Goodbye, 2nd Grade

I read an editorial article in my paper today from a guy pleading for Mom's to stop their braggy blogging! I decided that I shall not.

 

At the end-of-the-year school program for Joshua's school, each child in each class gets awarded a 'character trait'. Not so much in the "He's a real character" way but, graciously, in the honorable sense. I know these children personally and they are a great group. You would have a hard time narrowing it down to just one thing on any of them and I clapped with pride for each one like they were my own! I'm corny that way (it's my character trait - graciously, in the honorable sense).

Greg and I were pleased as pie when Joshua was awarded the trait of 'Faith'. Some Dads get teary-eyed when their son hits a homerun, and Moms do when he hits the inside of the toilet, but, needless (and humbly) to say, getting the attribute of faith means our little arrow is hitting the very center of our hearts!

Of course, when the kids were sent into the audience to give their Moms' a flower, I, sitting in the center of the row, had mine thrown to me. But that's the "he's a real character" part of the ceremony now, isn't it....

Ainsley Elizabeth

What did I want to brag about....

About 2 years ago, one Sunday morning, my friend Amy wisked me out to the courtyard gardens at church. She was excited to tell me something (already very pregnant, what other news could she possibly have?). Imagine my heart when she told me that she and Mike decided to give their baby's middle name my middle name -- after me! Wow. What an honor. How humbling! Of course there were tears, and of course I immediately bonded with that unborn baby girl. And as if that weren't enough, I also had the priviledge of actually being present for her birth! So amazing.

Well, here is that precious little one, Ainsley Elizabeth, throwing rocks in the lake with me this last weekend. It was a special little moment with someone I hope to always have a sweet relationship with!

 

 

I never had a daughter but I always thought that, if I had been blessed with one, I would name her 'Elizabeth', after the grandmother that I was named after who means so very much to me. God has His little ways of giving you a nugget of gold and this is one of those treasures.

Fun Family Friends

The weekend together with the Wages was a blessing for all of us. It was a gorgeous weekend at Big Cedar Lodge! We had so much fun just walking around the grounds, pool-hopping with the kids, enjoying outdoor cafe meals, and staying up into kid-free, bleary-eyed hours talking about lots of good stuff.

 

Josh and Evie were total buds the whole time! Contrary to what we anticipated, no re-adjustment to each other was necessary. Just like old times Evie was immediately falling out onto the floor being silly - love that girl. Why does that work so well? Maybe I should try that in my new Sunday School class....

 

The kids had the benefit of a common interest in looking under every rock and peering in every stream. They actually found some pretty cool stuff! In this exploration they were checking out a giant crawdad which soon prompted an urgent call for Dads to come see the 'lobster'.

 

I'm not really sure what Mike was going to do to the lobster here but at least the kids were in good hands!

 

I have so many great pictures (especially of the kids), it was really hard to condense it to these! I have one more special thing to post, though -- something I've wanted to brag about for 2 years!

Me & Amy

 

Amy is one of my sweetest and best friends - a kindred spirit that I have missed very badly over the last year-and-a-half. I have been waiting for an opportunity to blog about her and I got my perfect 'in' this last weekend when our families met for a weekend getaway! When Amy and I met, she was a newlywed and I was newly pregnant. Her bright, fun, earnest personality instantly connected me to her. Throw in a penchant for silliness and the fact that she is just so beautiful and filled with a love for Jesus and, wow, how could she not be MY friend?!? Actually, I'm humbled that she hangs with me, and hang we did the last few days! To say we had a great time would be an understatement. Among the many moments....

Partying with our coffee! (that she doesn't drink)

 

Doing the 'Uncle Rico'. I LOVE her face! And I gotta say, one of the first things we ever did together was dress up in our veils and jewelry and watch each others' wedding videos. Someone later saw our pictures from that day and asked her, "Don't you guys have anything better to do?", and she answered, "This WAS the better thing to do". Love it.

 

Parting once again. Greg took a great picture but it was kind of sad....

 

We all had a wonderful time and I will share more soon but I just had to give you a little of Amy first. No more year-and-halfs, I promise!

Last year it was bird and moth eggs that we watched arrive and hatch. This year it's about snails and tadpoles. The snails live under one of our gutter spouts and get regular snacks of lettuce snatched from the fridge. Occasionally they get to have a field trip onto the grill cover.

 

These tadpoles were discovered in a makeshift pond from all our rain lately.

 

We've since made a real home for them and, hopefully, we'll be blessed with another amazing firsthand view of God's amazing work of creation!

Happy 1st Birthday, Olivia!!!

 

This little one has captured all of our hearts over the last year. She has an explosive and expressive vocabulary that no one understands, yet can't get enough of. Her high-pitched scream of thrill every time she sees big cousin, Josh, is absolutely hilarious. And those eyes....if they were any bigger they would attract the orbiting of the moon.

 

Here's one of her fans. Uncle Greg was giving her butterfly kisses and she was so mesmerized she almost fell asleep!

You are loved Little Princess -- Happy Baby Birthday!

Just to clarify, that's a lighter in Kristin's hand....

Happy 30th, Kristin!!!

 

Surprise!!! That's what my sister-in-law, Kristin, got from over 30 of us when she walked out into the garage Friday night! She was surprised indeed, as evidenced by the shock and happy tears. All of Becky's hard work and planning was well-paid off in that moment. Then came the food - oh my! David's fine smoked ribs were front and center. Greg didn't care who's birthday it was - get that boy a plateful now!! Becky had assigned me the job of homemade ice cream. Never made that before but I saluted her with a "Yes, Ma'am!" and came up with a sort of strawberry slush.

Now, you have to understand that Kristin is the eternal giver. Her conversations are always directed toward YOU. She always wants to know how she can pray for YOU, help YOU out, etc. She always thinks of herself last if she even remembers to think of herself at all. So it really was fun to put HER up for some attention for awhile and here's what happens when she finally gets let loose. That sweet girl....

 

Love you, sister!

Happy Birthday Renee!

Joshua's birthday kicked off a whole week of birthdays, as you will see. Next up -- my good friend and neighbor, Renee!

 

My Bible study group, in coordination with Renee's husband, had this great scheme concocted to surprise Renee with a 'kidnapping' out to dinner. Then at the last minute her son got a re-scheduled baseball game on our big night. After a little panic we just decided to tell her the story and convince her that it was ok to miss the game and come out with us. So about an hour everyone showed up, I headed next door, stopped her in the middle of tree-trimming, and told her that I was dressed and ready to go to my friend's birthday party -- hers! After some explanation and assurance that everyone was in on it she laughed and headed in the house to get ready. We all ended up having such a great time and laughed til our stomachs hurt.

Renee has been there for me from the first day we moved in and has become a very treasured friend. Happy 29th, and many more Mexican meals to you, Renee!

Birthday, Part II

Thanks to the rain, we had to do all our experiments in the garage but it worked out great, making it more 'lab-like'. And the rain, well, isn't that perfect for mad science?

We had a great time watching an egg get sucked into a boiling hot bottle, making a suspension glob, picking up salt and pepper with static electricity, making lava lamps, faking a lightning strike into our model clay figures (with paper clip arms), shooting film canister rockets, and exploding diet coke.

 

 

I love the following picture for two reasons: Joshua excitedly anticipating which way his rocket is going to go, and Madeline with her nose right down in the vinegar. She kept telling me how she LOVES the way in smells!

 

For our grand finale, PaPa gave a lecture on biofuel and gave quite and example of it from a homemade contraption he brought.

 

The formula? 1 part carbonite + 2 parts water + 1 lit match = an immediate addendum to the HOA covenant. Let's just say it put our Coke bottle explosion to scornful shame! The scientists were well-pleased.

Birthday Boy!

I'm sorry I've been absent for awhile. My internet has not been working for the last few days but a guy from Charissa's favorite communications company came out today and fixed it. Yay!

SOOO.....something big happened this week. Despite all my threats of spankings and other punishments, Joshua just laughed at me and went through with turning 8! He does this sort of thing every year and he doesn't understand that 8 years ago my heart escaped from my chest to see what all the sweet fuss was about and it never did go back to it's protective spot. One day he's just gonna take it right off to some college. Bittersweet, huh?

Well, if you're gonna have a birthday you might as well do it right! This year we had a 'crazy science experiment' party and here's the maddest scientist of them all (yes, that is a Blockbuster card on his ID badge).

 

Several other little brainiacs joined us for the fun (including Einstein, himself) and they were very excited for Mrs. Banks to just get this picture over with so they could take all that silly stuff off!

 

Other guests included some big people and one very small one. Kristin was my Egore and ran stuff in and out of the kitchen for me the whole time. Poor girl, I really wore her out. Greg, of course, was the constant janitor, ready to sweep and mop every spill. He's amazing. My friend and neighbor, Renee (aka Einstein's Mom) was my excellent photographer. I could fill 10 posts with all the great shots she got!

 

As I've mentioned before, my blogger program only takes 4 pictures at a time so I'll post our experiment pictures tomorrow. Here's a parting shot of some cute kids in the meantime.

 

Happy 8th Birthday, Joshua!!