Happy Birthday to You!

Wow! I can't even believe it's been a year since Max came into the world. I can't believe all that we've done in the past year.



Dear Max,

We can't believe how much you've changed our lives. You bring so much laughter and light into our days. You have your Daddy's sense of humor and your Mama's smile. We thank God everyday for you.

Love,
Mama and Daddy

Travel Recap

Howdy from Texas!

So we've made it back from our travels (Monday morning to be exact) and here's a picture rundown of our week in Texas... But I can say this, it was full of good food, great weather, and AMAZING friends. It was good to be in fellowship with believers who know us better than we might even know ourselves. It was great to talk ministry, great to relax, and was a wonderful mother's day where the boys cooked the girls dinner and we had the best foot massages from a couple 2 year olds and a 4 year old.

I have that post vacation let down, but there's no time to wallow, or even get the pictures printed off, I've been moving stuff from the parsonage to the new house and our carpet is going to be put down in the morning (it was changed from Monday).

The boys

How do you get 10 kids to all look at the camera at the same time and even get most to smile? The promise of jelly beans and a lot of parents acting like fools jumping up and down and hollering. Notice my son is not only not looking at the camera, but also stealing a toy from Jackson.

Visiting my old job and had lunch with the girls (no, Kerry is not a girl, but Max loved him)

Dear friends Lizzie and Geoff at the Bookcenter

Little Mama Sasha with the baby boys

Max with Auntie Darci

Tatiana assisting with the walk down the steps

Mmmmmm Sprinkles Cupcakes.....

Sweet Boys

Playing in the water at the zoo

What? We're not doing anything (Max and Lily-our friends' Eric and Radha's little girl)

Congrats Matt (him and little baby Lucy)

Our bags are packed....

We're ready for a long road trip with our little climber...


And for your viewing pleasure- some walking, not a lot (he can do a lot more), but it happened to be what I could catch just now. :)

Musical Monday

I have a confession to make... I've been starting to "train" for 5ks again. I know I get bored pretty quickly with "work outs" so this is my new goal. I love treadmills, so I've been going in the morning before Adam goes to work and have been attempting at starting to run again. Gosh it's hard, and it's been a while, and mostly I just walk fast.

When I'm going MUSIC is my big motivator, well that and remembering how I looked 5 years ago when I got married compared to now...

So I figure I'll do a series for this month on what's on my MP3 player. I'll be the first to admit that I have an interesting range of work out worthy songs. I'd love to hear your work out must haves too! I need some new motivation!

This week's choice is in honor of the other places I've lived. It came up on my playlist and has a great speed for the treamill being around 5.3 or so. This song actually almost makes me cry with nostalgia. Especially the memory of Darby singing it on my voicemail the summer Adam and I spent back in Ohio.

Tomorrow Adam, Max and I leave on a roadtrip to spend the week in Dallas with great great great friends. You see it's been just under a year since we've moved and I've definitely missed it so much. Looking forward to friends, chubby babies and grown up kiddos, lots of good Mexican food (especially Chuy's!), not sitting in the second row at church, hearing Chaplain Bill play the horn at graduation, and being steeped in the tradition of DTS once again. Oh how I've missed it.

House Update

We've spent the past two days at the house and have been working on everything from painting to putting up cupboard doors to cleaning to laying linoleum to randomly walking around aimlessly even though there is a long list waiting to be accomplished.

Max learned to climb up the step ladder. That was a fun realization....

It seems that everything is coming together. Kinda like we knew it would, but were a little unsure of there for a while.

I've been walking around with an artist's brush with different colors of paint fixing things and spent quite a few hours cleaning yesterday. Today we did quite a few things including finishing the linoleum in the entryway and putting on outlet covers and vent covers.

Here are last looks at all the rooms before we are moved in and have everything messing it all up. : )

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Nursery

Master Bedroom

(There are the three upstairs rooms but we haven't done anything with them and won't until we are moved in.)

The next update we have will be a move in special report. :)

While the past two days have been spent at the house, it hasn't been all work and no play around here, I just couldn't wait until bedtime yesterday because in the post came a little package for me.

It had in it Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing and I flipped through the whole thing and marked the projects I'd like to try first. Which was just about all of them. Especially the Sunday Dinner Hostess Apron and the Summer Blouse. Can't wait. But it probably will until after we've moved and settled in, next in my sewing queue are pillows for the couch that coordinate with my curtains and a birthday shirt for Max and a million other things I probably won't get to in time. But we'll see.

Growing

Here's a picture of the pretty tulips we've had blooming in our yard and some that are just coming out.

It's a surprise to me to see what comes up. And has been interesting every few days investigating what I think things are. Besides me recognizing the most basic of flowers, I hardly know any names or anything, but I do happen to know what I like. And don't like. I don't like all the ferns we have overtaking all the flower beds. Maybe I would like them more in less of a quantity. Those are going to have to go and soon.

I believe I have daisies coming up in the back. Oh I would be so happy if I did! It would save me from having to plant some.


Max

I just love the quality of pictures my camera takes and the lighting was just beautiful today. Especially in Max's room at the new house.

This week in pictures

We've been busy all week, but Max is so fun that it's been distracting. Tonight we played in a pile of blankets I should have been packing to move for a half hour. He thought it was hilarious to climb on top of the pile and roll down so I could tickle him. He's growing so quickly, I just can't believe how much he learns each day.

Max
He loves feeding himself whole things, not the pieces I've broken up for him
Pretty blue eyes today
So cute in his patchwork overalls
Max found the Evangicube... oh little preacher's son...

Crafts
Did I ever post about my quick Easter craft for Max? A bunny shirt with freezer paper stencils
Baby Girl Blanket of Granny Squares... I love the look but hate hiding all the ends.
Scarf in the mail to a friend

Nature
We still have eggs and a bird in a nest outside our front yard. I keep looking to see if the eggs have hatched yet. The mother bird is very protective each time we go out the door she flies off to a nearby branch and hollers at us until we go back inside.

At the new house we have two beautiful blooming trees. This one just started this week.
And this one was just on it's way out.