snapshots

 I found some eggs! Now what?

 Watching the puppet show with the big kids.

 Caught in the act...of sharing. Spotted Jack running toward one of his classmates at his Busy Bees egg hunt. Overheard, "Here you can have this one, Kynna!" Love him.

Sam is the first of his Little Lambs classmates out the door. Such zeal, such excitement, must be the thrill of the hunt...

 Wait, where's your basket? You're running right past the eggs, Sam!

 Who has time for hunting eggs, when we're on the playground?

 Big man is an official solo monkey bar crosser. He's so proud. Can you see the little look of determination, slight fear and enormous hope in his eyes? He couldn't wait to run inside and tell his daddy, grandaddy and uncle jeff!

 Silly dance partying in the bed of daddy's truck with cousin Sean. These three are a mess.

 Ceremonial Easter Sunday snapshot.

 On the hunt at Mimi & (great) Grandaddy's house. Molly's lending some aid.

 Playing peek-a-boo with mom.

Giving Molly some "Sam love," which is often confused with torture. Poor Molly.

Still here...I think

As usual after a more than brief hiatus from posting, I'm not sure where to start. I have dozens of posts floating around in my head and never enough time to commit them to print. So, this may be a bit of a rambling of sorts, but I guess you are used to those if you follow the blog with any regularity. And, if you do, I'm sorry for being MIA. I'm thinking that's sort of a good description, no disrespect to my military families, but I've been in a state of constant action for some time now.

When someone asks how things are going or what you've been up to, do you ever reply, "we've just been busy." I feel like that's become a too often used response for me. And lately, I feel like I must have been misusing it previously. I'm relying on my calendar so much to get me to the right place at the right time these days. I'm still managing to find my way to the shower each morning without a reminder...you can thank me later.

I've heard dozens of speeches and read more than a handful of blog posts about busyness, time management, etc. in the past. I give my husband a hard time for never telling people no, but this time I'm finding myself over extended. I tried following the one major commitment and one minor commitment rule of thumb. I was asked a few months ago to serve on our church's Pastor Search Committee. I had to do some serious praying about it, especially since I'd heard it had taken the previous committee three years to call the outgoing pastor. God reassured me that He'd take care of all the little details, and I shouldn't worry about things that hadn't even happened yet. I humbly accepted the nomination. We've begun meeting weekly, I was recently named the secretary. I think it's safe to say this is my major commitment.

And, I'm okay with that. I'm already experiencing a tremendous amount of spiritual growth from my time spent in prayer with the team God assembled. I know that I have skills that lend themselves well to the role of secretary, and those weren't given to me by accident.

My problem is with the minor commitments. They're sneaking up on me, and all at once. There's organizing crafts for 4 dozen preschoolers and kindergarteners for VBS in two months. I know that seems like a long way away, but that's a lot of stuff to cut, prep, etc. Or managing website/facebook pages for a couple of ministries that I'm involved in. Or deciding it'd be no big deal to throw a party in the midst of t-ball season. I love each and every one of these projects and on their own they are minor commitments, but together they are making my head a jumbled mess...not to mention my kitchen!

I keep thinking this is temporary, but I have to remember that as much as I want to help people and be involved in the ministries I love, if I can't give them appropriate attention then I'm really doing them a disservice. Sometimes you have to step back and pray. God may have someone else in mind to aid these ministries, but I'm too busy hoarding all the opportunities. So, all this is really to allow me to process my own thoughts that have been swirling for a couple of weeks. Obviously, blogging has taken a backseat to all my busyness. Not just writing, but reading too! It disappoints me when I don't make time for blogging. It's one of my favorite things.

So, be patient with me. I'm reorganizing my priorities, my brain and my time. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Daddy days

At least once a week Jack asks when I'm going to leave so it will be just daddy & the boys. It doesn't offend me since Daddy days are such a treat for him. Usually the boys get to enjoy a fun dinner & sometimes a trip for ice cream. Josh really capitalizes on the rarity by trying to do something somewhat out of the ordinary. Well, last Thursday I had a meeting to attend & left the boys in daddy's charge. Here's what my living room looked like when I returned.

Jack can hardly wait to "go camping."

Spring or Summer

Each year, I eagerly anticipate the arrival of spring and the warm afternoons and cool evenings. It's the perfect way to ease into summer...isn't our Creator a genius? Well, if you live in the South you know that we've had a week or so of incredibly warm temperatures. I'm talking days in the 80s and evenings where the low barely dips below 60. We've had the windows up for days, but some afternoons I wonder if I'll have to cave and turn on the air. Either way, we're enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the extra hour of daylight.

Three Five

We spent the weekend celebrating my incredible hubby and his 35th birthday. Last year, Jack was a little excited about Daddy's birthday and exactly how we would celebrate. So, I'm learning everyone's birthday must be a big deal at our house, and that includes Daddy. So, on Thursday I got to work on Josh's favorite cake, which is a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting. After my recent venture into cake baking for Sam's birthday, I decided I could make my own frosting, which turned out pretty darn tasty. Well, a simple cake won't do as far as Jack's concerned. He's four, so the question for weeks was, "Daddy, what kind of cake are you going to have?" Last year, we made him a cake with the General Lee on it. Lately, Josh and Jack have enjoyed watching Star Wars together so I decided on a Star Wars cake.

I picked out a couple of toys to decorate the cake, that would then be re-purposed as toys afterwards...genius, right? I told Jack which characters I had found to grace the cake, but that we were going to keep it a secret. About 5 minutes after I told him, he said, "Daddy, how would you like a Star Wars party?" Josh said, "That would be great. Was it supposed to be a secret?" Jack said, "Well, I'm not telling you WHO is on the cake!"

We were glad to have Josh's mom and dad join us Friday night to celebrate. Everyone enjoyed the cake, and Jack enjoyed helping blow out the candles and open presents.

On Saturday, we met up with my parents and brother and sister-in-law and Josh's sister and brother-in-law for dinner in Atlanta. Josh had the idea to eat at Fogo de Chao. A Brazillian steak-house, Fogo is a meat-lover's paradise. Of our party of 12, only two people had ever dined there. So, we were all excited about the experience. The little guys did surprisingly well. Sam is a steak guy, so he was golden. It was great fun celebrating all together and in such a fun place.

Lost in Translation

Sam just ran into the living room and told Josh, "I watch fooball!"

Josh replied, "Sam, just when I thought I couldn't possibly love you any more."

Overhearing from the kitchen table, Jack said disapprovingly, "Did you just say you don't love Sam any more?"

Have Kids Will Travel

Would you give these two faces a passport?

I sure hope so!!