Independence Day

 On the 4th of July, we hung out with my family.  The big boy cousins and daddys and Grandpa went fishing, while Adam and Hannah played at the house.  Double trouble!

 We shot off a few kid friendly fireworks.

 I adore these pictures of my dad and Adam!

 Is this not the cutest thing ever?  My parents picked up this cute little riding toy and the boys have a blast with it!

Youth Group Mission Trip

Each summer Chad and I take our church youth group on a missions trip.  This summer at the end of June we made the trek to Cleveland, Ohio!  Although a long 18 hour drive away, it was worth it.  We partnered with the church plant we worked with when we lived there, and the youth group experienced a wonderful week of outreach events, working with kids, and many stretching but growing activities.

 We had just done our own church's Bible School a few weeks prior to this trip, so we were able to use all of our materials to do one for this church plant.  We felt it was a huge success!  

 All of the children were Ukranian or Russian, so teaching them how to play Duck Duck Goose was hilarious!

 We were so proud of our youth kids throughout this trip.  They were hard workers and had amazing attitudes.  It made the trip that much more successful because they were eager and excited to help, serve, and grow from the experience.

 We also enjoyed catching up with many of our friends from this church.

 Lake Erie beach evangelism.  One of those stretching, learning experiences!

 We loved getting to see friends Mike and Jen who we haven't seen in 4 years! They were our family when we lived in Cleveland.  Jen has put in a request that we can be heaven next-door neighbors.  We're for it!

 On the drive to Cleveland, we made one long day trip.  On the way home, we broke it into 2 days and stayed in Chicago for a night!  So fun!  Chad enjoyed getting to show the group his old stompin' grounds at Moody Bible Institute, we did a little shopping...

 and of course ate the best pizza Chicago has to offer!

 with a quick walk by Lake Michigan!

 It was a wonderful trip!

For Grandma

This is way behind but...July 9 marked 5 years since my sweet Grandma passed away.  After she passed, the family members received various belongings of hers.  I chose this pan because I have so many memories of her delicious, perfect-every-time cinnamon rolls baked in this pan.  Honestly, I don't know how she did it and she made it look easy.  I have tried to duplicate her cinnamon roll recipe, and believe me, it is not easy!  I wanted to do something to honor her after these 5 years, and, knowing I would surely butcher the cinnamon rolls, decided to bake a "cookie cake" (as Luke calls it) in her pan.  They were delicious!  And yes, pretty much every single kitchen item she owned was permanently marked "Henry Nisly" and "HN" to ensure she never lost any items at a potluck!

 I'll always miss you, Grandma!

Boys and Their Cars

The other day, I cleaned out my purse.  It's a bigger purse, but not huge or anything.  I found 19 cars in it.  19!!!  I don't even know how they all got in there.  I had been thinking for a while that my purse was heavy but wasn't sure why.  Guess I better get used to it....

....because the verdict is in and we are having another BOY!!!!!!  The boys are very excited!

What We've Been Up To...

So, I've been gone for awhile.  Pregnancy appears to have that affect on me, sorry about that.  However, we have been pretty busy around here.  Here's some of the stuff we've been up to lately:

Being superheros

Going on relaxing drives

Going to the zoo

Celebrating Mother's Day (ahem, over a month ago)

Figuring out creative ways to share our toys...

 and superhero style

washing our modes of transportation

helping Daddy with a pretty exciting building project (finished pictures to come!)

celebrating Daddys by feeding the ducks at the park

enduring torture...

 made slightly better with a sucker

and watching the baby grow!!!

Kids Kids Kids

Children are hard work a blessing.  I love my children with every ounce of my being, but that doesn't mean they don't drive me crazy sometimes!  You know the drill...days where they fight with each other from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed, the moments when you pick up your child only to have him promptly wipe his nose on the clean shirt you just put on, when your toddler "washes" his hands in the toilet for the 100th time (right after you just washed his hands or gave him a bath), the days you spend accomplishing nothing except trying to keep up with the major messes your children make.  Ahhh children.  I will confess, I have spent moments fantasizing about checking into a hotel room alone just to enjoy uninterrupted showers, bathroom breaks, peace and quiet, and of course sleep until my heart is content.  You may read that and think I am crazy, but I would dare to guess most normal mothers have thought of that from time to time.  And yet, even in those moments of wanting to pull my hair out, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I love my children, and they bring me joy that I know I wouldn't be able to experience in any other way on this earth.  Luke, my conscientious one, who is so eager to learn new things and explore his world.  He says things every day that totally crack me up.  And Adam, my adventurous toddler, whose hilarious facial expressions and spunky personality light up my days.  I wouldn't even want to imagine one day without them.  As much as I love and adore my husband, we know our marriage/family would not be as fulfilling or complete without children.  Truly, children are very hard work, but a total blessing from the Lord.  Which is why...we are excited to announce that we are adding more craziness and joy to our family!!  We are expecting #3 October 16!!! 

This is not the greatest picture, since it was so early.  I was only 8 weeks along in this picture, and am now nearly 16 weeks.  We will be finding out the gender in about 4 weeks and can't wait!

Snow Fun

Even though it's technically spring and we are on spring break, it is pretty bitter cold outside these days with traces of snow left from this weekend's storm.  It inspired me to finally post pictures from the big storm we had last month.  I mean BIG!  Well, big for Kansas anyway.  I already forgot how many inches we got, but I think it was around 14.  The boys were so excited!  When we went out, it was still too wet to make a snowman, but the boys were very satisfied just digging in it with their shovels.

 A few days later the boys wanted to go out yet again, but by that time, the thrill of getting everyone all bundled up was gone for me.  So I compromised and brought the snow in to them.  I couldn't believe how much of a hit it was!  They played for probably a solid hour (way longer than if we would have gone outside!).  Who knew that a bin of snow, cups, and a few kitchen utensils could be so much fun.  It made me feel better about being too lazy to bundle them up to send them outside!

 Happy Spring everyone!

Cuttin' Wood

Chad's parents have a wood burning stove to help heat their home, and it's Eigsti men tradition to go out several times a year and cut wood.  Even Chad's grandpa, well along in his 80's still enjoys helping, though he wasn't along this time.  This was a special day though, because it was the first time that Luke got to help.  He even took along his toy chainsaw, just in case.  He was a trooper, because it was pretty chilly outside that day!