Mother's Day 2012 - A Day for Romans 8:28

Mother's Day was a mixed bag of emotions this year.  As it always does, my heart melted as I remembered the day I became a Mom.  There is simply nothing like it.  And Margaret's birth was nothing any less joyful or exciting. See below for attempts to get a decent shot with a 20-month-old and a 4-yr-old:) 

Andrew helped me put the finishing touches on our first family garden.  Then we prayed that WE get to enjoy some watermelon, squash, and a variety of peppers someday and that our efforts are not merely encouraging our already ridiculous deer and bunny populations.  This is after I planted our window boxes on the deck for the first time!  Gardening again by moonlight, I planted these on Michael's birthday after the kids were down.  Some petunias, sweet potato vine, and some yellow flower "for height", the nursery told me, better do well this summer and give me some confidence!

Sadly, Mother's Day this year also came with some terrible news.  A dear friend here from church had just learned that her 4th pregnancy will not end in the "Happily Ever After" she had planned.  Her 20-week ultrasound revealed that the little boy is developing without a brain.  A small portion of his lower brain is in tact enough to explain the movement she's been feeling and allowing swallowing to keep him alive.  But these precious babies do not make it out of the delivery room, if the pregnancy even goes full term.  What's remarkable, though, is my friend's attitude.  After the sobbing and the shock wore off, she handed the situation over to God realizing that He had called baby Samuel home early for a reason...a reason she may not like and wouldn't have chosen, but a reality she is accepting already.  I am in awe of her strength.  She is truly letting God hold her in the palm of His hand.  Her "Footprint" poem would surely have only one set of footprints right now. 

I told her that I was reminded of Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

We are not promised any answers this side of Heaven, as difficult of a pill as that is to swallow.  Later that very same day, one of the several daily emails I receive from Tandom.com shared with me the very verses following this:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Have truer words ever been written?

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Mother's Day Picture attempts - 3...it is only three people I am hoping will look at the camera simultaneously!  Not an army.  Just three!

A Week in Review

Last Saturday was the Family Fun Run fundraiser for preschool, First Pres.  The two-mile course wound through downtown and had its fair share of hills for little ones on bikes and scooters.  Andrew opted for the stroller that morning (thankfully!) and we felt like we were cheating!

The Starting Line!

Cool Dudes

Post face painting booth - sly guy.

What a face!

Before bed last night Andrew randomly said, "This is the face I make to be mean to people".  Evidently, Daddy explained that we are not "mean" to people and we certainly don't make faces at them....but then promptly asked him to pose, of course!

My "mean to people" face - scary, indeed.

Margaret proved this week that she knows ALL of her body parts.  We tend to review them when she's on the changing table.  "Bottom" is the funniest one---legs already in the air, she'll life them higher while she's laying there and pat both of her hands on her precious bottom:)  Need to capture video of this!

"Patterns" have made an impression on Andrew at school this year, so he decided we need to have a "pattern” for breakfast…pancakes, waffles, cereal, oatmeal, toast & 'running' eggs (i.e. 'running oaks', as he says!). I told him that was a FINE pattern, provided we always managed to get the running eggs on Saturday. Mommy can't pull that off any other morning!

Our grass head has been a HUGE success!  We got his eye glued back on, propped his sagging neck up, and have been growing like a weed!  We've decided that both grass head AND Andrew are due for a buzz cut:)

 

We had fun taking pictures in the car this week.  That means traffic was bad (which is all relative here). 

He hasn't shown much interest in his bike yet, but at least he's all about his helmet!  Andrew's decided that it makes him safer in the car.

Are you kidding me???  I turned around at a stop sign and my jaw dropped.  Is he 4 or 40???

Do I use my phone camera too much if she immediately mumbles "cheese" when I pick it up??

Too stinkin' cute!

Film going up on the foyer window - it had better help our heat and thermostat issues!

This is a big ladder, but it's actually nothing compared to the ladder used to replace the foyer chandelier with this baby of mine.

The ladder for the electrician had one base in the playroom on the left.  The other base stretched from the bottom of the stairs out the front door.  It was simply massive. 

No pictures of last weekend's House Warming/Cinqo de Mayo/Derby Party at the Eastlack's new house.  Two kids in a new house with food and drinks everywhere = all hands on deck!  Wish we had pics of their awesome house (two HUGE sun rooms) and beautiful property just down the street. 

It's Good to be King...for a Day at Least

So we are not Kings, but we felt like we got to be for a morning:)

King Family Vineyard in Crozet (about 20 minutes West of Charlottesville) is one of the area's most beautiful spots.  Carrington and Corie King live there with their three daughters.  Their second girl, Stuart, is in Andrew's class at school (and their third, Virginia---"Gincy"---happens to be within 2 days of Miss Margaret).  Stuart and Andrew share their March 12 birthdays but, ironically, have also shared a love-hate relationship this year in school.  Oh, the playground stories we hear!  That aside, Corie was kind enough to host the whole class for their end-of-the-year picnic. 

Drew's Mom, Meghan Silverstein, was kind enough to shoot for us all morning.  Here's a link to what she captured!  The remaining are shots from my phone.

https://picasaweb.google.com/silversteinfamily/FirstPresPicnic?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ25nrOT2Jb3zQE&feat=email#

View from the back of the Tasting Room and Event Room at King Family Vineyard.

Looking at Corie and Carrington's House from the barn.

What a house for the girls to grow up in !

Lining up for the class picture outside of the barn, where we saw the chickens (the remaining ones that haven't fallen prey to the coyotes) that provide the Kings with fresh eggs.   Yuummmmm.

Class Picture after feeding the foul - lots of "cheese"!

"Look at my new pants!"

There is just one single quote from this week, but it had me pathetically rolling on the floor.  Grandma was kind enough to send a new, real outfit (of which Andrew has ZERO since I do 95% of his shopping at consignment sales).  The child hardly new how to contain his excitement.  He opened up the matching shirt and shorts and while jumping (as he does), exclaimed, "Look!  New pants and they don't even have holes in them!!!!".  I kid you not!  Straight from his mouth. Now, in my defense they were new shorts, rather than pants, so of course they didn't have holes in them.  But he's right.  Every single pair of pants that he had this winter wore a hole just below the left knee.  It's no wonder the way he jumps/slides/falls, always on his left knee.  Most of them were Children's Place on sale for $6 the week before Christmas.  I refuse to give up on a deal like that!  So I had them all professionally patched, week by week, for another $6.  Well, you can guess how long that lasted. This was the only reason I was excited for our unusually warm March.  Then April had to come...unusually cold, of course. At least he never got a note sent home from school about needing new pants...or for wearing shorts when it was only in the 40's! 

When Daddy was out of town Saturday, we decided to do some birthday shopping at Barrack's Road (i.e. new work shirts from Jos. A Bank.) Since everyone was cooperating, we decided to stroll ALL the way down to Harris Teeter for their daily deals.  Of course a trip to HT means a cookie (making it the best grocery store EVER!).  Walking back, Andrew talks Margaret into giving him hers. The sweet girl obliges. Andrew took two big bites and said, "Look, Mom.  A boat!"  And by golly, look at that!  I should say he was right!

Chilling on the bench next door in Angel and Heather's yard...
perfectly pint sized for Margaret and Annabell (5 months older).

Margaret LOVES wearing her sunglasses, despite the hand grip here.

After a stunning 4 inhabited nests up under our deck last spring, I had not checked this year...though I suspected activity due to the flurry of birds on the deck this year snatching the last bit of coco liner from my empty window boxes, last year's attack on me and subsequent downfall of several babies that could not yet fly led me to leave well enough alone so far. But I finally got the nerve to grab the ladder and check. Would you believe I came down that very day to see TWO nests on the ground? 

I have no way of knowing what happened, but it can't be good when you see bits of light blue egg scattered around.

So sad.

I am always fascinated by the perfect insides of a nest.

One morning this week, a teary Andrew emerged from his room first thing because Daddy wasn't home to see how clean his room was.  We'd spent a good 20 minutes the night before carefully putting everything away. I should have thought to have Daddy come look then.

The best mail I've received all year - my 10" locks were successfully received and accepted for use in a real-hair wig for a cancer patient. I love how they phrase it....“Thank you for giving so selflessly to women who are faced with hair loss from cancer treatment. Your healthy ponytail will help give self confidence back to a special woman who is battling cancer so that she can fight the disease with a little more dignity….your donation will be joined with five others and transformed into a high quality, real-hair wig…”

Daddy's Birthday!

For the first time in the 2.5 years since we moved, Michael was able to work from home on a Thursday, which just happened to be his birthday!  It was mere coincidence, but how fortunate - Andrew was mighty excited to see Daddy more on his big day! 

As requested, nothing but chocolate. Andrew helped me make the decadent chocolate cake with chocolate drip icing.  I restrained myself from sprinkling some espresso or yummy liquor in - as promised, I kept it plain jane, chocolate cake.

Yep, there are 38 candles!  In light of recent events, we vow to be nothing but grateful for each birthday we are fortunate enough to celebrate here with our kids.

38 candles means you need help blowing them all out!

38 also means there is LOTS of smoke:)

Got 'em all!

Margaret's take on dozens of candles and smoke...and yes, she is sick:(  Poor girl is recovering from hand, foot & mouth disease that struck her cheeks worse than anywhere else.

Begging for more medicine, these cheeks actually look GREAT compared to the day before.  She was SO red and bumpy previously.

 On Daddy's birthday, little girl was looking immensely better, yet again!  The pig tails lasted about 30 minutes, so I had to snap some quick ones:)

What a look!

MY FAVORITE!

Andrew turned up with a fever exactly 48 hours after Margaret, but as I type, has dodged the rash....so far.  Fingers crossed!