two sleeping brothers…..

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Shanda

This morning began in the middle of the night when Sarah knocked politely at our door. I opened it to hear her request, “Can I sleep on the couch?” She was still sick. When my children aren’t feeling well they sleep on the couch. When my children are bothered by their siblings, they sleep on the couch. When my children are watching a show on TV they will periodically fall asleep on the couch, especially the teenagers. If you are in the market to buy a couch, by all means, make sure it is one that is comfortable enough to also be a bed!

At the true beginning of the day, as is typical, I got up to drink that first cuppa, and get the children off to school. Sarah’s face was hot with fever, so as soon as the children left for the day, I gathered up my journals, books, drink for Sarah, cool washcloth for Sarah, and settled down to spend the entire morning next to her. When she’s sick she feels so much better with me close by.

I finished writing a note to a friend, addressed it, stamped it, and the phone rang. It was 7:30 in the morning and the school nurse was calling to let me know that Grace was in her office, with problems with dizziness. She said it had happened the night before as well, so I quickly woke up Myriah (our lovely houseguest for the week) to watch Sarah for me and pulled on my sneakers to get Grace.

These headaches/dizziness/vision issues have been going on for several years. They happen probably about once a month, but Grace’s concern has been growing to the point of firm belief that something was surely WRONG with her. I understood her concern but truly believed that she was wearing herself out with her hard work ethic at school and not drinking enough water. But, because she was concerned (calm, but worried) and her teacher and friends were very concerned, I felt that I must get her checked out. We went to the ER so she could have blood drawn and we could receive the answers right then and there. There was a chance of perhaps a vitamin deficiency, too. We have a small hospital nearby and in just a few hours Grace had the tests done, and a bag of fluids, as well.

Everything came back normal, praise the Lord, and we came home just thankful to know that it was a simple matter of dehydration and that it is unfortunately just her body’s way of dealing with stress, with headaches. Poor girl. I have a friend who gets terrible stomach aches when she’s overwhelmed. I myself get a little loopy/mental/anxious. One of my brothers gets heart palpitations. My daughter gets headaches. It is an ongoing valuable lesson for her in learning how to take care of herself BEFORE she gets sick. Oh but guess what? The nurse found out that Grace wants to work with the deaf after she graduates and low and behold she herself used to be a school nurse AT A LOCAL school for the deaf!! She said, “Oh they would just LOVE you! You should go and volunteer! Tell ‘so and so’ that Nurse Sarah sent you!” So God gave Grace that encouraging bit of information to go home with, too.

We came home, I held Sarah in my arms, and we all watched “Little Women”, the one with Wynona Ryder in it. Myriah was disturbed by Jo’s final choice in love…..he seemed much too old for Jo, in her opinion. But all in all, it was a great movie. I myself have seen it about 10 times. It’s perfect.

After the movie was over I drove through the cold bitter rain to pick Dave up from newspaper club. Since it was soon time for Jacob to be done at track practice, we went to the library to wait for his call. I checked out two Anne Lamott books, based on my friend Lea Ann’s recent recommendations, and two books for Grace.

We picked up Jacob and made our way home. I was so very tired…..I started making enchiladas until I realized I didn’t have nearly enough cheddar cheese, so I put the ground beef (cooked) back in the fridge and made chicken instead.

After eating, we all sat on the couch and watched Phineas and Ferb until Myriah had to leave with friends.

Caleb and Seth went downstairs to play.

David made a gun that really and truly shoots — out of Legos — and started making a mask out of an empty gallon jug and paper mache.

Rich came home around 6:30 and I sat at the counter with him as he ate.

At 7 we watched Jeopardy while Grace read her book, the boys slept, Caleb worked on his football cards, and Seth colored.

When Seth was done coloring, he got up in my lap and let out a series of complaints until bedtime, which came a lot quicker because if it. He didn’t want to go to school. He needed a break. He wanted basketball cards of his own. He didn’t want to go to bed by himself. He DID want to go to bed by himself. The poor boy was exhausted, so Rich got him all ready and tucked him in.

Sarah filled her arms with stuffed animals and asked me to tuck her in. For whatever reason she does not like her Dad doing it. At this point she goes to bed with about 10 stuffed animals, all as special as can be. I made up a silly song, pretending to be the Choir of Stuffed Animals singing a song to Sarah, and she laughed.

The guys are awake now and playing their video game with Rich. I decided to blog before bed and simply record the day.

I opened a new batch of kombucha this evening. Blackberry Sage. It’s not only beautiful but delicious, too.

This picture is from yesterday of Sarah snuggled up to Myriah, Seth, and Ethan.

Be still my heart.

Caleb is obsessed with football and football cards nowadays.

Caleb is nine and just started his card collection 2 weeks ago. Seth is six and now begging to collect basketball cards but I am saying no for now because “you can’t read very well yet”. You see, most of the fun Caleb has with his cards is reading and studying them…..Seth doesn’t agree with me, and took matters into his own hands by starting a card collection OF HIS OWN ARTISTIC CREATION. Adorable.

David’s mask progress.

Grace is moving right along with her book, she was especially thrilled to discover that the main boy character is a wrestler (like her brothers). She read part of it out loud to us. She has had quite the day but is feeling so much better, although her arms hurt. They had to stick her twice to get the IV in.

I’ve been stimulated enough by my family for one day so I’m all alone, ready to open up a book and fall asleep while reading it.

Peace, love, joy, and prayers to anyone who reads this! I would love to hear from you in the comments!

*****

“Grace can be the experience of a second wind when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang on.” Anne Lamott

easter 2015

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Shanda

Glorious Easter! The day all the world is reminded of the amazing hope we have, because of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross and *not staying dead* but rising again the third day. Up from the grave He arose! And because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, I can also live forever and ever……. and someday soon, because life is short, I will see Him, and know Him, and be home. Oh I can’t wait for that day….that “can’t wait” feeling is HOPE, glorious resurrection hope. Thank you, Jesus.

I woke up this morning at 6 and found Jacob frying himself some eggs, Davy ready to chat with me, and Grace sick to her stomach but saying she was fine and going to school regardless. (She is way too responsible for her own good.) I served cereal, started the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, folded three loads of it at the couch, drank coffee, made myself a couple of eggs and shared them with Seth, gathered up homework and bags for the elementary school boys, and sent five children off to school.

I’m still in my pj’s, feeling rather sleepy, I’m in bed with Miss Sarah. We are under the down comforter and she’s snuggled up close enough so I can play with her hair, she’s sucking her finger and feeling the tag on her new stuffed animal. It’s cozy with my little sunshine girl, listening to the washer and dryer hum.

I found this old snapshot of the kids, taken in our old neighborhood. Caleb was a baby and not in the photo. Grace is wearing her flower girl dress and Jake and E are dressed exactly the same, and standing exactly the same, too. Little Davy has such a sweet smile on his face. Isn’t it funny how a simple picture can make a person happy and sad at the same time? I remember how Grace, at this age, used to hate getting sun in her eyes, and was very sensitive about outdoor photography, you can see it in her face in this picture, too.

They are growing up but Grace wore a white dress again this year.

Thank you to Mike for taking these portraits yesterday morning before church.

Outside, we gathered up the family and I said, “come on let’s act like we love each other!” which prompted Seth to put his arm around me and melt against my leg……sweet, sweet love of a little son.

We went to church….I can’t think of a better day to attend a church service….and then when we came back home we didn’t eat a ham dinner.

We ate pizza!

Here is a photo of all my children yesterday when we got back home. I wouldn’t let them in the house until I took a picture of them all….my own offspring plus Jacob’s girlfriend Emily (red sweater), and Myriah (white jacket), a young family friend who lives in Virginia and came to visit us during her spring break. She will be here all week.

I spent five dollars on the actual baskets from our local thrift store, and I put jelly bean filled eggs in each one, with a gift. I accidentally bought two bags of very SOUR jelly beans but the children still liked them. Seth had matchbox cars, David and Caleb had sticky bugs that they could shoot with their finger at the windows, Sarah had a stuffed animal, and the older teens each received a pair of new socks. Simple, but enough to keep them all excited about the day.

We had my sister’s dog-baby all weekend, too. His name is Lloyd and he is a labradoodle. Isn’t he adorable? Rich called him Rug and told me that Rug looked just like me what with the brown curls. He was a lot of fun to have in the house with us, such a cute puppy. David was the one in charge of him, while Uncle Jason and Aunt Amanda were away for Easter. He is back home now and Seth asked me if we could please get a rug.

Emily had Easter dinner at her grandparent’s house and took Caleb with her (heart melts). The rest of us made homemade pizza……

It was non-stop activity in the kitchen for a long time as I made a ton of pizza dough and the kids each made a pizza of their own. Jacob was a slow perfectionist over his pizza, causing great amusement, but his hard work paid off because YUM YUM it was good. Myriah made a pizza for the first time and did so good, it was amusing to see her press the dough around on the oily pan trying not to touch it with her long fingernails. Grace made a pizza with salami as a topping and she used cookie cutters to make the salami pretty. Seth made a crazy-shaped stuffed crust pizza that was thin on one side and thick on the other. Ethan and David each chopped up their own fresh garlic and made clam pizzas. It was awesome.

We cleaned up the kitchen and then watched a movie. Some of the kids fell asleep and the rest of us went outside after the movie was done, to get some fresh air. By the way, it snowed yesterday. But spring is coming and there are signs of it everywhere, it’s just very late this year.

One last picture of Lloyd!

I hope you all had a nice Easter, and have a Happy Monday!

We are loved.

my hair

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Shanda

photo by Jacob (8:00 this morning):: for Brenda, because she asked!

I had it colored, layered, and dried nicely. The whole operation almost made me fall asleep right there in the chair.

Happy Friday, friends.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Shanda

with lots of love!

how to get a free coffee

Video

(sharing just for fun, not to recommend thievery!)

1. you must have mama-brain, you must go through a drive-thru
2. order the coffee, and order other things
3. when they hand you your coffee first, take it, put it in your cup holder and forget you have it.
4. pay for food, wait for food
5. hand donut to child while continuing to wait for food.
6. when they say, “there you go, have a nice day” tell them they forgot to give you your coffee
7. receive free coffee
8. drive away

I’m seriously losing it! This was completely unintentional I would never steal!

The next time I go I’m going to tell them the story and pay for the extra one, I guess. That’s the honest thing to do, right? SO embarassing.

I showed Dave and he said I should do it again, only nine times, with hot chocolate.

this lady brought the boys home today

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Shanda

My head is heavy, I’m tired, I want to lay down right where I stand, to sleep. My heart hurts; Seth is starting Kindergarten in two days. My sadness is making me snap at the children when they make mistakes or turn the TV on — again. After watching an hour of “Arthur” this morning, I sent Caleb and Seth outside. They had plenty of energy to play “Jedi” without mercy, and Caleb slapped Seth’s upper arm very hard with his light Saber….I left the kitchen where I was helping a sick Sarah, and ran toward the screams. After yelling at Caleb about how I would prefer Seth not to start school with a huge bruise on his arm, I took Seth inside to run him a bath.

Caleb got busy making a plan to stay outside all day long. He wanted to pack stuff. “You may not pack stuff, but you may stay outside all day long, although I highly doubt that you will succeed,” I spoke with experience.

Seth overheard the conversation and immediately wanted to get out of the tub to join Caleb. Friends again so soon, I noticed.

Caleb made sandwiches, put them in his backpack. Seth got dressed. Neither one of them wore shoes. They told me later that they had mentioned to me that they were going for a walk. All I knew, and believed, was that they were going into the woods, to Lion King rock (they named it), to stay all day long.

I was troubled. Sarah had a fever. David had a Middle School Orientation. I checked the school website for the time, and located the class supplies list. Although I was tired, I knew I had to take him downtown to get his stuff for school. I took Ethan along, as well, leaving Grace in charge of Sarah. I told Jacob that the boys were playing in the woods and asked him to go check on them.

I was almost home when Jacob called and said he was on the adventure trail (we named that place, too), he had called them seven times, and there was no sign of them. Still trying to stay awake, I pulled into the driveway to be greeted by Grace.

“Mom, some lady just called and said she didn’t know us and we didn’t know her but she had two little boys with her.”

I stared at her. The sun was hot on the driveway. My hands were full of library books.

“She gave the phone to Caleb and I talked to him. They are fine. The lady asked if someone was home to get them and I said no, you were gone. I told her that Jacob would walk to get them and she said she didn’t want anyone walking that far and she didn’t want the little boys to walk that far. She’s bringing them home. And just so you know, she sounds like the type that is going to want an explanation about why two boys are walking in the woods so far from home.”

I got the phone to dial the last call received. A very old man answered. “I’m almost completely deaf and can’t hear too well. Did you say you are calling about two boys? Well, gee, it would have been better if you had come to get them. My wife doesn’t know the roads! Call back in half an hour!”

I hung up the phone, at a complete loss. The lady was already gone with my sons, I had no idea who she was, but judging by the conversation with her husband, I expected a poor old lady, all confused, with my two terrible children who were obviously also confused. They probably didn’t even know where they were! How could they explain the way home to someone who doesn’t know roads?

Grace said, “I’m sorry Mom that this had to happen.” I couldn’t speak. We stood in the driveway and waited. A car came and went on by. Then another.

“I hope and pray that’s them,” I said as the next car approached. And praise the Lord, it was.

“I just couldn’t let them try to walk! They walked so far already! It was so good they knew their phone number. They don’t seem the worse for wear after their walk. My husband was a state trooper and he told me do not leave them unless someone is home. I wanted to give them a snack but I didn’t dare, people are so afraid these days. Well, I need to go! I’m a mess! I have to get ready for bridge and do I have a story to tell them this morning! You have very nice boys, they were very polite.”

And off she went, after I thanked her sincerely for her trouble, and shaking her hand. Her name was Norma.

Caleb said they walked there through the woods and went to her house because they were lost. He knocked on the door and said, “We are lost, can you please help us?” And help Norma did, with all the energy of a much younger woman. I love old ladies like that, it was a pleasure to meet her, however I am BEYOND flummoxed about Caleb and Seth, and we gave them quite a lecture. “We told you we were going for a walk!!!” “Even if that WAS what you told me, what do you THINK a walk IS?” “When you walk, you go on the trail and around back to home, not in a straight line completely through the woods!!!”

They ate their sandwiches and I sent them to bed. We all took naps.

I leave in 15 minutes to take Jacob and Ethan to practice, and David’s school orientation is at 6pm.

This is Sarah Joy yesterday morning, on her way to church with a book bag. By the time we got back home she was feverish.

I went for another walk this morning. These are the berries from a Jack in the Pulpit plant.

I ate these.

Of course little Sammy found me and even got in my lap with her cold wet paws.

elderberry

Jewel weed, covered in dew.

These spiders always give me the creeps, yet I still stop to look at them……

I have to admit the web is quite impressive.

Jacob discovered a huge caterpillar in my garden. It’s a Cecropia Moth caterpillar, it unfortunately has parasites on it’s back, so I don’t think it will survive, which is such a shame. I had the honor of seeing a pair of these moths just after they hatched one spring.

They tiny white ovals on it’s back (with some black; diseased tissue) are the parasites (eggs laid by a fly).

After a very long walk through the woods, Seth needed a nap.

I’ll never forget their faces as Norma pulled in the driveway with them. Bright eyes, smiles, and happy waves! They didn’t care in the least.

legos for the boys

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Shanda

((SETH AND CALEB in the plane. Caleb, a more cautious type, was quietly worried and gave up his window seat to Seth. They were excellent travelers. Seth loved going to the bathroom.))

The first thing Caleb did this morning was go to the table to continue working on his first big lego set. He is 9 and the set has 738 pieces in it. He has three older brothers and typically lets them put his sets together for him. I am proud to see that he is getting old enough to follow the directions carefully and do it himself. It takes some concentration and determination for a boy to put a lego set together, and it’s so healthy and good for their minds. Before you know it, you’ve convinced yourself that fifty odd dollars on a box of plastic bricks is worth every penny!

My husband had to work in the Orlando office after lunch, so the boys and I walked to Downtown Disney. They were already enlightened by the knowledge of a LEGO STORE, and I figured we may as well cross that off our list of things to do…..with springs in our steps we practically ran to find the legos.

Isn’t it funny how a girl’s mind changes when she becomes a grown up and a mom? I’m so used to giving the children experiences that I almost forget what I myself enjoy! If I was a little girl the last place I would want to go to would be the Lego store. (I know some girls love them and that’s great and all, but not me). On the last day in Orlando I went alone to a completely girlie store in Downtown Disney….I smelled every bar of soap and bath bomb in the place and treated myself to my own souvenirs…and everything was PINK.

We stopped to give Buzz a pat. I have pictures of this same Buzz with baby David (first trip), and then the older children, too (second trip).

Caleb likes “How to Train a Dragon” (he just finished reading the book) these days, so he was thrilled to be greeted by a fire breathing dragon made of legos.

We also found the seven dwarfs made of legos.

While admiring the sea monster made of legos in the water, the boys excitedly told me there was a bird to take a picture of. This happened all through our trip, they would point out bits of nature and I knew my family’s love for God’s creation was being was passed along to them, even if unintentional. They collected a white feather to give to Grandma, and wanted me to pack palm tree bark to take back for Uncle Dave. I am sorry, Uncle Dave but I never did pick any up for you.

A somewhat disturbing image of Snow White.

We entered the store of happiness. My job of keeping my eyes on two little boys just got even more exciting.

Seth had no trouble picking out his new set. It kills me that he lost Bilbo Baggins before we even got home. He still has the golden ring, though.

They are always so thoughtful to point their fingers, grab my arm, and say LOOK! over and over because they know how much I appreciate the legos.

This is 17 year old Jacob’s dream lego set. Only three hundred and ninety nine dollars! Awesome!

Actually, they have so many legos at this point that he put together a pretty decent death star with instructions off the computer. (=free)

( did I just say death star? like I know what I’m talking about?? who am I??)

Caleb really and truly wanted a Lego Movie set and at first I said no to the one he wanted because, if I remember correctly, it was 10 dollars more than Seth’s. But then I thought, “this is Disney, where dreams come true” and said yes. I can’t even show you a picture of it because I didn’t take one. But it’s the “Lord Business’ Evil Lair” set which includes a tiny sign that says “Where are my Pants?”, and other fun things you will only understand if you watch the movie, which I have about five times now.

I don’t know, they just pointed it out to me so I took a picture.

The Incredible Hulk was there.

Seth with Lego Woody and Lego Buzz, and trying to keep his lego set in his arms.

At the register I joined the lego VIP club, it’s about time, right? We also received a free lego set (of a car) for spending over 100 dollars.

Next, I made them go to into a shop so I could get a sweatshirt. I lost my anthropologie white sweater at the airport 😦

I made them go into the Ghirardelli chocolate store so I could get a frozen latte. (caffeine!)

Then we headed back to the room(s) so the boys could put together their mini figures.

The hotel messed up our reservations so we ended up staying in the best suite of the entire Hilton…the presidential suite.

It gave the boys plenty of room to spread out their lego sets without mixing them up.

Caleb was here::

And Seth was here::

If you have boys, perhaps they would like to see this blog post. Tell them, when you go to Disney, there are legos there!

After half a day of travel and an adventure in the Lego store, Caleb and Seth settled into their covers for a movie::Kung Fu Panda 2. Seth fell asleep.

After their rest time, we left to go to dinner with Rich’s team.

*****

vacation Bible school

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Shanda

The children were taught to notice “God sightings”, specific times during the day when they were aware of God helping them, showing them something important, teaching them, or keeping them safe. Each footprint on the map represented one “God sighting”….and by the end of the week the footprints went all the way to the promise land.

Caleb is standing with his cousin, Makayla, my brother Nathan’s daughter.

This is Gregory (Makayla’s brother) with Seth. They are both starting Kindergarten this fall.

The leaders all dressed like the Biblical Israelites.

My Aunt Mary did the decoration design, and Aunt Colleen was on stage leading the songs, stories, and announcements.

Roger and Dawn are Colleen’s in-laws and I stayed at their place during the week; I have known them throughout my whole life.

“God saves us–so trust God!”

“God gives us strength–so trust God!”

“God guides us–so trust God!”

“God gives us what we need–so trust God!”

Roger and Dawn helped my cousin Katie’s boys with a tambourine craft.

Cousin Erika was in charge of the weaving…my Sarah is in the picture, in the pink shirt.

Pretty yarns and colors. Sarah asked me to help her finish one of her weavings and then proceeded to tell me I was doing it wrong.

Outside games.

Sarah told me (she remembered later on, in the bathroom) that they played a game with toilet paper, they put the toilet paper on their backs, so silly!

The children each had a bandana to wear. Seth wore his on his ears. I watched him concentrate on making a necklace. He strung beads and a bell on a string. Guess where it is now? Dangling from my rearview mirror….because he gave it to me. Thank you, Seth.

Seth is such a busy boy that it amuses me to see him still and quiet. Look at his crossed ankles….. and there’s Grandma Dawn again. I guess she helped out all over the place.

On the last day some men brought exotic animals to show the children. Caleb was thrilled.

He was thrilled because he got to touch a snake. He is passionate about snakes.

He stayed with the snake until he had to leave for another activity.

To say he was thrilled is putting it mildly.

Then, it was his turn to do some more weaving with Erika. Also pictured: my cousin Marissa in yellow, Erika’s son Jack, and my cousin Molly in the striped dress.

You can say that this VBS was a family affair. We got to spend time with Judy P, Mrs. Butler, Pastor and Mrs. P, Cassandra P (my future sister in law), Deb V, Candy L, Pam H, Uncle Rog, Aunt Carol, Carol A, Fran, Stacie and Jamie S, the Smiths, and so many other old friends! Oh it was wonderful.

The songs are always a highlight of Vacation Bible School. Seth (in striped shirt) did all the motions and dancing along with everyone else. The songs were played up on big movie screens so the children could watch them and do the motions along with the people in the video.

This one was my favorite::

Thank you to everyone who made the week a wonderful time for all! I spoke with Franny H and we both agreed it should last two weeks! 😉

NINE on the NINTH

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Shanda

Make your own free picture slideshow

last little league games of the season

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Shanda

It is around 7:30 in the morning and Sarah and I are the only ones awake. She is tucked in on the couch, warm and toasty, with a pile of books. She has already eaten a bowl of fruit. She is my early bird this morning because she is the only one in the family who went to bed at a reasonable hour. It’s summer!

What a beautiful weekend we had with bright sunny weather and cool nights. We haven’t had to turn the air conditioners on yet this summer, the humidity has been practically nonexistent. Yes, the weekend was lovely and on Saturday we got started on Grace’s room. She and I have plans to redecorate it and it’s such fun pinning photos together on pinterest. We are painting over her bright pink walls with a light minty green, and a new daybed/trundle is on it’s way from pottery barn. Currently, the contents of her room are in the upstairs hallway and her little sister’s room. It is awful messy up there. We have a lot to do before this project is over, but the main thing is WE HAVE BEGUN and the walls have been primed, ready for their first coat of paint.

Yesterday morning I sat up in bed and stared at the clock, which I believed could not be right. Then, I picked up my phone to look; it was 9:21. I woke up Rich and asked him what time he thought it was, “7?” he guessed. He was shocked when I told him it was almost 9:30. I don’t think we have slept in that long since we were newlyweds, almost 18 years ago. Needless to say, we only made it for the actual church service, and not Sunday School.

After church was over, we drove straightaway to the Little League field for five year old Seth’s last game of the season. As soon as medals were handed out and the sound of the music faded away I felt so lighthearted, we had survived season 2014 with three boys in three different levels of play, on three different teams. I only cried once, when David’s coach reprimanded me about him not making it to as many practices and games as he should have (I lost him in the shuffle, and the text messages were going to the wrong parent) No, I did NOT cry in front of the coach (and yes, I was very overtired at the time). I needed the pep talk, he didn’t miss a single practice or game after that.

ANYWAY, David and Caleb had play offs this past Wednesday and that morning I sighed and wished that (my brother) Uncle Dave could come and watch; so I texted him and just sort of teasingly asked him to come (it’s a 3 1/2 hour trip to our place) and he said no, but then said “I’ll think about it”. I didn’t hear back from him until 1:00, when he called and said he got busy at work and couldn’t make it. I said “I understand, it’s okay.” “What are you doing?” he asked, changing the subject. “Oh, I’m in bed with Seth, he’s sleeping.”

“WELL, HE BETTER WAKE UP BECAUSE I’M IN THE DRIVEWAY!” he yelled.

I got up and ran around the house telling the kids to come quick to see who had arrived!

Yes, surprise and joy; Uncle Dave drove out all spur of the moment to watch his little nephews play ball, in what could possibly be their last games of the year.

We hung around, visiting here at home until it was time to leave for the games. Jacob showed us his card tricks. Unfortunately for the teenagers, they had already made plans for an evening at the lake, so they left at 4….and I headed to the fields with my brother in the passenger seat beside me. I drove him through to see the schools, and we had such a great time at the games, although it got to be late and he had a long drive home.

He drove back to his house through the worst rainstorm and lightening of his life, but was safely in bed by 1:30 that morning.

It was a WONDERFUL day, and I’m so thankful to God for my awesome brother (we are just a year and 3 months apart in age). My very first best friend.

OH and the boys won their games.

(we watched both games at once, standing in between the fields).

Uncle Dave eating lunch, about an hour after he arrived.

Uncle Dave and Sarah, right after she woke up from nap. He’s playing piggy with her toes.

With Sarah and Caleb (phone pic)

saying goodbye to Gracie

a hug for Ethan

at the park for the little league games

He was taking pictures of Caleb the catcher. (this was one of those “oh, this is so wonderful” moments for me)

hanging around with Sarah Joy

this handsome guy was there, too … I love how he gets nervous for our boys as they play….

playing catch with Seth

I love this picture of happy Seth.

Uncle Dave took Seth over to the Food Shack so he could pick out a candy bar. He came back and said “I think he had it scoped out because he picked the biggest one!”