True Love

First off, it's so hard to post something a bit trivial when so many are suffering in Texas right now. Praying for them, and I'm happy to see so many outreach opportunities, so we will be deciding how we can help as a family in the next day or so. Well, today was the day. Three in high school, one entering middle school, still elementary, but physically located in the middle school...so that keeps her little for a while longer, right?... And the baby? All mine! For a few years anyway. You know what happens when your three teen boys head off to high school for the very first time together? I'll tell you what doesn't happen: the beloved obligatory First Day group picture, that's what doesn't happen. Caleb was a good sport and smiled for me without threat or bribery. Hence he shall be my favorite from this day forward. :)  I hope he has the BEST year! Jonah is a junior this year!  And the official countdown to college for Ethan ha...

This is the very last Friday of summer for us!  I know lots of you have already been in school for a couple of weeks now, but I'm in that awkward spot of being torn between two places: enjoying our last days and also looking forward to all that school and fall brings. Some days, I'm reeeeaaaaallllly looking forward to it. ;) One of the things I love most about summer is spending time at the ocean and the lakes. Beach days are my very FAVORITE days! We've gone once or twice a week since school got out, so I think that's a pretty big win in my book. However, a certain little someone was not a huge fan of sand. Or sitting by the water's edge. Though he did love the water itself when we hold him and walk out. But in the past two weeks, he has become a total beach bum and I couldn't be happier about it. Now he's completely fearless! Man oh man, if it's not one thing then it's the other, right? #momlife  I thought he was going t...

With school starting next week, summer is nearly done. And you know what? I'm ready. ;) We've been here for about a year and a half, and I love how things are looking outside. I've made my lion's share of mistakes at our other homes' so this time around, I feel like I know exactly what I want, and I don't have to factor in too many re-do's to make it happen. There were two large (and horrible) trees in the fenced in area beside the pool when we moved in. I can't find a picture now, of course, but if I do, then I'll add it. They looked just awful. A real thorny, overgrown mess, and one was completely bare from the middle down. I'm thankful those were the only things we had to contend with, not like our last house. Ugh. ha ha When those two were removed, we were starting with a clean slate. Sort of. The stumps and roots were huge and we were nervous about digging so close to all the pipes and wires for the pool, so I designed a plan to s...