlefield park around our home, so we went on a hike to find some. The kids took their science journals to draw pictures of what they saw.
Eli looks high and low for the thistles through his binoculars.
We find one and try to imagine actually eating one as prickly as they are.
The kids sit to draw a picture of the thistle in their science journals for future reference.
Evan loves tracking foot prints. He can ID different animals and which shoe print belongs to whom as we backtrack the route we walked in on.
Julia looks stunning with her class in the ballet portion of her dance recital.
Post recital father-daughter moment.
My wiggly 4 year old rubs his cheek against my arm during a loud concert at church last night and whispers, “Mommy, look.” (He wrote, “Harrison Lovs Mom.”)
Of course, I adore this picture. We gave him this hilarious musical card for his birthday since we had to leave the night before to Yosemite for our 13 year anniversary. I THINK he liked it?
The kids LOVE watching old Lassie reruns on their Grandma Tynes' bed as a special treat some nights before they fall asleep.
I love this photo of us at the top of Nevada falls, overlooking Yosemite Valley. Many more photos of this trip are posted here at Phanfare as well as on Facebook.
This is on our way out of Yosemite as we say goodbye to one of the most beautiful places on earth. Many more photos of this trip are posted here at Phanfare as well as on Facebook.
Julia and her beloved ballet teacher, Mrs. Barbara at Julia's recital.
She got 2 bouquets of flowers from her adoring fans and a trophy for completing a good year in dance.
Great post-recital photo of the kids with their beloved Grandma Tynes.
Grandma and Grandpa Ringsmuth celebrate a dance recital well done with over-the-top ice cream desserts all around.
We stayed on this beach in a hotel room overlooking the Santa Monica Pier near LA, CA. It was paradise. Many more photos of this trip are posted here at Phanfare as well as on Facebook.
The 4 of them all play together better and better each day as the baby grows up into more of a little boy. One of their favorite activities is baseball or kickball in the backyard.
This photo of them praying together touches me greatly.
We have had several opportunities to swim in lakes with our friends this year. In GA, there is no escaping this brown water, but the kids had a blast.
This is Julia and her friend, Alex, in Lake Allatoona here in the area.
Eli loves the water. Any water.
My sweet boys enjoying watching the kids swim at Lake Allatoona.
Harrison is PUMPED about his new LEGO video games for our x-box. He celebrated his 5th birthday this June.
Here is his LEGO cake that he designed himself. Move aside Cake Boss!
Let's see, here. What did Harrison say about this. 4 of the guys on the top left are running to R2D2. 4 of them are shaking hands, and 3 of them are doing summersaults.
Here he falls asleep at the Carmichael's neighborhood pool with lots of laughing and splashing all around. He's got skills.
Julia built this Lincoln Log creation all on her own.
We have been blessed with a lot more of Uncle James in our lives lately. What could be better than that? Also, when did I get so tan?
My job at VBS each year is the snack lady. My kids came in very early each morning to help out. They did a great job at helping me prepare these taxi Twinkies, which were obviously an enormous hit with the kids.
Here is a small sampling of my works of art. Each day the 100 and some preschoolers at Wildwood's VBS had some kind of fun treat like this. This was so fun for me!
Eli's class enjoying their Twinkie taxies.
This was Harrison's VBS class. The kids got to put their own Twinkie taxies together based on the models the kids and I created in the kitchen.
These were Julia's VBS leaders this year. She loved these girls.
Chick-Fil-A hosted a Father/Son campout this year on their lawn. Several of the dads and their sons from our Sunday school class went and had a great time. What group of blessed men and boys.
My boys fast asleep after playing hard with daddy and their friends at the Chick-Fil-A father/son campout.
Harrison is getting his cake ready for his big, pool, birthday party.
Yessssss. A work of art.
Eli put the finishing touches on his birthday cake.
We had a large pool party with Harrison and Eli's friends and their families as well as our local family at our neighborhood pool. We had a joint party for the boys whose birthdays are only 2 weeks apart.
This is the only photo that was taken of both boys and both of their cakes for Harrison and Eli's joint birthday party this year.
Samantha (one of Grandma and Grandpa Ringsmuth's international students) came to the boys' pool party, but she might be a bit partial to the girly. They are special friends.
Present opening time at the pool party!
They are their own, 4 person, entertainment, battalion.
We go to these jumpy places to get their crazy energy out a LOT.
Stephen and I bought them this kite in San Diego on our 13 year anniversary trip. We haven't had a chance on a windy day to get this into a field, so we finally went out on a day that had an occasional light breeze. They made up it work with lots of patience and even more running.
I guess it was so comfortable the last time he slept here, he thought he would try it again.
Aunt Jessie comes for a visit. Eli's ways are more creative than our ways.
The kids work hard on putting together this beaut for Uncle James' 30th birthday.
Daddy's church softball game is put on hold for a torrential downpour, but the good friends (Carmichaels and Coggins are with the Tynes) would rather be squashed into one van than be separated into several while we waited for a break in the weather.
They are soooo proud of the cake they made for Uncle James' birthday. This HAD to be his favorite cake ever, fo' sho'.
WATERSLIDE at the Carmichael's neighborhood pool.
I love this photo because the uptight lifeguard at this pool insisted the kids come down feet first on their butts, but Evan trained the lifeguard from the get-go that he was completely out of control of his erratic spinning the whole way down . . .Like mother, like son! Set expectations right way and get away with more ;>)
Grandpa Ringsmuth teaches Evan to grill. It's a right of passage around here. . . Oh, ugh. Those silly bands. . .
Julia catches Great-Uncle Ray fever after years of shying away. We were so excited to have Ray and Renee visit from KY. Precious photo.
We have far too many photos of our family on my dad's scooter, but it's just so adorable.
See what I mean about adorable?
Adorable.
This is one of my favorite photos ever.
I watched from the sidelines as my intuitive and compassionate 6 year old daughter gave up her play time to take over with TLC for a badly neglected toddler at the park this weekend. I didn’t even try to hold back my tears. Lord, let her hold on to this of hers heart forever.
This is Evan and his very good friend Joseph Banister enjoying our Kinect one morning after a sleepover this summer.
We love taking the family and this time even several of our friends with us to an awesome swimming spot about an hour and a half from our home in Little River Canyon, AL.
Eli is having a blast at Little River Canyon.
He is PUMPED!
I love watching Grandma Tynes admire her grandchildren at all of the special events.
This jump off the rocks required careful execution which Evan managed perfectly.
A fun picnic lunch on the rocks at Little River Canon in AL.
Oh, look, proof that I was there and even got to have some fun. We were also there to make sure the kids didn't get washed over the falls.
The kids love to run through our yard when we have the sprinkler system running.
Funny.
It's good to be a kid around here.
I qualified for and ran in the Peachtree Road Race on the morning of the 4th of July. It was hot and very crowded with nearly 60,000 runners, but it was a good time. I love these races.
Jess has run with me in every race I have participated in so far. I am going to miss this woman when she moves to Ethiopia next year.
What is the 4th of July without the worlds best Bar-B-Q. We ate here on the way to our second annual, 4th of July, Braves game and fireworks at Turner Stadium. We were pumped that Aunt Jessie, Grandma Tynes and Grandma and Grandpa Ringsmuth could join us this year!
I have a shot of them on the night of the 4th of July in this same spot at Turner field. I hope to make it a tradition.
Evan had to have a picture of Jess and I with the rest of the kids.
Turner Stadium has a pretty view of the skyline.
Mmmmmmm, Chocolate milkshakes help pass the time before the fireworks at the Braves game on the 4th of July.
Here he fell asleep hanging off of my bed one afternoon.
Evan learns to dive into our neighborhood swimming pool this summer. We spend many, many afternoons at the pool.
That guy behind the kids said, "What great little helpers!!" Clearly he is not a mom and wasn't following us for long. This was a lot of work for me. . . Clearly.
We took a trip to Tennessee last week to visit our beloved family up there. Here is Eli and 5 year old Cousin Abby showing off her hamster.
Now Julia and Cousin Abby show off the hamster.
These boys loved this dog.
All 8 kids on the Greeneville, TN chapter of our Trip. (Lauren, Bradley, Benji, and Abby with Evan, Julia, Harrison and Eli) Of course, the rabbit and Lucy the dog must be included.
We spent the second part of our trip with my beloved grandparents in Mountain City, TN. We played a LOT of cards.
Precious photo of Grandma Hillman and Harrison.
The kids watch the creek that runs between my grandparents' home and their church. They watch from the sidelines for only a short while.
Here is a pretty view of my grandpa's church in the mountains.
OK, now they are IN the creek while Aunty Sharon Hillman sprays them with a hose.
Just exploring the water.
Evan is chasing a frog down the creek.
We went to a vintage style soda shop in Mountain City and ate milkshakes with Aunty Sharon.
They had to eat their shakes at the counter, of course.
Did I mention we played a LOT of cards? Cause we did.
The kids also worked VERY hard to weed grandma's overgrown flower bed. They wanted to pitch in and help Grandma and Grandpa out somehow.
Whoa, look at their progress!!!
They HAD to pick the pretty flowers for Grandma before we went after this whole area with the weed whacker.
They broke a good sweat gathering up the weeds.
That whole area was overgrown with tall weeds and now look at what they did (with a bunch of help from Mom, of course).
Now we are visiting Aunty Sharon at the senior center where she works here in Mountain City. They mostly just visited with the seniors, but I didn't manage to bust out my camera until it was nearly time to go and they were completely distracted by the pool table
We burned off a bunch of energy with a few hours at this incredibly large park for a rural city with a population of only 2000.
Eli walked back and forth on this thing at the skate park in Mountain City, TN with glee.
Then we walked around this beautiful duck pond surrounded by gorgeous mountains.
This picture makes me smile.
This scene is very stressful for me/brought back fun memories.
Evan and Harrison had just as much fun analyzing the rocks on the playground as they did anything else.
Here is another CLASSIC Eli nap situation. When you've gotta sleep, you've just gotta sleep, ya know?
I will forever treasure this photo of my kids on the front pew of my Grandpa's church while he preaches. They didn't even know I was taking the photo and look at their precious faces.
You can see them sitting on the front pew watching my beloved Grandpa preach the way I did when I was a child.
Here is how they camped out at Grandma and Grandpa Hillman's. They had fun with this.
Awww. What a precious photo! That dog is Teddy. They all love Teddy and Teddy has a roller coaster love/hate/indifferent relationship with them.
Grandma gave the kids a dollar for their hard work in the yard, so on the way home, we had to stop at the first Dollar General store they saw to spend it.
While talking with my mom on the way home to ATL after stopping in Johnson City, TN for lunch (following my GPS) I see this sign and say, "MOM! I've gotta go. I'm in Virginia!!" I pulled over to figure out what went on earth went wrong, but before we could pull back onto the road, the kids and I laughed hysterically. Actually, I think they were laughing at me laughing hysterically.
Julia was worn out after some fun times with the Tennessee Hillmans.
This past weekend we went to another Braves game as a family. It turned out to be a very fun game. There was crazy, wedding, dress guy who charged the field, the B52's in concert, an ump knocked off his feet by a wild pitch, and the kids finally silly dance their way onto the Jumbo-Tron. YAY, KIDS!
The kids get their first taste of the B52's in concert after the game this past weekend. They were very tired. . . the kids and the B52's. This was also the second time I have seen the B52's in concert.
Eli sleeps while the other boys play a rowdy game on the X-Box.
Stephen is helping Evan navigate this stream crossing on his backpacking trip.
Julia loves to sing. In fact, She announced one day that she was, in fact, ". . . born to sing". I believe her.
Evan and I converse about his impending baptism later that morning. What a great kid!
The 3 biggest kids jump into the deep end of our neighborhood pool together.
Here is a short version of one of Eli's prayers. When I try to video it, he cuts the prayer short so he can get to watching the video back. One of these days I'll sneak a video of one of his great ones.
Evan was baptized by Stephen during the Sunday morning service on May 1st. This is a very moving moment.