Project Life Tuesday

Sunday, May 22- This was the storm that rolled in. The clouds were moving so fast. We've had quite a few large storms like this lately!

Monday, May 23- Graham will start off sitting somewhere but more often than not, he ends up under the coffee table. :)

Tuesday, May 24- Grace has been playing restaurant. She carries around an Elmo pad of paper and asks you what you want and "what else?" It's cute. Her lips purse up like this picture.

Wednesday, May 25- A girls night! I met Jo, Jodi, and Courtney at Flat Top Grill and then we went to Debrands for these delicious ice cream desserts. Oh.my. They were so good and I promise there was not one drop left!

Thursday, May 26- I'm so happy with my garden this year! It's really coming along. Can you see the hummingbird hovering over these iris'? I need to find out what kind they are too.

Friday, May 27- Sophie and Oliver came to stay with us for a few days! This was Sophie's last day of school so we took some pictures.

Saturday, May 28- fun with S&O!

Wordless Wednesday

New recipe today on the food blog- I'll have a few more coming this week too. Check em out!

Project Life Tuesday

Sunday, May 15- getting ready for Church.

Monday, May 16- Graham helped me hang dipes on the line. :) He liked sitting in the basket better than the grass.

Tuesday, May 17-

Wednesday, May 18- He did this at Grandmas but I thought it was a fluke, but not now! Graham is now sitting up on his own! This is how I found him when I went to get him out of bed.

Thursday, May 19- snuggling with daddy after bath time (I think they were pretending to sneeze here)

Friday, May 20- I have a picture like this from January but Shane had pulled it forward for him to chew. This day he did it all by himself.

Saturday, May 21- A Date Night! We had a night out in Ft. Wayne with just the two of us. Lovely and much needed.

Siblings

Grace (5 months- I think?)

These two like to work their way out of their jammies! :)

Graham 8 mo.

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah is all I can say. For the past 10 weeks (minus our Florida trip) Shane has been driving down to Southern Indiana to work on a ropes course at one of the camps. He would leave on Sunday or early Monday morning and come home on Friday. The last two weeks he just stayed down there to get it finished. For the most part we were great. There were a few meltdowns (me) and a few tantrums (me again) but we kept busy and knew it wasn't going to be like that forever. We were able to talk to him on the phone lots and we video chatted as much as we could each evening. The kids were so good- Grace has some signs of missing daddy but she is a tough cookie. I have a great respect for moms and dads who have to leave for extended times for work or the military. It is difficult on both ends! But I also learned, that I can do it. I was more organized, and more on top of things since I was the only one to do them. I'm thankful for the help I did have (and for chocolate treats when the kids went to bed!).

But he is home and we are so very proud of him. I'm not sure if you can, but go to this link and you can see what he has been doing. And I'm going to brag a bit. He built every.piece.of.this. He chopped trees, climbed poles, used a lift, laid a road, all of it. He had some great help the last two weeks and I'm so thankful for them because they got him home to us faster! He says I will love it, but if you look at those pictures... I'm not so sure I will LOVE every part of it. Like that ladder? Uh, no thanks. :) We love you babe and are so happy you are home. You have done a great job and we are praying that God will be glorified through this amazing addition to camp.

(my two lovelies before church on Sunday)

Project Life May 8

Not a great week for pictures. We were busy and outside as much as we could. I need to try to keep my camera with me always.

Monday, May 9-I did a little rearranging and took this end table out- Grace grabbed it for her computer stand!

Wednesday, May 11- We have been playing with Ian! He's grown so much. He loves to play outside which is great because we do too!

Thursday, May 12- See this little coral bell plant? Not too much of anything. Yet some animal keeps digging it and a few other of my plants up! It's not eating them, just digging them up roots and all! Grrr. I keep replanting them and hoping they aren't too damaged. I've been spraying ammonia water around them. Any other suggestions? My neighbor thinks it's a wild cat.

Friday, May 13- Having a tea party with Ian. Tea parties are always better in a leotard and dance skirt. :)

GBH

Graham either loves playing by himself or hates it with a passion. There is no in between. He's getting close to going mobile. When he's on my lap he squirms all around, and he's just starting to get up on his knees!

He still loves his paci but he doesn't need it in all the time and if he's made he will spit it out faster than you can catch it!

and still no teeth!

Busy Bee

Little Miss Busy Bee...

- likes to eat yogurt (outside with mom)

-can build some great towers

-thinks dandelions are the greatest flower

-tries to be silly by wearing daddy's socks. :)

New recipes up on the recipe blog! I still need to add a great cookie recipe I tried this week too!

Project Life Tuesday

May 1 & 2- No pictures. I didn't have my camera and we had the flu. But our friend Alexis brought over two things on Tuesday- anti nausea medicine for Shane AND MY CAMERA! I had left it at her house when we went over the weekend before and of course forgot completely. I'm so thankful it was there- I love my camera. :)

Tuesday, May 3- These two are starting to interact more. We'll see what happens when he starts wanting her toys, or chops off her barbies' hair. (I may or may not have been guilty of playing beauty shop with my sister's dolls when I was little-ha!)

Wednesday, May 4- Grace and I spent some time outside, me pulling weeds and Grace picking them!

Thursday, May 5- Our fourth anniversary! I love this picture of Graham trying to get the camera. His hand framed his sweet little face so well.

Friday, May 6- talking to his friends! (he's also getting closer to crawling- now getting up on all fours just a little bit!)

Saturday, May 6- so yesterday I got the bright idea to trim Grace's hair. Seriously. What was I thinking? It was not even by any means. So then we made and appointment to get it trimmed. Grace got to sit in a race car and when the lady was done she pulled it back and sprayed it pink! It was pretty shockingly pink but Grace loved it. And it washed out (thankfully!)

Happy Mother's Day!

We have three mothers in our lives and we love all three dearly. I have been blessed to get two moms through marriage. I know some people have trouble with in laws. Not me. I have the greatest ones. We share common likes. I love to garage sale with Shane's mom. She and I can spend a whole day reading a book on opposite couches, or searching for great deals. We can talk forever about our faith, or just what we have been doing. Diane has a great eye for decorating and is always helpful with any ideas I have for my house (I am so NOT a decorator!), and we like to pass books along too. She has a great memory for plants and can name anything I point to in her yard, or mine!

(my sister, my mom, and me- April 2011)

Then there's my mama. Today Graham was not feeling well. Sick baby laying on my chest and all I could do was cuddle him and pray he felt better. I remember being sick and I swear to you the only thing that helped- my mom's tea and buttered toast. Not just any tea or toast- my mama's. When I was little I had growing pains in my legs. They hurt so bad they would keep me up at night. I have many memories of getting up and having mom rub my feet. And still to this day my favorite morning wake up is my mom's voice. I have always liked to call my mom and I'm pretty sure that when we talk she gets about 10 words in to my 100. I can call my mom with a new bird I see at my feeder and she'll know it, hands down. She's a giver too. You won't leave her house without something that she was thinking of when she saw it and had to get it for you. She remembers the little things - saving the coupons for me, the local paper, a treat for the kids. Not necessarily big ticket items, but it's the little things that mean something.

Happy Mother's Day Ladies. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for loving the four of us!

-S, S, G and G

Funny Sister

Graham thinks his sister is pretty funny!

4 Years

It's our fourth anniversary. We got up this morning and watched our wedding video. Grace liked seeing mommy as a "princess" and told us we gotta get married again. :)

He has always made me laugh. He still does and I pray he always will.

Happy Anniversary honey!

The view from here

She is full of energy. From the moment she wakes up she's ready to go. She jumps up from her nap and the first words our of her mouth are that she wants to show Daddy the birdies outside.

She makes up her own words and sings little songs to herself while she plays dolls. She pretends they are her friends and she goes through the hardship of making them share with each other.

She cannot wait to go outside and explore. She loves to be the helper and do whatever needs done- fill the bird feeders-check. Work with Dad in the garage- check. Pull some weeds- check.

She cannot stand to be wet (unless she is swimming). One drop of water will insure a clothing change. Graham must not dare to think about sucking on one of her stuffed animals. Please do not wash her hands. Ever. And if you clean her face off, kindly make sure the washcloth does not touch her shirt or hair.

She loves to read. She will read as many books as you can before you tire. She is noticing things on the pages and can chime in on the end of rhyming words. She can say many nursery rhymes and enjoys reciting them with me.

She is strong willed. She wants what she wants and gets desperate if she can't get it. She is working through a phase where transitions are so hard and leaving is so sad. She has changed from super outgoing to - "give me a while before I warm up". She and I often butt heads (I think we are alike?!) Her demanding nature gets tiresome at times..

But just when I can take no more. Just when I've had enough of "I want" and "Give me" I hear a spontaneous "please" and "thank you". When there is no more room for another whine in the van, instead she shares randomly "I'm so excited to ride on a school bus Mama". When the tears have dried from another disaster, there is a little body crawling up in my lap with her blanket who falls asleep at my side. And my heart swells and I think I can't love her any more than I do.

PL and Spring!

My great hubby let me borrow an old camp camera last week so the entire week was not lost!

Thursday, April 28- both of these were taken that day but I'll put the one of Shane and the kids on Wednesday. The other one is my dear friend (lived with her in Haiti) and her hubby and their sweet new baby N. We stopped on our way to visit my parents. It was too short of a visit but still so fun.

Friday, April 29 (Graham is 8 months old!) Making silly faces with Aunt Michelle.

Saturday, April 30- We had an Easter egg hunt at my sisters. Grace loved it! not the best picture (mom, yours was, I'll need a copy!) but it's still fun.

And the following- SPRING!

The bird's nest in our wreath. I was wrong. I've ALWAYS thought that blue eggs were robin eggs. I swore this up and down to Shane, no matter that the next is small and the eggs tiny. Well, I saw a sparrow fly out.. oops. :)

Our front yard- love the hyacinths!

I loved coming home from Florida to this beauty!