Forward and Back

These pictures make me smile. T-ball season begins this weekend, with Nathan playing and Greg coaching, both for the first time. Mark and I will be fans in the bleachers.

I have to be honest.

I am a bit overcome with emotions as I look at how my babies have grown up. I spent some time writing in their baby books on Monday, and at the end of the day I was left with the feeling that it all went by too quickly.

As much as I enjoy this stage of life and as happy as my heart is to see the boys playing together, maturing and trying new things, I still miss the early days.

For now, I will soak up this spring, give thanks to the Lord for the way the boys are right now and make room for new heart treasures today.

JAARs trip, etc.

We took the kids to JAARS last Saturday to tour the campus and see the missionary planes and helicopters. JAARS is a missionary organization that supports Wycliffe Global Alliance, among other missions organizations. It's located in Waxhaw, NC, a short drive from our house. We ate a picnic lunch right near the airfield.



The boys interacted with several volunteer and career missionaries. It was pretty neat.


We've also been in the yard a lot this week since we've had such warm spring weather. Everything is in bloom. We often pull the basketball goal out and let the boys shoot hoops. Yesterday Greg taught them how to slam-dunk.


We had an interesting adventure here Thursday when Greg offered to plant a dogwood tree in the front yard. I love dogwood trees in every way and am very excited to have one of our own to enjoy. I tried taking a picture of said tree, but there was a sunny glare...

Anyway, everything was going fine until Greg sliced his thumb right below the middle joint while removing the tree from the plastic pot. He ended up at the urgent care getting stitches. I, on the other hand, was just coming down with a stomach bug so the kids spent the afternoon watching tv while I tried to be as still as possible.

Here's Daddy, all stitched up and ready to play again!


All is well now and I'm feeling back to normal...ate a big breakfast, took kids for a scooter/bike ride, and cleaned house. Now for some college basketball!

March Madness

It's basketball season and the boys have been role-playing as their favorite Tar Heel basketball players. They love shooting hoops!

Hammocks in the tree

A few weeks ago, the kids made yarn hammocks for their dogs. I was particularly amused by this project because it involved knot-tying and use of the imagination. This poor bush is not what it used to be, but I guess if it serves the purpose of "letting boys be boys," then I can deal with the sparse branches.


I started something new with Nathan this morning - I introduced some beginning reader books, and he took right off sounding out the words and reading the sentences! He enjoyed it so much he wanted to read three of them. Mark worked in his Elmo tracing workbook and took great delight in finishing each page. It's hard to believe they are both old enough to do these things. Seems like I was just changing their diapers and teaching them to eat solid food.