Legoland, Florida!

We arrived in Florida on Sunday after two days of smooth driving. (boring scenery, lots of bugs hitting the windshield, but excellent passengers!) A delicious Mother's Day dinner out:

And yes, we were that dorky coordinating family. It got us way too much attention. 

Not sure if it will ever happen again. ;) 

On Monday at 9:30 we were ready for our day. (Well... the boys were ready at 6:20, 

but they needed to do a little school first and eat breakfast, of course!)

Riding the lego jousting horse and loving it!

Camel - made entirely of lego bricks! So cool!

Safari trek

This elephant and many other safari animals were made of lego bricks. Really amazing!

My ride buddy

Boating school - what a handsome crew!

Driving school - This was hilarious. The track was for 3-5 year olds and it was 

so cute to see these little squirts zipping around the track in lego cars. 

Driving school for ages 6-13. Complete with stop signs, yield signs, traffic lights and lanes. You better believe my little rule follower obeyed all the traffic rules. ;) Also crazy to see all these young kids buzzing around in cars. Almost gave me a heart attack to realize that in 7 short years, Luke will be driving!

Mesmerized by fun shows, tricks and stunts!

Our crew -- missing one sweet girl who was never far from our minds. 

Lego Miniland was stunning. This NY scene is made entirely of lego bricks. 

I was completely blown away by the detail in this section. 

All in all, a terrific day with fabulous weather! 

(and tired boys ready to crash once they were tucked in bed around 7:30. Hooray!)

Spoiled

I need to document this moment so I don't forget. I have no pictures, but I was completely spoiled this weekend. I was invited on a weekend away with 3 other women and my dear husband joyfully agreed to be solo dad for two nights and two days. No guilt. No complaints. Just a gracious, "Yes! You need this time." I enjoyed quality time talking, resting, reading and more. The weather was gorgeous for running, walking and sitting on the dock soaking up the sun while I studied God's word. And to top it all off?? I came home to a spotless kitchen and clean house! Did my husband spoil me or what? I am so thankful. Let me not forget this blessing...

Birthday

Last month, I was blessed by my family and enjoyed a great 38th birthday. There were signs...

Remember this sign from last year? It came back out for the month. :) 

There were flowers...

Special lunch and ice cream parfaits with Grammy & Poppy...

(a perfect birthday dessert since I don't like cake)

And then the boys enjoyed an overnight at Grammy & Poppy's so Darin and I could go out on a date. 

After some football in the front yard with the boys and my parents, 

I drove off to meet Darin footloose and fancy free.

If only I could have slowed down the time... it was morning before I knew it!

We were very glad to see our little cherubs at Luke's basketball game in the morning. :) 

Deck the halls

About two weeks ago, we got busy decorating for Christmas. All the boys (young and old!) love the lights and decorations. This year we had help from Grandma & Grandpa AND Grammy & Poppy. Lots of hands make light work! So glad for all their help.

Notice 4 stockings... Luke, Ethan, Aaron and Irina!

We recently moved our television above the fireplace. We're not a big fan of having the tv out in the open so Darin is in the process of building doors to hide it. He added the shelf above the tv and the moldings to make it look like it was original. Can't wait to install the doors. 

And now there is the perfect spot for our nativity scene! 

I love the Willow Tree nativity because Mary is holding baby Jesus. 

For the past two years, we've prepared for Christmas by doing a Jesse Tree. This year, we're trying something new and doing an advent wreath and nightly readings. So far so good...

 Only 15 days until Christmas and SIX days until Irina arrives!

Dippy Egg Saturdays

I love our Saturday morning tradition! 

Every Saturday morning while I am out on a long run, Daddy is in charge of breakfast for the boys. It's become our routine for Daddy to make "dippy eggs" for the boys and they love it. They wait patiently while he makes each of them breakfast. What a treat to be off duty for breakfast one day per week!

Fresh Air

Remember that flu bug I had for a week? Well, it's still going strong as it passes to each boy. So far, Darin has escaped the bug and he is taking every precaution to avoid it because it is nasty! We're spending lots of time fighting bonding in our germy house. :) Really we're in good spirits, but we haven't left the house in a while and every day is pajama day. Certainly cuts down on the laundry this week! (Except for Aaron, of course, who is wearing his sporty shorts and shin guards!)
I think it's pretty realistic that we're a bit stir crazy. 

I'm sure you're wondering about school. How in the world are we not getting too far behind? The rule has been, "If you're well enough to play, then you're well enough to do some school." And mostly, the boys have been agreeable. So, the sickest boy lays on the couch napping while the other two do their school work.

On Friday, I insisted the boys get dressed in real clothes and go outside. We have been studying trees and did a couple outdoor tree activities. We measured the girth of 4 trees in the backyard and made a bar graph together. It was so good to get fresh air!

Then, we talked about the texture of the bark on the trees. We each took a turn being blindfolded, spun around and then led to a tree. We had to feel the bark, be led back to the starting place, spun around and then guess which tree we just touched. Then we did lots of hand washing after all that hand holding!

I'm praying that this week brings us much more good health and lots more fresh air! I'm thankful for Darin and how hard he has worked to care for all of us. He's been on dish duty, errand duty and been agreeable to help in many ways, all while working and tackling some more house projects. 

Thank you my dear!!!

Kid-free 21 hours!

A couple weeks ago, I reluctantly asked my parents to keep the boys overnight. Ever since my parents moved to Virginia I've been very cautious about asking them to watch the boys. They love being with them, but are not overly eager to have them fully in their care.  Or at least that's my perception. :) I also want to respect their new routines and busy schedule, so I don't ask. (And yes, my parents have quickly found some very dear friends, a church, bridge groups, choir, fitness club, etc.! They are quite social!) Anyway, I threw caution to the wind and asked for an overnight expecting a "maybe" but most likely a "no."

And they said, "It's a possibility." Which later turned into "yes." Hooray!!

So a week ago Friday, we ate supper with them at their new house, got the boys tucked in bed and drove away. Our only instructions were, "Jill, no school work!" and "Darin, no painting!" It was the first time we had this opportunity in almost 5 years!! The last time we went away overnight I was pregnant with Aaron. We had a dinner meeting with Darin's co-workers out of town so I had to share our time. I'm not very good at sharing. ;)

This time, our kid-free 21 hours was absolutely wonderful. I loved not being on mom duty around the clock. I loved talking and listening to Darin. I loved dreaming together. I loved having the time together. We took a day trip to a nearby town to do some shopping for a new kitchen table. (We've outgrown our table intended for 2... by at least 3!) And while we didn't make a purchase, it was such a terrific day. We were just together. Sometimes in silence. Ahh... silence feels so good when I'm used to shrieking boys! And I have to be honest, I didn't miss my sweet boys until almost dinner time the next day. I feel just slightly guilty about that... but I did check in and all was going really well.

When we arrived back at supper time on Saturday night, I expected the boys to come running with wide open arms. But, they didn't. They said hello and then boldly told us, "I'm not going home." "I didn't even pack my bags. I'm staying another night!" Luke even said, "I'm staying all week!" Hmmm... is that okay Grammy and Poppy? Maybe next time boys.

So watch out Grammy and Poppy! This Momma is ready for another kid free 21 hours and maybe next time we can make it 48?? Pretty please?? Thank you! Thank you! 

Map Room

We have a terrific room in our house that is unused. Since the boys are happy sharing a room, we use the "map room" as our guest bedroom. With minimal overnight guests, it has occurred to me to take advantage of the full wall map for our upcoming unit exploring countries and cultures. I am very excited to have a vision for this room. (There will still be space for guests... don't worry!)

You'll see in the pictures below that there is a lot of work to do. Lots of patching, sanding, 

priming and painting. Again, work for Darin and work for me to be patient. I'm willing to help, 

but it's better for both of us if I watch the transformation from the sidelines. 

(He's the painting perfectionist and I'm the "hurry, let's get it done" girl.)

 Isn't this a great map! Darin is going to add picture molding around the edges of the map. 

We're going to change the wall color. I don't care for the gold. Any ideas? 

I welcome all suggestions. Anyone want to come over and be our color consultant? :)

Darin's almost done with all the patching and priming. He's getting ready to paint the ceiling, moldings and prime the walls before he does the top coat. I'm thankful for my hard working hubby. 

Can't wait to show you the final results! Don't forget to share your color suggestions. 

Coordinated

One of the treats of having my parents closer is that they can join us for birthday dinners. 

 Ethan specifically called and asked Poppy to match him by wearing a gray shirt. 

 It was a coincidence though that everyone else was wearing blue. 

Although, it's not all that shocking if you look in our closets. We have a LOT of blue. :)

I was the odd one out in coral. :) Luke was determined to sneak in 

the picture on this side of the table too. 

We were quite a silly bunch celebrating birthday's!

Darin

Today was a day of celebrating Darin's 37th birthday! 

And yes, he married an older woman. ;) (by four months)

We certainly couldn't compete with the amazing decorations Darin made on my behalf in February, but the boys were eager and excited to make some special signs to show Daddy how much they love him.

While Darin was still sleeping this morning, we got busy hanging streamers, 

hanging up our sign and adding some colored lights (Darin's favorite)! 

Darin was surprised and happy to walk through the streamers 

and find 3 excited boys and a hot breakfast. 

 We wrapped the gifts in brown paper so the boys could add their special touch with markers. One of Darin's packages contained three baggies with three puzzles the boys made. We had some blank puzzles and the boys wrote words, drew pictures and colored them. (This was a very fun project this week. The two older boys were busy creating for over an hour!) Then Darin had to put them together to find the messages or discover the pictures.

I've been thinking a lot today about God's sovereignty and plan. He chose Darin to be my husband and the father to our children. He has made Darin who he is and I think God uses Darin's strengths to sharpen my weaknesses. Here are just a few things I love about this guy and why I'm thankful that I've had the privilege to celebrate the past 15 birthday's with him. 

Darin is...

* a child of God

* cheerful and optimistic

* extremely loyal

* handsome

* very detail oriented

* neat and organized

* great sense of humor

* quick to laugh out loud

* very smiley

* generous gift giver

* hardworking and thorough

* lover of God

* musically gifted

* roller coaster lover

* good Daddy

* kid at heart!

(frozen strawberry and mango sorbet cake with cookie crust)

Happy Birthday Darin! We love you!

Green Thumb?

I don't necessarily have a green thumb, but I am drawn to planting and gardening. I love being outside. I enjoy pulling weeds and I love freshly grown veggies. I think what I lack is experience, patience and focus. (Funny how my lack of patience seems to affect all areas of my life!) I've had minimal success over the years as I've tried to garden, but I just can't give up YET.

Our garden has been in the works since last year. I got Darin on board with trying out a raised bed vegetable garden using the square foot gardening method. He loves to build so he made me a raised bed and attached a mesh screen to the bottom to keep out the moles and voles. By the time we got the bed made, it seemed too late in the season to really get going with the garden so we put the planting on hold.

Last weekend we finally moved forward with gusto and I'm pretty excited! I'm thankful that Darin is as eager as I am and so willing to join me in this project. Our garden is loosely based on the theories in this book.

I am also thankful that Luke is SO helpful and hard working. He delights in projects like this and he is definitely old enough to be an asset. Looks like he needs a larger wheelbarrow and wagon. Oh my,  he's getting big!

First we leveled out the garden and made sure the screen was attached to keep out the critters.

 Then we mixed 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite.

 We wet the soil and smoothed it out.

We measured out our grid and attached twine. 

Luke helped hammer in the nails after attaching the twine.  

Then we got busy planting! I have a few more squares to plant, but we're off to a good start.  

My expectations are pretty low, but I'm hoping the conditions are right to get at least a little bit of veggies. Then maybe we can learn from our mistakes and have more success each year? We'll see!