First Day of School!

All six Ward kids started school this year!  Presenting our 8th grader, 7th grader, 5th grader, 2nd grader, and 2 PreK4 kiddos. We are so thankful for their schools and excited about the year ahead!

10!

Our sweet Carrigan Grace turned 10 this summer!  What a decade it's been with her.  She's sweet and silly with tons of energy. She loves riding her bike, flipping on the trampoline, baking new creations, watching scary shows, reading books about baking, making fruit smoothies, and all kinds of decorating.  

She's trying out volleyball for the first time this year and really enjoying it--although she really values her time at home, playing outside with the neighbors too. Carrigan often takes the lead for our family devotions and prays intently for our family and friends. She's a wonderful big sister and is kind to her older sisters as well. 

 She plans to grow up and live right around the corner from us (while working as an artist in some way!) so she can run and drink tea with me after she drops her kids off at school.  I think that's the best plan ever.  We love you so much "Conk" and had a wonderful time planning lots of surprises for your special day!

Happy Retirement to Grandma Deni

Congratulations to our mom/mother-in-law-Grandma Deni on her retirement earlier this summer!  We celebrated her with a party and the theme "Adventure Awaits".  Because if you know Deni, you know she loves nothing more than an adventure!  We had a great time playing games, sharing memories, and of course toasting her and enjoying her favorite strawberry cheesecake.  We're all so proud of her and her example--and thrilled that she has more time for all kinds of adventures!  Here's a few more pictures of all kinds of adventures we've shared with her. 

Where have we been?

Hi friends, it's been awhile!  Over two months have passed since the last time I blogged and it's been an eventful season.  The biggest reason for our lack of posting is that we had a family health crisis at the end of July.  We were all at an extended family gathering at my sister's house in Indiana when my dad, Gregg, suddenly collapsed form a cardiac arrest.  Jonathan performed CPR on him until the paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital. He spent a very scary night in the Emergency Room, a difficult week in the ICU, and then a few more days in a regular room until he was discharged to home.  We are all so thankful that his recovery has gone well and that he's continues to improve every day.  It was a very difficult time but God provided excellent doctors and nurses and sent us loving friends and family to support us in all kinds of ways.  We are blessed.

And now on to more summer highlights--we've got Grandma Deni's retirement party, another vacation, birthday celebrations, and first day of school highlights to tell you about!

Wisconsin Camping Vacation

Thanks to some kind members of our church family, we were offered a week's stay in a fantastic two-bedroom camper this summer.  It's parked for the season near Wisconsin Dells and we had been looking for an opportunity to explore that area more.  It was such a gift! 

We started out our journey by picking up kayaks and then headed up north/west.  The campground was great and the kids were excited to fit in a short swim in the pool that night.  The next morning we discovered Chapel Gorge trail...a mile of hiking led us to a beautiful hidden beach. The sand was so soft and it was surrounded by the red cliffs. We hadn't packed any lunch but didn't want to stop swimming, so Jonathan had to hike back to buy Burger King for us all!  We loved that spot so much that we did the same thing on Saturday too--along with evening kayaking back at the campground.

On Sunday, we found a lovely little church in the area and enjoyed worshiping there.  We headed next to the twins' first ever movie theater experience--Aladdin! We all loved it.  Everly sang "A Whole New World" all though the theaters and and bathrooms. We made it back to camp in time for more swimming and kayaking.

Monday was a different kind of adventure--Devil's Lake State Park! The Ryans met us there for a full day of swimming and hiking in quite possibly Wisconsin's most beautiful land. Jonathan took Mali and Jack for a two-hour hike and the views they got were phenomenal. The rest of us picnicked and swam while admiring the cliffs. Kellie captured great pictures on her blog here.

We recovered from sunburns and had a low key morning on Tuesday but that didn't last too long.  We made the most of our last evening there by heading to Chula Vista's water park resort.  We had been there last year with the Kurths and the Ryans so the kids were all excited to do both the indoor and outdoor water slides.  The twins were so brave and tried lots of slides too.  I was able to to do slides with the big girls also (they convinced me!) and we all had a blast.  We couldn't resist dinner at our favorite indoor restaurant there too.

Somewhere in there we fit in camp cooking, s'mores, stories/poems, and games at our campsite.  We are so grateful for this opportunity to explore our beautiful state! Lots more pictures are in this album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xwe8hav6TkSoqJBD9

13!

Our first baby girl is now a teenager!  She's pretty thrilled with that and we can't quite get over it.  She celebrated her start of her summer with five days at her first ever summer camp. She went with a group of girls from school and loved every minute of it.  She came back taller, suntanned, excited, and exhausted. 

Our Amalia is still enthusiastic about life. She loved her new school this year, her group of friends, playing basketball, her middle school youth group, traveling to see friends and family, and hosting gatherings of all types at our house.  She's a kind big sister and now baby-sits a friend of Delaney's regularly. He thinks she's pretty great too.  She loves to try new foods and new activities also (new to skiing this year!).  Her go-to's are still board/card games, Harry Potter, and movie nights for a recipe for a good time. She does have very particular taste about certain things however (clothes shopping!) just like she did when she was a toddler.  It's such a fun journey to watch this how this unique personality develops over time.

We love you so much, Amalia June Ward! We're thankful that your beautiful, bold personality still shines through each stage of your life.  We thank God that gave us to you, as our first born blessing,