A Season of Change

That sums up our life lately. A lot of big changes going on. I've had several things to blog about but haven't made time (sorry....I was reading a great book so any free time was being devoted to that. Check out the book list.) So here's a summary of what's been happening lately:

• Firstly, our brother-in-law made it safely home from Afghanistan last week! We all got to go to the welcome home ceremony and I was so honored to be there. It was such an emotional day, you could physically feel it in your body. It hit me hard as we were on our way and the streets of the small town the ceremony was being held in were lined with people waving flags to greet the motorcade of soldiers as they passed. It felt like every American flag I saw that day was hanging in their honor. Such relief I felt for my sister. Even driving to their house for lunch with friends and family afterwards felt surreal. For the first time in a year I wasn't going over there to pick up her girls or keep her company.



• And a change in scenery- Jon finished the landscaping in the back and it looks gorgeous. I had something like this in mind but honestly didn't think it would be affordable or would turn out this nice. Its perfect.




• A biggie, which most of you probably know by now is my parents are moving this week....to Memphis. My dad got a job offer at Grace Evangelical Church that suited his gifts and talents to a T. Its an associate pastor position so he'll be teaching an adult Sunday School class, assisting/mentoring a younger pastor on staff in men's ministries and doing pastoral care (funerals, weddings, hospital visits, etc.). They sold their house her in Johnston in a week so that was a huge stress reliever. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm sad and the answer is...not yet. I know I will be (and shed the first tears about it last night during a slide show at a going-away party at their old church.) But I'm an optimist. Its my natural reaction to only focus on the positives. I love having an excuse to travel a lot and thankfully we'll have a warmer place to visit during the loooong winter months in Iowa. And I think in the long run it will bring us closer--a lot less "quantity time" but a lot more quality time.




• And subsequent to the previous change, I'll be quitting my 2 day a week job at America's Family Coaches to stay home full time (since my mom provided one of those days of childcare). I'm thankful for this transition as I only went back to fill in the gap a bit financially, but Jon's job is going well and prayerfully will continue to get better with each passing month. I have to admit, I finally understand why moms look forward to the start of school every year as the days with two very active boys are long. So I'm excited for the routine of 4 day preschool to help a bit.


• And perhaps the biggest change of all will be arriving around February 23, 2012. Hopefully of the female variety this time ;)

You can never have too much Candy...

At least this kind. My best friend (for 10 years now!) came for a quick visit from Cali last weekend. She left her 2 kiddos at home so I made sure to have plenty of childcare lined up and we had all kinds of fun.

Day 1: Lunch downtown (my new favorite place--Proof. We didn't stop thinking about that lunch all weekend) and shopping in the East Village (also found my new favorite store--Porch Light. Tons of adorable vintage stuff). An afternoon coffee and dessert at Smokey Row, then we went out to dinner and to the Funny Bone comedy club that night with Jon.

Day 2: relaxing day at the pool. The Colyers had some family in town so they planned a day at the pool (seen here). Jon was so sweet and kept the boys that morning so we could go over by ourselves and have a couple of glorious quiet hours to read in the sun. The rest of the family joined after lunch.

Some neighbors had some puppies for sale. I'm a huge sucker for baby animals (but not at all a sucker for full grown animals so I'm totally fine with just cuddling them and letting somebody else take them home)

Day 3: Gateway Market for lunch (free kids meals all weekend! Have you had the french fries there?? Ummm, yeah. Pretty sure I dreamt about them that night) then Jon tagged along with the ladies to Jordan Creek mall for some more shopping.

There were a couple of movies in our theatre room and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch in there somewhere. The next day we headed to Omaha for an early dinner at Twisted Fork in the Old Market (delicious- i definitely recommend it. And I loved the cowboy chic decor.) and then we said farewell at the airport, most likely until next year. It was a perfect weekend (and thanks to my moms for keeping the boys!). I'm so blessed to have a friend like her but always wish it didn't require a plane to see her. Maybe we'll be next door neighbors in heaven.

Phase 1 Complete

After several delays due to the weeks of torrential downpours we had, Jon finally got the cement poured for the patio! It was a big job but he and a couple other guys got it finished in just a couple of hours. I was impressed (although I'm always impressed by my hubby!).

A couple of new chairs from Target and we're set! (Although someday I would love something like these, these cheapos will do just fine for now):

The view from the new chairs:

And the view from our living room...when it's just too hot to sit out there anymore, I can sit next to the window to supervise:

On to Phase 2: Landscaping...

It was inevitable...

I've joked since Bennett started walking that that boy would walk a mile on his own without looking back to see if I was anywhere in sight. I've always been just slightly envious of the moms with kiddos who stay glued to their leg and wouldn't even let go if there was a piece of candy laying 2 feet from them. Ok, that's not really true. I love having brave boys who will go anywhere and try anything, but it sure would make parenting a lot more...relaxing. Not having to chase a child down or keep your eyes glued on them whenever you're in an area that's not fenced in!

So yesterday, Bethany and I, and the 4 kiddos went to the zoo on a gorgeous 75 degree day. And so did a whole lot of other people. It was packed. There's a petting zoo area with a HUGE playground in the middle that's kind of walled in and maze-like (ie: zero visibility). I was with Dawson showing him how to feed the goats with the food other kids dropped (yes, I'm that cheap. Why spend $.50 when its all over the ground? :) and he was cracking up and loving it. I seriously wasn't even keeping my eye on Bennett. I just assumed he was on the playground. So after about 20 minutes had passed without having seen Bennett, I mentioned it to Bethany. So we both were casually looking for him. After about 5 minutes of casually looking, we really started to search. He was nowhere to be found. I even left the petting zoo and wandered through part of the zoo but couldn't imagine where he would be. I finally alerted a staff member and they sent out the call on the walkie talkies. I wasn't that worried until a good 10 minutes went by with all the zoo staff looking for him. We ran into a couple friends of ours who were all looking for him too. By then I erupted into tears when staff kept asking me what he looked like and what he was wearing and hearing their walkie's signaling no one had found him. My mind didn't really go the whole kidnapping route (well, it did, but I pushed it away quick). I just knew he'd wandered off somewhere. But still, it was scary nonetheless. So about 15 minutes after the staff started searching they found him...playing in the gift shop. If you've been to the Des Moines zoo, you'll know how far away that is from the petting zoo. And if you haven't...well...its pretty far.

When they brought him back he said, "I forgot you were in the petting zoo!" and when I told him he should not have left without me, he slapped his forehead and said, "What was I thinking?". The good thing- we all survived although I was definitely shaken up. The bad thing- Bennett wasn't scared at all. I realized we've been to that zoo so many times and he's so familiar with it, it just wasn't a big deal for him to wander away and find the gift shop.

I remember a mom a little older than me who asked a strange man at the mall to grab her son and pretend to take him when he wandered off again. Just for a minute or two to scare him. A lot of people thought that was a little extreme. I'm starting to think that's not such a bad idea!!

I can't even imagine now how my mom felt when she lost Bethany at the beach when she was 2 or 3. The beach! No staff members everywhere with walkie talkies...and the ocean on one side. Man...one reason I should be glad we don't live by the ocean. (Ok, the only reason).

For the foodies...

I came across this quote in Real Simple mag today and it made me laugh out loud. Thought the foodies in my life would equally appreciate it...

This past week...

Two weekends and two parades. We've never really taken the boys to a parade before so Bennett didn't know what it was all about. Lucky for him its all about people throwing candy. Before it started last weekend, Bennett saw a man selling cotton candy and yells, "Mom! Can I get some candy cotty??" Then, as the "floats" (just cars and trucks) started coming our way and they started throwing all kinds of candy, he says, "this is the best day of my life!" After it was over, he grabbed my water bottle, takes a swig and says, "Phew! I sure was thirsty from that parade!"

Free ice cream afterwards:

After the parade last weekend, we rescued a little lost duckling! It was the cutest animal I've ever held. He stayed overnight at our house (and half the night in my arms. I know, I'm a sucker but whenever I put him down, he'd cheap cheap cheap until I picked him up again and then he'd snuggle in and fall asleep!)

On the hunt for Momma Duck. We didn't find her until the next morning and their reunion was the cutest thing ever!

Patio construction is under way! Several weeks back I casually mentioned to my hubby, "someday I'd love a patio out back..." And that amazing man was on it. The main reasons for this are A) our deck is pretty small. Only room for our grill and a small table and chairs. B) Our backyard isn't level so we wanted a nice space for our big kiddie pool. Last year Jon ended up building a plywood platform just so we had a level spot to set it on. I'm super excited and can picture myself on a nice chaise, relaxing while the kids swim (and getting splashed relentlessly).

Playing in the sprinkler the other day turned into playing in the mud pit:

And on a sad and serious note, my mom's mom, our Nana, died on Wednesday. We spent a lot of time with her in Florida when were little, swimming in her pool, catching lizards, many many trips to Disney and trips to the beach for picnic dinners. She always told us the best stories about when she was little and I would listen as long as she would talk. One time she even took us to Toys R Us and told us we could pick anything we wanted. Bethany got a Cabbage Patch Doll. I picked a book :) Unfortunately as the years progressed, we spent less and less time together and I know she wanted to see her great-grandchildren one more time. As painful as that is to think about, we can all focus on the fact that we'll all be together in heaven one day and she'll have unlimited time with all of her family. I have a feeling God will arrange things so we're not a 24 drive from each other ;)

And last but not least, my very best friend, Candy, is visiting (kidless!) from Cali in a few weeks. I can't wait to hang out for a long weekend and catch up and watch movies and eat our favorite Ben&Jerry's together. I miss this girl like crazy all the time and it sucks we only get to see each other once a year but I'm just thankful we've been able to make a yearly visit for the last 10 years.

(PS. Please forgive my spacing issues. I don't know why I can't correct that anymore and it drives me nuts. If anyone has a tip, let me know! I'm thinking maybe I need to change layouts??)

A day in the life...

[Way off to the] Side note: when we were little and were getting ready for a long road trip from, oh...Canada to Florida (I know, craziness. And not an electronic device to be seen)...my dad would stock up on a bunch of library books for us and would always get some from a series called A Day in the Life. They were these huge books with giant glossy pictures of some other culture from sun up to sun down and we loved them. Of course, part of the reason is because inevitably there'd be some picture of a tribal woman feeding a baby with her boobs exposed and we'd always flip through to those pages and gawk. But they were really great books. Admit it...you stared at those pictures a little longer in a National Geographic too, didn't you?? Thought so.

Sorry...onto the real post. This is not a day in the life of a half-naked tribal woman. Its a day in the life of my oldest son turning 4!! Four years of life with this sweet, sensitive, fearless and gifted boy. This year, more than ever, I have noticed how much this boy has my personality. He's definitely an introvert and is quite wary in new situations. Lately any time we do anything new he'll ask me a couple times if I'm staying with him. "The whole time?? You're not leaving?" he'll say. He's usually pretty quiet as he's taking everything in around him. Even his preschool teachers would say they didn't know if he was ever listening, let alone retaining anything but then they'd hear him later reciting an entire book they read to the class...once. The most precious moments in life right now are when he engages Dawson. He's always spoken to him as if they were on the exact same level (which was quite hilarious when Dawson was a newborn) but now its so cute, as Dawson babbles back to him. They're going to be great buddies (when Dawson's not beating him up). So on to his big day...

Breakfast smoothies for everyone:

Then off to the library to sign up for his first Summer Reading Program:

The self-checkout:

Next up-- first swimming lessons (he can already swim pretty well. these are more for my peace of mind so that when he decides to jump off a diving board when no one's watching, he can swim to the side):

Then off to lunch with Daddy. I asked Bennett what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He said, "Swordfish". Hmmm...ok. A close second- popcorn shrimp at Joe's Crap...ah hem...I mean Crab Shack.

Gilligan's first mate:

Home for Dawson's naptime and then testing out his new sprinkler in the backyard:

Can't get enough of this face right now:


No more pictures after that, because, let's face it, things usually go downhill between the hours of 5 and 8pm.

I still remember the night we left our house when I was in labor, just the two of us, to go the hospital (No mom ever forgets those moments). I remember sitting in the hospital room around 5:00am when we'd checked in and I'd changed into my gown. It was dark outside and still so quiet and calm. My husband blew me away that morning with his support and encouragement. And delivering that baby with him at my side forged us together like nothing before. Bennett came out not breathing. But God completely protected me from that moment. I couldn't see him on the little warming table...I didn't know anything was wrong. I couldn't see the nurses frantically pumping oxygen into his lungs. I laid there on the bed completely at peace that he was fine. Almost 2 full minutes they worked on him. But he was fine. Completely healthy after that. God's hand was on him in that moment. I looked into his chocolate colored eyes and I was in love. An instant overwhelming love for this baby whom I couldn't believe was mine!

And then the days after we brought him home...the hardest 8 weeks of my life. Post-partum depression (that I didn't recognize at the time) and a very, very difficult time nursing (I had the milk...it was everything else that wasn't working. And mixed with a s l o w eater (did I mention he has my personality?? :) it took 7 weeks until it felt painless and natural. I didn't think I'd emerge from the loneliness and pain and all around unsettledness (probably just made up that word-yep. spellcheck confirmed).

But boom - 8 weeks hit and everything turned around. He was happy and content and I was happy and content...(ok...probably everything turned around because he started sleeping 8 hours in a row!!). I settled into Motherhood and started soaking in all the amazing moments with my gorgeous little boy. He was the happiest baby- nothing would phase him, and still not much does. I'm so unbelievably proud God chose me to raise this amazing little boy.

So much life in 4 short years.