Sad

The boys like me to read a devotion book at lunch and yesterday the story was about Jesus dying. We got into a discussion on death and Joshua said, "If you die, we won't have a Mommy." And then we were talking about something else and Gray said, "Mommy when you die, me and Joshua won't have a Mommy. We'd be sad. We will cry." Usually Gray doesn't participate much in the discussion after devotions and I guess because he still seems like such a baby, I always think he doesn't understand, so I was really surprised to hear him say that! Anyway, I reminded them of the truth--that we'd see each other in heaven and that our time in heaven is so much longer than our time on earth. Don't know how much they understood, but it seemed to satisfy them.

So not to end on a sad note, I'll tell you a little more about what we discussed. Joshua asked a lot of questions like, "Will there be clothes in heaven?" and "When will we come back to earth", but perhaps his most urgent need-to-know and deeply theological question was this:

"Are there potties in hell?"

Pretty sure the Bible is silent on that one.

Joshua's bday

Okay folks, two weeks from Saturday is when we're having the cookout for Joshua's bday (that's Oct 17th from 11-1). I think we're pretty much just expecting the in town people (plus maybe M and D??), but if everyone who is planning to come can email me or comment here sometime this week, that would be great. Thanks!

3rd Trimester!

I have made it to the third trimester...well if you want to get REALLY official, I'll be there at 4 pm today. Confused? Divide 40 weeks by 3 and you get 13 weeks, 2 1/3 days per trimester. Today I am 26 weeks 4 days and at 4 pm, the day will be 2/3 done. I know, I know, I'm a regular math genius. Anyway, I'm thankful this has been such an easy pregnancy. Waiting to see that baby is the hardest part, though I do try to enjoy the time now with just the boys and my sleep! Lots of fun stuff coming up over the next few months to make the time go by fast and hopefully this baby will stay put and be a healthy full term baby like the boys, though is it too much to ask that he/she doesn't spit up like a fountain all day long?

Weekend

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. We started ours Friday night with a trip to the Durham Rescue Mission to donate all the stuff we cleaned out. It filled the back of Matt's truck and some of the inside!! Supposedly they give whatever is needed to the homeless people that are currently residents with the organization and then sell the rest in their thrift store, with all the proceeds going to feed and clothe the homeless. We then had supper out (Matt got to redeem a free sweet tea card:)) and went to Walmart to get some things for care packages for some soldiers. One is one of Matt's coworkers from Washington who was part of our group of friends. He is married with a one year old daughter and another baby on the way. The other was one of Matt's favorite soldiers that worked for him. Apparently a good many soldiers that went to Iraq with Matt are already back over there!

Saturday we went to the Raleigh CrossFit event, where Matt, his dad and sister, and 2 others from our gym competed in a workout with 60 or 70 (can't remember exactly) other athletes. They had a good time and were glad they did it. The boys and I managed okay, but it was kind of long with not much for them to do and the music was REALLY loud, which left us all feeling a little frazzled by the end. And then we had a birthday party for a little boy turning one in our small group. It was during nap time, but the boys handled it okay. Joshua assumed his usual position obsessively playing with the toys and Gray just hung out and went with the flow. By the evening, we were really tired and put the boys down pretty early. They slept late today and took naps til 5 too! Now we're going to play outside awhile and hit the hay. Have a good evening!

The belly is growing!

I'm busting out of my tshirts and starting to get stares in public...yep, it's 3rd trimester time. Got about 3 more months to grow and think this will be another huge belly by the end, as usual! Here's a recent picture.

He finally did it!

Well I know that Jackson Leighton is having his big "first steps" moment this week, so Gray's milestone won't seem as huge, but he finally jumped this week! Up until recently he would jump in his crib holding on to the sides and would say he was jumping on the ground (which involved squatting down really low and only getting one foot off the ground) and would call himself jumping to you from on top of things (which was more of a reach and fall), but no real jump. Then he jumped off a box in the gym a few days ago (Matt witnessed the big moment but didn't tell me) and I was amazed to see him jump off the bottom step in our house yesterday. Go Gray. BTW, I have a movie of Joshua jumping off the top of a plastic slide when he was only about 1 1/2 (Gray is now 2 1/2), but who's counting?:)

Mommy's not-magic kiss

Gray bit his own thumb while stuffing his face at dinner tonight. He asked me to kiss it, a practice that Joshua has, but not something I can remember Gray doing. I kissed his thumb and he frowned and looked at it and asked me to kiss it again. I did and he fussed and said, "It's not off. I want you to kiss it." He admitted that he thought my kiss would really make the hurt go away and he was quite frustrated that it didn't work. Guess he thought that's why Joshua always asks for kisses. Oh well...I'm no supermom!!

Push it in the ground, cover it with dirt, push it in the ground, cover it with dirt

Can you tell I've been working on the dog fence? Matt cut a little tiny line in the ground with the edger and I go around and push the wire into the hole and cover it up. Over and over and over! Funny that I was trying to get a lot done yesterday and then it was pouring rain so I reluctantly went inside. I was frustrated, then remembered that I've been learning to trust God with every circumstance and that, though I can't see it now or ever, he is orchestrating everything that happens to me. So I went inside and began cleaning out stuff to give away. (Which went well, by the way, aside from Joshua fussing about giving up some toys!) By naptime the rain had stopped and I found that it was soo much easier to do this task because the ground was soft. I ended up being able to get it all finished up through what Matt had cut. We still have probably 1/3 or so of it to go, which means a couple hours more of work, but it's getting there. BTW, thanks again to Barnette for getting us going on Sunday with your help!

I almost finished the clean-out job yesterday. it helps that we've only been here a year and don't have too much clutter. It was definitely hard to decide on what to keep and hard to see that the stuff I really think I should keep is A LOT. How do we "need" so much? Once I bring it all downstairs, I think it will about fill up our laundry room, so it's a pretty good amount. Plus a few chairs we're giving away to Jeannie or goodwill. And now we have several kitchen cabinets with nothing in them, extra space in the upstairs closets, and even our storage closet doesn't look cluttered. Hopefully this stuff will be of use to someone and will inspire me not to buy or hold onto things we don't really need. Mostly right now, it just feels good to declutter! I definitely recommend it!!

A step in the right direction...

Well I've decided (with Matt's permission of course) that my next project (after the invisible fence) is going to be cleaning out more of our stuff to give away. I thought we were kind of done with that since I've cleaned out for moves before, but as I talked with Amanda and Jeannie and thought and prayed, I've noticed that we still have quite a bit of stuff we just don't need. I've been saving things (extra purses, serving dishes, toys, etc) that we never use and I just think MAY come in handy one day, but now that I really think about it, they aren't doing anything but cluttering our home. We have space here for all our stuff, but if we do move into a smaller house one day, it wouldn't all fit and besides--it just feels freeing to "live light", as Matt says. I just think if we make a habit of keeping around a bunch of stuff, we're just going to keep on accumulating more and more. So anyway, don't know if it will be as dramatic a purge as it should be, but I think it will be a good small step to detaching ourselves from things.

*BTW, for those who knew about Joshua's high fever last night, he is totally better tonight. Thanks to God for answered prayers, as I had no idea what this sickness may turn into and it has amounted to nothing significant at all!

Go Pack!

Daddy gave us his tickets to the game Saturday and after some consideration, we decided to give it a shot with the boys. They were really excited and had a good time, though they would have liked more freedom to roam during the game, rather than sit on our laps. We just stayed through the first half and all in all, though it was a fun event! Thanks, Daddy!

Answered prayers for Joshua

I think I wrote on here how at our first shepherding group meeting, Joshua did really well in his class and played like a normal kid with a boy his age. Well the trend has continued. Something in him has just clicked and he seems to now be really comfortable with the kids around him. At our get together here last Saturday, I saw him playing with several of the kids one-on-one at different times and it was just like he was playing with Gray...normal talk, laughing, having fun. Then at the playgroup on Thursday, it only took him a couple of minutes to warm up to a boy he'd only been around for a few minutes before. These two really hit it off! Jack is about a month older than Joshua and the playgroup was held at his house. He has a brother about Gray's age and a new baby sister. The boys just loved playing together and got really silly. Anyway, just thankful that the shyness and uncomfortableness Joshua has had over the last year is finally going away. A few weeks ago when his prayer spoon said "friends", he prayed for Hunter and Grace from WA. While we love this family and hope to stay in touch and see each other again, Joshua needs friends here too! So I'm just happy that's happening now.

Back on the Pogo subject, I got a call from a kind, but irritated neighbor telling me tale after tale of the havoc Pogo is wreaking on his yard and older dog. Sooo, we finally made calls yesterday about getting a fence put in...yet another maintenance cost for the house/land. It's always something! Hopefully we'll be able to get something soon and make our neighbors a little more happy with us. I really feel like if we let Pogo in the house, he'd get more of that attention he's craving and stop bothering people so much, yet he's still so destructive and with a new baby coming and plenty of issues to worry about with the boys lately, I just don't have the energy to spend training him. And I think with these hormones, I would be hard-pressed not to have a breakdown when he messed up things in our house, which I'm sure he'd do in the process! Plus, we want him to enjoy being a dog on our land, but don't want him bringing all that dirt, bugs, etc in our house. Sooo, for now, it's got to be the fence before we end up paying our neighbors for damages!

The great lifestyle debate

And no, I'm not talking about "alternative" lifestyles:) Guess I should start from the beginning. While this issue is something I've thought a lot about at various times in the last few years, I had kind of put it on the back burner until Jeannie showed me this website www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

(those who have read her blog have already heard some of this!)

This is the blog of a twenty-something yr old girl who has given up the stereotypical American lifestyle in order to work with Amazima Ministries in Uganda. She lives in a tiny, bug-infested home and has started a ministry there that today serves daily meals to I believe 300+ children who would have no food otherwise. She also tends to medical needs in her community. Oh, and she has adopted 13 of the kids there, so add single mom to Ugandan orphans to her list!

One blog entry (from February 22nd this year) really caught Jeannie's attention and when I saw it, struck me as well. Katie was confessing how she sometimes longed for a bigger kitchen, nicer home, etc and how sinful that was because families around her were crowded into tiny dirt or cardboard homes with nothing to eat. So she and her 13 kids decided to be thankful for what they have and make cutbacks...like giving away clothes, not purchasing treats, and using very little electricity (when it worked). Amazing. She already lives in circumstances that would be nightmarish to most of us, yet she's sacrificing even more to help those around her.

So what does all this mean for us. We have SO much and though I'm not thinking that any of us who aren't living in poverty are wrong, it does seem like we should be making sacrifices to help those in need. And I mean real sacrifices. Most of us have more than enough space in our homes, food to eat, clothes to wear, toys, electronics, etc. yet not only do we feel justified in the way we live, but we're always looking for more- new clothes, the latest gadget, more things to fill our homes, and so on. Sure, we give money to church and missionaries and participate in special offerings/make donations to causes, but look at our lifestyles...we are not sacrificing.

It's not easy to admit when you have seen your materialism for what it is, but it's even harder to do something about it. Most of us are living right at our means. We make just enough money to afford to pay our bills, take care of our property, etc, and we can't just decide not to meet those responsibilities. So I'm thinking the easiest hard way (if that makes sense) to get your family on the path to simple living/sacrifice for the sake of helping the poor is to do something drastic to set the pattern for change. Sell a car, severely empty your home of all the "stuff" that's nice to have but you don't really need, downsize to a smaller home, commit to stop spending money on a certain "luxury" for a set amount of time and give that money to the hungry, etc. Will you see my family taking action on one of these plans? Honestly, I can't say, but I hope that we will do SOMETHING. Determining the lifestyle your family should live is a touchy and tricky subject, but I feel like if we ask him, God will show us how to glorify him in this area.

As a side note, thanks to Jeannie for re-opening this can of worms through Katie's blog. I've also recently been able to use it to help Joshua become more aware of how other people live. He often complains if he doesn't get the blue bowl for breakfast. The other morning, I showed him pictures from this site of the tons of children waiting in line to get their only meal of the day with bowls in hand. We were able to talk about how those children could care less what color bowl they have because they were just glad to be able to eat and I think our conversation has ended (or at least come close to ending) his complaints. A thankful heart is a happy heart, right?

The name game

No, we still don't have any names picked out. We should have at least 3 more months to figure this out, yet that's not very reassuring to me, considering we are getting nowhere! I'm just not motivated to make decisions right now and it doesn't feel like any name is going to ever sound just right to us. Most of the time, I don't even want to think about it and the rare times we do discuss it, some interesting ideas result.

Here's an example: Matt would like a manly sounding name for our child if it's a boy. I've tried to think of tough male names and really can't come up with anything. Matt did think of one. He would like to name our child Maximus Leonidas, which are the main characters' names of 2 very tough guy movies called Gladiator and 300. Oh boy. So for those of you waiting to hear what we'll finally settle on, don't hold your breath! I think this one will be decided once the baby is born!

The things they say...

Yesterday at lunch we were going over our ABC Bible verses. If you don't know what I mean, a long time ago, I made a book with a verse for each alphabet letter and I used to read it to the boys all the time. Just from reading the book to them, I've memorized all of them without trying and they used to know quite a few too. Yesterday, I realized we hadn't read it in awhile and they have forgotten quite a bit. It was too funny, though, to listen to them try to finish the verses with whatever words they could come up with. They were throwing in song phrases, prayers, and things I often say to them. The funniest was "K- Keep your tongue from evil." I said, "Keep" (no response) "Keep your tongue..." and Joshua said, "in your mouth!" I suppose that's a good thing to remember too, though not quite what the verse was getting at!!

Last night we were reading a story about how the religious leaders in Jesus' time were jealous of him. Joshua had some questions and Matt explained that they thought they could do good things and that would make them good enough for Jesus, but no one is really good enough for Jesus on their own. Joshua thought for a second, then looked at me and said very seriously, "Mommy is!" Yeah right!!

Birthday thoughts...

So, yeah, today's my birthday. I've been thinking about birthdays lately, especially with Joshua's coming up. Even since the boys were babies, I've contemplated how we want to do birthdays in our family. I have such a different perspective now as an almost 30 year old and a mother. I can remember in years past having "bad birthdays" and feeling sorry for myself. Why? I can't remember details, but I guess everything wasn't going my way or I put so much stock in the presents I got and then found they didn't really make me happy or I didn't feel like the day was "all about me" like I thought it would be.

And then we have today. I have talked to my sisters on the phone, which is nice, and had a few birthday wishes over email, but mostly it's just your average day around here. There's laundry to do, kids that need me to play games with them or hold them or spank them, meals to be fixed, etc. Yet, it feels like a perfectly good birthday to me because now I know the world doesn't revolve around me and I don't expect it to!

So how do I convey this to my children? I want them to feel loved on their birthdays but I don't want them to think that if they don't get enough presents, have a big enough party, get enough attention, or have everything go their way that it is a bad birthday. I think I want to continue to do things I've done in the past to convey my love to them, like the birthday letters I write and the couple of pages of their scrapbook that I add to, but now that they are older, they are much more into the presents and parties so it gets a little harder to know what to do.

I think anytime that any of us focus on ourselves instead of those around us, we set ourselves up for disappointment and discontentment...even on our birthdays! I recently read a book to Joshua that was a great illustration. It began with a dog who was feeling really down. His cat friend finally figured out that it was because he didn't know when his birthday was. She admitted she didn't know when hers was either. Then secretly and separately, the friends stopped thinking about themselves and planned a surprise birthday party for each other, which ended up bringing both a lot of happiness of course. I'm going to continue to think about how we'll handle the kids' birthdays and y'all feel free to add your thoughts and ideas as well!

And so it continues...

We got another Pogo email today. It described our dog and said if that sounded like Pogo, he was currently sleeping in a rocking chair on their front porch. Oh boy. We think we're going to have to get the fence now.

On another note, my dr appt today was fine and actually quick as far as waiting time, which is amazing. I was pleased to have only gained 3 pounds (normal for this trimester), despite how big my belly is getting, so if I can keep it up, I should gain 8 or 10 pounds less than I normally do. I have another appointment in 4 weeks and then I start going every 2 weeks. Starting to feel more like this baby is a reality!

Good Weekend!

We had a pretty fun and relaxing weekend. Saturday Matt spontaneously decided we should go over to the mall and let me spend a giftcard and eat lunch so we did that and I found some great sales at Macy's (thanks, Stewarts!). I got a few shirts for $5 each...marked down from $30-something, so pretty good! It was a little interesting trying on non-maternity clothes with this big belly, but I think I figured out the right sizes. I also got a little nightgown for the baby...I just love those things, especially when you're trying to change diapers in the middle of the night.

It was really fun having our small group over Saturday night. The ladies talked, the guys watched football, the kids played, and we all ate a bunch! It was nice to finally have our friends see where we live and get to know us a little more. And having a potluck made it really easy on me, so I'm hoping to have more similar gatherings in the future. Matt said we should have a big bonfire with the tree he cut up.

Sunday morning was a little busy, as I had nursery and Matt was ushering, so getting Joshua from his class to bring him in to church was a little hectic, but it worked. I spent most of the time in nursery rocking a little 3 month old girl to sleep. Thought it was funny when my baby started "kicking" her, but was glad she didn't notice. We enjoyed more time playing outside last night. I just love this weather. Hope y'all had a good weekend too. Off to an OB checkup this morning...

Nice Evening

Here are a few pictures from our family hanging out in the front yard last night. The weather is so nice!

Oh Pogo!

Many of you know that Pogo is a little bit of a trouble maker around our "neighborhood." He is always bringing over shoes, hats, trash, balls, etc from neighbors' yards and we never know where they came from. Today we finally put notes in the mailboxes of the houses through the woods where Pogo often goes to and we got one response so far. The subject line on this email was, "Is this the culprit?" but our neighbor was not writing to fuss or to claim items, but to share with us this picture:

Yep, that's our Pogo, just hanging out with this neighbor's children. Apparently he spends quite a bit of time there and her kids just love him, as they don't have a dog of their own. Definitely explains why some days he's gone almost all day. When you're getting undivided attention from 2 kids and a blanket to snuggle on with them, why wouldn't you stay away? She did mention that another neighbor fussed at her because he thought Pogo was her dog and Pogo was barking at his dogs, so I'm expecting another email that won't have such loving words to say about our boy!

Punchy

Yep, Joshua has contributed yet another useful baby name idea and it is Punchy...which is a girls' name if you couldn't guess. At least it's not a Thomas the Train character.

We had a great time last night playing cards with Matt's family. Thank you all for your bday gifts! We have way too much dessert left so hoping to pawn some off on our shepherding group tonight. Thursday night went well for our shepherding group meeting at church. Matt and I taught the 3/4 yr old class and I was pleased with how well everything went. It was nice to see my Veggietales lesson plans in action and the kids seem to enjoy it. We only had 7 children including Joshua and they were so good. I really liked seeing Joshua actually play comfortably with another little boy the whole time and he was very vocal during the story discussion time, though he tells me he doesn't typically answer the teachers' questions in his SS class. Anyway, we have a beautiful day today and are looking forward to more time with friends tonight! Have a good Saturday!

The Old and New Joshua

Those of you that know Joshua know that he can be...well...a bit standoffish and rude to everyone around him but me. Why he's become this way, I can't say, but there's something in him that wants to put up a wall to everybody at times and often the way that comes out is that he either won't talk to whoever is being friendly to him or will squirm and whine and protest (even throw a fit) if anyone but me tries to show affection to him or do something for him that I wold normally do. Now he's definitely not like that all the time, but there are days when it is pretty bad and it gets really old!

Tuesday was one of those days. Granted, when I woke up I knew I wasn't feeling up to par, but when Joshua started behaving badly, it really got to me this time! By the end of the day, we'd had many confrontations about the problem above, along with the fits that he was pitching (also a lingering problem that I keep thinking is gone and then it comes back). We ended up talking about Saul and how he used to do such awful things and hurt Christians but because of Jesus, he became Paul...a new person who showed love and kindness to the people around him. We talked about how even though Joshua was sometimes rude and hurt the feelings of those around him, the Holy Spirit working in him could make him the new Joshua that is loving to everyone. Of course, this didn't end the problem right away, but since he has learned a lot about Paul in the past, he understood what I was saying so that I'm able to remind him that he is the "new Joshua" and not to act like the old Joshua anymore. I have seen some signs that he wants to end those old ways so please pray with me that whatever the root of his problem is, God would work on him from the inside out and we would begin to see the new Joshua overcome the old. One benefit from focusing on this this week is that I'm reminded that the Bible tells us all that we have to keep putting off our old selves and putting on the new. I hope to see more of that happening in me from day to day as well.

Lots to Look Forward To!

Well due to these allergy/pregnancy sniffles stuff, I've been up since 6 on a non-workout day, so thought I'd take a minute to post. What I'm thinking about this morning is all the fun stuff we have coming up in the next couple of days!

Tonight is our first shepherding group meeting of the school year. Our group will be babysitting this week and Matt and I will be with the 3/4 yr old class, so I'll get to see first hand how my lesson plans are going to work out. We'll just have 10 kids (or less if some are out), so I think it will be a good class. Friday we're doing a Kim/Holly birthday dessert and game night (for Matt's side of the family, adults only) at our house, which should be fun and much less hectic than our traditional deal of having a meal for the whole group and not really getting to relax. Saturday we're having a shepherding group potluck dinner at our house and I'm looking forward to some chicken and crock pot macaroni! No one in our group has ever been to our house, so it will be fun to have people over. Sunday I'm serving in the infant nursery and, as there is a new schedule for the schoolyear, I'll be working with a girl that I met through playgroup this summer and had been wanting to get to know a little better. Tuesday is my birthday and I'm looking forward to a calzone from Vinny's and some mystery sweet treat that Matt will get! And then finally, Thursday is our first meeting of the new playgroup I kind of initiated. Yay for fun things to do! My one concern is that someone in our family often gets sick when there's a busy week ahead, so I'm praying we'll actually get to do all these activities, but trying not to have my hopes too high. Hope that y'all have some fun upcoming things planned as well. Have a good rest of the week!

Canasta!

We learned a new card game from the Crabtrees on Labor Day and really enjoyed playing it. You can play in teams or partners so Matt and I tried it last night, adapting a couple of sets of regular cards for the game. The only problem is no matter what I do, I can't seem to win or be on the winning team! Matt has some kind of gift for this game I guess! Is it strategy, luck of the draw, brains? I don't know. The first hand last night I even felt good about it and thought sure I was beating him. The score on that hand? 300-something for me and almost 1300 for him!! Anyway, it is a fun game and maybe one of these days I'll win!

A WAY too early invitation

This is so early, but wanted to let you know that we're planning to have a cookout for Joshua's bday on the 17th, probably from 11-1. Won't be anything fancy. He's really into playing games like freeze tag and red light/green light, so we'll try to do some of those things if the weather is okay. Other than that, we'll just have lunch and cake. I'll remind you when it gets closer to time, but wanted to go ahead and get that out there for whoever might be able to come. (And we understand if no out-of-towners can make it!)

Almost There

It was pretty hard to drag myself out of bed this morning to work out. Especially when Matt got up and then got back in the bed right before it was time for me to work out. But I did it. I have this goal of keeping up my (modified) CrossFit workouts 4 x a week until the 3rd trimester starts. Then I may set another goal, though I want to be particularly careful with the weights around the last month or 2 so I don't send myself into early labor. Anyway, this morning, I realized how close I am to my goal! Only 12 more workouts! This is so much better than I've ever done in a pregnancy so even if it doesn't keep my weight down (can't tell yet with that), I think I at least feel better and even with putting in the path this week, I was a little sore but didn't injure anything at all, which I think I can attribute to keeping up my fitness. Hopefully I won't wimp out and blow up at the end. It makes me a little nervous that the 3rd trimester includes both major eating holidays!!

On another note, it's often hard to get back to "normal" life after visitors leave or you return from a vacation. Mimi and GrandGene left at nap time yesterday and I wasn't sure how grumpy the boys would be for the evening, but it turned out to go well. First of all, I got to talking to Matt about the boys needing chests of drawers in their rooms and we ended up rearranging furniture and moving 2 existing ones in there. I always find it fun to reorganize and restructure our stuff! Then Matt suggested that we go to the park so we went and got some food and took it to the playground and ate. Of course it took Gray an unreasonable amount of time to swallow his chicken, but while I sat and watched his chubby cheeks chew, Joshua and Matt had a great time climbing all over the place. Thought it was interesting that Joshua wouldn't try half the stuff when he was just with me that he tried with Matt. Then Gray finally finished eating and enjoyed some time going down the big slide. He doesn't seem to have much fear of heights, though the boy still can't jump! We finished the night with a special trip to get ice cream. Fun!

Hope you have a good Labor Day. Hope work goes well, Daddy! I'll try to write more this week!!

Why I haven't blogged this week...

We've had a path from our driveway to our porch made just of fine gravel since we moved in. After 10 months or so, it had worn away and the weeds were taking over, so last weekend, we got some large square pavers to put down. This has eaten up much of my time this week and I'm happy to say that after hours of digging and 100 pavers later, it is finished! I had occasional help from Matt and Mama has helped me finish this weekend too. It was a ton of work, but I think it looks pretty good.

We've had a pretty busy time with Mimi and GrandGene so far. They've done a lot of work helping us around the yard and of course playing with the boys. We had a thrilling family game of rook last night and tonight, we spent a lot of time outside and ended with Mother May I? and Freeze Tag. Gray didn't quite understand and cried, but Joshua loved it. Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!