girly things

When Nana comes to visit we take some time to do things just us girls.  This time it was making jam.  Jars and jars of jam.  Thanks to a visit to the farmer's market and the commissary we had a half bushel of peaches, several pints of blueberries and a few pints of raspberries.  So the three of us worked for two days to turn that into jars of beautiful, tasty jam and wonderful memories. 

Welcoming...

Miles Everett... born May 14th at 7:01am. 

He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 4 ounces!!  He is a sweetheart, and we are all enchanted.  He has the most expressive face and already generously gives out many little smiles a day.  God has sent us a precious gift!  Thank you so much to my parents who were here to help with the big kids and hold down the fort while I was in the hospital.  We couldn't have done it without your help!  Thank you so much to our church family who has already gathered around us in support!  We thank the Lord for your fellowship and love!  I will try to be back on regularly to post pictures, but this week will be a little crazy so check back with us in a few days.  We're still adjusting!

Six is Golden

We celebrated Braden's sixth birthday last weekend. Where have the years gone? I must be getting old, because I feel like I say that more and more. We were happy to have some extra visitors here to help us celebrate- Aunt Heather & Uncle Eric came down for the weekend. Mom isn't playing much basketball or running around on the beach these days, so it's extra exciting to have more people to play with.

Braden said he wanted angel food cake this year, with angels on it. It was pretty tasty, if I say so myself, and this fancy gold spray from Williams-Sonoma helped make it extra angelic! The trick candles I put on the top were maybe not so angelic, but awfully fun!

Desert Camp

We went up to McDowell Regional Park last weekend for one last camping trip in the desert. (At least for a while.) Everett signed up for a Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race on Saturday so we all went along to keep him company. How is it possible that it could rain on us, two consecutive races, in the AZ desert. We haven't had rain here in months, but it decided to rain pretty much the entire weekend. Everett did great and rode about 50 miles that day, despite being cold and wet. The rest of us were a little luckier- we got to hide out in the tent while it was raining. Then, when it got too much for us to handle, we took refuge in the local starbucks for some hot drinks and snacks. Best of all, we had a serendipity! Everett's brother and family are in the process of moving cross-country and stopped in to visit us in Phoenix. They stayed at a hotel (smart people), but they did come out to hang at our campsite and roast some marshmallows. Fiona and her cousin, Violet, had fun getting to know each other. They are about a year apart in age, and will have a great time together really soon! We were so glad to get to see them and have some company while Everett was racing. As always, the boys are up for any adventure. As long as Daddy keeps the fire going and the hot chocolate coming, they're ready to handle anything.

Christmas Card Bloopers

We've been pretty busy recently. Last weekend, I suddenly realized how quickly time was slipping by and decided I needed to start working on a Christmas card. You might remember that last years card turned out to be a New Year's Card. I vowed to do better this year. So I got everyone dressed, we drove out to our location and set out to make a beautiful picture. Somehow, not everyone got the memo. Fiona was unhappy about her staging and thought the lighting was all wrong. Finally, when conditions became impossible to bear, she decided it was time to walk off the set. I don't know why I thought it would be easy with two parents standing there to entertain her. Everett said we should have had a video of me. We did finally coax her back and were able to complete the project on time and on budget. After we got home, though, I got to thinking about next year. I think know it is only going to be more challenging interesting next year with four little ones to corral. Yes, I said FOUR! We are expecting our fourth blessing to arrive in May next year! Plenty of time to get wiggly for Christmas pictures! We are all so excited and hope that you will rejoice with us. Oh, and of course, you'll have to wait for your card to see the good picture! We don't want to ruin that surprise!

Family Fun

I swear I don't know what happened to all the pictures that I thought I was taking. I guess I just got so caught up playing, I forgot to take pictures. It was a crazy, chaotic, noisy week. Just what vacation should be when there are 20+ people sharing a house! The cousins had a great time playing together and the adults got to catch up. Despite some disappointments (who closes main attractions in August???) we did all sorts of fun things in Branson. Here are some of the highlights: The fish hatchery at Table Rock Dam- fun for all ages!

Marshmallow roasting amongst the poison ivy- fortunately we didn't seem to have any cases of that.
Celebrating Nana's birthday- complete with balloons, elk heads, peach cream pie and singing! Oh, and don't forget the 20 loved ones surrounding her!

And totally random fun-ness!
I will try to get the rest of the pictures from vacation up on my shutterfly site this week, so look there for more!

Slow Down

We had a wonderful time visiting Ev's parents. It was really nice to have a week where we were on country time. The weather was gorgeous- we even got some rain. Yeah, for us that's good news! In fact, it was Fiona's first time in the rain. The boys were so excited they ran around like little maniacs just soaking it up!







We did some good, old fashioned yard work. Ev ran the chainsaw while the boys and I picked up sticks and branches. Even Fiona got in on the work. It was great to be outside! I think we were outside from morning until night with only mealtimes inside.




We worked hard, but we played hard too. Trevor & Braden climbed trees, ran in the corn, caught small animals and generally wore themselves out while getting thoroughly dirty from head to toe.






Of course we left time for those things we never get to do like seeing family, riding 4-wheelers and tractors and looking at cows. Fiona met lots of people for the first time!

Vaca

We're back and we're trying to get into some kind of rhythm. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to come home from a long vacation on Saturday and start the new school year on Monday. School is going great, but picture editing is going S-L-O-W! Yes, I know this is the second week! I am trying my best to make some progress, though, and here are just a couple to whet your appetite or in case you didn't know where we've been!

knitting for nephew

I'm so excited to share the news about my newest nephew! Tristan Lucas arrived on April 28th, joining his proud Momma, Daddy and two big brothers! Praise the Lord for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy! Congratulations to my big brother and sister-in-law. Tristan is very blessed to have you as parents. PLUS...he's such a cutie! I'm also excited to say that a very special project I've been working on arrived just days before Tristan. And here he is...clearly enjoying it! (He also seems to be enjoying cuddling with his Grandma.)



Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psalm 127:3-5


I LOVE having a picture of him in his new blanket!

Here are a few more pictures that I took before I sent it off. I love, love, love the color- it's so sunny and cheery. And I wish we had feel-a-vision (yeah, I just made that up) because this is just about the softest yarn ever.






Hooray for Ravelry, where I found the pattern and have more info and pictures. Are you on Ravelry? Look me up- you'll find me as cobrawife!

Short but Sweet

We had more visitors last weekend- yay! (We love visitors!) Grandma and Grandpa stopped in on their way home from California. Even though it was short we had a great time. Fiona got lots of cuddle time with Grandma, which she just soaked right up. The boys got to play lots of games and hear Grandpa tell silly jokes. You know that one about the talking dog? Then on Sunday we got an extra special treat of hearing Grandpa preach at church. It went by fast, but we're looking forward to another visit very soon.

Namesake

spring break

We've been keeping plenty busy around here. Mostly, it's just what you'd expect- trying to make it through the day. We've done a few fun things that I want to share with you soon. Fiona is growing and changing all the time. She had another first- her first visit from Nana & Grandpa. We did plenty of extra special things, but we also had a great time doing all of our regular things...together.