The kids with their cousin, Kyra!

Me and my new niece, Brynna.

The girls pose in the pool!

Jackson is ready to get in!

Summer is upon us!

It is hot in Oklahoma this summer! We've had our fair shair of 100F days and I am thankful we've had a pool to cool off in this summer. The kids have loved the pool. We find ourselves in it a few times a day.

Jackson has become a fish! He went from hardly swimming at all to becoming a swimming pro. He can dive in and swim freestyle. He can do flips and handstands in the water. It is really amazing to watch him learn how to swim so quickly. The girls show great improvement in their swimming too. Both girls can dive very well and have been working on different swimming strokes. All the kids love to snorkel and have spent much of their time practicing.

Our summer plans have been fairly low key. We began summer with a trip to Missouri to see my sister Kristen and her newest addition, my niece Brynna (born Apr 29). I'm traveling to Kansas City this weekend to attend the funeral of my grandfather, Fred Dimmel, who passed away July 13th from complications due to Alzheimer's and a bad fall he took back in the spring.

We have planned a trip to St. Louis to go to our first Cardinals game as a family this Aug! Jackson's first MLB game and the girls' first time at Busch Stadium. It should be a lot of fun. We might try going up in the Arch and going to a museum while we are there.

Then school will begin! We are back to homeschooling after trying a private school last school year. It was still not the right choice for our family. After much praying and a lot of discussion, we decided homeschooling was our calling. Yes, I strongly believe God is calling us to homeschool. This is still a crazy thing for me to say sometimes! I would have laughed if you had told me 3 yrs ago I would be homeschooling my kids. But I have changed a lot and through my continued walk with God and closer relationship with Him, I begun to realize why homeschooling was something He was calling us to do.

All new adventures and fun awaits us this fall. Besides homeschooling we are throwing in a trip to Disney World and hopefully another try at camping! There's more to come so stay tuned!

Wow, 2 months without a post!

I have, until the past couple of months, been fairly good about posting on our blog. But then I got caught up in facebook and was having so much fun with it, I neglected our family blog!

So, in two months what have the Hills been doing? Well, the quick list is: Christmas, my birthday (34 already!?), an ice storm, 2nd semester of school began and a bout with pneumonia for Jackson.

Now we are in February and looking forward to warmer weather. It has been tough for all of us to have to look out at the pool each day and not get to use it! I am certain we will be spending lots of time in it this summer.

I'll try to be better about posting on here!

Is it almost Christmas?

Christmas time is upon us! I love decorating the house, putting up the lights and the tree and the excitement of Christmas.

December is a full month of activities for us. The girls have a program at school and Katelyn wanted to do the Christmas program for church. There are lots of practices for the church program outside of school, and Katelyn has a speaking part in both! There are Christmas parties, a graduation party, a birthday brunch for my friends and I, etc. My calendar is full!

But what I love the most about Christmas is the music! I could listen to Christmas music all day long - and I just might. My favorite songs are those that remind us of the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating the birth of Jesus!

Happy 4th Birthday Jackson!

It is hard to believe my last baby is turning 4 years old. Jackson has gotten so big so fast. Jackson has been very entertaining and a wonderful part of our lives since arriving on Nov 12th, 2004 weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs 1 ounce! (here is a photo of Jackson as a newborn!)

It has been very interesting to have a boy after having two girls. Boys and girls are very different from each other! I really understand this now. Jackson loves all things that most little boys love - cars, trucks, dinosaurs, sports, playing in dirt, watching TV (which is NOT a good thing!), trains, bugs, etc.

Jackson really looks up to Kevin. He just follows his daddy everywhere it seems. He loves to "help" Kevin whenever he can - whether it be helping him shovel and spread out mulch, ride on the riding lawnmower and "help" Kevin mow, clean out the pool, and other tasks Jackson can find.

Jackson's personality has become more pronounced as he gets older. We are truly seeing what kind of little boy he is. He is fearless in situations where he is comfortable and more timid when he is in an unfamiliar environment. He has an amazing imagination. He truly believes he can grow up someday and be Superman or Spiderman. Just last week he ran full blast at the side of a soda machine and jumped at it, like Spiderman would leap at a wall to start climbing up the side of it and he bloodied his nose! He was disappointed he couldn't do what Spiderman could do. (Thankfully, this was not our first bloody nose with Jackson and likely won't be his last so I was quite calm.)

Jackson has Kevin's destructive streak in him. I won't even try to list the things he's broken or destroyed. It really isn't a lack of respect. He is just curious and I know there is a gene for destructiveness in him that he inherited from his father! Jackson is silly and goofy like Brittany. This is in stark constrast to Katelyn who is a very serious child. However, like Katelyn, Jackson is our deep thinker and very inquisitive.

I remind myself that Jackson is a wonderful blessing from God and that God only gives this child to us for a short time. And in that time we are privileged to raise him to become a good man, a follower of Christ. That is the ultimate goal - and I'll pray on Jackson's 4th birthday that Kevin and I never lose site of that.

Happy Halloween!

Camping Photos

The girls at our campsite.

Rudy, relaxing in the sun.

Jackson, all warm and cozy and sleeping!

Climbing around on the rocks at Robbers Cave.

After a long day, both Brittany and Katelyn are asleep around the fire. Jackson was still awake though!

Jackson helps carry firewood.