Our Weekend

Weekends have increased in value since Isabella started school.  I don't remember being this excited for Friday night since I was in high school!  We turn off the alarm, let the kids watch morning cartoons, nap, and try to find something fun to do around town.

This past weekend found us hosting our first overnight guest.  As we were cooking breakfast on Saturday morning, sipping coffee, and catching up on the past few years with our friend, Bradley leaned over to me and said, "I forgot how much fun it was to have company."  

We made our way to the weekly downtown market, purchased some cinnamon rolls from a local farmer and his wife, and then grabbed some coffee from a local coffee shop.  Bradley convinced me to try their vanilla lattes--I was not disappointed--and one Saturday morning, I'm going back to sit outside of this place, drink coffee, eat a chocolate croissant, and people watch.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for a community day in the park.  The girls got their Zumba on with a group of ladies and had fun playing some of the games that were set up throughout the park.

Mason tried making friends with everyone he saw.  His delight in people, even strangers, makes me smile.  We enjoyed dinner out on Saturday night, complete with sitting outside in the chilly air.  The summer in Florida has been hot and humid, so being outside without sweating and feeling the need for a sweater was a treat.

We have decided on a church to attend while we're here, and while it's a bit of a drive, and the kids are sleepy on the way home, we have been challenged and encouraged through the preaching and worship there each week.  Sundays are our day of rest, so we come home from church, eat, and spend the rest of the day relaxing at home and being together as a family.

The slightly chilly air and football season being in full swing has me wanting soup.  We've been making weekly trips to the seafood market, trying various kinds of fish, so this week we picked up some steamed shrimp and made gumbo.  With fall officially beginning tomorrow, I plan to grab some mums and spruce up our front porch.  The canned pumpkin is already in the pantry just waiting to be made into yummy bread and muffins.


Living here has been a challenge for me in many ways, but I can honestly say that I'm beginning to enjoy it.  I suppose that's what happens once you feel settled in a place. It's taken a few months for me, but now that we're halfway through our stint in Florida, I think I might miss it when we leave.  The beach, the seafood, the rhythm we have here....it's becoming normal and pleasant and comfortable.  

Happy Monday, friends!  Enjoy your day.

Rejoice.  Walk in the Spirit.  Honor God.

Our Weekend {& a little truth to begin your week}

The kids and I started our weekend early by taking a little trip to Alabama on Friday.  Isabella starts school in three weeks, and is in need of some clothes for school, so we went to the nearby outlets.  I was pleasantly surprised by my children's behavior.  I'm not sure if it was the promise of Chick-fil-a for lunch, or the grace of God, but they were great.  We found some good deals, had a good lunch, and headed home.  The drive is one of my favorites, as we pass pecan groves, beautiful countryside, produce stands, and lots of farms.  We took a little dirt road and found a farm about a mile off the road.  They had produce, pick your own zinnias, and some chickens to feed.  After feeding the chickens and getting back in the car, the girls said, "That was the best shopping trip ever."  We'll be going back to that farm in a few weeks; they have a vineyard and allow the kids to pick grapes.  I'm looking forward to experiencing that together.

Friday afternoon wrapped up swimming lessons for these girls.  This picture was actually taken at the beginning of last week.  These two are very ready to swim on their own.  I'm not sure what these faces are communicating, but I quote from Mallory on the first day, "I'm going to use every of my braves."  And she did.  They both did great!  They're still not quite ready to swim on their own, but they're a bit closer.

Saturday was beautiful, so we went down to the gulf for the morning.  Mason and Isabella love to play in the sand, Mallory and Jennavieve prefer the water.  I'm feeling the end of summer coming, so I want to enjoy the beach as much as possible before school starts.  

Saturday night was our family date night.  The girls got their nails painted, picked out their outfits (and mine) and we went to a restaurant on the water for dinner.  Going out to eat with four small children doesn't provide good conversation for Bradley and me, but the girls loved getting dressed up and having a night on the town.  

Sundays have been hard days for us.  We visit a new church each week, hoping to find one that we can settle in, and up to this point it has been rather discouraging.  We really miss our church in GA.  (Redeemer friends who might be reading this, you are all greatly missed!!) Yesterday, however, we visited a promising one, and when we picked the girls up from Children's Church they said, "We love this church!"  Our children are now old enough to have opinions about things like this and we're certainly trying to respect their input.

We wrapped up our Sunday with a walk by the water after dinner.  Bradley usually takes his fishing pole and last night he spotted a sting ray.  The girls had never seen one before so they were pretty thrilled watching it swim along the ocean floor.

That was our weekend!

And, today, I've been encouraged by this truth about God, so I leave it with you to begin your week:

"He knows we are sick, weak and subject to slips, stumbles and falls.  His heart is towards us and he carefully measures affliction lest we sink.  He does not pay in measure of our offence or we could not stand.  He spins out his patience to the utmost length.  He will count our little as much.  He will excuse the souls of his people, and lay the fault upon their flesh.  Christ our advocate stands as friend, and pleads for us as he does.  Christ pleads the infirmity of his people against Satan for our advantage.  Are we not saved from sin by grace?  

He has given us the Spirit of grace to help us, for we can do nothing good." 

~John Bunyan~

 

Our Weekend

Our weekend started with some fun playing in the sprinkler on Friday night.  We introduced our girls to Frozen two weeks ago, and since then, Isabella has taken to acting out being Elsa, freezing things {which she is apparently doing in the above picture} and singing "Let it Go" at the top of her lungs while we grocery shop.  Apparently, this is normal for girl children these days.  I love her lack of inhibition and theatrical spirit.  We've always known she enjoyed acting, but this has gone to a whole new level.  A game of charades right before bed only added to the drama.

Saturday was a gorgeous day!  The weather was lovely, so a backyard party was the perfect way to end it.  Bradley finished making some corn hole boards that morning and a friendly game ensued.  The kids enjoyed dressing Jennavieve up, swinging, playing in the sandbox and staying up later than the sun.

On Sunday we had an open house, so we took a little afternoon field trip to the mall.  Highlights of the mall for our girls are throwing coins in the fountain, riding the little simulated roller coaster ride, and going up and down the escalator a million times.  I love that they are easy to please and we can go to the mall for $1 {plus a vanilla latte from Starbucks}.  Sunday night found us once again outside, once the rain stopped, for another round of swinging, sandbox playing, and corn hole.

Due to Bradley's schedule, Mondays are also weekend days around here, so we had another fun day of being together.  I didn't manage to get a picture of the sword fight shenanigans because I was busy eating cookie dough, I mean making chocolate chip cookies for my family, but they had quite a battle going on in the family room.  It's all fun and games until someone gets whacked in head with the wooden handle.  This time Mason was the culprit; he has quite the arm.  I did manage to capture Mason pushing Jennavieve around in the baby doll stroller.  She only weighs one pound less than he does, so the fact that he was even able to do this is pretty remarkable.  We're praying he will start walking on his own soon!

This week is a little slower for us than last, so I'm looking forward to getting a little bit ahead in my planning, researching housing/schooling/churches/etc., for our upcoming move.  We move in just 7 weeks and we have a lot of decisions to make.  I'm thankful for my husband and his ability to remain calm during times of transition.  I'm so thankful to have him for a husband!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Our Weekend: The Beginning of Advent

Happy December!  Happy Advent!  I love this time of year, and I especially love it through the eyes of my children.  We had a great Thanksgiving week; my husband was off from work the entire week, and we thoroughly enjoyed being at home and being together.  All of us were sick with colds and such, but that just made staying inside all the more acceptable.

We decided to put up our Christmas tree on Friday night and I'm so glad we did.  In years past, I have been the lone decorator of the tree {with the exception of the lights--that's always the man's job}, and I missed those days of decorating the tree with my parents and siblings.  For the first time, my oldest two girls were interested and capable of decorating the tree.  It was truly thrilling to watch their excitement as they carefully placed ornaments on the branches.  And I only rearranged a few, just to make sure the tree wouldn't tip over.  Letting go of my 'I want a perfectly decorated, pinnable Christmas tree' was quite freeing.  And my girls appreciated the bit of responsibility they were given.

We took the kids out shopping on Black Friday, just to peruse the toys and have them point out things they liked.  We're trying to teach them about contentment and being greedy and giving -- these are hard things for little people to learn.  Contentment is hard for us adults to learn!  But, it was fun to watch them get excited about what they would give to each other for Christmas.  We've since done some ear-whispering about ideas and I love how they're learning the joy of giving.

Yesterday evening we ventured out to the yard with our tripod and camera remote to try and capture that perfect family photo for our Christmas card.  I had pretty high expectations and some great ideas for poses.  Let me just tell you that's not the best way to try and photograph four children, two of whom can't walk or follow instructions.  I was lamenting over the fact that there weren't any perfect ones.  Bradley's response was, "Good.  Because we're not perfect.  This is us, it's more real."  So, if you too haven't gotten that perfect photo, embrace the imperfect.

I took the week off from cleaning and laundry, so today's tasks are pretty simple:  clean, organize, and wash. My goal with laundry, as of late, is really just to actually put the folded clothes away.  That to me is success. There are still two laundry baskets full of the kids' clothes sitting in our bedroom from last week.  They're folded, just never made it to the dressers.  My poor children can't ever find their underwear!  Maybe today will be different.

This was our weekend, and a little bit of the week.  Back to routine today, but I think I'm ready.

I want to focus my attention today on Jesus, the Light of the World, who entered our darkness as a tiny baby.  His light has pierced the darkness of my heart, and as I go through the tasks today of cleaning, correcting, counting my blessings, and caring for others, I want that light to shine out in powerful ways that my children might know Jesus a bit more.


Linking up here.

Our Weekend: Bringing Home Baby

This weekend ended up quite gloriously!  After spending two weeks in the NICU, we were able to bring Jennavieve home!  I spent much of Sunday afternoon holding my precious baby girl, staring into her face, and reveling in the fact that she is really ours, she's home, and our family is together at last.  The girls are doting big sisters, giving her toys, wanting to hold her, and being very interested in everything about her.  Mason is still trying to figure out this new person who has interrupted his life.  At one point, Mason would cry every time Jennavieve cried.  He's always had a tender heart, but I'm hoping this phase will be short-lived.

I can't believe we really have four children.  Even though Jennavieve is 18 days old, not having her with us day in and day out the past two weeks made it seem like she wasn't really part of our lives.  When we got into the car on Sunday to come home, I turned around and just had to shake my head that there were four carseats in the back, with four little people filling them.  What are we doing? How will I ever manage these little people?

And then I was reminded that I can't manage them, on my own anyway.  There's no way that I can do anything apart from the grace and strength that God gives.  Even though I don't know what I'm doing, I know that God does know what He's doing.  I might be tired, I will surely mess up, there will be tears and laughter, but through it all, as I lean upon the grace of God, I will be able to fulfill my role as Mommy to these four precious people.


Linking up with:

Snippets from Our Weekend

This past weekend was the first weekend we had as a family, in a long time, without anything to do.  And by anything, I mean no commitments, no social activities, no responsibilities other than whatever we wanted to do with our time.  It was wonderful!

I tried to capture some of our moments because I thoroughly enjoyed everything that we did.  The weather was gorgeous, the kids had fun playing together, and we even tackled some projects around the house.

While perusing the garden, I discovered quite a few English peas that were ready.  It was fun to snap them and I'm hoping to use the few we got in something for dinner this week.

A snapping turtle was crossing the street, so Bradley scooped it up with a shovel and bucket for the kids to observe in our front yard.  This guy smelled something horrible, and was pretty angry to have been taken from the street.  The girls kept an appropriate distance.

If you didn't know, there is an awesome new cookbook out, just released last week, Bakeless Sweets.  The author, Faith Durand, is married to my brother-in-law's brother, and I enjoy following her accomplishments, via the Kitchn   My copy arrived on Friday, and I loved reading through this! I can't wait to make some of her recipes!  You can purchase it here, if you're looking for some fun new recipes for dessert.

The kids' bathroom upstairs is getting a new look.  We had a yard sale a few weeks ago, and some of the proceeds are going to a few projects around the house.  Bradley is installing the beadboard, and then I'll be painting it sometime later this week.

I shared with you last week the desk that Bradley refinished for me.  Well, I happen to be the recipient of an unplanned dining room table re-do.  While we were growing the seeds for our garden in the dining room, the table got some water stains on it {we thought the tablecloth was waterproof, but it was not}.  So, now my dining room table will receive the same look as the foyer desk.

I tried a new broccoli salad recipe and it was delicious.  Recipe coming soon...

Mother's Day was relaxing, complete with naps all around {except for this little girl who was entertained by her Daddy while I rested}.

And, lastly, yesterday marked 32 weeks of pregnancy {or 34 based on some calculations}.  I'm trying to stick with the later due date so that I don't get discouraged, but then when I look at my stomach, and other peoples' faces when they see my stomach, I like to think I'm at the 34 week mark.  Either way, this baby is coming fairly soon and we can't wait to meet her!

So, that was our weekend, what did you do?

Linking up with: