The Second Half of 2018

Tim's grandfather, George B. Wheeler Sr., went to be with the Lord on December 20, 2018 at 90 years old. This picture is our last visit with him in April 2018. 

My two mischievous elves

This year's Christmas card

The gorgeous tree in the lobby area of our church! We are so excited that Liberty Baptist will open up a new campus right here in Smithfield in January 2019!!!

A little blurry, but this is Gabe (top row) doing one of his favorite things: singing Christmas carols during the Hardy's 1st Grade "Twas the Night before Christmas" presentation.

Nothing better than coming home from work to see that a sweet friend from your bible study group left you a tin full of cookies on your doorstep!

Santa visited Chase and Gabe at their school...Chase and Gabe already know that this isn't the real Santa in this picture. Gabe says he's pretty sure that this was Donald Trump dressed up as Santa (don't ask me where he got that from). 

Now, this is the real Santa! We got to visit Santa at Busch Gardens Christmastown the Sunday following Thanksgiving...great way to get in the Christmas spirit!

I liked the format I used earlier this year with the theme: A dozen things I learned (or was reminded of) during the first half of 2018...so I’m doing it again for the second half as we close out 2018:

1. Kids often need inside voices even when they’re outside. During one of our visits to Water Country over the summer, Chase looked at the guy in front of us (who had a lot of chest and back hair) and said, “Mom, I sure hope I don’t grow up and end up looking like Big Foot.”

2. It is possible to take two trips to OBX in one summer without any truck issues, bad weather, power outages, or any other catastrophe.

3. I love the Hampton Roads area as we are conveniently located to so much right at our fingertips. I can’t stand to hear people complain about this area since this is my hometown where my roots are deeply planted. We have the mountains and beach all within a couple hours of our home. This summer, we were blessed with another beautiful mountain getaway to Snowshoe, WV with Tim’s family over the 4th of July and two wonderful beach trips in July and August. In between those mountain and beach trips, we had a blast at Busch Gardens, Water Country, and the pool right around the corner from our home. I’m not trying to be a travel agent for our hometown, but I do love summers around here! I’m also very grateful that with the landscape of our area, it’s rare for us to endure a direct hit from a hurricane. Florence gave us all a scare when weather forecasters first spotted her a week out from her landfall, but she (by God’s grace) stayed well south of us.

4. I embrace the different personalities of my children. Just a few of many examples: They each got to pick out pet fish before school started. Chase picked out a fancy beta and named it “Lightning.” Gabe picked out a simple, chunky looking goldfish and named it “Mark.” Upon returning to school, Chase was excited for the social aspect of reuniting with friends. Gabe was not at all thrilled and would have been fine having an endless summer. However, since then, Gabe says he actually enjoys school and learning. On the other hand, Chase hates homework and anything having to do with academics and just wants to go to school to socialize. He has thankfully remained on the honor roll in spite of his preference for socializing over academics.

5. Gabe asked me if flour was made from pollen. Don’t ever pass up a teaching moment. Gabe helped me bake apple spice bread so I showed him how to measure ingredients and I also taught him the difference between flower and flour.

6. Chase never misses an opportunity to help his brother...especially if it involves a little bit of pain and suffering on his brother’s behalf. He has helped pull out two loose teeth for Gabe this year.

7. Gabe can still never have enough costumes and continues to amaze me with his imagination as he switches over to superhero mode within the blink of an eye and prances around the house singing. (Yes, I already posted this in the first half of 2018 as one of my bullets, but it was worth mentioning again since it’s such a huge part of Gabe’s life.) The dressing up aspect of Halloween this year was no different than any other day of the year. You can bet he’s been wearing reindeer antlers and Santa hats this Christmas season too. Having Gabe around is like living life in a constant musical. 

8. Why do we doubt ourselves when God always says we’re enough? Tim and I were both blessed with job promotions at the end of the year. I honestly had moments of doubt that I would get the promotion; it was when I had come to peace with the idea of not getting promoted and sought God’s will for my job that He sweetly blessed me with the promotion. Tim has also been reminded of how much of a positive impact he makes in his shop. He is now taking on a supervisor role (in addition to running his normal machine), which comes with extra responsibilities, but he seems to like the challenge of it so far. The lesson learned from all of this is that we need to be content in our jobs even during the times we aren’t recognized for our efforts because God does see what we’re doing and rewards us in His timing. Ultimately, we work for the Lord, not for man.

9. Hands down, the Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes are better than any of the other seasonal cakes that Little Debbie puts out throughout the year. (And, yes, I cut the cardboard Christmas tags out from the box every year!)

10. Soccer seasons are still crazy and hectic, but they’re over in a blink of an eye. Although we rush around like chickens with our heads cut off during the season, I’m always glad we participate in them as a family. The Pirates won their first tournament game this fall, but lost during the semi-finals. Gabe’s team was pretty pitiful only winning one game the entire season, but it was great exercise and fun!

11. Gabe’s theme song this Christmas is, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.” This will hopefully be the last Christmas of his life he’s ever missing his front two teeth.

12. I love that my kids still believe in Santa. In fact, we all do! For my family, believing in Santa is not idolizing a jolly, burly guy who brings children gifts...it’s about having faith and believing in something you can’t see (this concept should sound familiar to Christians); it’s about keeping the Christmas spirit alive in our hearts even when the world tries to convince us otherwise; it’s about acknowledging not just the birth of Jesus, but the ultimate sacrifice He made for us; it’s about treating others with extra kindness that we should be displaying year-round; it’s about being more generous and giving of ourselves even when it hurts our pockets and costs us time we don’t think we can spare; it’s about slowing down the pace of our busy lives to spend time with our loved ones as we never know if we’ll be given another Christmas with them.  We just laid Tim’s grandfather to rest this weekend. God bless all of the Wheeler/Breeden/Keithley family and their aching hearts right now. My dad also lost his step-dad this fall.  Both of our grandfathers were in their 90’s and were blessed with long lives that not everyone has the privilege of living.  We never know which breath is going to be our last.  However, we were given eternal hope of a heavenly home 20 centuries ago when Jesus was born!  May we all continue to believe this Christmas season and in the New Year!

13. Bonus one (because I hate ending on sappy notes): Don’t ever text one word texts to your husband, such as “pregnant.” I sent Tim a text to let him know I had seen where one of his childhood friends is expecting another baby. I horribly misspelled the word pregnant on my iPhone during that text so I sent a follow-up text correcting my misspelling with just the word “pregnant.” All Tim saw was that last text and he had a moment of panic thinking I was pregnant...don’t worry folks; the only babies we’re celebrating this Christmas are my mom and dad’s blue-eyed husky puppy, Luke, and the most significant baby in history: JESUS! 

If you’ve managed to read this far (seriously, who reads blogs anymore?), then I appreciate you following along with me in another year! I’ll be back in 2019 to post more Breeden adventures!

2nd Quarter of 2018

Team Pirates with Tim as head coach and our former neighbor and friend Joy as assistant coach

The 10th Year of our Japanese Cherry Tree

Gabe's team (the Panthers) receiving their trophies

Birthday Boys (Chase-9, Gabe-6)

Our Natural-Born Skater...Wheels of Glory!

Our Favorite Kindergarten Graduate of 2018

Family Picture Before my Cousin's Wedding in May

A dozen things I learned (or was reminded of) during the first half of 2018: 1. My kids are resilient and very adaptable creatures! I’m so proud of them for doing so well in their first school-year at a public school. They both blended in well socially and were right on target academically. Look out 1st and 4th grade...Chase and Gabe are ready for you! In the meanwhile, these two boys are getting to do a ton of fun things in summer camp back at their old school (Faith Outreach). 
2. I’m never too old to laugh at Tom and Jerry cartoons, especially when I get to share giggles with Gabe while watching them. 
3. Chase can never have enough attention and is never at a loss for words...even if he’s asking the same questions he asked in an earlier conversation and especially if he’s competing with his brother! 
4. Gabe can never have enough costumes and continues to amaze me with his imagination as he switches over to superhero mode within the blink of an eye.
5. Along the lines of #5, there’s no sense in getting mad over costumes being all over the floor after Gabe plays. He’ll soon be over this stage and I’ll be sad I won’t have a little superhero running around the house trying to fight off villains and save the world. 
6. Piggybacking on #5, it’s ok for my couch and carpet to be worn, for my walls to have blemishes, for there to be way too many toys and for me to be too tired to constantly keep them organized and off the floor, for there to be a crack in the ceiling from water damage from the bathtub upstairs where the boys have splashed too much...these are all signs of happy, healthy lives in my house! 
7. You can never have enough prayer warriors in your life...but sometimes you have to be more transparent to allow people to specifically pray for you or to be able to specifically pray for others. Don’t be afraid/ashamed to share your mishaps with others because your story of redemption may be exactly what they need to hear. 
8. Working full time is a blessing, but time with my family should never suffer because of it. “I wish I had worked more and spent less time with my family,” has never been on anyone’s tombstone. It’s ok to make less money and have a lower job title if it means having more time with your loved ones...that time with your cherished ones is priceless! 
9. Soccer seasons fly by and my kids are never going to be like Pele! We’ve had undefeated seasons as well as seasons split with wins and losses; my kids have had games when they’ve scored goals as well as games when their coaches are screaming at them to pay attention. For the record, I don’t feel they’ve always earned those trophies in spite of our “every kid gets a trophy” society. However, every season is unique and enjoyable! The feeling you get as a parent on the sideline cheering on your child as they score a goal is one of life’s greatest adrenaline rushes. Believe it or not, Tim actually missed coaching the 4/5 year olds during the spring season when he transitioned to coaching Chase’s team with the 8/9 year-olds, but he’s already signed up to give the fall season another whirl with coaching Chase’s team again. Meanwhile, Gabe adjusted well for it being his first time not having his Dad coach him. (Refer back to #1-praise God, my kids are adaptable!) 
10. When a child has to pee really badly while standing in a line at Water Country and suddenly says they don’t have to pee anymore, don’t believe them when they say that it’s just water running down their leg. (True story from Gabriel.) 
11. Clear retainers can still be found when lost on a playground at a daycare! (True story from Chase shortly after getting his bottom braces off and getting his retainer.) 
12. Last but not least, I’ll never be coordinated enough to look cool doing the Floss. I’m ok with being the one moving to the right when everyone else in my exercise classes are moving to the left. I’m fine with not updating my Facebook profile picture very often or posting endless selfies...I’m almost 37 years old; you know what I look like by now. I don’t need a constant stream of affirmation from others to make me feel better about myself because God has already convinced me that I’m worthy because of Him! A bonus one (#13): the crusade to use sunblock and fight off those nasty cancerous cells is great. I certainly don’t want skin cancer for me or my fellow pale loved ones and it honestly scares me to see people even my age already getting cancerous cells removed, .....BUT, a little Vitamin D is still good for the soul. As Faith Outreach’s summer camp motto goes, have “fun in the Son!”

First Quarter of 2018

Hardy Elementary had a Kindergarten Expo on March 30th. Gabriel got to tell everyone all he learned about rainforests.

Chase loved doting on his great Aunt Lynn's dog Isabel. 

Our first big snow of the year in January

From the snow to the sand...this picture was taken at the beach of Fort Boykin

One of my favorite pictures of the boys this winter that Tim snapped while we were on a walk at Windsor Castle Park. 

In front of the big fish tank at Bass Pro Shop

Chase, Jaycee and Gabe playing on Papa's iPAD...sometimes we have to pry the boys away from electronics

Gabe at the YMCA taking swim lessons this winter

"Dress like an Animal Day" at school during Spirit Week...Gabe was a wolf. 

Valentine's Day cards, Honor Roll and Reading Awards

We are over a quarter of the way through 2018! No need for me to even say that time flies since my last post was in December of 2017. I also don’t need to go into the usual spell about how busy we’ve been because that’s the norm for us. Even though I also probably don’t need to go into how cold the winter was, I’ll still do that as it gives me yet another thing to Praise the Lord for now that spring is here. The first snow storm of the year hit shortly after the kids returned to school after Christmas break, but we had a couple more after that and a few nor’easters that brought about chilly, windy weather. I lost count of how many snow days the boys had off from school this year. Thankfully, Isle of Wight County hasn’t forced any make-up school days into the schedule.

Fast forward a few months and here we are at spring break. Winter has not wanted to leave us as we’ve still had some chilly days so far this spring, but we can rest assured that warm days are ahead of us. I decided to take off a full week to be with the boys for their spring break this year.  I’m so thankful I did as it gives me the opportunity to document how our year has gone so far and how much we’ve all grown in different ways.

So, let’s start with the head of the household, Tim.  He finally broke down and sold our beloved 2000 Tahoe this winter. I thought I was going to cry when we sold it since we made so many memories with that truck, but surprisingly I held up well when I realized that Tim got almost the full price he asked for it.  Besides, it’s hard to get all bent out of shape when you replace a 2000 Tahoe with a 2017 Chevy 2500 LTZ diesel truck.  Tim is thrilled with his new ride!  We are indeed blessed and thankful to have newer vehicles in our driveway.

As for me, I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of an incredible women’s bible study group here in Smithfield on Monday nights.  I was already in one last year, but we transitioned leaders of the group.  When this leadership change was taking place, we lost a few of our old members and the new leader and I got a little concerned since our numbers were down.  However, since then, God has brought in many new members and we are now larger than we were before…but, it’s not the numbers that make this group special; it’s how the Holy Spirit works through each of us and how we can each use our talents and prayers to encourage one another.  Plus, we can never study or know enough about God’s word because it’s His Living Word that is constantly feeding us what we need at specific times in our lives. Before I get too preachy, I’ll just say once again that I’m very blessed to be a part of this bible study and it has been one of the highlights so far of my year.  Aside from that, most of my other time during the weekdays is consumed with work and trying to sneak in exercise classes after work a couple times a week before heading home to help the boys with their reading homework. 

One of Chase’s highlights this year is getting his top braces off…but, he’s not out of the woods yet as he just got his bottom braces put on and he will probably need another round of braces for the top teeth as his permanent teeth gradually replace the baby ones.  However, he’s handled the braces like a champ and seems to be confident with his new smile. Chase certainly isn’t lacking any confidence with his social skills as he often talks too much.  In spite of getting called down for too much talking and giggling during class a few times this school year, he has still managed to consistently make the Honor Roll. Chase has always been smart and now he is also mastering the art of sarcasm, which keeps Tim and me on our toes. Our eldest offspring will soon be 9 years old.  He keeps trying to convince us that he will be old enough for us to get him a dog as soon as he hits double digits, so we have a year to combat that idea.

The baby of our family was somewhat reserved when he first started Kindergarten last fall, but he has socially bloomed into a confident little boy.  Gabriel’s speech as evolved to the point where we’re pretty sure he won’t require it anymore next school year.  In fact, he is currently only meeting with his speech teacher once a month and it is just for a brief 15 minutes or so for her to just talk to him and make sure he’s maintaining his skills. Even before he could fully verbalize it, we always knew Gabe had a strong personality and was quite the character.  His latest thing is taking dry erase markers (thank God we got away from using the permanent ones) to draw mustaches and abs on himself so he can imagine that he’s the Incredible Hulk or some other character.  During the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang this year, he asked us why people were going to “Pee-on-Chang.”  Right before Spring Break, I asked him if he was excited to have a full week off from school and his response was, “how many years do I have off?”  Our almost 6 year old boy keeps us rolling with laughter as he has the perfect combination of wit and innocence.  Oftentimes, Chase gets jealous when we laugh at Gabe, but any parent with more than one child can attest that you love your children equally and they each have a unique personality that you adore. 

Both of our boys are beginning another season of soccer.  Tim is coaching Chase’s team this season, so the biggest challenge will be to get Chase to remain focused rather than use soccer practice and games as his social time.  We are also anxious to see how Gabe will do playing his first season without Tim as his coach.  Gabe has a tendency to be a sore loser, so we hope he won’t throw tantrums on the field with another coach.  It was easy for Tim to nip it in the bud when he coached him.  Aside from soccer, Gabe successfully completed Stage 2 swim lessons at the YMCA this winter.  We hope both boys will be ready to tackle the pool without any flotation devices this summer.  

As we close out this spring break, I’m reflecting on how thankful I am that I’ve had this week off with the boys.  I’ve found myself guilty in the past of working too many long hours, accumulating too many unspent vacation hours and missing out on spending this quality, precious time with them.  I’m trying to break the trend of working too much and not spending enough time with my children.  Although I’m beyond thankful for my job and I actually enjoy working, taking a day off to accompany one of the boys on their field trips (like I did for Gabe for his field trip to the VA Living Museum in March) is far more important as there will come a day when those field trips are a thing in the past and the boys won’t be so excited to have me around.  This week I’ve had the opportunity to remind myself how priceless this time is with the boys.

This is how I cherished the moments this week:

Saturday, March 31^st—the boys got to go to Swader’s (a place with go-karts and arcades) while Pam, Amber and I got to see the Broadway Dirty Dancing show in Richmond (this was Pam’s birthday gift even though her birthday was back in January).

Sunday, April 1^st—got to spend Easter with my family doing the traditional egg hunts and egg coloring.  What a beautiful day it was to celebrate our Resurrected Savior!  My mom’s first cousin Alice and her husband Robert paid us a surprise visit to spend Easter weekend with us.

Monday, April 2^nd—went for a walk around the neighborhood with the former leader of my bible study group on Monday morning and Gabe had a play-date with his friend in the afternoon.  I also spent some time organizing Chase’s clothes and packing away the items he has outgrown.

Tuesday, April 3^rd—got to go to Busch Gardens for the first time this season.  The park was super busy, but we made it our mission for Chase to ride Griffon for the first time.  He can now say he’s ridden every roller coaster at Busch Gardens.  Gabe got to ride his very first “big” rollercoaster: Verbolten.  His reaction at first was that he was born “weddy” (ready) to wide (ride), but by the time the coaster pulled back into the loading station he said that he never wanted to ride it again.  We’re confident he’ll warm back up to it with time.  Now that Gabe is tall enough this year, it’s exciting that all four of us can ride rollercoasters together.  I think the Sesame Street days at Busch Gardens are in the rear view mirror now. 

Wednesday, April 4^th—Happy Birthday to Papa (Ted Breeden)! We spent the day in Charlottesville with Tim’s grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins while Ted got an MRI for his back (not a fun birthday present).  With Tim’s grandparents having had several health scares lately, we wanted to make sure we could visit them over spring break not knowing if we’ll be given this opportunity again. 

Thursday, April 5^th—I used this day to catch up on chores around the house while the boys had a lazy day playing with their electronics.  We had soccer practice in the afternoon.  The first soccer game should start next weekend!  Go Pirates (Chase’s team) and Panthers (Gabe’s team)!

Friday, April 5^th—spent most of the day with Grandma (still holding strong at 92 years old!) and my mom.  I also got to do some shopping and had a lunch date with a dear friend.  The boys wanted to see Despicable Me 3 in the theater, but it was no longer playing there…but, it was on Netflix, so they still got to have a movie night at home. 

Saturday & Sunday, April 6^th & 7^th—concluded our spring break by attending a Laser Tag birthday party Saturday afternoon for one of Chase’s friends.  After the party, Tim and I treated ourselves to a hibachi/sushi dinner…the boys fought over chopsticks most of the time…this is why Tim and I don’t go out to dinner very often with the boys.  Tim worked both Saturday and Sunday.  I took the boys to church this morning and served in the nursery taking care of 3 year-olds.  After church, I did my best to prep meals ahead of time for the week to make the transition back to work this week less hectic.  I just wrapped up the day with a walk around the neighborhood with a friend.  As I was walking on this bright, sunny day, I couldn’t help but think of the hymn “It is Well.”  In spite of not wanting this spring break to end and knowing there may be challenges ahead as I go back to work and the boys go back to school this week, “It is Well with My Soul.” 

2017 in a Nutshell

We visited Busch Gardens Christmastown for the first time this year! Chase was disappointed there weren't many rides open, but the beautiful lights made the night worthwhile. We even snuck in the "Scrooge No More" show. 

This picture made our 2017 Christmas card stating we are dysfunctional at times but we are always joyful in Christ. The picture was taken Thanksgiving Day.

Chase's short lived martial arts experience

The boys' school pictures were taken back in September (bad lighting since this is a picture of a picture). They've already changed so much since then, especially Chase with having his braces and a new haircut now. 

I love seeing the boys in their matching PJs...this may be the last year I can get Chase to do this. 

A big smile on Chase as he arrives at school on the first day on the school bus.

A fierce Batman and Skull Ninja

This picture was taken when Gabe got his first metal at school for reading 100 steps (one step = 15 minutes of reading). He's covering his metal in this picture and the lanyard blends in with his red shirt, but it's there and he's proud of it!

The beginning of fall with leaves turning and falling...this picture was taken after church on one beautiful Sunday

A good Christmas morning includes messy hair, PJs, and big smiles.

One of Gabe's favorite gifts from Auntie Amber: a Home Depot leaf blower and toy chainsaw set. 

Do you ever receive Christmas cards with those letters inside where friends and family brag on their loved ones and accomplishments for another year? I see nothing wrong with these letters, but I do find myself rolling my eyes from time to time because life isn’t always as peachy keen as those letters depict. I use my blog to recap the year and brag on my family too, only I also include the bloopers that occurred as I feel it’s a better representation of reality. As I mentioned in my last post, it’s through those mishaps that we truly learn those important life lessons. It’s also those imperfect moments through which we can live, laugh, and love.

2017 was by far the quickest year of my life. As cliche as it sounds, it’s a fact: the years truly do go by faster as we get older. Although it was a lightning-fast year, it was a good one. I won’t recap the whole year because past 2017 blog postings tell the story. However, I will recap the last third of the year since my last posting was before school started (wow!).

As a family, we experienced a pretty big transition switching the boys over from a private Christian school to Isle of Wight County public schools after Labor Day. This transition entailed not only a new school for the boys, but a new childcare provider before and after school hours. Thankfully, these changes went over fairly smoothly and the boys handled them with God’s grace. As soon as they walked into Kids Come First (their new before/after school childcare provider), they blended right in and talked with the staff as though they had always attended there.

They also got adjusted to Hardy Elementary pretty quickly. For Gabe, it wasn’t as big of a deal because he had been going there for speech since he was 3 years old. Kindergarten was going to be a big new experience for him regardless of which school he attended, but I’m thankful to say he’s done even better than expected at Hardy. He is already reading small books on his own and scored above average for math at his age. Another huge bragging moment (drumroll, please): Gabe’s speech has improved so much that he only needs to go twice a month now! This time last year we were still going twice a week! Amazing progress! His teacher believes he won’t need any more speech therapy after this school year. What a huge blessing that is considering he was so inarticulate at age 3!

On the other hand, Chase has never struggled with speech, except in the sense that he doesn’t know when to stop it. Although he has made the honor roll so far since he’s been at Hardy, he at first struggled with rushing through assignments too much and socializing instead of listening to the teacher’s instructions. He is learning to slow down and listen better, but there’s no changing the fact that he’s a social butterfly. He gave martial arts a try for 5 weeks (about 10 sessions), but it didn’t take long for him to realize that it wasn’t a social sport. After his sensei had to reprimand him for not being focused enough and goofing off too much during multiple lessons, we decided martial arts wasn’t Chase’s forte. He may want to try it again in the future when he can take it more seriously, but for now, he’s going to stick with soccer.

Speaking of soccer, Tim’s team the Pirates went undefeated for another season in the fall. Gabe scored several goals and seems to finally be getting the hang of the sport. Chase’s team didn’t do as well, but they still had a blast playing. Both boys are going to play spring soccer in 2018 and Tim is going to test out his luck coaching the 8/9 year-olds for the first time.

In the meanwhile, Gabe is signed up for swim lessons this winter at the Smithfield YMCA. I offered swim lessons and swim team to Chase, but he swears he is already an Olympic swimmer and doesn’t need any improvement. So, Chase is just going to wait out the winter and look forward to soccer practices beginning in March.

We had an exciting fall with soccer season and typical autumn festivities. We went trunk-or-treating at First Baptist in Hopewell and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood in Smithfield. Gabe dressed up as Batman at his school and was Robin for going around the neighborhood. Chase was a ninja. We enjoyed celebrating the many fall birthdays in our family. Tim and I also got to sneak in a date day/night at Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream. We concluded the fall with Thanksgiving with Tim’s family in Hopewell. We celebrated with my family the Friday after Thanksgiving.

That brings us up to one of our favorite times of year as a family: Christmas! I’m sad that it came and went so quickly, but I’m also excited for all of the new adventures 2018 will bring. The boys had a fun Christmas and Santa was very good to them. We did the typical cookie baking, decorating the house and trees and attending Christmas Eve service at church. Gabe’s offering during the service was that he farted and proudly announced it. I don’t think anyone else noticed outside of Tim and me, but that was quite an embarrassing Hallelujah moment.

Of course Christmas to us also means spending time with family. Unfortunately, one of the cornerstones of our family (Grandma) got sick on Christmas Eve with flu-like symptoms and spent most of her day in the ER. She was unable to join us Christmas Day, but she is better now and we were able to visit her on Friday to exchange gifts with her. She said even though she was sick on Christmas Day, she enjoyed the peace and was able to rest and reflect on the true meaning of the holidays (JESUS!) without having all of the chaos of family being around. I can’t help but wonder if this was God’s way of preparing us for future Christmases without Grandma with us...as much as I hate to ponder the thought of losing her, I have to remind myself that she is almost 92 years old. She is amazingly healthy for her age and gets around well, but she’s had a few more scares within the last year.

Along those lines, we never know what lies ahead of us...we could live to be 92 like Grandma or die tomorrow. With that said, let’s make every day count in 2018 as though we could be Heaven-bound at any moment! If you're unsure if you'll be Heaven-bound when you die, don't delay believing in Christ as your Savior and committing to Him in 2018...I can assure you the Christian life isn't always easy, but there's immeasurable peace and joy that accompany it! Happy New Year!

2017 Summer Bloopers

Chase's picture made the Richmond Times! This was from the Chesterfield County Fair magic show. 

Chase got to ride Alpengeist for the first time this summer (rollercoaster at Busch Gardens that has a snow ski theme)

On top of the Hatteras Lighthouse on our 16th wedding anniversary

My silly Gabe

Enjoying the waves in OBX. Rock on!

Gabe, Bella, and Chase in Auntie Laurie's pool; we were celebrating all of the summer birthdays 

Made in the USA!

Probably one of my favorite pics from summer with Tim's family in Snowshoe, WV over the 4th of July holiday

Gabe, Jaycee and Chase enjoying the pool at Smithfield Swim Club; we were celebrating Tim's birthday (and mine) with his family

These two can conquer the world! They can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens them. (Phil 4:13)

Instead of one of my traditional blog postings, I figured it would be more fun to just note the summer mishaps, but with a positive spin. We live in a world with enough negativity so I always say we should make lemonade out of the lemons life throws at us. I hope you enjoy reading the following bloopers as much as I enjoyed living them.

• Crappy Summer Part 3: I'll forewarn you that this first blooper is gross, but I still find it hilarious. For some crazy reason, my kids and my niece think it's an adventure to do #2 in the backyard at my grandmother's house. There are a few logical reasons for this; for one, kids get to playing and having fun outside and don't want to interrupt the momentum by having to run inside when nature calls. Second, my grandmother keeps the bathroom door shut and locked in the house so the little kids can't get in there and decide to have a play date with the toilet; with that said, the older kids don't feel like going through the hassle of having to ask an adult to unlock the door when they're in a rush to take care of business. It started a few summers ago with my niece pooping in the backyard and of course denying it. Chase thought the scenario was hilarious so he did the same thing last summer. Somehow an imaginary stray dog always got blamed even though there are no roaming dogs in my grandmother's neighborhood to my knowledge that have ever jumped the fence to get to the backyard.  The tradition has continued into this summer with someone doing it again, but of course none of the kids fessed up right away. The older kids decided to blame Gabe, but he said there was no way he could have done it because his "products" weren't that big and they were more green in color (the brutal honesty in this situation kills me). We finally narrowed it down to Bella who was already punished enough by stepping in her own poop. Somehow, she's the kid every summer that steps in poop even if she wasn't the one who dealt it. Anyhow, which kid is going to carry on this crappy tradition next summer?
• Our past annual OBX trips have been tainted by a variety of issues: a cooler of ours getting stolen with our whole week's worth of food (this dates back to our camping days), a flat tire, a broken half axle, a hurricane (or two), a tropical storm, and just several days of rain from some other storm systems.This year we faced a different challenge. With all of the construction going on with the new Bonner Bridge, the construction workers accidentally drove a steel casing through the transmission cables that connect power from Nags Head to Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. Sooo, the southern OBX islands had no power while we were there. Unfortunately, the damaged cables weren't a quick fix and the power outage occurred for several days (it ended up being a full week), so we decided to cut short our vacation. We toughed out one hot, sticky night in our motel but still got in some beach time. The day after we left a mandatory evacuation was in place for all Hatteras Island visitors so we made the right call by leaving early. Sometimes we just have to laugh at the OBX curse that seems to strike us every year during our vacation. However, God blessed Tim and me with a gorgeous 16th anniversary trip at the beach at the end of August...the pirate cursed is finally broken!
• Gabe's life continues to be a musical. This little boy sings all of the time. He was even singing and dancing in the orthodontist office. There's nothing like hearing a 5-year old break it down in a waiting room with, "someone call 911. Shortie fire burning on the dance floor, whoooa!" Or how about being serenaded by, "I beweive I can fwy..." while you're grocery shopping? He also sang "I Believe I Can Fly" while he was jumping at the bounce-house in Williamsburg...very fitting song as he jumped high!
• Going along with the last bullet about the serenading at the orthodontist office, Chase is actually excited to get braces and was bummed out that he didn't get them right away at his first orthodontist appointment. He was equally bummed that he still doesn't need glasses at his recent eye doctor's appointment. Since when are kids excited about braces and glasses? I'm just thankful he can see clearly as braces have already put enough of a dent in our pocket. He gets his upper braces put on at the end of September and already has the expanders in place. So far, he has handled his expanders like a champ. 
• There's nothing better than relaxing poolside with your arms up over your head all to realize you forgot to shave one of your armpits. Yep, that happened to me. Amazon Lady!
• Although we thankfully haven't had a busy hurricane season on the east coast so far (and we're praying Irma stays away), I have a tornado that hits my home several times a day: Gabriel Lee Breeden! I've given up on trying to keep the boys' toys organized. Right now, I'm lucky if I can just keep them off the floor. For instance, I used to keep each Lego set in specific box or zip-lock bag, but Gabe keeps integrating Legos with everything else so I've let go of some of that Type A behavior of mine. Tim was sweet enough to surprise me one morning while I worked by having the boys organize their toys downstairs and purge the ones they no longer wanted. This was a step in the right direction since toys have taken over nearly every room of the house. I had the boys do the same thing the following weekend with the toys upstairs so we're slowly but surely making progress.
• Chase is addicted to watching screaming goat videos on YouTube. I don't know what's funnier: the screaming goats or hearing Chase roar with laughter watching them. 
• I've been lecturing Gabe on how he needs to stop whining about brushing his teeth and do a thorough job or else his teeth will fall out. As he discovered his first loose tooth this month, he freaked out and started crying and ran to me saying, "I don't want to lose all of my teeth. I'll do a better job brushing." 
• I more or less scared Gabe out of looking outside at all during the day of the solar eclipse with all of the warnings about how staring at the sun for too long can damage your eyes. He said, "I just wish this day was over," the day before the eclipse. Better to be safe than sorry. 
• Chase is interested in magic tricks and optical illusions. He even got to be a part of a magic show at the Chesterfield County Fair and his picture made the Richmond Times newspaper! His little brother has already figured out a few of his tricks and called him out on them, but Chase is still determined that he is a good magician.
• After doing yoga and a few cardio classes this summer, I was feeling pretty good about myself....until Gabe pointed at my "abs" (hey, I think I have at least the top two) while we were in line at Water Country and said in disgust, "oooooh." There's nothing more awakening than a child's brutal honesty. Of course I took the high road and told Gabe that he was the reason my belly wasn't a washboard. 
• Last but not least, for some unknown reason, the boys started referring to their rear orifice as "Tina." I have no idea where they got the name "Tina" and why they have linked it to their "bung-hole." They also sing some made up song that goes, "Tina, weena, Tina..."

The bloopers of our lives go on and on and I know there will be many more as we enter fall and get into the back-to-school groove. We have lots of adjustments and transitions coming with the boys starting a new school tomorrow and a new childcare center for before/after school. I can choose to get all worked up about it like so many other parents do or I can just roll with the punches and trust that God's got this! I'm going with the latter option as we begin exciting fall adventures with a new school, a new childcare center, a new soccer season, etc. I think the key to life is to learn to soak in the new and unplanned-not-so-pleasant moments, to learn to laugh at yourself, and to seek God's face during life's bloopers instead of going the anxious route...that's when you experience true joy and peace! 

Spring to Summer Whirlwind

Happy Father's Day, Tim! Tim pictured with Chase and Gabe by Connor's tree

My little wolves at Great Wolf Lodge

Same picture as above with more muted lighting (couldn't decide which one I liked better)

My neighbor was kind enough to pass along this picture she snapped of a rainbow over our house

Gabriel standing in line for the Grover rollercoaster at Busch Gardens

Chase opening up gifts for his 8th birthday (at Grandma's house)

Just a tad worn out after the Monsters on the Beach show and visiting with Auntie Amber

Not the clearest picture, but I'm sure you can guess which one is Gabriel at his preschool presentation

I posted pictures of snow in my last blog posting and here we are entering the summer season! This blog posting title is more than appropriate because life has felt like a whirlwind with how quickly it seems time is passing. Like it or not, here we are at the official start of summer! Before another season comes and goes, let me share some highlights from the past 3 months. 

Chase and Gabe turned another year older. I know that sounds like such a basic, simple statement, but every year is such a blessing. Chase turned 8 on 4/22 and Gabe turned 5 on 4/21. We had more subdued birthday parties for them this year, but they were still just as special and enjoyable as in past years. Instead of having big parties, we enjoyed spending Easter weekend with Tim’s family and the boys’ real birthday weekend with my family at my grandmother’s house.  We also took the boys to Busch Gardens for the first time this year on Good Friday. The boys also got to see Monsters on the Beach again this year with their cousins (Kenden and Jaycee), so they had plenty of attention and fun attractions surrounding their birthday timeframe. Since then, we’ve been to Busch Gardens two more times and Water Country once, so the boys haven’t had any shortage of fun activities.

The boys completed another school-year at Faith Outreach Education Center (FOEC). Chase had perfect attendance and straight A's the last semester of school. So proud! Gabe is now a preschool graduate! The end of the year preschool presentation at FOEC was adorable. Gabe's class sang a couple of songs and demonstrated all they had learned. Gabe even read a short sentence out loud during the presentation; that's no small feat for a freshly-turned 5 year-old who has overcome a severe speech delay. He will still require speech next school year but we praise God for how far he's come since we first started speech therapy over two years ago.

That brings me to my next big news (well, it's big to the boys and me). After much prayer and consideration, we've decided the boys will go to public school next year at Hardy Elementary in Smithfield. There are several reasons for this decision: 

1. Gabe will still require speech therapy and he already has an education plan (IEP) established through IOW County schools. Since we live in Smithfield, speech is of no extra cost to us (just part of being a tax paying citizen). He absolutely loves his speech teacher and has been seeing her since he was 3 years old. Once he begins Kindergarten in the fall, he will resume speech with the same teacher and speech will be integrated with his other classes at Hardy Elementary as part of his normal school-week. No more having to leave work early to pick him up in Hampton and rush him to speech class in Smithfield twice a week. 
2. As much as I hate to face reality, my mom and grandmother aren't getting any younger and I feel they need a break from taking care of so many grandkids at one time. They will still be watching my younger nieces and nephews as far as I know, so it won't yet be an empty nest for them. However, I still think having two less children will ease some of the workload for them. I still have to iron out the details of where the kids will attend before/after school care, but I have my eyes on a few places/programs.
3. I also feel it's time for us to get more connected in our own community. Even though we've lived in Smithfield since 2002, we're just now starting to get more involved with the community--having kids sort of forced that through sports and other activities. One of the many things that attracted us to Smithfield was the small-town feel of it. Although this little town has grown like crazy since we moved here, it's still not so big that our kids will just be another face in the crowd. I still feel like they will get plenty of one on one attention at their new school. 
4. To go along with my third reason, I think it will be good for the boys to have more diversity and friends to surround them. Although FOEC is an incredible God-loving school with an awesome staff, it is pretty small in size and I remember Chase saying a time or two that he wished he had more friends in his class. Both boys will have plenty of new friends and more activities to dive into in the years to come.

Before I get too far ahead of myself talking about another school-year, let’s enjoy another summer season! The boys are still attending summer camp at FOEC and getting to do lots of fun things throughout the week; they’ve already had field trips to various parks, to the movies, to the bounce house, and to the aquatic center. They also get to do water days at school and many arts and crafts. FOEC also did an end of the year trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Tim, the boys, and I got to stay there overnight and enjoy the water park.  We had so much fun. The only downer was that we had to get up early the following morning to rush the boys to their soccer games. This soccer season dragged out into mid-June due to several rained out games earlier in the season. Chase’s team Orange Crush concluded their season two weeks ago since they lost their tournament game. Orange Crush won a few games, but this season wasn’t quite like last year’s season with the Dolphins taking it all the way to the finals. Same goes for Tim’s team the Pirates; they won a few games, but didn’t go undefeated like they did in the fall season.  However, each season is fun and unique as we get the opportunity to meet new young soccer players and their parents; we also enjoy seeing returning players and getting to reconnect with parents we’ve already met in past seasons.  Tim has definitely found his niche with the 4/5 year-olds and I’m sure he’ll coach again in the fall. He is patient and very good at herding those kittens.

We have lots of exciting things planned for this summer including more trips to Busch Gardens, Water Country, OBX, and Snowshoe, West Virginia. Then of course, there’s Smithfield Swim Club right around the corner from our house too. The boys are now old enough to ride their bikes there (with adult supervision, of course). Gabe still isn’t quite ready for the training wheels to be removed. My hope is that he’ll be able to ride with no training wheels soon and swim in the pool without his swim vest by the end of summer. However, I’m in no hurry for my baby boy to grow up any faster than he already has…be still, my heart. Time, slow down!

Tim and I are still working hard in between all of the fun things we like to do with the boys this time of year. Truth be known, we are big kids at heart and we enjoy all of the summer activities just as much (if not more) as the kids do.  Tim continues to squeeze in as many overtime hours as his schedule will allow. Outside of work and running the kids around, I try to walk a couple days a week with my walking buddy in the neighborhood. I’m proud to say I survived a cardio exercise last week and I’m going to try to stick with it and yoga a couple times a week to stay in shape (preferably not round) this summer. I’m also still attending bible studies on Monday nights with several ladies here in Smithfield—what a blessing it’s been to get to study God’s word and connect with ladies from all walks in life. It’s just the encouragement I need on a Monday beginning a new work-week. You can never have too many prayer warriors in your life!  

Soak up the blessings this summer. Don’t rush time and miss the rainbows (like in the picture) that are in the midst of stormy seasons in life…the sun is still shining behind the clouds to make that rainbow!