2015 Summer Kick-off

Tim set up this Monster Truck bounce-house mostly by himself for the boys' birthday party...cracks me up that you can see Gabe's head peeping out of the bounce-house in this pic.

Two Birthday Boys anxiously waiting for the bounce-house to fully inflate

Another incredible work of art by Patti Allen

Bless Patti's heart for baking cakes for both boys!

Bringing out the slip-n-slide the first time this year

This picture captures our entire family because we planted the beautiful tree in the background in honor of Connor Liam Breeden, the son we lost when I was 5 months pregnant in May 2008.  This tree blooms every spring and reminds us of the son we have in heaven....it also makes us so thankful for the two healthy sons we have on earth.  

Our Kindergarten graduate!  Congrats, Chase!

Happy unofficial start to summer! Memorial Day weekend just passed us by to give us all summer fever. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather over the weekend. It sure felt like summer to us with the temperatures in the 80's for most of the weekend; grilling out good ole American food every night and biting into ice cold watermelon and ice-cream; letting the kids play outside until the sun went down; enjoying the pool opening for the summer season; and just getting to soak up the sun's rays and God's many blessings. To me, those things I just mentioned are what life is all about this time of year!

Since my last blog posting, we: celebrated the boys' birthdays; endured our first soccer season with Tim as coach (that's not intended to be derogatory towards Tim because he did a great job); enrolled Gabriel in speech therapy sessions at Hardy Elementary School in Smithfield; and, congratulated Chase for graduating from Kindergarten.

Although the highlights above are the major accomplishments for the past month or so, Tim and I are thankful to rejoice equally in the smaller things, such as finally being able to go out to eat as a family again! For a long time, we didn't bother going out to eat with the kids because it was inevitable that one of them (or both) would have a temper tantrum that would make the whole experience more of a chore than something enjoyable. We're thankful our boys are old enough and cooperative enough to enjoy a meal out now. Of course we don't want our boys to grow up too fast, but we're enjoying the perks of the age that they are now.  Something as simple as getting my family or Tim's family to watch the kids for us for a weekend is such an appreciated experience since our "alone time" is so rare with both of us working full time (and overtime) and juggling after-work errands.

To elaborate more on the soccer season, we just wrapped up our last tournament game on Thursday. Unfortunately, we only had one win, one tie, and the rest were losses for the season...but, the losses were so close to wins and looking at the final score of the game doesn't reflect Team Shark's true talent. Watching each player improve with each game was a rewarding experience for all of us (especially Tim). Furthermore, just getting to do something positive for the community and getting to know the soccer players and parents was the majority of the fun. We still have a reception for Team Sharks in store for the near future where we'll present trophies to the players.  Thankfully, this first coaching experience didn't scare Tim away...he's already committed to coaching the fall soccer season.

Gabriel is enrolled at Hardy Elementary School in Smithfield now to receive speech therapy twice a week. We're slowly but surely hearing signs of improvement with his speech. Thankfully, he's receiving therapy for the remainder of this school year and will resume therapy in the fall after summer break. I'm just excited we have the ball rolling for him. Now if only we could get him interested in potty training and get him to sleep through the night better (he still has some nights that he'll wake up and try to sneak into my bed)....I know these things will come with time. In the meanwhile, I just have to remind myself to appreciate all of the "Momma's boy" moments.  I feel close to both of my boys, but Gabe is by far the Momma's boy between the two and Chase likes to be Tim's shadow.

Chase graduated from Kindergarten at FOEC (Faith Outreach Education Center) with flying colors! He had perfect attendance and straight A's for the last quarter of school. He also memorized several lines and presented them well during the graduation ceremony. He had one skit as George Washington, another as a disciple, and another as a cowboy. All of the students seemed to have so much fun during the ceremony and you could sense their happy spirits and the friendships they've established with each other over the school-year. One thing I LOVE about FOEC is their reinforcement of God's love and His word. I was amazed at how well the K-level classes could recite Bible verses.

We have lots of excitement to anticipate this summer: two trips to OBX (one with the kids, one without), the arrival of Michael Paul Stephens in July (Laurie and Ken's first son and second child together/third child counting Bella), my mom's 62nd birthday this Tuesday, my birthday and Tim's in July (I turn 34 and he turns 36), our 14th wedding anniversary in August, and several beach and pool days! While Tim and I work, the boys have summer camp at FOEC every morning to keep them entertained and their afternoons will be spent at Great Grandma Anderson's house. This will be Gabriel's first experience at FOEC, so I'm anxious to see how he'll adjust.  Too bad we all don't get a summer break, but I'm beyond thankful for my job. If I'm totally honest with myself, I'd probably go stir crazy if I did have off the entire summer.

As we just celebrated Memorial Day and have July 4th only a month away, I hope all of us will take the time to be thankful not only for those who have lost their lives serving our country...but, for Jesus Christ who sacrificed everything so that we could have TRUE FREEDOM. The real war going on isn't just among nations...it's a war against all of sin. Thankfully, that victory has already been won through HIM! May you claim that victory as your own this summer and always!