A Special Day

On the Fourth of July, my nephew Benjamin, 11, committed his life to following Jesus. It was truly the biggest and best decision he has made in his entire life. Today we traveled to Big Tree Lake in Beavercreek and watched him be baptized by his dad, Doug's brother Don.

Ben saying hi!

Don and Ben getting used to the cold water!

Rising up out of the water to new life with Jesus!

My favorite picture of the day!

I love you, buddy! This is the biggest and best decision you have ever made. Praying you will always remember this day and what it means. Be alive and active in your faith. Live boldly for the Lord. Know that you are His child. Forever.

God Bless You, Ben!

Matthew, moving and grooving!

My little man is on the move!! He has been crawling for some time now. Not true crawling on his hands and knees, but the "commando" crawl. It amazes how quick he is getting slithering around. He really has no interest in going up on his hands and knees but he does love to stand up, which he can do pretty well with assistance. I wonder if he will just go from the slither to walking. Either way, I have a feeling I am going to have to watch him like a hawk!!

Even when he is not crawling around, he likes to be active, which I think is great. Here are a few things he does for exercise:

Jumpin' in the jumperoo

Playin' hoop! Just kidding.. but he does love to go after a ball if you roll it!

Swinging.. in our backyard or at the park. Better yet if daddy is swinging him!

Look at his face in the above picture. Evelyn got this rocking horse for Christmas when she was one. She has enjoyed it over the years, but I doubt I ever got the smile from her as I did Matthew when we put him on it. Oh, my.. I really need to get it on video. I don't think I could capture his excitement just on film. He L.O.V.E.S. that horse and will crawl over to it every chance he gets and looks longingly at me to put him on it.

I love that he is so active .. but I also think he will keep me on my toes for the rest of my life!! Yes, folks, he is ALL boy!

Pink Helmet Moments

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence." James 1:2,3

July 30th, 2007

Three years ago today my sweet Evelyn Joy got her pretty pink helmet. It was an ordeal that we were not planning on nor thrilled about, but one that was certainly worth it!

At the beginning of the process, Evelyn did NOT like the helmet. She would just cry and cry when it was on. It was painful. We were just crushed, but new we had to just get thru it. And we did. In the end our baby girl was no worse for the wear, nor were we. Our friend Janet called this time a "Pink Helmet Moment". She wisely told us that there would be other "Pink Helmet Moments" that would try our patience and be difficult, and to remember this "victory" to help up thru other times. Those words have stuck with me.

We indeed have endured and still endure other trying times with Evelyn that indeed test us. Somedays I feel like I fail more than I succeed in getting thru those times. But I am thankful that I serve a God who is gracious and patient with me. HE perseveres on my behalf, and for that I am so thankful!

My sweet Evelyn Joy has a perfect little head. I have a perfect God. Amen!

Here's to many more Pink Helmet moments to come.... ;)

Cole Turns 4!!

4 years ago, my sweet nephew Cole Christopher was born. He was (and still is) beautiful!

July 23rd, 2006

We celebrated at my mom's on (a very warm) Saturday night. It was fun to see him excited and really get into his special day!

The handsome birthday boy!

Tater (my niece Regan) and Evelyn wearing the same sundress, just in different colors. This is the best shot I could get. Girls.... ;)

Look at those red hot faces! They still had fun playing together, as they always do!

He really was excited about the cake... I promise! He LOVED it!

My sweet baby girl.... who will be 4 in NO time.. yikes!

Happy Birthday Cole-E-O... Aunt Stephie love you bunches!!

Family Fun

Doug's uncle and aunt from Arizona came up for a visit this week. Ron is Doug's mom's sister. They stayed primarily with us, since we have the most room and a newly renovated "guest suite" (ok.. its done all done yet, but good enough to host family! And I need to give kudos to my husband who worked his bootie off to get things finished before they arrived!). We had a lovely time with them and it was a good excuse to get family together!

Matthew and Aunt Pam

Evelyn had her first real "face plant" during their visit, falling while running on the backyard walkway. It was a pretty good spill, but she survived! This picture mostly is to show what she does when she is stressed.. she picks at her lip. Drives me batty.. but I let it slide this time! ;)

Ron and Pam brought their grandson Zachary along. He and Evelyn got along well.

"Auntie" Jean (family friend... but pretty much family!) trying to keep Matthew from eating the menu!

We had Doug's brother and family over to hang out with Ron and Pam. My nephews Ben and Mitchell are trying to get Matthew to play with them. He just thought they were silly!

We also spent time in Dallas at Doug's parents house with everyone.

Grandma Love!

We SO enjoyed our visit with Ron and Pam, although I cannot believe I didn't get ANY pictures of Ron. Lovely....

Enjoy your family today!

Bathtime

Matthew loves the bath as much as his sister does. I think he could stay in there all day if I let him. He is just starting to figure out how to splash and finding it is quite exciting. Evelyn likes to help wash his hair. And dump water over his head, which he finds hilarious even if he kinda chokes on water!

Hi Mommy!

Apparently he is a bit modest! ;)

Bathtub Mohawk!

Here is Evelyn in the tub at about the same age.. she didn't really get excited about her bath until she turned one, then it was fun for her.

Looking forward to many fun bath times ahead!

Breakfast for Two

Evelyn's morning is pretty routine. We get up, change a diaper, go watch a show, and then have breakfast. Lately she has been on a yogurt kick.. it was oatmeal for a while. Anyways, the other morning after her show, I was changing Matthew's diaper and I heard her doing stuff in the kitchen. I came out to find this:

She had gotten two yogurts from the fridge, two spoons (a kid one for her, a grownup one for me) and moved the chairs so we could sit by each other. "I made you breakfast, mommy. Would you sit by me?" Of course I said YES!

My sweet pea is growing into such a sweet girl. I am one fortunate momma!

Giving the swing a bath...

Usually Doug puts our tree swing and our little play structure away in the winter to avoid it getting all nasty. With Matthew's arrival, etc.. it just didn't happen this last winter. Then it took FOREVER for the sun to finally show up around here. Needless to say, the swing and play structure were in serious need of a wash.

Doug was going to wash the outdoor stuff a couple of weeks ago. Evelyn really wanted to "help" him, which usually means "watch" him. Well, she surprised us all and washed the swing ALL BY HERSELF!


She scrubbed and scrubbed and the thing was really clean when she was done, and had a fun time doing it, too!

I have the cutest video of her singing and dancing while she does the cleaning, but blogger can't upload it for some reason. Bummer!

Isn't the dress knot hilarious? Doug did that so it wouldn't get all wet.. and it was great photo material!! Oh, and the diaper.. this might be the LAST photo you will see of her in one. More on that in another post... ;)

Daddy's Helper

Evelyn LOVES to spend time with Doug.. especially if it means helping him with a project in his shop. She is very comfortable with what she can and cannot do out there, and Doug always makes sure she is safe. I think she has more knowledge of tools than most boys her age!

Doug was making a coat rack for the garage and Evelyn joined him. It was pretty cute.

She watches very intently

This is her idea of "helping"! ;)

Love my girl!

So when you last saw a blog post...

... everyone here had the crud except me. And it was going to stay that way. Period.

WRONG!

Momma got sick shortly after my last post and sadly was the sickest out of all of us for a week. Sore throat, achy, horrible cough and had no voice. Lovely. Before I had kids, if I got sick, all I really needed to do to kick whatever I had was to just sleep. For a couple of days. Did the trick 99% of the time. Well, that just doesn't work now with two littles. Mommy doesn't get a break. Let's just say it was a very LONG three weeks of sick.

Thankfully, tho, I have an AMAZING husband who, although still recovering himself, took time off of work and did whatever he could so I could get some rest. I also have AMAZING friends who, although busy with their own families, took time to call, email, offered to watch the kids AND even bring us dinner. I am SO blessed!

We have been slowly getting back on our feet and getting caught up with stuff that we didn't do while we all were under the weather. That along with other stuff is why there is a lack in posting. I had been doing so well keeping up, too! Lots of exciting things happening at our house so I hope to do some more writing soon!

Stay tuned!