A Couple of Babies on Their Wedding Day

Have I ever posted our wedding pictures on this here ol blog? Methinks not. We have been married so long that on our wedding day our photographer used something called "film" in her camera. Jon took some pictures of the pictures with his newfangled phone and did some smooth editing to make these pictures digitized. How fancy, amIright?? 

15 years of marriage brought to you by a patient and giving man, a forward and opinionated woman, a shared appreciation on the grace and beauty of Christ, frugality and an over dependence on diy, long road trips, a love for zany parties and hosting, shared hobbies (does sitting in the same room while one watches football and one crafts count?), and a fair share of conversations centered on trees or kids. Trust, forgiveness, and intentionality in the hard stretches has been a must, with laughter as the cherry on top.  

I am a lucky one, a happy woman who makes marriage look easy. I can thank Jon for that; life with him is sweet. 

Jon, no one embodies 1 Corinthians 13 like you. I am especially grateful that you never keep record of wrongs and do not set out to promote yourself. You have always protected, hoped, and persevered.  

And you are not a bad kisser, either! 

Jon took the afternoon off and we had plans to meet for lunch to celebrate, but ah life had other plans. Instead of lunch we got to hang out with this little stinker who had a fever. 

Love you now, Jon, and love you later!

Caught in the Wild: a 3 year old in Autumn

Here we have a backyard sighting of a three year old caught in his natural habitat. We can clearly see many of the things he holds dear; helping his dad, exuberant playing, and choosing underwear as appropriate outerwear. Said three year old is obviously so extremely darling, one can see why his keepers let him get away with murder, as well as let him choose underwear as outerwear. 

 

 

This specimen shows another side to the three year old: Ornery. Note the plate on the floor as the child demands he will only eat when he can sit on the floor, and that is not an argument his keepers choose to pursue. Also note, not a bite has been taken from his lunch, but rather he chooses to sit next to his favorite keeper. Obviously this is all a prelude to his habit of afternoon hibernation.     

Here we see yet another side of the three year old; observant, quick thinking, and a feisty desire for independence. The child in the wild sees one of his keepers walking toward the mail box, and with speedy feet he has come to overtake the job at hand, complete with a mechanism to reach said mailbox. 

 

Please join us next time when we explore the intriguing habits of a three year old trying to share with older brothers. 

Painting Night!

I love that these friends are up for anything! 

Cross Country Wrap Up

As it turns out, I do not in fact have the fastest kids in the world. But, warning: Mom bragging ahead. Again. 

The Waters' Cross Country team did amazing, but I was totally unprepared for the sheer amount of kids that participated. More specifically, the sheer amount of absolutely crazy fast kids. Ollie did really well and raced hard. I believe he placed about 77th out of 150-200 kids. He was a great mix of being a good sport and disappointed that he didn't place higher. I was still so impressed with him. I can see many races in his future. Seth, as an alternate, was not needed to run, but he cheered his heart out. 

Waters' Team 2019

Donut Fuel 

Halloween Partying for Dayz

We've been busy having too much fun the past few weeks. 

Poor Noey though, he came down with something on the way back from College Station. He wasn't too super sick and was still eating and sleeping well so I wasn't that worried. Finally on day 5 of a low-grade fever, I took him to the doctor where I found out nothing was wrong with him, except he was sick. Boo!

Jon also spent time all over the state this week, down to Corpus at the beach, back to College Station and Waco where it was freezing. Lubbock actually had snow flurries a couple times already. 

Look at my man. He could be a beach beard model. (Insert wolf whistle here.)

Nolan and I helped serve pizza and ice cream to Ollie's class as they won a PTA competition. 

We had trunk or treat at Redeemer. Jon and I: Ethiopian soccer players. 

Ollie: Patrick Mahomes

Nolan: Spiderman

Seth: Karate Master 

Best Mahomes look alike ever. Ollie even said he should carry a Whataburger cup and a bottle of ketchup, which I thought was hilarious.

Spidey

Johanna and I, selfie queens. 

Nolan and Elsa (Annalea), good buddies from school and church. They make a super cute power couple.  

It was also Red Ribbon Week at school, which means dress up days. When I typed that, it makes me wonder why on earth the school system started combining drug prevention with dressing up. Who knows. 

80's day 

Tin foil in the locks for crazy hair day. 

Hayride at Nolan's school was cancelled because it was too cold, so they went on a pumpkin walk instead. 

Annalea, Nolan, and Lucy.  

The pumpkin Nolan contributed.  

Halloween party and trick or treating at Grace's house. 

Wayne and Marie Fred from Letterkenny

Neighborhood sites

Frank lime and matcha bars 

And finally, Jon took me out to see a production of Young Frankenstein. It was such a hoot, a great night for laughter. (And not just at my outfit.) 

Welcome November! You better believe I listened to Christmas music today!

Yellow Belt Pride

Seth is absolutely thriving. He is killing it at school. Here's some of the awards he's recently gotten, pictures courtesy of his principal.  

He's been going to Reach, an alternative therapeutic school, but has been transitioning back to our neighborhood elementary school, Waters. Reach has considerably less students and a greater focus on social skills and strategies for emotional regulation. Our district doesn't let students stay at Reach indefinitely, (our district won't actually even call it a school, rather a "program") but wants to get kids back on their feet and transition them back to their traditional school. Seth has been doing half and half (half day at Reach, half day at Waters) for over a month now and is doing so well in both places. Starting this Monday, he will be back at Waters full time. He is so excited and proud of himself. We are too! 

Another huge area of growth for Seth: friends! Baylor came over the other day to hang out, and stayed for dinner and a movie. And of course Isaiah comes over several times a week, but is starting to play with Seth quite a bit more, rather than Ollie and Jonathan. Yay! 

This picture is from Halloween, as Seth was a karate person? warrior? ninja?, but note the yellow belt. In the last couple weeks Seth had a belt test and has gone from white to yellow. So far we have all loved his Karate experience. Seth takes it very seriously, and is a very attentive student. Jon and I have also really liked it because they cover a theme every month like anger management, courtesy, respect, or focus. They talk about it in class and the kids do homework over the months theme. It's helpful to have these instructors, men that Seth admires, talk to him about the same things his parents, teachers, and therapists have been telling him about for years. It is apparent that he is in a season of growth and maturity and is ready to take in these messages. 

I know many of you have prayed for Seth and our entire family over the years- thanks! He really is thriving right now, I'm happy to report. We love him so much and are so glad to share his progress!