Happy Father's Day!

These are the wonderful fathers in my life. Pictured here are my father-in-law, who plays a mean game of Scattergories and raised my hubby (for which he should receive some award or prize); my Daddy who has believed in me and encouraged me for these past 31 years, and my hubby, who is an outstanding Daddy to our boys. These men have been such a blessing in my life and I just wanted to take a moment to say THANKS! FOR! EVERYTHING!! I love you all more than words can say!

Although these men are awesome earthly fathers, I have another Father, a Heavenly Father. He knows everything about me and yet He still loves me. He created me and I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He loves me with an everlasting love simply because I am His child. He's my Provider, my Encourager, my Healer, my Comforter, my Strength, my Peace, and my Hope. My God is an incredible Father and on this Father's Day, if you don't know Him as your Father, please take some time to get to know him. Click here to learn more about Him and His love for you!

Happy Father's Day!

Upside down

"What if I should fall right through the center of the earth... oh, and come out the other side, where people walk upside down."

~Alice in Wonderland

Growing Up!

As of today, we are officially the proud parents of a 5th grader. Jacob finished up his fourth grade year yesterday. He excelled again on his report card and should be extremely proud of himself. We certainly are!

Matt and I were reminiscing recently over Jacob. Although I didn't birth him (thankfully, since he was a giant baby at birth, like Eli) I've known him since he was 2 1/2. He's come a long way! It's such a privilege to watch him grow and mature into a young man. Although he's not a fan of school--SIDEBAR: a teacher asked him once what his favorite thing about school was; his answer, "getting out"--he gets his work done and does it well. He's a smart cookie! I also just love witnessing the time Matt takes to teach him how to treat ladies with respect and act like a gentleman. And, I love even more when Jacob remembers those lessons and acts on them without reminders. He's growing up to be such a courteous and honorable young man, and it makes me proud to be his "bonus" mom (p.s. that links up to a great website I recently found about stepfamilies...I'm loving reading it)!

So, congratulations Jacob on a job well-done and welcome to the fifth grade! We love you!

BTW, isn't he handsome!?!

Week Wrap-up

We had a pretty busy week. So I thought I'd take a minute to fill you all in on what's been going on here! It always amazes me to see how many people have stopped by just to see what we've been up to! We love comments, so let us know you're reading.

Please pardon the list format. It's Saturday, so I've turned on my weekend brain and creative writing just doesn't seem to be happening today!

1. Eli had some great fun the baby pool in our front yard!

2. Jacob had his baseball championship tournament. As I said in a previous post, they won on Monday night, but on Tuesday night, they lost to the regular season champs. Matt went to Tuesday's game and said the boys rallied hard, and were tied for a while, but just didn't pull it out in the end. Jacob played great and nabbed the game-tying RBIs.

3. Eli and I planted some veggies in wheat straw bales in the backyard. According to my dad, this should work just fine to grow our tomatoes and peppers. I can't wait to see (and eat) our yield! Gardening with a 15 month old proved to be challenging and fun. He's a super little helper!

4. Jacob and I tried to head out to pick strawberries after school on Thursday. He's really been wanting to go, but we've been so busy with baseball, birthdays, and other commitments, that it's been hard to find the time. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and it rained cats and dogs. We tried to wait it out, but it didn't seem to want to stop, so we sucked it up and paid for a bucket picked by the farmers. Once we got home, Jacob helped me bake a pound cake and for dessert we topped it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream! Yummy!

5. I enjoyed a really sweet moment with a baby boy who is usually too busy to cuddle. He woke early from his nap and spent some quality time in my arms! What a precious time!

6. Only 3 more school days left until summer! Jacob (and I) are SOOOOOO excited! It will be great to have both my boys home together this summer. They've become such great buddies. Recently, Jacob has been trying to teach Eli to catch and has shown some success--I just can't seem to catch it on camera. I love to watch them together!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too!" ~Greg, age 8

The Diamondbacks really showed up and showed off last night! It was the first night of the single-elimination championship tournament for Jacob's league and those boys played like they wanted it, winning 14-4 in the 4th inning!

It was an 8:00 game and I had the privilege of being there to witness the team really come together like never before. You see, the Diamondbacks regular season record is 3-8. Needless to say, they weren't at the top of the standings. But, last night you would have thought they were regular season champs. Each player showed up ready and played with all their heart.

The highlights of the night included one player knocking it out of the park over the left field fence, another player ripping one into the outfield for a triple, and a double play at second and first.

Jacob was a hitter and smacked a line drive past the second baseman. He also made an awesome play at second for an out! As always, he hustled behind the plate and was really in the game last night!

I am so proud of those kiddos! They'll play again tonight (against the regular season champs) at 8:00. Matt will be there to watch and support them.

So, since I won't be there:

GO DIAMONDBACKS!!!!!!

Hello, T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

There are no words for the amount of spunk this kid has. The energizer bunny pales in comparison to my spirited and often strong-willed baby boy! Heaven help me!

Birthdays and stuff

You know how there are some people with whom you think so much alike, that you can finish their sentences and know what they are thinking?

Well, that's Matt and me.

A while back, we were sitting at the table enjoying breakfast and I mentioned going to the zoo for my birthday. Matt's response caught me off guard. I believe his exact words were, "What's wrong with you?"

I immediately realized that I had asked him to take a day off from work. He takes pride in providing for us financially, and I asked him to forgo that responsibility.

While I was overanalyzing this, he said, "Will you just get out of my head! I was going to surprise you with a birthday trip to the zoo on Friday!"

I guess great minds think alike.

So, in honor of my birthday, we let Jacob have a day off from school, loaded up the minivan and headed off to one of my favorite places--the NC Zoo in Asheboro. And once we arrived (after taking the scenic route to get there, which is a whole other story) we had a blast. Eli decided to really whoop it up and only slept 20 minutes...the entire day. Apparently sleeping in the car is no longer on his list of things to do. Despite that, we all had a fabulous time!

Here's a peek into our trip!



On Saturday, we celebrated three birthdays--my mom's, my sister-in-law's, and mine--with three different cakes. Matt made mine and did a fantastic job! I truly am blessed! I requested the Milk Chocolate Bar Cake. And, it was DEEE-LICIOUS!

And, just because I think they are the cutest boys ever, here are a few bonus shots (even some self-portraits)!!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Have a fun day! I know we will!