Obsessive

I know I'm way behind, and if you care about order, the first post this round is Family Vacation.

I am obsessed with taking pictures of my precious little ones sometimes, and have had some photo shoots trying to get that perfect shot. Of course, I fall in love with all of them bc they capture something about my children that I love. The top pictures are some of my favorites for those who don't care to look at ALL of them!

I do LOVE being a mom and thank my God for the blessing they are in my life. My world has been turned upside down, and I wouldn't want it any other way. It's hard to figure out who I am sometimes or what I want because I can't think past them. I know that sounds unhealthy, and it probably is somewhat, but I do make myself do other things sometimes. So, being a homemaker is definitely my dream job, and I am so grateful for a husband who works so hard to make that a reality! I think I would sink into a deep depression if I had to leave them daily. It would feel like I was putting my heart in someone else's hands. Yes, I do get out with my husband, and I do try to make my relationship with him priority (after the Lord, of course!). We just don't have tons of pictures of us, and no one would probably be interested in reading about us...Though, we have had some very enjoyable date nights the last couple of months. One night Kent and Meghan kept the kids, we had a steak dinner at home and then went to play tennis. A couple of times after dinner, we headed out to Glencarn Gardens to sit and swing by the ponds. I cherish those times away with Ben for sure.

So really, I love my whole family and couldn't be happier than when I am graced with their presence, altogether or individually. Parenthood and marriage are definite teaching tools for the walk of a Christian. So much of our need for God and his grace becomes more and more visible. And our selfishness becomes more and more evident; we learn some of what it means to sacrifice and hopefully then strive to put it into practice more and more daily. I am enjoying learning about His plan for the greater family, His body of believers, as I see the parallels in my little fam. As I grow, I am overwhelmed with the depth and complexity of his love, sacrifice and plan for us.

By the way, Bryson will be 5 months old Sept. 2! Isn't that crazy...even crazier is that very soon after I'll be 30!! Ugh!!!! : ) At his 4 month check up, he was 15 lbs 12 oz and 25 1/2 inches. Height and weight are in the 75th percentile, head is in the 25th percentile. Most everyone says he's looking more like Emma every day, and I'm starting to hear that he looks like me too. We'll see...they both change so much all the time, and I think they're both a pretty good mix. Bryson seems like he's going to have the darker hair and blue eyes, which is probably why people say he looks like me. All I know is they are both gorgeous and unique to me! I know I am biased, but I just don't think it gets much cuter! : )

Travel with 2

We finally made the trip down to Georgia to introduce Bryson to Grandmama, Mr. Howell's mom. Bryson's middle name, James, is after his Papa who went to be with the Lord a few years ago. Emma had a great time with her, and Bryson talked more than we'd heard before while there! We spent the nights with Michael and Heather, and Emma loved being with her cousins and Mikayla's cats! Unfortunately, we never remembered to get the camera out while they were playing. They are moving, so we got to go with them to take a look at the house which was great fun too. Put more of an itch in Ben to try to flip houses and/or build again, I think. Only bad thing about the trip was the travel. Emma did pretty well the majority of the time. Bryson went ballistic for the last part going and coming. 5 hours in a car seat was too much for him! We even had a couple of stops, but that just wasn't enough. Oh well, we survived it! : )

Go Tigers!!

Getting ready for football season!! Dad got Emma this PRECIOUS little Clemson outfit, and I couldn't get it off of her once we tried it on to be sure it fit. She loves doing Clemson cheers at random, and every now in then adds in a new letter. She has a "friend" at Mom and Dad's. It's a tiger...go figure! : ) Not sure how many games I'll brave with 2, but we'll be sad when we're not there!

Crazy Kiddos!

Some pics of me and "my favorite girl"! Sadly for her, she's as crazy (maybe crazier) than her Momma! "My cup overflows" was always one of my favorite lines from "Hope Floats". Only now do I fully understand the depth of it!



One day last month, I was at Mom's talking to her, when we looked at Emma to see her rolling her eyes! I don't know where she got or how she can do it so well, but she thinks she is something else when she gets going! It really is funny, especially since she does it with a goofy face and/or smile and not disrespectfully. Can't every fully capture something like that in still shots, but here is my attempt.



Oh, my precious boy...he undergoes such craziness from his big sister and Mommy! And, oh, does my heart fall more in love with him every minute of every day! I am always grateful to be able to squeeze in any alone time with my little man!

Love Is In The Air...

Because of the timing, I haven't gotten to write about DJ! (My best friend from childhood on) She and Charlie, our youth pastor, got engaged Memorial day week-end and are getting married NEXT Saturday! It's been a whirlwind (even more so for them, I know!), and I can't wait to stand beside her on her special day! I couldn't be happier for her, and he is the first person who has ever "gotten her", and I have been happy to finally see her with someone who gives her the confidence to be the wonderful woman God created her to be! Pictures are from a couples shower at our house and then the Women of the Church shower.

Growing

A few fun pictures along the way of my babies growing...the last one is of the two of them in my bed. That's where they both are most mornings! : ) We love it though, they'll be gone too soon! The sweetest part is that after I wiggle my way from between them to get up and going, they always find each other in their sleep and then start sleeping more soundly snuggled up together! Makes my heart smile. I hope they always find such joy and comfort in each other!

Covenant Promises

We are so immensely grateful for the blessing of Bryson and even more grateful for the covenant promise we can claim on his life! Sunday, July 5th, we had Bryson baptized as a symbol of God's promise for our family. Such a special time, and we were glad we were able to do it while all the family was in town. Please pray with us that Bryson will make this promise personal and claim Jesus as His Savior very early in life! Definitely no greater freedom than that which the cross gives!
After church, we had the family over to eat as we celebrated the event. Great times and memories!






We had to take a girl picture since we coordinated so well--and totally unplanned!

Celebrating Independence

Had a great week-end celebrating our nation's independence and are praying this isn't one of the last (no, I'm not happy with the way the current presidency is driving our country toward socialism!). Emma and Will had a great time playing in the pool and sprinkler. I think they always have a great time playing together, but water does bring great joy in our family! That Saturday, we headed out to the Howell's for our annual 4th celebration with the family. Lots of fun swimming, eating, visiting, and playing badmitton! Unfortunately, Emma had such a great time swimming that she didn't want to get out and had an accident without telling anyone. What a murky mess! Emma had so much fun seeing Matthew and Mikayla! The three of them had lots of fun throwing little poppers outside too.

First Fruits!

So we're all grown up and planted a garden this year. It's been fun, especially teaching Emma about the process and having her help. She helped plant and loves to water and pick! These were our "first fruits", and we were all excited to see the process from bloom to fruit! We've had lots of success with corn and tomatoes. Squash was decent. Cucumbers, beans, and strawberries have produced but not great. Hopefully we'll get bigger and better each time!

Family Vacation

I hate it's taken me so long to write about our annual trip to Garden City! It was wonderful as always! Emma had a great time, and LOVED the ocean and swimming! So precious to watch her swimming around to everyone herself with her big ole floaties! She for sure thought she was big stuff! She and Will got taken out in the kayak a little too, so fun! We were there for the longest day of the year, and something about that, the moon phase, and whatever else the science brains said made for some crazy high tides at odd times. I guess because of an off shore storm a ton of sea oats washed up and brought thousands of tiny black crabs with them. It felt like we were in some dumb horror movie with crabs taking over. Seriously, they were everywhere! It was creeping me out until Emma handled one...and then became obsessed with them, handling and catching! She was braver than most and put us to shame! We had our usual activities...sand castles and stuff, boccie, football, paddle ball, baseball, swimming, boogie boards, walks, shell and sharks tooth hunting, tanning, reading and resting! One afternoon, Ben, Emma and I watched the big white crabs you usually see hunting the black ones. It was so neat to watch the food chain; the bigger white ones would come running out of their holes and hide behind shells as they moved in closer to their prey...then in one swift motion, they would run snatch the prey and take it straight down its hole. Truly amazing to watch God's creation at work! We had our night out at Nance's though I'm never too excited about taking my kids out to eat! Kent's girlfriend, Meghan came, and we so enjoyed having her there and getting to know her some. Ben's parents came and dropped by the last couple of days too to see Emma and Bryson at the beach. My grandparents left a day earlier than usual for a funeral. I hated they had to leave early, but it wasn't too noticeable to me this year with all the activity from our 2 year old and then 2 1/2 month old. We loved our time there as much as any year and ALWAYS welcome a beach trip. Problem is they always go too quickly. It's getting hard to figure things out time and tradition wise. You want to continue traditions because that's what the beach has been my whole life, but we are going to have to really think on what's best for our little growing family. Some things are just too stressful. I have a hard time splitting my time too. I know my kids are going to be grown and not wanting me around much way too soon, so I want to soak up every minute with them. I want them to have time getting to know the extended family too though, and I need time with my family. Ugh...change is something I don't like! I LOVE expanding my family, but it's hard to figure things out during these transition years. I never even got to go on a walk with my mom this year, which was a first and a weird first! Hopefully that won't happen again. I think I just need as little activity as possible; maybe I have too much of that in everyday life! : ) Nonetheless, we are grateful for the time with family and for time at the beach!