our silly little meatballs

^ these three know how to party^^look! it's micheal jackson's kids!^ ^mom! come take a picture of us!^
^it's just not the same the other way around^
^again, "take our picture!"^
^raylee showing me how she likes to toss and catch noel --she says he loves it^
^it's such a blessing to see how much the kids adore each other^

at the beach... again

cliffs of the neuse

these pictures were taken about a month ago when we went to goldsboro to check out the cliffs of the neuse state park. we weren't there very long since it was so hot and the entire park was a huge ant hill. but we did stay long enough to see the cliffs and get a bunch of ant bites on our feet and legs. that's how we have fun out here in north carolina. haha.

--here are shelby and maddie--

here i am with dame. i told dame that i wanted a nice photo of the both of us.
and there's the neuse, beyond this cliff...
shelby and mad again down by the river.
here's raylee keeping an eye on maddie. i guess she was eating something she found along the trail. good thing ray made her spit it out. :)
--dame and the kiddos--
and finally noel, having the time of his life.

radiohead's littlest fan

here's our noel, listening to radiohead for the first time.

it makes us proud. :)

centipedes

here is a pic of my front porch the other night.

see all the little centipedes? isn't that gross?? the whole porch was crawling with them and, if you look closely, they're creeping up to the door too.

the terminix guy said that we probably have a nest somewhere around the house.

fun times.

pickin' on up & movin' on out ...i hope

i honestly don't even know where to start when writing about the recent events in our lives. this past month has been hard on us. that's it in a nut shell.

dame and i find ourselves right back where we started a year ago when we moved here. dame is no longer employed. he is finishing out the month at his job, and two jobs he had lined up fell through. so now we have put our house on the market --the begining steps of moving back to the northwest.

although we feel like we're returning with our tail between our legs, we have learned many valuable life lessons during this past year. so we know we're not returning defeated. all the trials we've been through have taught us to fully rely on God with every part of our being --giving thanks for the food we eat, the children we have, even the air we breathe. He's been faithful to help us even in our most desperate moments. so now we hope that He'll bless us in moving back home.

as we wait for the right person to come along and buy our house, damian has been keeping busy doing chores we put off since moving here a year ago. :)

the biggest chore: yardwork!

i'm afraid to go outside --except in the cold season when all the bugs are hiding, that is, january and february. the rest of the year when it's warm and nature is buzzing all around us, i'm the one hiding. so we had a very overgrown yard. now it's looking much better thanks to damian's hard work (and some help from friends).

here's a pic of dame's first obstacle --thin out this mess and let some light in!

see him hard at work? :)yep, definately hard at work here.
he was happy to clear away so many limbs and brush since it meant that he got to burn it all later. against better judgement, he resorted back to his pyro days and used gasoline to get the pile going... yeah... "i almost blew myself up!" he happily laughed when coming back inside. i'm glad i didn't see that. i did see him squirting lighter fluid directly on the blaze but didn't react since that's a normal sight when he's burning in the back.

here's maddie, sneaking a peek at dame working when she was supposed to be taking a nap.

and to top it all off, last monday, july 7th, our car's engine blew up on our way to pick up the girls. so here we are saying goodbye to our car.

can't wait to see what happens next --i'll keep you posted! ;)

bug

every now and then (when i get up the courage to adventure outside) i see a bug that's actually neat. here's a beetle i found in my garden. it's kind of pretty. there were many others, but this one was the most photogenic. too bad the leaf isn't.

dad #2

on the 24th of june, damian's brother, dan, his wife amy, and his mom iris flew out for a short visit (more on that later --it's an entire entry in itself). while we visited with them, noel was instantly attached to dan. he would be crying or fussing and all we'd have to do was give him over to uncle dan and he'd stop.

here's noel, showing his love:

here he is again, leaning his head on dan's shoulder (um, i don't know what to say about the look on dan's face --i caught him at a dopey moment i guess) :)

and here's a pic of maddie, smiling like a crazy lady. she was so happy to see everyone. it was really refreshing to see them --but now we miss home even more!

sisterly love

raylee & noel love each other so much. it's so wonderful to see them together. she's such a great big sister to him and to maddie. here he is, asleep, with ray.

our favorite hangout

here i am again, catching up with photos from this past month.

these pictures were taken about a month ago when we went to the beach one morning. it's nice to get there early and leave by lunchtime. we beat the crowd and it's not too hot for the kids --although it is really hot, even in the morning.

here are some pics of maddie, mostly, and damian making sand turtles. raylee was with us, but she avoided the camera.

raylee's turtle:
maddie, eating sand:
maddie, eating more sand (by the fist full):
yumm
dame & raylee's turtle:

noel, not eating sand, thankfully: