Ethan Matthew

My sister FINALLY had her baby! We specialize in late babies in this family. Ethan Matthew was born on September 8 and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. He's the sweetest, cutest, cuddliest baby boy! And I'm not just saying that because I'm his aunt either. :)  A few weeks ago I bought plane tickets for that weekend in an effort to see him soon after he was born, but I never guessed he would be born the day before I arrived. It worked out perfectly though. I was able to spend the night in the hospital with Elizabeth while Matthew went home to get some good sleep in his own bed, and then I helped them settle back into their home with a newborn. I loved every minute of it, and I'm SO glad I got to go!  

 A family of THREE!

 Meeting his Aunt Sarah.

 Sweet boy!

So, this was the first time I had ever been away from my kids. Four years is a long time! I was pretty nervous about it - nervous that I wouldn't know how to act without them - not nervous at all about how they would do without me. Of course they loved their weekend with Stephen. He would be an incredible stay-at-home dad! And as it turns out I can make it without them too. Who would've thought? :) I really enjoyed my time away. Of course Stephen documented their weekend with pictures, so here are a few of those.

 Stephen took the kids to check out a new park. They all loved it, so I'm looking forward to checking it out myself.

 Swinging ...

 Painting cards for me.

Nate's card says "Hoş Geldiniz Mommy!" That's Turkish for "Welcome Home Mommy!"

New year

There's always an adjustment period when school is out and Stephen is home for the summer. Then it seems like just about the time we adjust to him being home and to a different routine, he's back to work and wrapped up in the craziness of a new school year!

Besides that, I got a job teaching 3-year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the preschool program Nate is attending this year. I put Evie in the 2-year old class there, so the three of us are going to school together! Yesterday was our first day and I was completely exhausted by the time we got home, and I still had my own exhausted, whiny children to take care of. I think I'll get used to it soon, but these first days might be rough! Anyway, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

 Nate and Evie got a package from their cousins Camo and Kate, and these sunglasses were in it for Evie. She loves them!

 The kids were being way too quiet the other day, so we knew something wasn't right. Nate was writing all over Evie. Here's the proof.

We spent Labor Day at a really nice park nearby. The weather dropped below 100 for the first time in months, and it was a beautiful day!

Happy 4th Birthday Nate!

It's really hard to believe I have a four-year-old! To celebrate Nate's birthday we had our usual low key party with a few friends. I decided a few months ago that Nate would have some kind of sports ball cake for his birthday this year, but I didn't decide which sport it would be until the day before. Since Nate's current favorite is soccer, and in honor of his first year to play soccer, I went with the soccer ball. And thanks to the Wilton sports ball pan set and soccer ball pattern that came with it, it wasn't as difficult as it might look!

 My big four-year-old!

 He's pretty excited to FINALLY be four. I don't think he liked being three! 

Happy boy! (With his friend Adelia next to him.)

Jack and Caroline - I guess Jack liked his pizza.

 Sweet Briar Rose celebrated with us.

Evie got to do one of her very favorite things - feed baby Luke! Our sweet friends Travis and Rebekah have spent A LOT of time with our kids lately, and Evie is starting to think she's Luke's mommy. We're so grateful for you guys!

Free Entertainment

I get this kind of entertainment every single day. For free. Can't beat a deal like that!

Little Sarah

Everyone says how much Evie looks like Stephen, but my sister was looking through some old pictures and realized she actually looks a lot like I did when I was her age. The scanned picture isn't all that clear, but I think you can see the resemblance in these two pictures.

 Summer 1982. Playing with Nathan and Elizabeth in the pool.
I'm the baby in the picture.

Early morning playtime outside while the temps are still in the 80s!

Unexpected

To say that this post is unexpected is an understatement. Early Tuesday morning I gave birth to a tiny baby girl who is living at the side of Jesus. We don't have much to say and don't feel like sharing a lot yet, but I'm sure there will come a time for that.

The words that have been on my mind today come from Psalm 139. We were blessed with the privilege of holding our sweet baby of only 18 weeks, and after seeing how intricately and wonderfully she had been formed, these words seem truer than ever:

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.

Of course, we'd love your prayers, but know that we're doing well and are grateful for the Lord's goodness to us.

Chicago

For the final phase of our trip, we went to Chicago (actually Geneva, IL, but we always just say Chicago) to visit my brother's family. We were all supposed to spend Thanksgiving together last year, but my sister-in-law was only a month away from her due date after a very eventful pregnancy, so they had to opt out. We starting planning a summer vacation together to make up for it, but ended up spending a few days at their house instead.

We did a bad job of taking pictures there, except for the day we spent in Chicago. I sure wish I had a picture of chunky baby Will! But here are some of the pictures from Chicago:

 Nathan and Samuel on the train going to Chicago.

I'm not sure why the color is so messed up on this one!

 We went up in the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower. The kids really had no clue what they were doing (besides looking at each other to pose for a picture instead of at the camera), but they were standing on glass so they could see below them.

 Wiped out!

 Uncle Matthew got some good practice pushing the stroller around all day!

 Evie was just as tired as the boys, but refused to sleep. She was struggling to keep her eyes open.

My request for the day was to have my picture taken with my husband. It was taken in the middle of our rush to catch the train back home, but I'll take it!

Northern Kentucky

After spending a day in Campbellsville catching up with some good friends from college, we made our way to my sister's house. This was my last time to see her before she gives birth to baby Ethan!

One of the reasons we planned our trip when we did was so I could be at my sister's baby shower. Here we are at the shower: 32 weeks and 17 weeks. Can you tell we feel silly holding our bellies?

A rare family photo! We went to Newport on the Levee, and then walked on the Purple People Bridge that goes from Newport, KY to Cincinnati. The kids were a little distracted by their green monkey and pink elephant balloon animals!

 As usual, we spent some time at the piano.

 Another family photo! My brother-in-law built this huge picnic table for their deck. It seats at least 16 large adults and doubles as a bomb shelter and play pen for kids! Kentucky evenings were so cool and beautiful compared to our Texas evenings, so we spent most of them outside.

Lewisport

Phase one of our annual summer trip was spent with Stephen's family in Lewisport, KY. (We decided after just a few hours in the car with the kids that this two week journey was a trip, not a vacation. Vacation implies rest, and although we absolutely loved every minute of our visits with friends and family, it was not restful. So, this was our summer trip.)

As usual, Nate latched onto his cousins and completely wore himself out running around with them all day. And he adores his Granddad, so first thing every morning he was by his side asking for tractor rides! Here are some of the pictures from Lewisport:

 I'd like to see how this picture turned out! 

 Waiting for the sun to go down so we could watch some fireworks.

 Cameron teaching Evie how to do a somersault!

Nate and Kate.

Mr. Fix-it

Nate has been playing with his tools a lot the past few days. I'm sure it's because he's been watching Stephen working on all his summer projects, and of course he wants to be just like his dad! Stephen walked outside and captured this sweet picture.

Who Dey, Andy!

Andy Dalton was a star quarterback for Texas Christian University, which is right down the road from us, and he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals to be the post Carson Palmer quarterback. Since he's a TCU grad, he was at a local mall on Saturday signing autographs. Stephen remembered at the last minute that he was going to be there, so he threw a Bengals shirt on Nate (that was way too small and fits Evie now) and went. Nate got his picture taken with Andy. Stephen got to talk to Andy's dad and calm his fears about the Bengals' lack of offensive line depth and indoor practice facilities. Go Bengals!

They were at the end of the line, but Stephen sent Nate up to say "Who Dey, Andy!

He was surprised by his little visitor.

It cost $40 to get him to sign something. We're way too cheap for that, so they waited until he was finished with autographs and grabbed a picture with him. Thanks, Andy!

Saturday

Our weekend plans were changed when Evie came down with another (another!) stomach bug on Friday. She was pitiful all weekend, but her fever is gone and she's finally up and playing some now. Nate had been asking to make heart shaped cookies for a few days, so Saturday morning was the perfect time to let him.

It was also a good opportunity to talk to Nate about some friends in Iraq who provide lifesaving heart surgeries for babies in Iraq. Our Father's Day gift to Stephen was to help save the life of one of these babies. You can read more about it here.

Yes, he chose to make pink icing.

 Nate has always been very particular, so he did a good job of not making a mess with the icing.

 I thought Stephen was supervising, but I turned around to see him taking pictures of Nate licking the knife instead of telling him not to!

While we made cookies Evie just laid in the chair. So sad!

**I'm adding one more thing to this post. I'm not a sugar cookie lover, but the recipe for this one really is the best. A year ago, my sister baked 250+ of these cookies and we spent hours decorating them as a favor for her wedding. I'm sad we don't have any pictures of all those cookies! After trying a few different recipes in preparation for that, this recipe for the cookies and this recipe for the icing were far better than the rest. And because Nate was so anxious to cut the hearts out, I didn't chill the dough, but the cookies still kept their shape really well. Highly recommended for your next sugar cookie bake-a-thon!

Digging Himself a Hole

Stephen started the work for our basketball goal this week, and just like every other DIY project we've attempted, it turned into a much larger job than expected. He had to dig a four foot hole through our Texas yard, aka sheet of rock. There really is a reason why there aren't basements in Texas houses - pure rock! He rented some equipment from Home Depot to break through it, but it still took him about 8 hours of hard labor in the 95+ degree weather to finish that part of the job. Then he filled the hole with concrete, and as soon as it dries he'll recruit some suckers friends to help him install the goal.

 Digging through the rock.

 The hole.

 Unfortunately, Stephen's arms aren't four feet long, so the deeper he dug the harder it was to get the pieces of rock and dirt out. Yes, he has heard of a post hole digger, but believe it or not this method was faster. Evie wasn't much help!

Topping off the concrete and installing the anchor for the goal.
Such a sweet little audience!

Fort Worth Cats

Stephen's last day of school was Saturday, and we kicked off our summer of family fun (that also includes a long list of projects!) Sunday evening with our first baseball game as a family. We went with some friends to see the independent baseball team in town, the Fort Worth Cats. I miss my Cincinnati Reds, but the kid-friendliness and smaller atmosphere was great!

 A picture before the game. You can tell by the red, sweaty faces that we're well into our Texas summer!

Evie was giddy!

 She loved watching the Cat mascot and pointed to him all evening. Nate got to spend the evening with his friend, Adelia, which made the game even better for him.

All the kids get to run the bases at the end of the game.
Here's Nate running towards home.

Backing Up

Let's back up a little bit. Here are a few pictures that should have been posted earlier.

First, I know this isn't a great picture, but I love it because it's a good picture of our life. We spend A LOT of time playing outside, and a lot of that time is spent dribbling, kicking, throwing, or hitting a ball. Nate has been working hard on his basketball skills, so here he's focusing hard on dribbling and Evie is in the background kicking the soccer ball. This is what we do. We're excited for Stephen to install our new basketball goal next week!

Nate ended up having a good soccer season. He even kicked a goal, although we're pretty sure it was an accident. Right place at the right time! He got over his fear of playing about the same time others were tired of playing, so it worked out well.

 One final attempt at a team picture. Nate was standing next to Bruno, the Brazilian superstar. Seriously, if you could go pro at age 4, I think he'd be drafted.

Coach giving Nate his trophy.