One proud momma

This sweet boy.
If you ignore the finger in the picture, you get a small glimpse of my life as a momma to this little boy.  When I was pregnant with Eli, someone told me that there's just something special about a momma's bond with her son.  She was right.  This picture is a common occurrence in my daily life.  I'm so thankful I'm the person he squishes his nose up to and whispers secrets to.

This little boy has been excited about doing his reading lessons lately, often asking at not the most convenient times (aka bedtime) but hey, sometimes you have to jump on opportunities of interest.  Note: we had already read the story and he was ready to be done, but I made him keep going so I could video tape.  And he gets hung up on 'W' and 'U's...it will click soon, I hope.

Snapshot Sunday

If I had a fancy shmancy blog, I'd consider doing a series "Snapshot Sundays"...aka the only day of the week I actually think about outfits and combed hair.

I liked Alison's outfit much better this week and hoped to recreate last weeks pictures.

I can't decide which one I like better.

The sun was in her eyes, but I kinda love this shot.

The boys came out to join her...naturally wearing red glasses.  They say it takes a million pictures to get one perfect one.  I think when you have a goofball like Colin, it takes twice as many.

Then he started dancing.

And watching the clouds.

Matthew 28:19

I love this picture.  

Someone from the ship took this at the med sight in El Salvador.  They're posting some pictures from the trip on Facebook; just like the page Continuing Promise.

helping the kids with a pinata

They are now enroute to Panama and we are looking forward to finally being able to talk to him!  We've only heard his voice 3 times in the last 3.5 weeks!  

I confess that the day after Ben left, I thought, 

"Who's dumb idea was this?!  Seriously.  I'd like to talk to whoever came up with this stupid deployment concept.  You know who needs a chaplain?  ME!  What if I completely snap while he's gone?  Shouldn't they have screened me before they just left me alone with 3 small children for 4 months?"

The past month has been uncomfortable.  I assure you, we are okay and I feel like it's good that it's uncomfortable...part of our family is missing, so things naturally feel off.  Here's the truth I have to tell myself several times a day:

Ben is a missionary.  He is literally declaring the Lord's name among the nations.  It gives me chills if I let myself just sit and think about how God is using our family right now.  Ben is one of 3 chaplains, but the only real Christian among them.  He is traveling off the ship, into remote areas of the country to provide counseling and prayer through an interpreter.  How cool is that?  God is breaking cultural and language barriers to declare His name.  The truth is, God calls us to go and make disciples.  He calls us to pick up our cross and follow him and that means sacrifice.  Sacrifice is not comfortable.  I know God is using Ben in mighty ways and while he's called to share God's word on the Comfort, I'm called to share it with 3 children in our home.  

So quickly I realize how "first world" my worries are.  Ben is praying with people who have great troubles (sorry, can't go into detail), while I'm praying with a child who is healthy and safe.  In fact, sometimes I feel guilty that I'm in the comfort of my own bed, eating fresh food and spending my day sitting by the pool, listening to sweet giggles.  

There will be days that the uncomfortableness seems too much and on those days, I ask someone to remind me of these truths.  Remind me that this day will soon pass and the moment we are all together, this day will be forgotten.  Encourage me to not wish away my days and praise more than I complain.

Pray for encouragement for Ben.  Pray for good friends for him and that he would finally get the packages we sent him (he's been waiting almost 3 weeks!).

for the love...

A few days after Ben left, construction started on our shower.  The shower has been a problem since we moved in, but going on 3 weeks of sharing a bathroom with the kids is not the most fun.  Added to that, "shower guy" shows up at random times during the day, most of the time during our quiet time and is anything but quiet.  For the love all things, if he could just show up when I asked him to come!  AND, the tile doesn't even match! (he's added more on the wall that matches even less, but I can't get a good picture.  oh, the woes of renting)

The grilling has continued.  I kinda love it.  a lot.

bruschetta chicken, sweet potatoes and no, I didn't grill peas.

I love that the clean up consists of throwing foil into the trash and Alison has really gotten into helping me.  However, she's worried that Ben and I will fight over who gets to grill when he gets home.  She keeps saying, "Daddy will be so surprised when he gets home!  He'll go out to grill, but you'll already be out there and he'll say 'Hey! I do the grilling!'"

But let's be honest, this is the real reason I love grilling.

It's the perfect dessert and I have a huge love for roasted marshmallows.

We went to see Rio2 yesterday, for the theaters' free summer movies.

Free movie with reclining comfy chairs?  Yes please!

It was Colin's first movie.  He did really well until the last 30 minutes when he just couldn't sit any longer.  Thankfully we were on the end of the back row, so he had some room to wiggle and not disturb anyone.

We did a little shopping after the movie and then hit the pool.

My favorite quote of the day:
At the pool, there was a group of boys were playing with squirt guns and Eli kept getting in the line of fire.  It was clearly bugging him, but he didn't know how to ask them to stop.  He said to me, "Mom, you know who will make those boys stop being mean?  God.  God will make those boys stop!"

Colin William, 3 years old

 First time ever Eli did not want to share the spotlight.  He's thinking right now "This is my picture.  Move it over little brother!"

Eliot, 5 yrs

Alison, 7 yrs...almost 8!

Real life=

Colin at 3...he still sucks his thumb to fall asleep and he wants to be carried everywhere when we're out, but if he decides he wants to do something he'll firmly tell you "I do all myself!"  He gives the sweetest kisses and hugs tighter than anyone I know.  He'll eat anything, even if it's fallen on the floor, a fact that his older brother knows well and often tries to get him to do.  Colin is the perfect balance between Alison and Eli; he's happy to play any game or participate in any activity with his siblings.  Transformers? Sure.  Baby dolls? Sure.  Be out all day or sit home in pj's? Either one is great.  And no matter what kind of shenanigans he's getting into, he always has a great big smile on his face.

Weekend at the beach

Love Colin's eyelashes in this picture.

There's a little beach area next to the Newport News Y that the kids have always wanted to go to.  We attempted to go once before and the beach was closed.  Saturday, after a quick run at the Y, we headed over.  The kids insisted that they were just going to put their feet in and didn't want to wear swimsuits. It took all of 2 minutes after getting there for them to be all the way in the water.  I grabbed Alison and Colin's suit, but Eli just jumped in with his clothes on.

We ended up seeing some friends there and the kids loved swimming in the water.  There weren't really any waves (this is technically just at the river) and it was shallow for a long way out.  I sat by the water in my running clothes and the boys took turns dumping water on my feet.

I liked how close it was, but the water was dirty and hearing the bridge traffic was not very soothing.

We came home to find we had one ripe cherry tomato.  As tradition, Alison ate it.

Sunday, we headed out for a better beach experience.  We stopped by the store for hats, sunglasses and snorkels for the kids.  Of course they didn't keep any of them on, but at least I tried to protect their little faces, right?   I wanted a clean beach and little waves and to be more prepared.  Oddly enough, I ended up at a different beach than I meant to go to (I was trying to go to Fort Monroe, but ended up at Buckroe Beach) but we made it work. 

Colin is still hesitant about the ocean, which is okay in my books.  He would want me to carry him out and help him put just his feet in.  By the end of the afternoon, he was good to stand in the water and hold onto my leg.

Alison on the other hand was ready to rock n' roll.  She brought the boogie board and would go out as far as I'd let her.  This was a moment that was hard to juggle 3 by myself; one wanted to play on the beach, one would play right by the edge of the water and one wanted to be out in the middle of the ocean.  I think I need to find a beach buddy. 

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Learning to cook

When Ben is gone, we will often have picnics in the living room.  I'd like to say it's the 2015 way of TV trays and frozen kid dinners.  But this week, the kids made dinner all by themselves and we ate at the table!

 

 Alison planned the meal and the boys helped her put it together.  Eli loved it.  He said over and over, "I love cooking! This is so much fun!".  He flourished and thrived and became this energetic, happy kid.  He was asking each person what they wanted in their salad and would say "Sure!  No problem!  I can put that in your salad!"

The theory is true, if kids help cook the food, they will eat the food.  The boys have never had salad (they usually just have components of it) but ate the ones they assembled.  This was the first meal in history that they happily ate, didn't complain or ask for something different or ask to be excused followed by a request for a snack.

After dinner, they even cleaned up!  I sat on the couch and listened to them work together and even heard a couple "good jobs" to one another.

2 weeks down

Guess what I got to see yesterday!

These are the first pictures we've been able to see of Ben since he's been gone.  We even got to Face Time for a few minutes while he was visiting a school in El Salvador!

Here's the scoop on Ben...at least what I know.  He's on this ship:

He's one of 3 Chaplains aboard.  His days on the ship are full of counseling and leading worship services.  The cool part of this opportunity is that Ben is on the small team of people that get off the ship when they port and gets to go into the villages with the doctors and meet with families of those having surgeries.  They do about 15 surgeries a day and I think it's a unique opportunity for him to be there praying with them.

This week, he spent one day in the village with the doctors and the next day at the school playing soccer with the kids.  When we FaceTimed with him, Colin kept saying, "Daddy, where are you?!  I'll come play soccer with you!"

On our end, I am tired.  Eli seems to be affected most by Ben's absence and has been up the last several nights with bad dreams.  He finds comfort in sleeping in Ben's spot, but that means not great sleep for me.  He has consistently done this when Ben has been gone for long periods of time...I'm just not sure how to get him to sleep well.

Lights, camera

Action!

The theater called this week.  They want our kids.

We went to Barnes and Noble to check out their summer reading program.  Colin found the story time stage and started dancing and singing.

Alison then asked if we could stop by Chipotle for lunch. 

Alison wrote and directed a play this week.  She's really been into writing songs and plays lately.  I got to  audition to play the teenage sister and she designed my outfit and did my hair to fit the part.   She wrote out lines and actions and taught the boys their part.  I really was impressed.  I was also super impressed that the boys cooperated (minus the fact that Eli refused to wear pants) and Eli even said his lines! 

Here's Eli's part:

I taught myself to grill this week. 
 

 Corn, sweet potatoes, chicken...all on the grill

I'll leave you with this video.  Eli is getting more comfortable in the water every day.  It's only been a few weeks and look how much he's going under water.

P.s.  he's pretending to be a shark.

Happy 3rd Birthday Colin!

When Colin got up this morning, I said "Happy birthday Colin!' and he said, "Happy birthday to you, momma!"  Every person that told him happy birthday, he would say happy birthday back to them.

We had chocolate donut holes for breakfast, after Colin opened presents.

It was hard prying ourselves away from the fun to get ready for church.  Somehow Alison had the brilliant idea of getting dressed right when she got up...she's a smart one :)

We went to church, had lunch and watched Transformers (Colin ended up being too excited to nap).  In the afternoon we went to Target so Colin could pick out a special present. 

Target didn't have the right transformers, so we went to Toys'RUs.  The kids were in heaven.  Colin finally settled on a transformer and a ukelele!  He is so excited about having a "tar" (i.e. guitar) just like daddy.

riding the car in ToysRUs

Then we went to Red Robin for dinner.   We went there for Alison's 3rd birthday, so we claimed it a tradition, except Eli was sick on his 3rd birthday and I think we just ordered pizza...sorry bubby.

He wasn't crazy about the ice cream, but we picked up some s'more oreos and he thought those were great.  They are, by the way, great.  Be warned before you buy them.

Tangent:  I noticed both boys talk about wearing a dress lately.  I'm thinking it comes from me telling them to get "dressed", but they just hear dress.  I assure you they are not wearing dresses.  But we got home from Red Robin and Eli said, "I'm really glad I wore this dress to dinner.  I wanted to look nice for Colin's birthday."  It melted my heart to pieces.

He tried to go to bed with his helmet and ukelele. 

I guess turning 3 is a big deal.  Alison and Eli sure thought it was.  The past week they've been saying, "When Colin turns 3, he'll talk like a big kid" and "When Colin turns 3, he'll know all his colors."  And then today they were baffled why he didn't suddenly talk clearly and know everything they did.  I tried to explain that it takes time to grow, but they seemed kind of annoyed that he wasn't suddenly bigger.  With 3 brings more independence and lots of growing.  There's things I'm looking forward and then there's part of me that just want to go back to holding my tiny baby.

"I do all myself!"

 Happy Birthday Colin William!