Toukoul babies

The Toukoul children from our area had a playdate. Last time it was the Toukoul baby reunion and now it is a toddler reunion!

Nyah-Noelle

Haven

We piled them on the couch for a group shot but they weren't too happy about it. What a beautiful bunch of sweeties!!!!!

Spring is here in the Northwest!

Orin works on Marquez's defense with him. His offense is great; he scored 16 and 12 points in the last two games in his YMCA league!

Of course Nyah wants to be included!

just a swingin'

chasing ducks

Nyah couldn't get enough of the ducks. She's seen them in books but never in real life.

Too much fun!

Makaylee got her hair braided at a different salon this time. I love it. I can't take my eyes off it. I end up staring at it all day. The gal is such an artist with hair. Plus, she had a TV so Makaylee sat still for the whole 1.5 hrs. watching cartoons. Perfect!

Cuteness

A Little President's Day Fun

Everyone had Monday off so we went to the Aquatic Park. Nyah loves baths so we thought she'd have a blast.

It was pretty cold in there!

The boys swam in the wave pool with Daddy most of the time.

Makaylee sure had fun!

More lap sitting... he he, that's my Grandma's girl!
At one point Grandma felt something warm on her lap and sure enough, she had gotten peed on :)

This was about as much as we ended up getting Nyah in the water. And she was only happy if she was on Grandma's lap.

It was pretty fun. And then we went to see The Princess and the Frog. Not a fan of that movie. Too much evil, voodoo, and demons flying around. Not exactly what we wanted to expose the kids to. I did like the overall moral to the story though.

Ha ha, this picture is funny. Looks like I got a bad Botox job.
But really I had a biopsy done for another skin cancer. It will be the third one I've gotten cut out of my face in one year. I wish I had worn sunscreen!

LOVE

I am so glad that Valentines Day was on Sunday this year. Instead of pigging out on candy all day we got to go to church and celebrate the inventor of love. God is love! Sometimes when I think about his perfect love and all he has forgiven us and desires to be in relationship with us, it just blows me away. He pursues us. He dances over us with joy. I can't wait for heaven when we all have his kind of love. Perfect love. Whenever I am having a bad day or struggling with the behaviors of one of the kids, I pray and ask God to give me His kind of love for that person. Because His love never fails and mine does. And I do end up being filled with extra love that day. Now why don't I remember to ask for that every day?

beauty baby

Nyah hamming it up!

playing cards with Auntie Jenae

this point guard was born for the court

not too cool to pose for his Mama

Orin finally hung Nyah's letters in her room

being silly

more silliness

It never ends- these two sure get wound up together!
They are two peas in a pod.

Watching Star Wars with Daddy ( we just let Makaylee watch the Ewoks parts b/c the rest is too scary). Even after that she insisted on sleeping in our room tonight.

Makaylee asked why Darth Vader is so mean to his son, Luke Skywalker. I explained that he doesn't listen to God. "But Luke does, right Mommy?!"

Changes

Marquez had to make a diarama of his favorite Bible story to finish his AWANA book.

He chose Paul and Silas in prison when the earthquake happened and they were set free. The jailer became a believer! Marquez was pretty stoked when the babysitter showed him how to use the gas stove to burn the edges of the yellow scroll to make it look old. I swear that's all he'll remember of this project! Boys:)

A surprise came in the mail the other day from my friend I used to nanny for. These cutie black boots for Nyah. The funny thing is, my sister picked the same ones out for me for Christmas and I took them back- my wardrobe was way to frumpy to pull these off. Now I wish I would have kept them to match with Nyah!

And these wall letters for the nursery were in the box! Love 'em. She really should go into business with these. She sells childrens' paintings for rooms and does letters on the side for fun.




And this little number Nyah is wearing. Except within a 1/2 hr. Nyah had opened the homeschool drawer and marked all over the dress with a neon orange marker. And her cheek, and her tongue... right before church. Thank you Stain Stick-you are my best friend.

Mommy's angel

Makaylee's brother moved in today and the kids are so excited. He needed a place to live and I couldn't say no. Hence the title "Changes." There will be a lot of adjustments and getting used to but we'll take it one day at a time. The good thing is now I will be relying on God a lot more every day than before when everything was in my comfort zone. And that is how faith can grow, when we learn to depend on Him.