Posts from — May 2008

You know what I love about these pictures?  He’s laying on his Dad’s chest.

 A stick and a rock.  All a boy needs.

Matt and Emily surprised us this weekend by having their baby while we were gone.  I was so disappointed to miss the birth of Andrew James and we both could not wait to get home to meet the little guy.  It was killing me being so far away during this huge event.    We are so excited and can’t wait for them to be able to be at home with their little boy. It won’t be long!

 This kid has got the best hair!  He is so precious.  Absolutely perfect.  And, the feeding tube is coming out soon!  Good job, Andrew!

 We are so proud of you, Matt and Emily!  You have both persevered through a tough few days and it is so apparent that the Lord is strengthening and guiding you both, as well as Andrew.  We love all three of you very much!

Our trip to Land Between the Lakes was even better than we expected. We loved every minute of our time there and the weather was absolutely perfect. Our days began around 6:30 AM, and ended with Jared and I sitting by the fire overlooking the lake. I think we talked more over the past week than we have in the past 3 months. It was good to be together with no agenda. And, also good for us to realize just how little we have communicated over these past few months of absolute craziness. We’re looking forward to a summer of only work and no school. Pray that God will lead us to where He desires us to be in our marriage.  He is at work, and for that I am thankful.

Skipping Rocks

The water was cold!

This is the view Gage awoke to every morning. That’s his bed to the right.

If you zoom in and take a look at what this lady is wearing, it is likely you’ll be amused, as we were.

I can’t imagine a better way to spend my morning. Aren’t they cute?

This is how Gage spent every spare second.

He even cleaned and ate his catch. Don’t worry, he didn’t eat the Sunfish.

We went for hikes and bike rides through the woods. I can’t even describe how good it felt to be surrounded by nature.

We even went mountain biking on a narrow, dirt trail with lots of hills to go down and roots to maneuver around. This was the view at one of the overlooks.

Amazingly, Shea fell asleep as we maneuvered through the steep, bumpy trail. Maybe he was trying to block out the fact that his parents were putting his life in danger!

The boys and I LOVED the sheep. They were so sweet. Gage and I both decided we want a pet sheep. I don’t think Jared is going to go for it.

Jared and I watched the moon rise over the trees one night as we sat by the campfire. Breathtaking.

to all of this is that I am now leaving town with a clean house.  I will also get a full night of sleep, as opposed to my 3 hours of sleep last night.  The car is packed, the camper is hooked up, bikes are loaded, and we are ready to take off in the morning.  I (well, really Jared) even had time to set the VCR to record the final week of American Idol.  The downside to all of this is that my husband will more than likely be unable to ride a bike or hike.  But, we’ll see.  The end result from his ER visit was a diagnosis of either tendonitis or a sprain.  They sent him home with an ace bandage and directions to take Naproxen, which is what he was already taking.  I’m hoping that toward the end of the week, he will be able to at least join us on a bike ride or two.  The boys were so excited tonight when we put them to bed, they could hardly stand it.  Shea kept saying, “We’re gonna catch a fish!” and Gage wanted me to assure him we would leave EARLY.  I can guarantee they will be awake by 6.

Well, I’m signing off until next week!  A whole week without internet.  I’m actually looking forward to it.

It seems that our plans to leave for our trip this morning may be changing.  Jared woke up with a swollen ankle and he can’t even walk on it.  What the heck?!  I’m telling you people, this is really ticking me off!  He has no clue what happened.  He just can’t walk on it.  As you can imagine, planning and packing for this trip has taken a lot of mental and physical energy from me.  Jared has been occupied with finals for the past few weeks, so it’s all been up to me to make this trip happen.  And, now, it looks like our plans are on hold until we can get his ankle to decide it wants to help him walk.  I have to keep reminding myself what I told Gage this morning as he realized our plans may be changing for the day.  God knows the big picture and He could be protecting us from many things by keeping us here an extra day.  My hopes, though, are that the medicine will kick in quickly and that Jared’s foot will allow us to leave today.  We’ll see what happens!

I am happy to report that the smog has cleared.  Jared is done with finals and we can all breathe now.  Our near future is looking very bright, as we are going to Land Between the Lakes for a whole week!  Can you see why we’re looking forward to it?

 

Gage is hoping to catch one of these!

He’s been watching fishing shows for the past 2 weeks and preparing his lures.  By the way, isn’t he just so cute?  I love those brown eyes and his freckled nose.

Wanna know what I’m most looking forward to?  Sitting outside in the woods first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee while my kids play with sticks, rocks, bugs, and turtles.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of pictures to post upon our return.  Especially now that I’m learning how to zoom!

The boys and I stopped off at Walgreen’s today to pick up a few things.  It was getting late into the afternoon and Shea was exhausted.  He was sick earlier this week and then missed his nap completely yesterday.  If you know Shea, you are aware that he really is a sweet little boy.  I very rarely have to deal with tantrums in stores, but today was a rare day.  I made the mistake of first going down the food aisle, where he noticed some cookies and began screaming, “I want a tookie, Mommy!”  Actually, he was wailing at the top of his lungs.  A few seconds later, I made an even bigger mistake by walking down the toy aisle.  Duh.  This time, the wailing lasted much longer.  In fact, it continued all the way to the front of the store.  His face was covered in tears, all because I wasn’t going to buy a toy.  I am so glad to say that this really is abnormal for him.  I could see that the people in front of us were becoming mildly annoyed, but thankfully, he stopped soon after arriving in line.  Apparently the cashier thought that I needed some help raising my son, so she proceeded to give my 2 year old a lecture about being loud in a store.  She wasn’t even ringing my things up.  She literally stood there for what seemed like forever, talking to my 2 year old about manners in a store.  At one point, she said something like, “and I’m not laughing about it either.”  You can bet I wasn’t laughing either.  In fact, if I had said the things I was thinking in my mind, she probably would have been crying.  However, I kept my composure, and in my sweet southern charm, politely told her that it was his nap time, he’d been sick earlier in the week, and that he was just really tired.  She began ringing my things up and as I slid my card through the reader, she said, “Would you boys like some candy?”  Of course, Gage perked up and excitedly asked, “Can we, Mom?”  I quickly said “no” and the lady looked at Shea and said, “Oh, yeah, candy is for good little boys, and you were a bad boy.  Maybe if you’re not a bad boy the next time, you can have some.”  At that point, I really don’t know how I held my act together.  But, I picked Shea out of the cart, looked at the lady and said, “He is a good boy, he’s just having a bad day.”  As the boys and I walked out to the car, Gage said, “Mom, did that lady make you mad?”  Keep in mind that I was outwardly nice and polite.  My son just knows me too well.

Then Gage said (and this is the part I love!), “Mom, what did you really want to say?”  I’m telling you, this kid knows me so well!

You’d think I would have learned how to use some features on my camera before now.  I’ve had my camera for 1.5 years and I’m just now learning that I can take it off of “auto”.  I feel like I have a new camera!  Seriously!  This thing has so much more zoom than I thought it did!  A whole new world has opened up to me, and it was sitting in my hands this whole time!

It does a world of good for us to skip church, sleep late, eat brunch together, and go for a leisurely walk.  We needed it.