Snow Day!

It's not every day that you have to shovel your trampoline!

Here are some pictures from last night around 11:00- they're a little blurry, but this is without a flash- it was so bright outside in the winter wonderland! (Pay special attention to the amount of snow on the trampoline and the patio table.)

This is with a flash last night.  I love how you can see all the flakes falling...

 

Then, this morning:

 

 

Yikes! So, while this Little Miss was napping,

  

Noah and I worked on a project...

   

It started as one snowman, but grew into our snowfamily!  

  And this was just with the snow that I shoveled from part of our driveway!

 

 This momma needs a nap now!

And for those of you wondering where the adorable middle child was during this project?  Inside watching a movie.  He told me he doesn't like the snow!  Evidently, he has some of my Southern blood in him!

A Fall Photo Update

Back in October, we went with Noah's class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Here we are with our pumpkins (I brought mine with me!).

 

 Jonah's class had a Harvest party- our Incredible Hulk blends in with the chalkboard (he's in the back row towards the right!

 The Hulk has a soft spot for his favorite little pumpkin!

 Trunk or Treat!  The pumpkin outfit that Olivia has on was Noah's when he was a baby- I had to "girl" it up a bit with an orange tutu that I made!  Some friends of ours dubbed her a "Pumpkinrina!"

 Daddies and their girls... Olivia and Samantha have a special bond.  I think they'll be sweet friends in the coming years.  (They've already spent a scrapbooking weekend together with the moms.)  I love that the little lobster is so content in her pot!

 The GI Joe Ninja is also fond of the little pumpkin...

 Noah's class had a Thanksgiving Feast yesterday.  Yes, that's Noah- the tall Native American in the back!  His feathers kept flopping down!

 And today, our first snow! 

And my midnight project last night... a "thankful" banner!  So easy and I had everything I needed on hand.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

Hopefully this post will make some grandparents happy!  :)

Good Grief

It's been 22 months since we lost our first baby girl.  If there is anything I have learned during that time it's that grief is inconsistent.  It comes in waves.  It's like riding a roller coaster with a blindfold on.  Just yesterday one of my dearest friends asked me how I was doing.  I told her that I was doing well.  I meant it.  I've been on one of the good waves for several weeks. 

Then, there was tonight. 

See, my sweet middle child has his "share day" tomorrow at preschool.  When he brought home the "share bucket" last week, he immediately gathered items that he wanted to take with him on Monday to share with his class- I knew what he was doing, but hadn't gone through to look at his collection.  Tonight, Olivia knocked over the bucket and broke his Lego spaceship that was safely packed in the bucket and as I was picking up the pieces, and his blue blankie that was also packed in there, I noticed a little something.  This wallet-sized photo of our Ava.

My sweet boy wanted to share his sister with the class. 

After telling my hubby about the discovery, we decided to ask Jonah to come down and talk to us about it (he was already tucked into bed).  I told him that Olivia had broken his spaceship and he said, "That's okay.  I can fix it."  As we pulled out the pieces and the blanket, he was looking around for the picture.  He had been so intentional about putting it in there.  It had fallen to the floor; he quickly scooped it up and said, "and I wanted to take this picture of baby Ava."  I gently reminded him of this month's  theme for the share bucket "Something You are Thankful For," and suggested that we make sure the items in the bucket are things he is thankful for and he so sweetly said, "I am thankful for baby Ava, but she died." 

What do I say to that?  How precious is his big brother heart that he so loves her and wants to honor her memory and share her with others.  We talked a bit more and he told me he had forgotten to include a picture of her when they were supposed to bring pictures of their family (back in September).  This mommie's heart was broken, yet so full, too.  I was in awe of his tenderness, touched that he still thinks of her, so proud that he wants to share her- but, what heavy stuff for a preschooler to process. 

Grieving is hard, but it's healing, too.  Tonight was a reminder that Jason and I are not grieving alone.  I think these moments are good... incredibly difficult, but so good.  God has been faithful to hold us together on this roller coaster; my boys have seen that firsthand.  We also have the promise of heaven when we'll all get to be with Ava again- and Jonah's last question of tonight, "What would it be like if there were four of us (kids)?" will finally be answered.

Crazy about her...

When he comes home from work, he scoops her into his arms and repeatedly says, "Hey Little Princess, Hey Little Princess."  She adoringly smiles back at him.  I watch and love every minute of the smitten moment!

Firsts!

Noah's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Jonah's 1st Day of Preschool

Olivia's 1st times pulling up... 

yep, that's right!  She's mobile now, and things just got a lot busier in this household!

All of this means that I've had my 1st afternoons with no boys in the house.  Yikes!  

My babies are growing up... where has the time gone?

Around here...

It's been a bit busy moving into our new house, but here's a glimpse of what we've been up to.

Our Noah turned 6 in early June- and we had a fun time with some close friends...

My hubby helped me hang some curtains that my mom made for me. I love them, Mom- thank you! Notice the hunters in the backyard through the window! This is the BEFORE (complete with terrible lighting, so you can't really tell anything about it):

And the AFTER (sorry, Mom, my photos of the entire windows didn't turn out because it was too bright at the time. I'll take more soon): *Also, you can see a little of the slipcover I made for that chair- not perfect, but it will do!Our Olivia started on rice cereal:

And now a little peas- she actually really likes them!:
The boys got a trampoline- and LOVE it!



And Noah got a basketball hoop for his birthday- and they LOVE that, too!We have a great yard, and even an established garden area- but it desperately needed some weeding- here's the BEFORE:
And the AFTER- our garden is now planted, too. We have a tomato growing and a little yellow squash coming on. You can see the raspberries in the front left- we harvested our first one this weekend! We're excited to have a garden again!
The Little Miss has figured out how to roll over both ways- so, she's very proud of herself!

Noah lost one of his top teeth on Friday- and the other top one is really loose!

And we've had quite a bit of rain for our area- and it has brought with it some beautiful views from our bedroom window!
More coming later! Hope y'all are having a great summer!

Sweet Girl

Just a little photo update of our sweet girl... She loves to look around at everything- she's very alert and attentive.

And she is every bit as sweet as she looks.

Her baby "gosling" hair cracks us up. She's definitely a fuzz head right now.And we are crazy about her!

I just can't believe how fast the past 5 months have flown!