Peek a Boo

So lately Sammy has been really into Peek a Boo...so much so that she plays it even if no one is playing with her :]  I got Johnny to start filming this about 3 minutes into her playing with no one paying her any attention....never mind her big sister trying to get in on the action in the back ground :] facebookers click on the original post to see the video :]

I love her little laugh each time she uncovers her eyes!  This child is pure entertainment :]

1st Day of School 2011-2012

So today was Joey's first day of school for this year!  She woke up ready to go, and even wanted to wear the outfit she'd picked out the night before {it was a long shot that she would actually be in this outfit come morning :]}.  She let me put her hair in piggies, ate her breakfast and off we went!

At the moment she's throwing a fit because she's over tired and doesn't want to go to sleep, but that's neither here nor there :]

Let's look at some pictures and remember the happy times we had today!

For breakfast we had a banana split muffin :] Thanks Grandma

Getting out of the car like a big girl...she doesn't need help anymore!

"mom take a picture of the playground"

We were super early so mommy got a "coffee drink" at High Connections :]  Yummy!!!!  We sat in a booth and waited for school to start!

Here's Joey by her bin..

...and getting her name tag from Mrs. Stephanie!

before I left, she said "mommy, how do you do play doh?"....LOL, "like we do at home goof!"

I started this last year and loved the post school interview, so here we go with this years video {facebookers click on the original post to see the video}

I love her favorite thing about the 1st day of school :]  LOL

Click here for last year's post...my has she grown!

Worship Wednesday - You'll Come

So after the Wisconsin posts I had to give my fingers a break and stop the blog for a day or so :]  I'm back with an early Worship Wednesday and I'm loving this song right now!  If you don't know who Hillsong United is, get to know them!  They have some great songs, and a lot are my "favorites".  This is one of those.....If you are reading this on facebook, click on the original post to see the video :]

Verse 1
I have decided I have resolved
To wait upon you Lord
My rock and redeemer shall not be moved
I?ll wait upon you Lord

Pre Chorus
As surely as the sun will rise
You'll come to us
As certain as the dawn appears

Chorus
You'll come let your glory fall
As you respond to us
Spirit reign flood our hearts
With holy fire again

Verse 2
We are not shaken we are not moved
We wait upon you Lord
Our Mighty deliverer my triumph and truth
I'll wait upon you Lord

Bridge
Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed

Wisconsin...the Final Post :[

So we've come to an end in our Wisconsin posts...and what's a trip to WI without the ski show???  So here we go.....

the girls were getting ready for the show...

the ski team is made up of people of all ages...the youngest was 21 months I think, and the oldest is....well they didn't get into that :]  Just look at these little cuties though :]

The ski show was fun, but we did leave early since the little beauty above was getting out of hand, so we left and went for ice cream!  We had ice cream about 3 or 4 times while we were in WI, but I somehow didn't get a picture of any time we went :[  Oh well!

So after the ski show, we were all inspired to do some tricks of our own, so the next day we rented a tube and took the kids :]  Most everyone went horseback riding, so while they were gone, we took Joey and Mily out on the tube while they had the chance :]

Joey went first...Johnny rode with her!

Next up was Mily....she loved it and actually ended up riding by herself later in the day!

the girls were tired!!

the rest of the day we spent sitting on the dock and swimming :]

all in all we had the best time ever!!!!  Thanks mom for such a great time!  We had a blast, and it was so much fun to see our kids have so much fun!  I enjoyed reading, relaxing and seeing our kids soak up all the fun!!!  makes me really want to live on a lake one day!

I can't wait for our next family vacay :]  

The Great Puzzle Caper.....

So I left you the other day with this picture...

....see the girl on the left?  that's rachel...she loves puzzles, in fact, she has a favorite puzzle.  most people have favorite books, but rachel has a favorite puzzle..."verticalville" to be exact :]

So we had been working on the puzzle for a few days when we decided to get after it and get it done so we could have more game playing room on the table.  Rachel was sleeping, and we were too close not to finish :]  

Let me back up by saying that Johnny, Jackie, Claudia and MIL were working the puzzle...Becky and I had Brittany steal 3 pieces so we could be the last ones to place a piece in the puzzle, but we got too impatient and jumped in on the action...

....notice Johnny's technique...we like to call this extreme puzzling!

everyone was so intense...we must finish!!!!

Here we go with the extreme puzzling again!  nothing is off limits when you are trying to get a puzzle done!

 we kept shifting the puzzle around so we could get a new perspective on it....we must get this done before rachel wakes up in the morning, it will be so funny!!!

So we come to the end of the puzzle, no thanks to Jackie who was growing impatient and throwing popcorn at us the whole time, and we were missing pieces?!?  There were more than 3 pieces missing, and Brittany, Becky and I didn't let on that we had any of them.  Brittany blamed Rachel for the missing pieces {she admited doing this before in another puzzle so she could be the last one to put the piece in} but alas, about 10 pieces spilled out of none other than Jackie's bra!!!  Once those Jackie's pieces were in place, the 3 of us put our final pieces in as well.....IT'S DONE!!!  This was well past midnight by the way....we were exausted!

Now, what to do with the puzzle...do we leave it on the table for Rachel and Bret to find in the morning?  Do we take all the middle pieces out and hide them in baggies around the house and leave clues for Rachel and Bret?  Do we move it to the other house and put it in front of their door??  Do we take a picture of it done, take it apart, then send them a picture of the finished product while they were working on it?  and then we settled on a plan......

we slid the puzzle onto the coffee table and began the transport to the other house...Stout and johnny were the muscle behind the operation...

I held the flashlight and Becky took the pictures....the rest of the folks were close behind :]

up onto the other patio.....keeping it level....nice job!

....we put the coffee table on top of the dining room table to be discovered in the morning :]  This table was right outside our bedroom!!

not sure why this isn't turned by oh well....not to mention that dakotah and mac were asleep directly behind us!  Now all we had to do was sleep and wait :]

Johnny and I woke up the next morning to clanging in the kitchen....bret and rachel were talking and johnny and i were just waiting for them to notice.

not sure who noticed first, but rachel started saying...."what????  I can't believe they did this!  they knew we were working on this puzzle..." laughing the whole time!  We came out of the room and cracked up :]  We told her what went down, and come to find out, she was awake the whole time and could have been helping us with the puzzle....LOL!  What a fun night :]  

Wisconsin Take 7

I think we might be nearing the end of the Wisconsin journey :[  It's been fun reliving it with all 2 of you reading :]  Anywho, here's more shameless pics of my super fun family....this was family picture day, and out of all the ones we took as the Stout 4, this is the best shot :]

.....and most of our shots were candids.....

Here's Johnny coaching the Joey on how to not to squint into the bright sun :]

not sure what sam's doing, and me and Jo have some wierd head tilt :]

"I know the sun burns your eyes, but it's just for a minute....you can do it Joey!!"

"uh kinda" :]

Ok, sammy, you are getting out of control :]

Maybe if we try a different location?? Um, nope....

 LOL, still no...

hahahaha....no

 Mily came out ready for her turn and gave Joey some entertainment for a minute :]

Seriously, how big does our girl look???  

There are more family pictures, and I'll post those another day when they are all edited and ready for public viewing....after the pics though, we piled in the car and headed back to crooked lake!

 By crooked lake is this crazy giant rock that the siblings would climb when they came to visit their grandad....it's super steep, slippery, but you feel accomplished when you are done!

we made it to the top!!!

brittany decided this would be her workout of the day, so she went back down and climbed back up :]

we were all so stinkin' hot after that, we went to the lake and jumped right in!

we even took this tiny hiny in with us :]

Joey caught a fish...it really surprised me how she wasn't even scared of it!  She tends to be a bit girly, but not with this little guy...she even held him in her hands!

just another awesome day in crivitz, wisconsin!  I need pictures of "the puzzle story" from anyone who has them...also if you have pictures of Joey fishing, that would be great too!  Back tomorrow for what may be the last WI post!