Ford's Dedication

When Abby was well beyond her heart surgery, we had her dedicated at church as soon as we could. I think we felt that we'd been through so much with her - that we were so blessed to still have her with us, that we couldn't "give her back" to God fast enough. 

With Ford, here he is, a three year old guy.

Because of switching churches, moving and all matter of busyness, we still hadn't done it. I know that God knows our hearts -- that we want to serve Him with Ford's life but now that we are settled, we wanted to get on it as soon as we could. 

We had a church picnic and our pastor lead us through some good questions.

Do we think we are ensuring his salvation with this dedication? No. 

Do we know that it's more about us than about him? Yes.

And he even let our pastor hold him and pray for him (he felt like the star of the morning). 

And afterward, who doesn't' like to be dunked in the baptism pool when it's 98 degrees at 10am?

Thankfully we had an outdoor picnic thing happening so it wasn't a total disgrace.

But can we talk about a very important topic?

This little man's curls.

I miss them.

Don't you?

Remember this...

And now it's #operationbringbackthecurls

This hair cut makes him look far too old.

#bringmybabyback

1238. being asked the hard questions

1239. the right clippers = free haircut

1240. happy and smiley most of the time boy

1241. dreams of a chore chart

Mother's Day after America's Day But Before

May was a busy, busy, busy month for us. 

Five family birthdays and our anniversary.

And the last day of school.

And 10 other things.

Including Mother's Day.

Which was a super windy, wonderfully sunny day. 

We've found a wonderful church that we love.

We've been hopping around for months so finding Vintage Grace has been such an answer to prayer.

And afterward we went to the park with a new Spider Man kite, a real BBQ (thanks, Kev!) and great food.

This guys loved flying Spidey.

Dang, I miss those curls (more on that later…)

And this girl liked it too.

And we are so happy to be with Grandma.

Happy Mother's Day to me, being with her.

And we so missed Grandmama on that day, especially.

1234. a super windy day

1235. randomly buying a kite

1236. transferring from winter to summer clothes for abby

1237. great, new baby news for 2 friends

Color Me What?

Color Me Mine has changed a bit since I went there in my post college days. 

For instance, this was a $55 painting experiment.

Granted, we have them for life (is this good?) but one hour for $55? 

The "artist" fee, the extras….

Abort, people. 

If your kids are under 5, grab some awesome paper plates, paint and glue and stay home.

I swear their artistic creation will rock your world just as much.

And, by the way, Abby hasn't looked at her creation since we've gotten it home.

1229. time with friends anyway

1230. swimming after dinner

1231. open windows and the breeze

1232. getting a few things down while they play

1233. revamping the tv watching = more peace around here

Easter Catch Up!

A few months ago there was a teeny tiny holiday.

A very special, almost off the charts He-is-risen holiday.

We had a super special Easter, as witnessed by this girls face.

We actually spent tons of time this year talking about the empty tomb and doing resurrection eggs.

Ford had a lot of questions (not all of which made sense) and made me realize that this topic is fairly complex for a little mind. So, we stuck to the basics. 

Jesus is alive.

And for this, we can rejoice.

A savior who took away our sins and reigns at the right hand of God in heaven.

A savior who loves us enough to conquer death.

Apparently the fairies heard the news as well and delivered some eggs….

And after a sweet service at our new church, which we love, 

we went to the Country Club with some friends.

We heard that's where this guy was going to be hanging out.

Here's Abby with her friend, Ella.

She and Ford are thick as thieves.

Already taken with the older ladies...

The kids were dressed up and it was glorious for them to have to behave and actually sit in their chairs during an entire meal. We have some work to do in this area, but they did great. 

No champagne was spilled, no bunnies were marred...

And what is a big holiday without a typical nap.

I think my heart just melted.

1225. the club invite

1226. feeling connected

1227. book club thriving

1228. running into people we know in this small town

Princess Party Catch Up

There is a local princess joint around these parts. 

The girls dress up, get their hair done and then learn etiquette and manners. 

The best part?

The creed is that they are more beautiful on the inside than on the outside when they are kind and loving. 

We had the chance to go to a birthday party there and it was lovely.

Abby loved picking our her dress….

Got her hair done…

And then paraded through the streets waving to the common folk. 

They were a sight.

And what a gift to be learning that inner beauty trumps Elsa beauty. 

Amen.

1221. like-mindedness
1222. impromptu swim date that's easy and fun
1223. hearing "I'm sorry mom" unsolicited
1224. successful surgery for a friend.

First Swim!

Back in April, we had the first swim of the season. 

It involved the cousins and popsicles were on the agenda. 

It was one of many amazing summer nights together...

The other Nieportes have a sprinkler situation that shoots into their pool.

Can  you say "awesome?!"

The oldest cousins seeing if it's too chilly to jump in...

And Fordy, post swim. He rocked it.

And after this day, I was convinced, let the swim lessons begin.

These kids need to be water safe.

More on that soon!

1217. the right sermon

1218. feeling at home

1219. swimming when it's 104

1220. the best oil on my feet at night

Tahoe Catch Up

Up next on our "it's not our spring break but it's yours" tour, 

we headed to Tahoe.

For the day. For one lovely day. 

In the same time it took to get to Napa, we were there, in all of it's winter-death glory.

It tried so hard to hang on to winter.

But spring was pushing her way in and the snow was melting,

by the minute, it seemed.

We could've made the drive just for the gondola ride.

Oh, hallelujah.

It might seem like I hadn't combed Fordy's hair.

And that's because I most surely had not. 

We're working on homeless-looking-child-number-two.

Here we were on the ride up. 

One happy mama, one silly girl.

I mean, one really silly girl.

And one peering boy…

I've looked at that view in that gondola more times than I can remember.

It makes me happy that they have now seen it too.

And once we arrived, they chose their teams. 

As usual, Ford and the older lady teamed up (whether she liked it or not!)

and he was smitten all over again, since Maine.

Abby and her pal Quincy got cozy….

...and we headed out to the sad state of affairs that was the snow.

White dirt was more like it.

But they were determined to built Olaf.

I'm not sure that happened….

but Fordy chased his shadow plenty.

But we got nice and wet and then this guy just would not keep his pants on.

He walked right up to the BBQ area in front of everyone and just stripped down.

Because they were wet, after all.

And why not? 

Super cool Spidey underwear is worth showing off. 

So, my dear friend was kind enough to take him on a tour while we waited for the others.

And after the kids watched a show (and promptly fell asleep for an hour, thank God)

and the mommys headed down to chat alone,

we got back on the gondola with these monkeys for some dinner.

Which was followed by cart racing.

And of course, Fordy won.

1213. the kindle staying charged

1214. no one on the winding road

1215. "our friends" mom

1216. learning what to ask