Baseball Cards

These pictures of Owen are a result of Matt bringing down his boxes of baseball cards from the attic recently. Owen said that they are his poses for what his baseball cards would look like if he had one.

We decided to make use of the surplus of cards around and make new placemats for the boys. They love them! We just used a bunch (18 each) of baseball cards, some card stock and clear contact paper.

10 Years Later

Matt and I celebrated our TEN year wedding anniversary on May 11. TEN YEARS?! How is that even possible?! We were able to spend a night "away" at a hotel here in Richmond and enjoy dinner, a movie, sleeping in (8:20!!), and going for a run on the Buttermilk Trail down by the James River. It was a joy to spend time with each other, though we really missed our kids a lot! Thank you to Grams and Grampop (Matt's parents) for watching the kids so we could do this. Can't wait for our 20 year! Owen will be 16, Baxter 14 and Lucy 11. YIKES. This is a great song about marriage that speaks a lot to the joy of marriage and yet the ups and downs that come with it, and the goodness and grace of God that carries us through and allows us to remain true to each other and hang in their when they days are tough! Take a minute to watch it, it's by our favorite musician right now, Andrew Peterson. Two pictures of our wedding day.

My housemates made these fun shirts for a girls night the night before our wedding, thus May 10, 2002. I found it last week when I was cleaning out my closet and wore it to sleep the night before our anniversary, as I had 10 years prior. They also brought me breakfast in bed on my wedding day - Mr.J's bagels, YUM. So in honor of that, Matt brought us to our favorite bagel shop here in Richmond. Thanks Son House ladies - miss you guys!

This is on our run on the Buttermilk Trail - the James River is so cool!

Then and Now...

Baxter had his last day of preschool yesterday. There was a little celebration picnic after school. It was a real sweet time. We are thankful for the love and care he had at preschool, but we are really glad to have him home with us this summer! We are on the fence about sending him to preschool in the fall or just do preschool at home. We're already going to be doing 1st grade at home, so it makes sense to have him with us. We'll see. God will make it clear! Baxter's first day of school this year, September 2011.

Baxter's last day of school this year, May 2012.

Just watching a show...

I sat across the room from my three kids the other day while they were watching a show, and I was just struck with how precious they are. The last few months have been exhausting and hard with them. Lots of attitude issues. Lots of fights. Lots of them exasperating me and me exasperating them. Lots of chances to repent and forgive and restore. It was a treat to just see them as precious - in the midst of the hard days I can lose sight of that. I hate to admit that, but it's true. When they are fighting non-stop or when they listen to ZERO of my words (or at least it feels like that), it's hard to remember what a gift they are from God. So thankful for this moment. So thankful for these precious kids.

Boy-Sized Clock

A little end of the year fun - making a boy sized clock. I had him change the "hands" on the clock to various times (ex. When do we eat lunch? 12:00, What time is it now? 10:40, What time is dinner, 5:30.) He loved it! I was thankful that my silly idea worked. Always glad when that happens!