Sharing the View

My dear husband is generally ahead of the curve--considerably so.
However, he's been lagging behind on this one.

:::
I'm glad you've finally caught up, and we can enjoy the same view again. ;o)

I love you!

Happy 30th, Chris!

I am blessed.

My blessings are more numerous than the clover in our yard ... and they begin with my Savior, my incredible husband, and our three wonderful children.

On this, my 31st birthday, I am thankful.

This Moment ~ Boys and Bugs

Peter caught a caterpillar, it survived, spun a cocoon, and emerged a moth!

We've passed a half-decade!

Happy 6th Birthday, Hannah-bug!!!

We love you, Sweetie!

You have a spunky, fun personality, ... Always dreaming up something creative ...

Always ready for adventure!



Always ready to help ... (at least, almost always ...) ;o)

Always a little mommy ...

Always with a ready smile!

You are a blessing to us in so many ways!! We can't imagine life without you. We're excited to see how the Lord will use you as He continues to mold you into a beautiful young lady for His glory.

We love you, Pumpkin!

To my beloved ...

Happy Anniversary!

You are an amazing, wonderful man, and I am so thankful for the incredible eight years with which the Lord has blessed us.

I love you!

Easier by the Half-Dozen

This was my hiking crew last Saturday ...

From left to right, we had a 4 year old, nearly 6 year old, 2 year old, 11 year old, 1 year old, and 8 year old.

And we had a great time!!!

Chris was helping friends from church load their moving truck, so I did what a Mommy of Three can do ... I volunteered to care for their little one who is very two and full of energy. :o)

I happened to be completely caught up on housework, which allowed opportunity to do something fun with my munchkins on that beautiful Saturday morning. Knowing that I'd be carrying Matthew on my back if we went hiking, I figured another set of legs to help keep track of my newest charge would be beneficial. When I called some friends from church to see if any of their four (older) children would be interested in joining my crew for the day, I was able to snag two of them! :o) And while the younger of their two was simply a fun addition to our adventure, their older one was a BIG help with my new charge (even if he did want nothing to do with holding her hand ...)

What a fun morning and a fun group of kids! I think we'll have to do it again sometime!

This Moment ~ #1 of 60 ...

Eight days shy of her 6th birthday, Hannah lost her first tooth.

She was very excited.

We now have 59 more to go, considering that we have three children who will each lose twenty teeth ...

Our Littlest Man ...

turned one, and we had a wonderful time documenting his milestone with a photoshoot a few days later. :o)

This is my favorite for framing ...

I picked up a cue from his fascination with sticks that afternoon and grabbed one of my own ... Definitely helped in the "looking at the camera" part of our photoshoot (although the other pictures are fun too!)

Wow! That wind was loud!

Cool stick, Mommy!

The new spot has clover. Very interesting.

Such small hands ...

Silly!

LOVE those eyes!

At one year, Matthew is 22 lbs. (39th percentile) and 32 inches long (97th percentile). Yep. Tall and skinny. Somehow I think I know where he got those genes from! :o) He has eight teeth and a very ready smile with which to show them off. (If you hadn't noticed ...) He loves balls, balloons, bananas, Mommy, Daddy, his brother and sister, Toby, Aunt Janie's blanket, and the back-pack carrier--definitely not an exclusive list, and not necessarily in that order. ;o) His smile and sweet personality are an absolute delight. Can hardly believe how quickly this last year seems to have flown by!

We love you, Spunky Monkey!

Riding "SO fast!"

Guess who is quite excited about his new bike? :o)

Peter received his (original) helmet from us onn his birthday Friday evening, but his bicycle was in the form of a picture informing him that we'd be going the next morning to choose one. I had tried to find one on an afternoon during our basement remodel when Janie, I, and the kids had to be out of the house for a couple hours (on about ten minutes notice). When we learned after my dentist appointment and lunch that that "couple hours" had turned into something closer to eight hours, Mom volunteered to watch the kids while Janie and I went birthday shopping. We found nearly every other item I desired to purchase, but I could not find a bike in the right combination of price, style, and the size (I thought) I needed--even after four different stops.

I found out why Saturday morning. The Lord knew I was underestimating my boy's size. I never once suspected that afternoon that I should have been shopping for a 16-inch bike. And I was also shopping in the wrong stores. We found the perfect combination of all three items at Academy Sports. Yeah!

Here's the older part of our crew--it's really fun watching them together!
And once Peter got himself in sync, he was actually going a bit faster than Hannah! (The next day Peter told me, "Mommy, I was playing a game in my head while I riding my bike. I was pretending that bad guys were chasing me, but they couldn't catch me, because I was riding SO fast!" Told with all of the enthusiasm and confidence of a very-four-year-old boy.) :o)

We are really looking forward to family bike trips this summer!

We also purchased a bike seat for Matthew to allow him to ride in front of Chris, and the helmet I originally bought for Peter fits Matthew nicely, with just a bit of room to spare. (I was definitely underestimating Peter's size.) :o} Glad I could pass the helmet on down, and Peter's glad for the bell that came with it. :o) (I think Matthew will be more happy with his helmet when he discovers the ride that will go with it ...)

We also enjoyed playing with a parachute guy, a birthday gift from Grandpa H.

Yes, we're enjoying our current stage. Hannah and Peter are old enough to do lots of fun things, and Matthew's young enough to be very content in the carrier. :o)

Let the adventures continue!

This Moment ~ Pile Up!

This is definitely Daddy-style fun! :o)

Gotta love four!

Our birthday season has begun in earnest. We celebrate all five birthdays as well as our anniversary and Mothers' Day within the space of 33 days. Yes. We will be thoroughly partied out by the middle of May. However, since we try to make everyone's day special, be prepared for a multitude of birthday partyish pictures in upcoming weeks ...

:::

Peter's smile when he first saw his doggy cake was worth every moment of late night icing escapades. :o) He woke up from his birthday nap, and after taking care of necessary things, I picked him up and asked him to close his eyes. I carried him into the kitchen where his cake was on display and told him he could look. His eyes got real big, and then his grin started growing to match. It was great! :o) "It's a doggy. A doggy for me!" (And the smile grew bigger yet!)

(For the record, I am very excited about my new found "skill" of making cupcake cakes. They're super easy, and I'll share details another day.)

It was definitely a special blessing to have Uncle Pat and Aunt Judy here visiting, and we were all very glad that our friends the G-bs were able to join us as well, specially invited by Peter!
Can't beat the genuine enthusiasm and excitement of a four-year-old for presents. :o) Our builder-in-training was well equipped this year with ....

child-sized safety goggles

his great-grandpa's tool box (filled with a wonderful assortment of tools to be used with Daddy's supervision)
and a dump truck building kit.
Cards, books, clothing, puzzles, and other sundries were also appreciated and the smile was pretty well constant. :o)

Special family and friends make for very special celebrations!
Happy Birthday, Peter!
We love you, Buddy!