WayfaringStrangers

This post is purely a "write it down so you don't forget about where you spent Thanksgiving in 2015." Because I will forget if I don't write it down. We spent this Thanksgiving holiday in Delaware this year. The first night we were hosted by Rachael, Matt, and Marielle. It was fun being over there and seeing all the updates to their home. Then, we headed just a little further north to Luke, Jess, Lily, and Silas' house for the big dinner. We were joined by Mom and Dad T, Rach, Matt, Marielle, and our friends the D's. Everything was great and the weather was warm so the kids played outside a lot. Kids Table: Graham eating a roll, carrots, and grapes. And that's about it. Patrick eating grapes, a roll, and carrots. And that's about it. Grateful for warm weather and cousins. We spent the next two nights at Mom and Dad T's. Dad T has been recovering from knee surgery, so it was low-key and cozy. Friday morning we sto...

A sunrise last week. I've seen many sunrises lately, due to one certain early bird who is 4 years old and thinks it a good idea to be up at 6..or 5...or 4:30...But each new day is grace. Last week, Patrick graduated to a toddler bed. I'd been looking at thrift stores for a while, but hadn't found one. Then I spotted a friend selling one on good ol' Facebook and jumped on it. I saw the ad at 4:30 in the afternoon, picked it up at 6:00, and by 7:30, my baby was a-sleeping on it. He loves it and transitioned perfectly. It was a little bittersweet, the taking the down the crib. But I must admit, I feel a bit giddy about it. The last few years of babies and now toddlers and preschoolers- they've been hard. Way hard. They've stretched me and grown me and aged me. I love having little ones, and yet I'm so thrilled about new autonomy, like Preschool and toddler beds and wiping their own bottoms (well, Graham at least). That's not to say I'll nev...

4th of July weekend was wonderful! We spent 4 days in Delaware doing all the summer things: playing at the park, grilling out, visiting family, swimming, fireworks, and watching lots of little cousins playing together. Behn and I got to sleep in a couple of times and as always, it's great having extra eyes and hands on the kids. We even got to see the Donut Man one night! (Who's the Donut Man? See popular 90's Christian VHS tapes at your local church library). He played a sweet little show at Behn's childhood campground and we took all the littles. It was a pretty great trip. So much cute! This is only 1/2 of the grandbabies! Donut Man! Ice Cream- classic summertime My 2 little fishies loved swimming. Actually so did I! I totally went all out with the cannonballs. I want to say thank you to our family for making the weekend so fun! Glad for the boys to have such sweet memories.  Now home and back to routine and the ups and downs. We e...

Last weekend we were in Delaware. We visited Mom and Dad T (Behn's parents) and spent a lot of time sitting, resting, napping, chatting, and just BEING. It was one of those times in life where that's what we so needed- to just be and rest. No big plans, no parties, no big family dinners. It was a little bit of a bummer that we didn't get to see some loved ones, but that's how it needed to go this time, and we were so grateful for the refreshment. It was really nice for the boys to spend time with just their grandparents, too. Thank you, Mom and Dad T, for the sweet weekend. I know we really enjoyed it. Twins It's been a tiring 6 months. New baby, new job, moving, looking for a new place (still nothing yet)...it just catches up sometimes and makes you wonder when it's going to slow down. When will the new normal  feel  like the new normal. We'll get there someday, and then something else will cause a new ripple in the pond and we'll adjust again. T...

I'm back! I definitely took a respite from blogging in December. I just didn't feel up to it, and I don't want the blog to become a chore. To be honest, I sort of trudged through December in general. There were some wonderful moments and highlights, but so often I felt tired and overwhelmed. I sort of didn't feel like doing the Christmas hoopla this year. I missed our decorations packed away in storage, and many days I found myself too much in a tired fog to think about advent devotionals or gifts. I still haven't sent the Christmas cards out (this is happening TOMORROW.) There were good memories though. Cousins in Christmas pj's. Family meals. Christmas music. My mom making the house beautiful. Undeserved gifts from those who love me. My cute boys in matching red pj's at the Christmas Eve service, where I stood with the choir and lip-synced because I had pretty much lost my voice during a cold. It was fun to have my brother Tim home and visitors coming ...

This month is zooming by. We had a wonderful, whirlwind trip to see our Delaware family last weekend. Graham had a ton of fun playing with all his cousins. Behn and I also really enjoyed the family time- meals and laughter and catching up with everyone. (stealing this picture from my sister in law): These 5 crack me up: Bribed them with lollipops to get everyone to stay put: Lord willing, next year there'll be 8- EIGHT!- grandchildren on this side. The family just keeps growing! What else has been going on? Just daily life, plenty of little bottoms to wipe and mouths to feed. Keeps me busy. Yesterday I decided to bake and made these: Hot Cocoa Cookies. SO easy and delicious. Recipe here. I had a helper, of sorts. Little guy has a bit of a cold, so this cheered him up. ^ He will be 2 years old tomorrow and we can't believe it.  And this one. This one is all smiles and so big. Just a perfect little darling in our family. We have so much upcom...

Ahem. So it's very hard for me to blog about normal life when there are big changes  hanging in the balance. I'm just too consumed with major life events to be able to write about, say, silly Graham-isms or what we did over the weekend. Some of the big things (well, one of them) has gone off the radar, so now maybe I can focus on blogging about everyday life again. I will blog about major life events (or lack thereof) sometime soon. We went to Delaware! We spent time with family and celebrated my sister Hannah's bridal shower and also Behn's upcoming graduation from his Master's Degree. That's right, ladies and gentlemen- Behn is DONE with grad school!! It was a whirlwind trip, but fun :) Mama and sisters at Hannah's shower. We missed Olivia though! Master Behn cutting his cake: Unkie Seth and Graham: Mama's Boy: The pool was fun, but the basketball net with Grandmom was even more fun! Cutie Cousins: I realized lately...

Ok, so blogging has been sparse lately, and may continue to be sparse for a while. I have a lot to do these days and NO ENERGY to do them! That includes blogging. We did have a wonderful trip to MD/DE this past week. It was busy...family dinners, bridal shower, Behn's graduation open house...you get the picture. Speaking of pictures, I will try to post some of the goings-on of our trip. I don't want to forget all the fun we had. We have a lot of stuff going on here too. Hopefully one of these days I can blog about all that, if it's the right time. Of course, the baby coming in about a month is a big change in itself. Speaking of which, I'm going to go pack the hospital bag right now; I've been putting it off and I do not want to be caught off guard if he decides to make an early entrance. Toodles.

We had a great weekend in Delaware! Behn had a conference in Philly for much of the week, so on Thursday evening, Emily and Seth drove up from NC and picked up Graham and I and we all trekked to Delaware. It was nice to have all day Friday to make the weekend a little longer. Graham got to spend time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Shane the dog of course. The toddlers are so cute! It's so sweet to see them all interacting. Behn and I really enjoyed the family time, too. On Friday night I enjoyed some quality, much-needed girl time with some friends. Saturday was extra special as we celebrated my brother-in-law's recent success in being promoted to operator of a Chick-Fil-A. My, that was a great meal. It was a really fun day. We really enjoyed the time with Behn's parents and siblings. We miss everyone so much! And on Sunday when we woke up exhausted (Graham did not sleep well...too much stimulation I think), it stunk to think about the weekend bein...

Cousin Time: Emmy and Seth: 1st Phillies Game (for Graham) Lots of quality time with Grandparents 1st Time at the Beach! Needless to say, we had a great week in Delaware, catching up with friends and spending time with family. Who knew it would be so fun to visit a place where you grew up? It really was a vacation. It was so nice to have a week off of work, and for Behn, off of school. Graham had a great time playing with cousins and experiencing lots of firsts. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their schedules to see us, we really appreciate it and love you all!