A family affair....

The past couple of weeks have been quite busy, adjusting to summer, celebrating my birthday with friends, etc. But most of our time has been spent helping Brad and Becky pack their house and get ready to host their going away party at our house. We had a great time, good friends, and lots of good food. So the weekend before the party Matt and I updated the exterior of the house. When we moved in two years ago, it was "move-in ready". But we hadn't really done anything outside till now. I forgot to take before pictures but it was generally weedy, sandy' since most of our mulch had disappeared, and void of color. A few dozen plants and 42 bags of red mulch later, oh and a ton of sweat, we were done. We made it a family project but they mostly just dug and got dirty.........


Determined....



Mackenzie enjoys the gardening process a bit more than her sister.


Initially, Mason just enjoyed stacking the pots.


Our three goofballs working on something good.

The girls would have never been willing to get this messy. I just love that about Mason....all boy.

A bit hard to tell but the color is nice.

Our house.

Turning 40

So, two days ago on 6/26 at 7:22 am, I welcomed the big "40". A new decade ahead while I close the chapter of my thirties, which was the best decade so far I might add. I finished my Master's that allows me to do the work I love, married the man God hand picked for me, began working through my "crap", welcomed my three beautiful kids from other parts of the world, loved hard, and played hard. I've had a lot of time to reflect on this milestone. A few months ago, I wasn't sure how I would feel but as it got closer, it just started to feel more right, ok even. My girlfriends and I have been talking about how we would like to enter into and move through this decade graciously. Day 2....so far, so good! It is, however, hard for me to believe that I am 40. I still feel like I'm in my very early 30's. Having young children contributes to this I'm sure. I definitely don't feel "old" by any means. Of course, I am feeling the age of my body like most and my friend Monica and I have noticed how the skin on our hands isn't as elastic and tight as it once was. Eye make-up just doesn't go on quite the same these days and in the last year or so I've bought those fancy reading glasses from the local Walgreens for $14.99. What can you do really? It is what it is.

But life is full. I feel good about where I'm at in regards to most areas. Oh, there's always room for improvement but I'm ok with who I am. I think that women begin to really come into themselves in their late 30's and early 40's. I've done a lot of my own work in counseling over the years and have learned to accept the parts of me that brought me shame in previous phases of my life and have allowed myself to be vulnerable with others in a way that has led me to greater freedom and feeling truly loved. I hope that I am beginning to learn what is really important while being here on this side of heaven. My kids keep me honest by offering reflections of myself, some beautiful, some down right ugly. So you take the ugly parts to the cross and try again tomorrow.

I've learned to not be so hard on myself, to laugh, to be ok when relationships are messy, to be picky with my time, to trust God more and rely on myself less, that marker on your child's "way over-priced but had to have the perfect dresser" is not the end of the world, to embrace my insecurities (we all have them), to work hard at my marriage, and that its ok if people see my incompetence.

So there you have it......reflections of a newly turned 40 year old "girl". Check back in 10 years....

oops

So I wrote two posts on the same day and saved one to be published today. When I went to post it, it showed up as older than the last one so it was placed below "Gigi and Pap-pa Packages" so scroll down for the latest. Still new to blogger.........

GiGi and Pap-pa Packages

These are often the long anticipated deliveries, the kind that drive a parent nuts...."when's my package gonna get here"? Anyway, my parents love sending the kids little care packages. Sometimes they're filled with a bit of candy, notepads, pez dispensers, play jewelry, crafty things, etc. Its like the jackpot around here. They couldn't be more excited if it were Christmas morning really. My parents love that my kids expect packages from time to time. Part of being a grandparent :o).


The big box for the girls and the little one just for Mason....his first!


Oh boy


A hippo water squirter... The girls also received puzzles and hair bows!

He's not sure what to expect

"But boy, do I like it". There's a shirt to match but he didn't feel like putting that on.

"And a cell phone!!"

Splish Splash

Well summer is here and school is out. We don't have huge plans. In fact, the only thing we have planned is a weekend at Disney over the 4th. I always say near the end of year that I need to be thinking of some things to do with the kids to have a little structure in the week. Still working on that but a couple of days ago, we went to a splash park. It also had two playgrounds that were completely shaded which is very nice. You would think being in Florida that would be more common but its rare to find one that has a lot of shade. And the splash pad was perfect. The kids had fun. Mackenzie was the most fun to photgraph this time around. She just has the best expressions and when she is having fun, she is joy filled and that shows up on her face. Mason is still hard to catch and Madalyn had fun but was a bit laid back today.








Love this one!

On the playground

Love the unintentional wink!

Probably my favorite shot of the day...

Change

Most of you know that I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and work at Grace Clinic Christian Counseling. Grace was established five years ago by my friends Brad and Becky Young (to be referred to as B and B), and Monica Taffinder. Prior to this, the four of us counseled together at a local church. In total, we have been together for 10 years now. What began as professional relationships has turned into deeply connected, intimate ones rooted in vulnerability, honesty, fun, and laughter.

A couple of years ago, B and B began talking about moving to Portland to launch a Grace Clinic out there. Becky is from there and has a lot of family in Portland. Desires became clearer, plans solidified, business plans were written and now we are less than two weeks away from their departure. This is a huge loss for me and my colleagues professionally but where I will feel the greater impact will be in the day to day absence of their presence in my family's life. They have three kids, like us, and our children are "best friends". Our oldest two, Riley and Madalyn (in that order because Riley likes that she is 9 months older than Madalyn) do battle over who is in charge, argue, and make up in true feminine fashion. Our middle two, Luke and Mackenzie, are easy going and are often lost in their creativity. They don't need to be right but just like sharing what they know, even if they're wrong. The youngest two, Jake and Mason......well they are just trying to figure out how to share. But it's all fun and our families do a lot together....Disney, dinners, pool, etc.

While I have known this is coming, I am beginning to feel it. In staff meeting today, we prayed for them and the tears flowed. The first of a million I'm sure. True girlfriends are hard to come by.

This stinks and I don't like change.

Memorial Day Beach Pics

Not much to say here really. Had a great time in Jax with Uncle Time and Aunt Jennifer. Here are our fun beach pics.

Building sand castles with Daddy

Matt's Sandman

Toes are some of my favorites, even ones with half the nail polish coming off

This totally cracked me up

Tuckered after a day in the sun....

Camp-In

On Friday, Matt went looking at motorcycles with his friend Dave so I decided to let the kids have a bit of fun. I had just purchased a small tent at Aldi's earlier that day. We love to camp and realize that at some point we are not all going to fit into our current tent and this one was a deal for $25. So Matt put up the tent in our den before he left and kids had a camp-in. They were beyond excited. We pulled out their sleeping bags, camping chairs and the small camping table. We made the night authentic by making smores....in the oven. It's easy. We did this for the first time last June when we were visiting our good friends, the Blasingims, in Colorado. We spent the night in a cabin and cooked smores in the oven. It was great.


A cozy set-up

They'd eat the whole bad of marshmallows if I let them.

Chillin'

So, you just lay the graham crackers out like this. Don't put them together until their warm. Place the marshmallows on top and then the chocolate. It will melt nicely and when done, squish them together. The only thing missing is the toasty-ness of the marshmallows but its just as yummy.

Mason's first marshmallow.

See the stringy mess? I kept asking him if there were good and he just kept shaking his head yes with big eyes and a big smile.