LET THE FUN BEGIN!!

Our summer has been filled already with fun activities like: swim lessons with mommy, a neighborhood sprinkler/lemonade party, visitors from Illinois, a trip to Sycamore for a wedding, hiking, camping and hanging out as a family. We are getting ready today for a month long trip to the midwest beginning in Indiana, then Illinois, Wisconsin and back to Texas. We are excited for what is still to come this summer. Let the good times roll!!!! We had fun celebrating Grandad's birthday in May with all the cousins.

Lily with cousin Olivia.

Lily took this picture. Nice.

Our end of year cookout with our small group. Here are 5 out of the 15 kids in our group. Cuties!

We had a fun camping trip to a nearby State Park with our friends Clark, Natalie and Sammy. The kids had a blast. And we loved being out in God's creation enjoying the simple life.

Lily and Joe hanging out around the fire.

We went on a nice, long hike and after Silas ate a little chocolate he was ready for a nap.

Our really cool kids.

Wow!! Joe is growing up and looking more like a little boy... not a baby.

Joe has recently found his nostrils. Dig it Joe!

Our good friends Maddie and Keegan posing with Lily and Silas. They came with their awesome parents Kyle and Barb White to Austin to visit us. We had a wonderful time with them. Here the kids are at the Salt Lick after a delicious meal of BBQ.

Joe really bonded with Barb. "I miss you Barb"- Joe

Maddie and Keegan babysat our three kids so the adults could go on a date. What a great night! and a great week with the Whites!!! Thank you guys so much for coming to see us!!

Pete stayed home with the kids while Lori flew up to Illinois to go to Ingrid Floit's wedding. What a great weekend I had with mom and dad, hanging out with friends, seeing the Floit family, celebrating Ingrid and Bob's marriage and having a break from motherhood. Thanks Pete! By the way... does anyone notice anything different about Lori's face?

Ingrid, the beautiful bride, with her new husband, Bob. What an awesome wedding, despite the thunderstorm that blew through before and after the ceremony.

Here are 2 more Floit girls, Anna and Mattie with me at the party. It was so fun to see you all!

Mom and Dad showing off on the dance floor. You guys are such an handsome, amazing couple!

Lily and Silas playing out in the rain and having a blast.

IT'S SPRINGTIME!!!!

Lily and Silas enjoying the sprinkler for the first time this year.
This was the perfect birthday date ever. Pete and I rented a canoe at the lake downtown Austin and canoed for a couple of hours while the kids were with B and Grandad. I had an awesome birthday this year and this date was one of the many blessings.

Grandma and Grandpa Newell came into town for a few days. We loved having them here as we enjoyed the Austin Zoo, ate yummy BBQ at the Salt Lick, and of course we had a project day working out in our yard planting plants and trees. Thank you Newells and Foxes for all the work you did for us!!! We love our yard now!

Lily and Silas showing off their certificates for memorizing the Lord's Prayer. Every two weeks they are learning about a new Biblical truth, concept or character trait of the Lord, putting that word into practice and memorizing scripture that relates to the word. They are both excellent students.

It's cousin time! We enjoyed having Easter brunch with my brother, Ron and his family. Here's Silas with his cousin Jordan Fox.

Joe enjoying time with his sweet cousin Evan.

Lily sharing some giggles with cousin Quinn.

The whole gang: Joe, Jordan, Silas, Quinn, Lily, Evan and Olivia.

Superhero Siblings

Sweet little Lil

We loved seeing our old Wheaton friends Seth and Maggie Dietrich, who now live in Milwaukee. Seth is from Austin so whenever they come to visit his padres, we are blessed by a visit with them. Loved being with you guys again!!!

So, here's Silas happily playing on the swing in our backyard. A few minutes later he was playing on the little playscape structure that Pete built and.....

here he is showing off his cast that he got from falling off the playscape. It hasn't slowed him down one bit. Silas is a trooper. Two weeks before this happened he had pink eye and woke up with both eyes shut for an hour. During the time of his "blindness" he was singing in bed and making Joe laugh. He has a great approach to life!

There truly is never a dull moment with Silas. Two days after he broke his arm he was supposedly working on artwork with Lily at their little table. Lily came to me and said, "Mom, Silas cut his hair." When he came to me I touched his head and clumps of hair fell out. He had given himself a haircut to the scalp! I immediately took him to the bathroom and gave him a buzz cut. Lily and I couldn't help laughing at him and his new look.

Silas with his new hairdo.

We celebrated 2 birthdays a couple of weeks ago.... Josiah turned ONE!!! and Pete turned...a little older than he was last year. This year sure did go fast. It's hard to believe that Joe is a 1 year old now.

Enjoying his cake.

He was pretty proud of his birthday gifts, even before he opened them. We love you Joe and we are so thankful the Lord placed you in our family!!!! You are a special blessing to all of us.

Fun-Filled FebruaryIt's project time with Dad. Pete trimmed out the doorway into our "sunroom" and Silas was working hard to help him.
We had a BLAST at "The Ranch" one weekend with our dear friends Joe and Jessica Honegger and their kids and another family, the Nevlands. The girls took the Polaris out for a 1 1/2 hour spin through the mud, water, cow fields, ditches, and ravines. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Thanks Jessica and Amy for an awesome ride!!!

It's hard to believe Lily turned five in February. We are so proud of her and the mature, loving, and sweet girl God is making her to be. Here she is before her birthday lunch date with Daddy for burgers, fries and a shake.

Road trip to Phoenix!!!! We had a wonderful week in Phoenix reconnecting with our "family" there. It was a jammed pack week full of people and we loved every minute of it. We were able to go on our favorite hike at Squaw Peak. Lily and Silas were enjoying their walk together hand in hand as they talked about what they were seeing. Very cute.

We were so thankful that we were able to see Angela and Ryan while we were in Phoenix. They have been in Peru for over a year now but were in the States for a month. Ryan had a conference in Phoenix and Angela flew down from Seattle to see us while we there. It was awesome to spend time with these incredible friends. Love you guys!

Lily was so happy to reconnect with Bella. They were able to spend an afternoon and evening together and they celebrated their birthdays together at Bella's house with a little party. Lily loved being with her special friend. Come see Lily in Austin Bella!

We also got to go to the annual AimRight Auction that is held at our church. It was so fun to be able to be at the auction and support the ministry that we grew to love while we lived in Phoenix. We have missed the teens, the young adults and interns we were able to work with. Here is Pete with his buddy Angel.

Lori with sweet Flerida.

We were so thankful to spend time with Julie and Darrell, our pastor while we lived in Phoenix. We love you guys!

A huge highlight from our trip is that we got to stay with our friends Bob and Rachel Oxley. It was wonderful to spend time with them, and Lily and Silas especially loved being able to play with Zach every day for a whole week.

Pete and Bob enjoying being together again. It was hard to say goodbye to you guys. Please come see us in Austin. It's not that far away! :)

Joe is growing up and getting cuter every day. The big news about him is that he learned how to crawl. (10 months old) Now it's time to explore the world.

Joe's brother and sister truly adore him. Here's Lily and Joe snuggling.

Lily and Silas were recently invited to their friend, Megan's birthday party. She wanted the theme to be Peter Pan so the girls could be fairies. Lily is dressed up like a fairy with wings on and Silas went as Peter Pan. They looked pretty cute.

the holidays

A nice family shot for the holidays. Joe didn't hear us say he needed to make a funny face.

We spent a weekend in San Antonio with the Foxes in November. We had fun touring around the city and visiting the Alamo. This picture was one of the highlights as we walked around the city: Lily and Silas standing over an airvent in the sidewalk.

Silas turned 3 in November. Wow! time sure flies!! We love you buddy!!!


Our little hams. Lily and Silas both keep us laughing with their countless adventures together. Reinacting the first Thanksgiving.

We enjoyed a week in Indiana for Thanksgiving. Taking a hike with Grandma at one of our favorite places... Brown County. What a great day we had!!!

Taking a break during the hike. We loved being in the woods and in the cooler weather.

Silas and Lily showing off some new hats Silas got for his birthday and Grandpa showing off his hat from the Navy.

Fun times with cousins. Lily and Silas had a good time hanging with James (Andy and Autumn's firstborn) and Jonas (Ben and Jess's firstborn) while in Indiana.

Even though Joe is twice as old as his cousin Sam(Andy and Autumn's), Sam is as big, if not bigger than Joe. No big deal...Joe wasn't too intimidated... yet.

The four generations on Christmas day. We had a nice, relaxing, peaceful Christmas this year. We headed over to Bryan to B and Grandad's house in the afternoon of Christmas Eve and then spent a wonderful weekend with the Foxes. Christmas with B, Grandad and Dottie included... a yummy lunch, birthday party for Jesus, reinactment of the first Christmas (starring Joe as Jesus, Lori as Mary, Pete as Joseph, Lily and B as angels, Grandad as a shepherd, and Silas as a wiseman)... Silas ended the play saying, "I'm going back to Herod's house", opening gifts, then decorating gingerbread houses. Great memories!

The Newell family posing with their beautiful, sweet grandmother, Dottie.