Happy 7th Birthday Sophie & Grace

 Yesterday Grace and Sophie turned 7. It is so hard to believe that 7 years have gone by and these cute babies have become sweet little girls. Jason and I were talking last week and realized that we have been parents now longer then the time waiting for our children to come to earth. I see pictures like this and just want to pick my babies up one more time and love on them.

  

The girls had their first ever friends birthday party. It was puppy themed fun and craziness. Thankfully my good friends came to help. Even with 5 adults helping it was still barely organized chaos. Sophie and Grace were in heaven. They did so well as hosts, I was really proud of them. The welcomed everyone and walked them to the backyard, helped to serve the cake and ice cream and were super gracious about all of their gifts.

I thought the dog pinata was a little creepy to be beating with a stick but the kids loved it.

I am so blessed to have these girls in my life. Watching them play and  laugh yesterday as they celebrated their birthday was so fun. When we were opening gifts Luke gave the girls a ladybug habitat and Sophie was so excited she picked him up off his feet and swung him around in circles. One gerbil bite and several minor mishaps aside, it was a great day.

Poor Grace

We spent the evening in the ER last night. Grace was playing at the neighbors and dislocated her elbow. I thought for sure it was broken, so did the ER dr. We are super glad it is just a dislocation, she will feel much better in a few days and only has to wear a splint. Poor kid. She was such a trooper. She only lost it completely when they put her IV in. But this is the girl who screams bloody murder for a simple shot. Once they got some pain meds in her she was a happy camper.

We had a nice conversation on the ride home. When I was carrying Grace to the car to get to the hospital I asked her to say a prayer. She said that she already had and it was not helping! Poor kid. Of course I said multiple prayers the whole evening, especially on that 20 minute car ride with a child whimpering and crying in pain and trying to be brave. On the way home we talked about prayer and how it helps us, that it didn't take Grace's pain away, but that the Lord helped her to be brave and strong and everything turned out ok. Christ doesn't take away challenges in our lives most of the time, but He does strengthen us to be able to meet the trials we have. She totally understood. The faith of my children continually  inspires and humbles me.

On a lighter note. I had to laugh at the wood chips all over the hospital bed and floor and Gracie's filthy hands and feet from playing outside. The kids had been at the neighbors and tried to put up a tire swing on their own. Grace was the lucky soul to try it out first and it didn't go so well.  I actually had the nurse bring me a wash cloth to clean her up while she was still sedated. The nurse that helped us was named Ben and Grace thought that was fun. Our kind neighbor took the other kids for me since Jason is out of town, fed them pizza and put them to bed.  I was mortified that she saw the state of my house. Seriously. It was awful. All things considered I feel very blessed. Grace will feel better in a few days, be able to hit the pinata at her birthday party this Saturday and is overjoyed at the prospect of a day chilling on the couch watching tv. The Lord really did help her and all of us. Recognizing that fills me with gratitude.

What a Century!

 

Jason's "Tar Wheel" century ride stated in Elizabeth City. Here he is at the first SAG (rest area, no idea why the name) this is about 30 miles into the ride.

The 60 mile SAG was in an amazing little town called Edenton. It was chuck full of history that I had a blast learning about. This whole area is on Ablemarle  Sound, an enormous fresh water sound in northern NC. The kids played here while we waited for Jason. I had to take a picture of this amazing house. It was not as old as most in Edenton, looked like it was built in the 40's, double porches looking over the water...

 Cheering for Dad

 The kids made signs to cheer for Jason. This is with 14 miles to go. I don't know if you can read the one Sophie is holding here, it says: Your almost there! Your close to a chair! We cracked up about it all day. She made jokes all weekend as usual. I wish I could remember them better. I will see if she does and add some tomorrow.

 

104 miles and still smiling!

This was a ride, not a race, so the end was a little anti climatic. Pretty much people finished, loaded bikes into cars and drove off. We had such a good time and Jason did amazing! He was just over 6 hours. I am thinking I might try to join him next year. We'll see.

Easter at Edisto Beach, SC

We spend 4 days of Spring Break at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. It was really, really fun...and really, really a lot of work for mom and dad. Camping on the beach was wonderful but  SO dirty. I knew sand would be everywhere but we also had plenty of good ol' plain dirt from the campground. I also had forgotten what humidity felt like. We were basically wet for 4 days. But we did have a good time.

Easter Sunday 2011

 We drove in to Charleston for church and then did some historical sight seeing. This picture is at Charles Towne Landing, the original colony in SC. The spanish moss on the trees is so beautiful to me. This was not the best example, but right after we took this picture the kids saw an alligator in the water. It cruised right by where we were. There were signs everywhere to keep your pets on a leash. It was amazing to see an alligator in it's natural habitat...so cool. The wildlife we saw really was a highlight of the trip.

 

This is a flock of brown pelicans.  They were flying over the beach all weekend. We probably saw at least a hundred along with several other kinds of water birds.  We also found sea urchins, barnacles and several kinds of mollusks on some rocks. Monday morning several jelly fish had washed on to shore to inspect and also a big horseshoe crab. Lukie found a little sand crab on the beach and the kids had a great time running after it. Edisto beach is known for it's shells. There is an off shore reef out in the sea and the beach really was covered in them at spots.  This definitely was more interesting then most of our Atlantic beaches. The ecosystem was so diverse, lots of fun to explore.

The campground was behind Luke in the grove of palm trees over the small dunes. Turtles build nests here later in the season, we were too early to see any.

My Grace. She is an expert at finding interesting things on the beach. This is her first sand dollar. It was broken, but I have never found one and it is the first one we have ever seen at the coast. She really is a beach baby. Grace could stay literally from sun up to sun down playing in the water and digging in the sand finding shells and clams.

Rainbow Sophie

I have always wanted a rainbow kite. This one was so easy and fun to fly on the beach. The kids had watched Mary Poppins on the ride down and we sang Let's Go Fly a Kite the whole time.

 

Cute Noah

Noah and Sophie loved the Piggly Wiggly grocery store right outside of the campground.  Sophie even made up her own song about the Piggly Wig. The south is full of places to explore. I felt blessed that we were able to spend the holiday in such a beautiful place.

Happy he is

 

Luke bought this stuffed Yoda with his own money. He has been carrying it around with him for the past few days. Of course Yoda is right next to him in bed every night. Makes me smile...

Thank Heaven for breaks...

I have so been looking forward to Spring Break. I love the relaxed feeling of not having to be anywhere in particular, of no schedules to follow and good times to share at whatever pace suits us. It's like life gets to be on pause for a while as I reconnect with my kids. We went to the park today with friends, dyed Easter eggs, jumped on the trampoline and played outside. We also cleaned a bit, laughed a lot and argued some. My favorite part of today was teaching my kids to do the Hokey Pokey and YMCA. (Thanks Grandma Hardy for the fun cd's in our awesome Easter package!)

Happy Birthday to Me...

My birthday present to myself this year was training for a triathlon which was supposed to be today. Instead we had lots and lots of rain, thunder, lightning and wind. No tornadoes...which is a good thing.

I am disappointed. But I have LOVED getting ready for this race. I am in better shape then I have been for a decade. I feel so good. I discovered that I ADORE riding my road bike, narrow, country roads and all. Luke and Noah learned that everyone has to do things in life that they don't like to do. For them that was going to our Y's kid room while I swam. I learned that my running will actually improve, not suffer, from spending time biking and swimming. I remembered how fun it is to tackle something that inspires and challenges me, and that it is ok to be scared in the process of learning new things. I figured out that if you act brave and strong, more bravery and strength come to you.

I have a new theme for myself from the New Testament...Fear not, only believe. I repeated it over and over last week trying to learn to swim in freezing cold lake water. I repeated it when I was working on getting over my fear of clipping my shoes into the pedals on my bike. I find myself now repeating it often in life when my fears run headlong into my faith.

I didn't know this triathlon journey would end up ultimately being a spiritual one, but I shouldn't be surprised. All  good things in life really are. Instead of competing today I went on a solitary, wet and windy run. It was beautiful and amazing. (Did you know the hymn How Great Thou Art was written by a man walking home from church through a thunder storm? ) I felt great. The entire time I counted 40 years of blessings and help from the Lord. It was a perfect way to celebrate. Here is to many  more years of joy in the journey.