Rock the Rock

We had a crazy but awesome week this week. Our church put on an outreach event called Rock the Rock. We put on kids' clubs in four different parks around the city and had over 200 kids show up. Several came to know Christ and several families visited our church today!

It was so much fun being a part of the clubs this week. We are here at Monterone ministering to a completely different demographic and it was nice to get back to doing some of the "mission trip" type work that I hadn't done in a while. It reminded me of so many of the people I had worked with at New Life Mission in Ohio and pulled at my heartstrings a little. I think I'd forgotten about how much I enjoy working in that environment. Some of the circumstances surrounding the work I did in Ohio kind of tainted my view of things toward the end of our time there. I hate that I had become a bit cynical and jaded, but those emotions were gone this week as we did Rock the Rock and God brought back the love I used to have for the people and the work.

Addalie enjoyed hanging out with Donna this week! She would swing with her as long as Addalie wanted!

Library

Addalie and I went to the library today! I've been aching for some more reading material since I finished all the Twilights and I figured Addalie would be in heaven surrounded by books, which she was. She was delighted with all the books and seemed to be singing to them or something. She would pick one up, flip through it, pat it if it looked like a Bible, and put it back (not in the right place.) I was bummed that because we live outside the city limits we couldn't get a free library card, so no books for me today. But we had fun in the kids section reading to Addalie. There was this bathtub toy thing that she thought was so fun. She found a book, crawled in there, and started reading! It didn't seem to matter that the book was in Spanish!

Visit from Nana

My mom came into town at the last minute with my brother. Kanyon is getting his wisdom teeth out here for a clinical study and mom decided to come along. She came over with Emry yesterday and we all had fun playing together! (This was supposed to be yesterdays post but my internet wasn't working.)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads in my life! I am so blessed to have amazing father figures. It is because of these men that I have not struggled with seeing God as a loving Father to me. My dad is like, the best guy ever next to my hubby and I can't imagine growing up with anyone else. He was and still is guaranteed to always be there for me. He has always been my protector and as far as I'm concerned, can fix anything and do anything. He is an encourager and always laughs at my stupid jokes and impressions. He always me that he loves me and is proud of me. He is a godly leader and example to our whole family. I love you dad!

My wonderful father-in-law Bob is a second dad to me. He calls me his daughter has always made me feel like I've always belonged in the Reese family. He is so giving and unselfish it puts me to shame. He is one of those people who will quietly serve and lend a hand without asking and without expecting anything in return. He raised an incredible and godly son for me to marry and for that I am so so thankful.

And now to the daddy of my beautiful daughter. I couldn't ask for a more loving and devoted father for Addalie. When it comes to her, he will do anything, no matter how hard he worked that day or how tired he is. He has boundless energy when it comes to playing with her and nobody can make her laugh like him. He can't stop talking about how wonderful she is and tells her everyday he is so happy she is his daughter and how much he loves her. She will never doubt his love for her or fail to be confident and secure due to any lack of adoration he has for her. He is absolutely in love and I can't wait to see him with this next kid. Daniel is the kind of dad that makes memories. He is fun and creative and I believe really takes advantage of these short years we have with our children. Thanks for being an absolutely amazing husband and Daddy!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Daniel and Addalie. (in no order)

Oh How I Love Family TIme

Daniel has had this weekend off and so we have tried to do some fun family stuff. I love being a stay at home mom, but everyday I look forward to Daniel coming home and love it when he doesn't have to work! Addalie loves it too. It's amazing how she seems so content when we are all together.

We went to the park with a splash pad today and had a picnic. Addalie loved having Daddy there this time because he likes to get soaking wet and was a lot more daring than I would have been. Us moms like to play it safe and not force the kids to do anything that they might not like. But Daniel just took her out there and put her right down in the middle with water pouring all over her. Of course she loved it. How cute is this picture?

Addalie was very concerned about the boy laying down.

Playing on the swing afterward. She just laughs hysterically the whole time!

My beautiful daughter.

Snowcones

I know I've been bad about updating, but honestly, I just haven't felt up to it. I also feel that anything I would post would just be boring! We did have some fun activities when Kyla came to visit this week, but my camera died and I never bothered to recharge the battery, so, no pictures!

I'm starting to feel a little better, I think. I'm struggling with being extremely tired constantly. Pray that gets better soon. I spend a great deal of my time on the phone these days trying to figure out insurance stuff. Word of advice: don't get pregnant without proper planning! I'm thrilled to be having another baby, but these insurance people and doctors offices are trying to steal my joy! So pray that all gets figured out soon as well.

Today was a good day. I felt pretty energetic and Addalie was in a great mood. We played, read every book she owns a couple of times and went for a walk. After dinner, we all went out for snowcones. Addalie loves snowcones, naturally. They are all sugar, so who wouldn't. She and I shared a pina colada snowcone and had a nice evening as a family.

New Haircut

I thought it was time for something new, I was so tired of my long boring hair. So here's the new do, though it's not a great picture for seeing it, but Addalie is so cute!

Splashing Around

Today we went to a park with a splash pad for a birthday party. Addalie of course was pretty fearless and loved playing around in the water. It was great to get out of the house a little. We have been couped up because we'd been dealing with sickness around here. We will definitely be visiting the splash pad again soon. Fun, free entertainment!

I got so many cute pictures of Emry and Addalie that I just had to put up several. They just looked so adorable in their hats and they both kept smiling and saying "cheese!" though never at the same time, of course.

Bubble Bath

Addalie had her first bubble bath (long overdue) tonight and loved it! Mostly she just tried to eat the bubbles, but she played with them some too. Bubbles is also her new word for today!

Sick Momma!

Well Sena is about as sick as can be today, so I felt it was my obligation to update the blog! There is not much going on around here except having lots of fun with Addalie and getting excited about the baby!

Here is a little taste of what Sena has been doing the last few days (minus the being sick part.) She was up late one night and caught the end of the first Twilight movie and since then has been hooked! She borrowed the books from our friend Darin and has not put them down. She has read one book each day and seen both movies since Thursday. She started the 4th and final book today, so I'm not sure what she is going to do when she wraps this one up. Are there any other series I could get her started on?

On a serious note, please pray she feels better soon! It broke her heart today to not be able to be a mom and I know Addalie misses her momma.

Here is a picture of Addalie from this past weekend. We took her shopping for her two favorite things, books and shoes! She had a great time at both places, but had a couple meltdowns in the shoe store because she couldn't have them all. She walked out with her first pair of pink converse, which she looks pretty darn cute in, and a couple books from Barnes and Noble. I feel like the odd ball in the family right now, because all the girls want to do is read books!

-Daniel

Big News!

I'm sure that most of you have already heard, but we are going to have another baby! So here's the story:

No, this was not planned! I wanted Addalie and the next baby to be like, 2 1/2 or 3 years apart and was not even thinking about getting pregnant any time soon. But for some reason Daniel had it on his mind and even had a dream about us having another baby. So he mentions to me that he has a feeling I'm pregnant and I completely ignore him. I didn't even want to talk about it. He asks me when my last menstral cycle was (sorry to any guys reading this) and again, I said I didn't want to talk about it. I was really almost two weeks late, but was in complete denial. He wouldn't let it go and I was getting frustrated. So he goes out to run an errand and comes back with a couple of pregnacy tests! I finally took one and almost freaked out. The two blue lines immediately showed up!

I honestly don't know how it happened. I mean, I know, of course, but I don't really know. I just kept crying and saying, "how did this happen!" Almost hysterical. But since then I have gotten really excited about this and God has prepared my heart for what's coming. Soon after I found out, I started feeling a little bored with life and ready for something new! So there you go!

I'm due December 16th. So it's gonna be a crazy Christmas for us! So far I'm struggling with feeling pretty crummy most of the time, so please pray it passes soon. And pray for a healthy baby! We can't wait to meet him or her!

Picture Update

I know it's been a while since I've updated. I'm just trying to catch up from the trip and everything. So anyway, this is pretty much just a picture update of the rest of the Welch trip!

Are these two not the cutest? I had so much fun with them!
Kyla let Addalie "wear" her earring. She felt so pretty.
This is Addalie singing "This Little Light of Mine" during graduation. She kept wanting me to sing it, and of course I couldn't during the ceremony, but then she made lots of noise trying to get me to. It was a continuous struggle through the whole thing. She loves that song!
My proud parents and Valedictorian brother!
The five siblings! I'm so short.
The kids all loved riding my dad's four wheeler. Addalie always wanted to ride it. The faster the better!

These two just ate each other's food and drank out of each other's cups the whole time!
We got to spend part of Sunday with Daniel's brother Ryan and his family. This is our super sweet niece Bonnie!

Good times with Papa!
And Nana!
I wanna be a cowgirl!

It was a fun trip!