Birthday Boy

My super four-year-old!!


Birthday celebration #1 (thanks a LOT for giving him this birthday gift, family.):


Birthday celebration #2 (and the cake that took me THREE hours to complete. I'll call the bakery earlier, next year.):


Birthday celebration #3 (The actual birthday. I think we'll be celebrating a little less, next year.):


Happy birthday to our silly, sweet, rockin' four-year-old! We love you so much!!

Charming

Today I tried to take some photos for our Christmas card. The first shot gave me hope...


Then this...


I'm calling Sears tomorrow. (Reminds me of another recent photo shoot!)

Stinker

"Trey, how do you like your new undies?"

"Good! I tooted in them. We can't take them back now, right?"

Halloween Festivities

Lots of festivities this weekend. The hospital had a Halloween Party for the kiddos, and Nonnie came up to be with us for the day!

Greg Wiggle, jammin' with his guitar and sweet headset:


Nonnie, Greg, and the little flower


Trying his hand at the pinata...


Phoebe and her friend Eliah, the sweet little calf


Nonnie was asked to be the magician's assistant, and we found out that she can bend a fork with her mind. Amazing!


Jay joined us at the party!


Hope you have a fun weekend!

Birthday Girl!

I can't believe we were here a year ago...


Happy First Birthday, my sweet, feisty, hilarious baby girl! We adore you!

It's Saturday!

Jay and Trey went for a bike ride this morning, and left the girls to hang out at home. (We'll go with next time, when Phoebe has a helmet.) Trey was excited to go - he brought breakfast, "atorgade," and his Bible to read on the way.


I found this little one at the door, pining to go with. Next time, Phoe!
("Kilroy was here"!!)

So Phoebe is in bed now, and I was reading in the den, and heard lots of skittering on the back porch. I found this little guy in Trey's truck, peeking at me out of the back window! Couldn't grab my camera in time for a good shot. :(


Happy Saturday!!!!

Cousins!

Our family was in town to celebrate Grandpa Van's 90th birthday this month, and we had such a great time with them! The cousins especially had a good time together...

Jaedyn was such a trooper pulling these two big guys!


Loving the Madison Zoo!


Sweet Lily and Phoebe

Jaedyn is wonderful with the kiddos. What a great older cousin!

Jackson is getting Leapster tips from Trey. (We loved his "Lock Up Your Daughters! T-shirt!)

More Man Crushes

Francis Chan is leaving his big, fat megachurch to seek God. Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris want to know if he is criminally insane.

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

More Man Crush

Don't want to feel like I'm cheating on my man crush, but I have another. Here's Lecrae:

Proceeds to Churches Helping Churches.

Museum Journey

The Madison Children's Museum was just re-located and renovated, so we decided to check it out this week. We loved it! Lots to enjoy - a water room, art room, levers to pull, buttons to push, a shadow wall - and Trey's favorite part (Phoebe's too), a music hut.

He played the bongos most of the time, and gave the adult onlookers a laugh when he announced that he had been playing "Don't Stop Believin'!"

Happy Birthday, Bobo!

You are such a blessing in our lives, and in our kids' lives. Trey adores you, and do do we. So glad you're visiting this weekend so we can celebrate together with gluten/soy/dairy-free, horribly decorated brownies! (Results of the frosting packet bursting...) We love you!

Our Little Pistol

Gone Fishin'

First catch!!!

Slowin' Down

Moving has been hard. Packing, cleaning, good-bye-ing, moving, unpacking, re-cleaning, meeting, organizing, processing - it can add up to one big mess. Especially one big mess of a mama. I've been trying to get a hold of myself lately - which can be a bit of a feat. I don't want my kids to suffer as I'm stressing out and trying to get everything done... for months.

So as I've been reading For the Children's Sake (recommended by my friend Caron at my request for some books on schooling), I've been helped by a few passages:

"Six-year-old children are pressurized as executives. Children are being 'fitted into' a streamlined schedule designed for the parents so they can cope with their pressures... And so, overentertained, pushed, pulled, and tidied up, often the child of today has the rich creative play-response crushed out. Sometimes the only thing his dulled eyes focus on is a premature adolescence which will release him from childhood."

"Grown-ups need time if their life is to support this kind of play, The children have to matter more than the furniture (but the children don't mind at all sticking to the boundaries). This means saying no to too many time-consuming activities for adults and children."

So here we are. I'm trying not to push and pull and hurry and stress out about the moving-in process (and life in general around here). I'm hopeful for at least a bit of success, and grateful for the lesson (and for grace!). There's so much to enjoy about (and with) these little ones.

Gettin' Closer...

... to the move date. Sad and excited... a little more sad than excited so far, but I know it will be great.

Two of my good friends here threw us a surprise going away party on Friday night - the first time (I think?) I cried about moving! The ruse was... Carli and Sarah decided that we'd have a little Friday evening hangout at the park with our three families, just so we could chat and let the kiddos play a bit. Little did we know.... we were almost a half an hour late for our surprise going away party! You guys are too much, thank you thank you. (We decided that the downpour made it even memorable! :) Thank goodness for shelters!)





It was SO hot yesterday (today, too), and our air conditioner decided to stop working. We were trying to pack up our upstairs in the sweltering heat, but had to take a break and make a Dairy Queen run to cool off!

Jay hooked up our bike trailer for the first time (which I got at a garage sale two years ago), and we put the kiddos in for a test ride.


The birds nest in my bike: (yeah, it's been awhile...)


This little one looooved her first taste of ice cream!


No air conditioning = sleeping in the basement!


Hope they're this happy when I'm trying to pack up this week!

Happy Mother's Day

I decided I wanted to enjoy Mother's Day outside, so we walked along the river. It was beautiful!

There was a little Parkour:

A little daredevil riding:

A little more daredevil riding:

And then this. For the rest of the afternoon/evening. Bedtime was an hour early - none too soon. And an extra glass of wine for me.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all you moms!