pass the peas, please

The other day, I put a side of mixed veggies on everyone's plates. The mixed veggies included a handful of frozen peas thrown into the mix. Apparently, I rarely never serve my family peas, because Jasper looked at the veggies, picked up a pea, and said, "Look momma! Someone took a green bean and rolled it into a tiny little ball. How cute!" and he popped it into his mouth.

whatever works, I guess. :o)

But honestly, after eating peas for the first time in the last decade, I was reminded why I so rarely make them. ;)

~~~~~


Brody is super into brushing his teeth. He loves it. Not just with a normal kind of little boy fascination, but with a crazy and somewhat frighteningly strong love. It's great!! He is great and very emphatic about the spitting part of the process. It's truly adorable. :)

say what??

Andrew never ceases to surprise me. :o) I went out for a run this evening after dinner, and I came back to find Andrew and the boys listening to the Beyonce pandora station. I definitely made me laugh!

As Andrew said, he's gotta keep me on my toes. ;o)

Father's Day

We've had such a wonderful time celebrating Father's day today. Andrew, my dad, and my father in law are all such wonderful men. I am so blessed to have 3 amazing, godly men/fathers in my life!

I'm sitting here at my computer, trying to figure out how best to describe these 3 men...

They all love the Lord.

They love Him like crazy and spend time each day in the Word, reading and praying and striving to be more like Christ.

They all love their families. Let me repeat that. They all love their families. This is no small thing.

They love their families like crazy in a culture where the family is becoming more and more obsolete.

They are kind.

They are gracious.

They are compassionate and tender.

Yes, they're all sinners, but they are sinners who understand the work of grace and redemption that God has done in their lives. And they're thankful for it... and humbled by it.

These men are real men.

They are good men.

They are men who tenderly read Bible stories to little ones.

They are men who fiercely lead and protect their families.

They are men who listen. Who wash dishes to give their wives a break.

They are men who work hard at integrity. Who take their word and reputation seriously.

They are men who only have eyes for their wives.

They are men who get their families to church every sunday morning, more or less on time.

They are men who serve in the church, sacrificing free time to do so.

They are men who work hard. Who sacrifice regularly. Who love and laugh and cry and hug.

They are men who sing praises to God and encourage their wives and children constantly.

They are men who, by God's grace, walk upright in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation.

They are good men, and they are the men I had the privilege to celebrate today.

Andrew, Dad, Dad Meade, I love you and am so incredibly thankful for you. Happy Father's day to the best men I know.


~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures until we went for snow cones this evening, but at least we got a few. :o) ps- Dad Meade had a Dunkin Donuts meeting, so he sadly wasn't here for the one and only Father's Day photo shoot. we'll get him in some pics next time!

hazy lazy crazy days...

Summer has hit here in Georgia, and it's been wonderful!! It's been a bit hotter and more humid than I'm used to, but that's totally ok. :o) (about the hot-ness- one day, I took a bag of gummy worms to the pool, I opened it up after being there for an hour, and the entire bag had melted!!! You know it's hot when your gummy worms melt.) We've just been spending our days at the pool, keepin' cool, makin' friends, and splashing the day away. :o)

They boys love the pool and their momma loves the pool, so it's pretty much been a match made in heaven.

And as if going to the pool every day wasn't already a dream come true for me, my dear friend Bridget introduced us to "frigid frog", which is a little trailer right around the corner from us that sells New Orleans style Snow Cones. This snow cone trailer is just so sweet. It's out in the Georgia country, on a dirt lot, and it just really feels like "the south" to me. :o)

So, my days pretty much look like this:

I wake up early to do bible study and prayer
boys wake up around 9
eat breakfast and do family bible study
Brody goes down for morning nap while Jasper watches his show and I work out
eat lunch
go to pool
swim
swim
swim
take a short break and eat gummy worms
swim
swim
swim
go to Frigid Frog and eat snow cones
come home and take short afternoon naps
eat dinner with a friend
come home
boys crash and go straight to bed
I wait up for Andrew to come home from school
hang out with Andrew and eat popcorn (the best part of my day, by far)
go to bed, asleep before my head hits the pillow

the only sad thing about summer is that Andrew's summer semester is a killer. Mondays and Wednesdays, he leaves at 7:30 am and gets back at midnight. Tuesdays and Thursdays, he leaves at 9 am and gets back at 9 pm. Fridays, he's just gone in the mornings. But when he's home, he is really slammed with homework. I miss him a lot, but it's only for a short time and his dream is my dream. I tell Andrew many times that i'm his biggest cheerleader and for him to do whatever it takes to make his dreams come true and to not worry about anything on the home front. I think that's why the pool has been such a blessing to me, it's helped fill the long days. :o) Also, the Lord is so good to give me my in-laws (built-in friends right above my head) and lots of great friends down here who are quite active in getting together. Even though Andrew's gone a lot, I never feel lonely or isolated and I don't take that for granted. I'm very thankful!

Here are a few pics from the pool and snow cones this week :o)
Mom Meade came with us one day, and Bridget and baby Jackson came with us one day, too!

early Father's Day

we had the sweetest (early) Father's day celebration today! Nate, MB, Henderson, Gma, Gpa, Uncle Tim, and Vale all joined us for the weekend, and we had such a wonderful time celebrating our family together!

say cheese!

On Sunday, when the Clausons were here, I told Brody to "say cheese", and this is what he did:

Then I got to thinking that Jasper's "say cheese" face was just as adorably cheesy when he was Brody's age... So I looked back through my pictures, and I found the following picture of Jasper from August, 2012 (fyi- they are exactly the same age in these pictures.)

I've never seen anything so adorable in my whole life as these two little boys, smiling for all they're worth for the never-ending camera in their face!! Gracious, how I love them!! 

our pool :o)

It was such a blast today to go swimming as a family!! We've found the sweetest little pool ever- complete with a water slide, zero degree entry, water mushrooms (the thingys that spray water everywhere), and fountains! It was so fun and DIRT cheap!  We bought membership passes for the summer, so Lord willing, we hope to be there quite often! :o) we loved it, and the little ones are turning out to be quite the little swimmers. So fun!!

this is andrew, coming out of the water slide with a splash!! 

~~~~~

Also, we had the most precious time with the Clausons! It was so, so sweet! we are so thankful for their friendship and willingness to drive all the way down here. Like I said on fb the other day, they are precious gifts to us from a  gracious God, and we're so thankful!!