My "big" four year old

We recently had a little party for Shep's 4th birthday. We had it a few weeks early since his actual birthday falls right in line with when these babies are likely to arrive. It was an all boy party and he was able to invite four friends. It was fun to watch these boys play together and just be boys. Such a sweet gift they will have growing up together and hopefully remain friends for years to come.

Even though his bday isn't for a few more weeks, he is convinced he is  four

these two have some serious man-love for one another

sweet boys being silly on the tire swing

they seem to be having a serious man to man talk and I am excited
they will be at the same school next year

another generation of boys 

it just doesn't get much cuter than this, sweet Hope and her mama

Resurrection

It has been WAY too long since I have updated. I am going to give this blog one last resurrection and see how committed I really am.

We have had lots of changes around here lately, most important of which, I am 36 weeks preggers with twin boys. We are so grateful for a healthy 36 weeks and are hoping for a few more, even though I am so exhausted. Robbie has been doing mostly everything around here and I have been taking it easy for the last few weeks. Basically I am doing only the minimum required to keep my children alive. Nice, right? Mom of the year award here I come!

I leave you with a few pics of my cuties on a recent beach vacation!

it has been a while

and i could try and recap, but instead i will say happy thanksgiving! thankful for these boys!

Coming soon to a kitchen table near you (me)

After a year of talking about it, I finally did it! I committed a day to building the framework, buying the dirt and seeds and putting it all together. Here's to some winter/spring veggies

Beach House

Two weeks ago, the boys and I headed over to the beach with some friends for a quick mid-week get-a-way. The house was ginormous...Shep was a little confused as to how to find his bedroom at first, but he soon got the hang of it. Brennan really enjoyed all the extra space to crawl around in. I think the kitchen and dining area was the size of my entire house. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the house, but here are some cute ones of the kids.

                                                   Bath time is always more fun with friends

Gratitude

10) for two really fun weekend getaways
11) having a husband and two boys to come home to after two really fun weekend getaways
12) for a 3yr old and a 1yr old
13) for the hope and anticipation of more children someday
14) friends who I can pray with and be vulnerable with
15) recognizing my sin and starting to hate it
16) for getting through a tough discipline stage with Shep
17) learning that when I raise my voice, it just makes things worse
18) embracing the dirty, poopy, smelly diapers that need to be washed every three days; because it saves
      tons of $
19) really getting into the swing of our new cash budget, and thankful we put forth the effort to get it  
      together
 

Success

Someone had a birthday

B turned ONE on Sept. 6th. Labor Day (no pun intended). I was out of town for the weekend and returned late Monday afternoon. And yes I left my husband and two children for three days. And no I don't feel guilty...at all. I had a great time! But yes, I was excited to see them all. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. But I digress...

So, since I was out of town, we didn't do anything to celebrate yet. We are having a small family party this afternoon. The birthday boy's older brother is super excited! And the birthday boy sure does look cute in his party hat.

Quote

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." 
— John Piper

Perhaps he should add blogging to his list as well...

Gratitude

I have been meaning to start this list for quite some time. I have lots of friends who have done this in one form or another and I think it is a great idea. For starters, we all need to be reminded of the little things in life that are blessings and gifts from the Lord. Even the ones that don't always seem like blessings, i.e., your children playing and laughing in the same room keeping each other up way past their bedtime, or crumbs all over your kitchen floor after a meal, or bug bites all over your son's face after making mud balls with his cousins. You get the idea.  I need to be reminded that my boys love one another which is why they are laughing and having a good time, that there are crumbs on the floor because I have enough food to feed my family, and that those bug bites are scars from a fun evening bonding with cousins who love on my boys.
So here I go. I'm going to start with the basics

#1- I am much more of a sinner than I realize, but God's grace is bigger than I can fathom
#2- my children who are teaching me more about myself everyday
#3- Robbie, who I would not want to do life without
#4- for the big mess of water that shep is making on my kitchen floor right now, while his dolphins swim in their "pools"; which also happen to double as my mixing bowls.
#5- for the blue volvo, our first family car, that my husband is now driving. may it make it thru the end of this year!!! please!!!
#6- for our white honda van, our second family car. such a luxury!
#7- for the gray infiniti, that was sold to purchase the honda
#8- for my hubs who gave up his infiniti for the benefit of our entire family
#9- that I finally started this list

half naked wrestling

Its starts like this...boys jumping...

and usually ends with a face like this.

I can't commit

to a blog template that is. I keep changing things up but I never really like what I change it to.

Photo update