Doubly Special

Trey loves "projects" - it can be coloring or painting or cutting and gluing, anything. A couple of days ago he drew this picture and gave it to me. It is so special and will probably be one I'll keep forever. Without us knowing why, he asked Jeff and me and Roman each what our favorite thing was. He then sat down alone and drew four pictures, representing each of our answers and his own. One reason this is so special is because Roman's answer was that his favorite thing is "sitting on Momma's lap". Could that be any sweeter? It's also so special just because it's fantastic! I mean yes, it's art by a 5-yr-old, but he came up with this great idea and followed it through by himself! I absolutely love it.

Starting in the top left and going clock-wise, here are the answers he got to "What is your favorite thing?"

1. I said: "Playing with you" (note the blocks and ball we're playing with and the sun shining in the window!)
2. Roman said "Sitting on Momma's lap" (which he really does do all the time!)
3. Jeff said "My family", so the picture is me with both boys
4. Trey's answer to the question is going outside to play, so the green part of the picture is him in a doorway (going outside), and the brown part is him running "really fast" outside.

You can't tell me this isn't precious!!!

The Tooth Fairy!

My big five-year-old boy just lost his first tooth. This tooth has been getting progressively looser over the last couple of months, and last night it was finally ready to give up it's hold on Trey. It needed a little help from Daddy, but not much. It didn't really even bleed after. And Trey was so excited when the tooth fairy left him two quarters in exchange for that tooth!

He's proud to say that he has another loose one... I have a feeling we'll be keeping that tooth fairy busy for a few years...

Jars of Clay

Jeff got an exciting opportunity the other night that I must admit I'm a little envious of. :)

We've gotten to be friends with a couple in our cell group - Matt and Karen. Matt is a musician, and it turns out that he knows the band Jars of Clay. And I mean that he knows them personally, cool huh?

Friday night Jars of Clay were playing in Pittsburg along with a couple other bands and Sara Groves, who I love. So Matt invited Jeff to drive out with him where they got to go to the concert, then hang out and watch while the bands did a meet-and-greet, and finally to hang out with the guys in the band! Jeff said they're the nicest guys, he even met the wife and daughter of one of them!

He did also take the time during the meet-and-greet to say hi to Sara Groves and tell her what some of her (very powerful) songs have meant to me. He said her eyes welled up when he was telling her how special they've been to me.

Here is Jeff with Sara Groves:


And with three of the Jars of Clay guys:

Auntie Again!!!

I'm an aunt again!

My brother Corey's wife Mickae had their baby this morning. I talked to her yesterday afternoon when her water broke and they were heading to the hospital. Jacob was born this morning weighing a healthy 8 pounds 10 ounces! Mom and baby are doing well and Auntie would only be happier if she were there holding him!

I have a five-year-old!

Trey's birthday was Sunday, he's five now. I can hardly believe it. So here are five amazing things about Trey, and some pics from his birthday!

1. He is really mature and responsible for his age.
2. He is smart and loves to learn new things.
3. He has recently become very independent in all kinds of ways.
4. He is very creative.
5. He loves to make us laugh!

Here he is having his traditional birthday breakfast of ice cream


After lots of debate we decided to have the party at home and he wanted monkeys. I found a cute pin-the-monkey-in-the-palm-tree game and ordered it online only to find out at the last minute that they were out of stock. So I made my own. (Those are Trey's decorated coconuts on the side and his monkeys he brought down.)


Duck Duck Goose was a big hit!


He didn't even get mad at Roman for "helping" him blow out the candles. What a great big brother!

Busy Week

Thank God I'm feeling better, I need all my strength this week! It's been hectic already and it's only Tuesday night. Jeff threw out his back Sunday evening, so he's taken my place shuffling between bed, shower and couch. While caring for him (although I must say that he hasn't asked for much) I've also been trying to get ready for my in-laws coming to visit and Trey's birthday and party this weekend as well as a friend's baby shower, and bake about 15 dozen cookies for the shower and get all prepared for a few very busy days online with my internet business. I wanted to get as much done in these last couple of days as possible so that I will be free to focus on the business during these next few days while I'm in a position to have a lot of work coming in. If you're a prayer warrior friend of mine I'd love prayers for Jeff's back, my business this week in particular and all our activities this weekend.

I'll let you know how things go, and you can be sure I'll have birthday pictures up next week too!