On the Road Again

Well, we are pullin' the train out of Ohio this morning and hauling all of our newest treasures and goodies back to Chi-town. We have birthday presents galore, baby clothes, big boy clothes (love Once Upon a Child!) food, and of course the boys!:)

The boys are so sad about leaving. They have had a blast here over the past week+, running around in the fresh country air, digging dirt and rocks, getting wagon rides, playing miniature golf, a trip to the water park, Graeter's ice cream, seeing their baby sister (not that they really payed attention), dinner out with family, pictures with all their cousins and tons more! It has been a really really good week; one of our best trips home!

But we do have to go home eventually and jump back into "real life." :) Pray for safe travels for us! See you on the flip side!

Birthday week!

We have entered the birthday season! My sister's bday was last week, Samuel's was 2 days ago, mine is today and one of my aunt's too! I am all too close to the big 3-0 now. One more year. Yikes! I am looking forward to this year though. Lots of changes but lots of good things happening. I feel like this will be a big year!

Today I get to celebrate with my family:) I miss too many special occasions, living far away, so it's nice to be here in person with people I love. This afternoon we get to see our baby girl on a 3D ultrasound! My mom and stepdad are coming, Ben's mom, my grandparents and they are SO excited! Then we get to celebrate with dinner out at the Olive Garden (Charity, guess who suggested that?!) afterwards. I have tons of pics to share from this week and will be posting as soon as we get back this weekend. Hopefully I will have good pics of the baby to share!!

Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday, Samuel!

Today my "little" boy is not so little anymore! Five years ago we became a family of three!

Dear Samuel,

I love you so very much! You won't understand until you become a daddy someday, but your child's birthday is bittersweet. You celebrate with joy as you see your child's face light up with anticipation of surprises and sweet birthday greetings and yummy treats. You celebrate as you remember the day your life was changed forever by the birth of your precious child. But it's also bittersweet because it is yet another year passing far too quickly, seeing your child grow up and needing you less and less each year.

Five years! I almost can't wrap my mind around the idea that you are this "old!" You will think I am so silly when I read this to you and probably say, "Mommy, I'm not old!" You're right:) But you aren't so very little anymore either. You are becoming more mature all the time, growing up before our very eyes. About to start kindergarten, getting into bigger boy toys, having more mature conversations with us.....

Wow. My life changed in an amazing way the day the doctor said, "You have a son!" and placed my little peach-fuzz baby on my tummy. You stopped crying immediately as I talked to you, as if you already knew how much I loved you and that I would take care of you. I haven't always done the best job because mommies sometimes make mistakes, too, but I always, always, ALWAYS love you and thank God that He gave you to me to love!

Happy 5th Birthday, Samuel Benjamin! Thank you for bringing a smile to my face every day with your beautiful blue-grey eyes, sweet smile and inquisitive mind!

I love you,
Mommy

Getting Ready!

Wow, I didn't realize it was so late! I have been so busy today cleaning, keeping the chilluns out of trouble and packing! We also got a visit from some friends of our this afternoon, one of whom moved away from Chicago last year. It was like the boys had never seen company before! They seriously talked NON-STOP, pestering our friends for attention, until I banished them to the front porch with bubbles.

Note to self: Bubbles+boys=several minutes of peace! Worth the mess.

I finally met another one of our neighbors tonight! We met the husband and he isn't the friendliest guy around town, not un-friendly, just not very...welcoming. So then I got all nervous to meet his wife, assuming she would be the same way. Wrong, Heidi! She was so nice and wanted to know all about the boys and said their noise doesn't bother her a bit:) I felt really relieved to have that "dreaded" introduction over with! Now hopefully we can get to know them. We have no one living directly below us yet but it will be someone in the landladies' family. They are rehabbing the place first. And there is one other person living in the garden unit, who is somewhat reclusive (as in no one ever sees her) and gets tons of mail!

Once we get back from Ohio, we will resume looking for a new church. Not an easy process! I am really looking forward to getting to know people and being a part of a community. I am really hoping that we can find somewhere by the end of summer before school starts and baby comes. Our year always starts in September (academic year) so it would feel nice to really be settled in! I admit I can hardly wait for the fall! Apple-picking, having quiet mornings to myself (although I will be really sad to have both my boys in school:( and of course, the arrival of Baby! I'm not wishing the summer away because it is so nice to spend time outside at parks and in the sun with my buddy boys and time passes all too quickly anyways. You snap your fingers and suddenly your baby boy is five. Sniff.

Anyways, I'd better get to bed! We leave bright and early tomorrow! The boys are so stinkin' excited, they can hardly stand it! Zakkai has made all sorts of plans to help Mugga in her garden and drive her toy bulldozers and Samuel just wants a birthday party and wants to know what kind of plants Mugga is growing. I had to break the news to him tonight that, no, Mugga isn't growing a sausage plant.

Some guys would love that though, wouldn't they?

Pigeons, Family and Birthdays!

We are finally getting our beautiful June weather! Just in time for July:) It was so cool out this afternoon that the boys actually wore jackets to the park. They love going to the butterfly park. Since it is usually empty, they have free reign to run and yell and chase each other or, in today's instance, chase pigeons away:) "Shoo, pigeons! Shoo!" Really, you don't need to spend much money on kid's toys. A big cardboard box, some crayons, paper, a park full of pigeons....

So hard to believe that my oldest pigeon-chaser is going to be FIVE on Tuesday! It is such a big birthday to me. Five. Five years since I held that little baby boy in my arms for the first time and became a mommy. I remember having to stay home for 4th of July that year, instead of traveling to Ohio like we do each year, and being about 16 months pregnant (or so I felt:). And two days later....we were surprised with a baby boy! We brought him home on my birthday two days after that. Best bday present I've ever gotten!

Speaking of Ohio, we are gearing up to make our annual summer trek! We leave early Friday morning for a week. Samuel is so excited about spending his birthday with our families and is wondering what sort of birthday treasures he will receive:) I love spending the 4th with family, except this year we will be missing some family who moved away a few months ago (including my uncle who was born on the 4th and my aunt with whom I share a bday!) And most importantly, my bestest cousin in the whole world. Miss you, C!

And speaking of family, I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my sis, K, today!! I guess I can't call you my "little sister" anymore, since we're both in our upper 20s! I love you, K, and I hope you have had a great birthday. Someday I hope we can live near each other and spend lots of time making up for all these years of being apart. I miss you and I can't wait to see you in a couple of days!!