Mother's Day 2017

I got to celebrate my fifth Mother's Day this year.  I don't take motherhood for granted, and I'm honored to have been entrusted to these little ones.

The start of 2017

In an attempt to do a better job of posting our pictures on the blog, here are the few pictures I've taken over the past two weeks.

It is true what they say that "more is caught than taught," and our THREE kiddos are well on their way to becoming avid readers.  I came home from a solo walk the other day, and when I walked in this was my sight -- daddy reading a book to the big ones, and little Naamen flipping thru his own book.

We love having Emma all to ourselves during the holidays, and one of the fun things for everyone is of course the way her and her little partner in crime play together.  One day they decided to build a train in our TV room, and they must have played a total of five hours on that make-believe world of theirs.  

On that same day they decided to have a little parade outside, with a stick as a mic and an old box and maraca as a drum.  I'm not sure why we bother ever giving our kids toys for Christmas... they always just go back to the basics -- sticks and boxes.

And then another day they discovered some sand behind Memma and Poppa's house and decided that they would build "ant houses."  How kind of them...

In an attempt to live a little more frugally and below are means, I've been trying to incorporate more meatless meals into our diet.  With avocados being 50 cents at Aldi, this beans and rice dish is hardly a sacrifice to consume.

We've been taking a lot of walks lately up our 3/4 mile driveway, and on this slightly cold day, this handsome little "bear" was so cute I couldn't resist not taking a pictures of him.

One of my latest projects has been figuring out a family sourdough bread recipe.  This was my second attempt at it, and compared to my very first attempt (a complete failure), I'd say this one went much better.  I still need to work out some details, but I'd say all in all we are well on our way to making this a family favorite.

Family fires have been a favorite thing of ours to indulge in.  On a cold Sunday night, after the kids are in bed, you may find Byron and I having a little picnic date together near it, sipping hot chocolate after dinner is cleaned up.

And back to our kiddos playing together.  Here you have "Miss Morris" teaching Byron his lesson for the day.

This picture is sideways, but if you are able to read it you'll see that Emma is quite the perfectionist... just like her daddy.  We love having our Emma Girl with us during the holidays, but we also love watching her thrive in school both socially and academically. 

Catching up with the blog

It's embarrassing to see how behind I am on the blog.  I refuse to ever say I'm too busy for anything, but the fact of the matter is that life has become too good to spend down time catching up on the blog.  Between happy children, a new home I have enjoyed making ours, helping run a ministry at church (MOPS), friends, exercise, books, and just being plain ol' tired (pregnant!), it's easy to see why I'd put the blog at the bottom of the priority list.

However, I don't print pictures, so the blog is the closest thing to recording our family life, so here it is -- pictures since September:

Just a sight I enjoyed turning back to in the car.  My darling girl with her John Deere hat she enjoys so much.

I turned 31 this year, and for my birthday I requested going out dancing.

Baby bump showing!

Our friends Chris and Shannon joined us for our evening fun.

Our men.

Then cousin Ames and Ezra came to River Pointe for a few days, which meant lots of playing.

And Mexico's Independence Day rolled around mid-September and I decided to make the traditional pozole and invite a few friends to enjoy the evening fun.

Preparing our yummy bowls of pozole.

And like I said earlier, we have two darling happy children who love and enjoy each other far too well.  And here is proof -- watching a Dora cartoon, on the same chair, sharing their blanket.  

And Byron is such a good sport basically agreeing to do everything big sister tells him to.  Here he is being put "to bed" on the floor.  Why not?!?!

And dinner picnics have become a common thing for us to do.  When busy nights come along, instead of running through the drive-thru somewhere, we end up packing a picnic and enjoying it as a family somewhere.  Here we are at the church, meeting daddy before he headed to Bible Study.  It seems like we end up doing one of these about once every two weeks or so.

 And then Halloween rolled around, and Emma spotted these "Halloween cookies" at Target, which were a hit with the children, and with mommy as well since it didn't require us to make such a huge mess in the kitchen.

And then I just love this picture of me and my Little Man.

This good-looking duo enjoyed our seasonal decorations all too well.

And on many occasions, this is how they choose to spend time with each other, snuggled together in the same seat, either reading or watching cartoons together.

October 19th rolled around -- daddy's birthday -- and we celebrated it the best way ever -- in our home with our little family.  The kids each got daddy a balloon, and a few gifts.

I made breakfast for dinner -- eggs, grits, bacon, and watermelon.

For our table centerpiece, the kids and I went outside and gathered flowers and weeds.  It looked so nice!

The kids' gift of choice for daddy.

Two days after daddy's birthday we found out the sex of our third child.

A boy.  And he's being named after my dad -- Naamen.

I found this kid's doctor's kit at a yard sale for 50 cents, and you'd think I'd bought the kids the Moon.  It has provided them with hours of entertainment.

Again, how they choose to watch TV.

And this pic does not do what's going on any justice, but the kids loooooove chasing lizards around the house.  The poor lizard in this pic was terrified, and eventually met his Maker by the end of the ordeal after Little Byron stepped on it :'(  We have been working hard to tell them that lizards are our friends and that we don't kill them.  It has also been fun for the children to watch the lizards they chase around change colors before their eyes.

Eight years married

WOW!  Married for eight years.

I like to joke about how I am on my "third husband" and Byron is on his "fifth wife."  It's amazing how much we have grown and changed over the course of these last eight years.  I look back to that 22-year old girl on June 16, 2007 and cannot believe we're the same person.  

And that 28-year old young man.  That young man who showed up late to our "Welcome Party" two nights before our wedding because he was busy taking care of our guests.  As I cried in the hallway of my mother's house that evening, one of his aunts pulled me aside and looked at me with stern eyes and said:  "you are marrying a servant."

So over the course of these past eight years, it's been my privilege to see that side of my husband grow and mature.  

And so I wonder, how many more "husbands" will I have during the next eight years?

***

How did we celebrate eight years together?

With a full week with every single evening with a commitment, we decided "eat out" at home.

We got Carabba's take-out and ate it on our wedding china.  And some special cake slices from a local restaurant for dessert.

Sunday School Christmas party

I am so incredibly thankful for our church, but also overwhelmingly delighted with our Young Married Community Sunday School class.

We had our Christmas party last weekend, and as Byron put it, it was like having Thanksgiving dinner all over again.  But food aside, the evening was filled with laughter and a sweet reminder of the Lord's kindness to us through fellowship.

Oh, and just as a fun little extra-- Byron and I won second place as best-dressed couple (we wore our Christmas pajamas).  I am pretty excited about our chronological read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year second place prize.

Our home

We took the kids to see the first home Mommy and Daddy lived at while in Mexico as newly weds.

While they were in school

While the kids were in school, most morning Byron and I (and later only I) would go to Starbucks and enjoy some reading time turned-into date time.

One morning we had an early-for-Mexico lunch (at around noon) at Pollo Brujo.

A must have in our opinion :p