My Ebenezer

This week Seth learned to pick up food with the "pincer" grasp and place it accurately (albeit messily) in his mouth.  A must for anyone! :)  He has been loving little pieces of banana, baby goldfish, Gerber puffs, and anything else he can pinch.  On occasion, Josh and I have been watching cooking shows together after the kids go to bed. We have been inspired to make our everyday food more flavorful.  Here was lunch one day, as I boosted our turkey sandwiches with a little sun-dried tomato pesto.  It was yummy! We celebrated Noah's 6th birthday a couple of times this week; once on Thursday with Matt and Jen's family, and then on Saturday (his actual birthday) with just us.  Here's the cake I made for Noah's party on Thursday night.  The idea came from Family Fun magazine a couple years ago.  Love. This. Picture!  Noah, completely unaware that Josh was taking this photo, with a genuine smile on his face.  To me this says pure, unadulterated

 He's a'comin' after me!  Always, always this child is coming after me.  Somehow he has turned into quite the mama's boy.  More on that perhaps in another post. Practicing his skills for the upcoming soccer season, which starts next month. Our church had a ton of help this week from a church in Rock Hill, SC. We put on Cola Wars for teens, and invited teens from the community to come.  We had a few attend, which was encouraging.  I tried to get a clear picture of the games, and this was the best I could do.  Those were some kids on-the-move! Every Saturday we go out for supper.  The location varies by the week, but it's nice for me to know that one time a week I don't have to cook.  I'm thankful to the Lord for the resources to do this!  This week's destination? Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  Any guesses who chose that restaurant? Our weekend project: improve the upper area of the garage, and turn it into a "mud room&qu

I cheered the day I discovered Noah could read.  I mean when he could  really read more than the three-letter , one-syllable, at-bat-cat-mat variety of words.  What an accomplishment!  But while it is thrilling to have a child who can read, I gotta tell you there is a downside too.  Now I have to watch what I leave sitting around. For example:  On my To Do list this week among "mop the floor," "dust the living room" and other such yawners, was an item a mere two words long.   Kingdom Chronicles That's all it said.  By that, I meant I needed to purchase the new Patch the Pirate cd titled Kingdom Chronicles for Noah's birthday (which is next Saturday!).  I left my To Do list on the counter and didn't think anything of it when I saw Noah reading it.  I thought he'd get to "clean toilets" and move on.  Nope.  Next thing I knew, Noah said, "Oh good!  You're getting Kingdom Chronicles for me!  For my birthday, right?" H

What a fun week!  The Lord allowed us to celebrate 3 birthdays (Brianne, Jen, and Titus), and to have Dave and Andrea (Josh's youngest brother and his wife) and their son Graham here for the long Independence Day weekend. Jen's mom, Jen, and Brianne on Brianne's birthday Brianne's birthday cake. What 5-year-old girl wouldn't want this cake? Jen's birthday cake, made by Andrea.  What 31-year-old girl wouldn't want this cake? :) The baby cousins Seth and Graham enjoying some play time. Saturday evening we went to the beach for a photo shoot.  Seth loved the sand, and I do mean loved it!  Loved how it felt, tasted..everything. See what I mean?  Several times Seth leaned over and planted his entire face in the sand, mouth open so he could enjoy it. Dave and Graham  Dave, Andrea, and Graham getting ready to leave. Then it was back to work for Josh on Monday.  Here is a septic-system-redo at a tenant'

It was off to Georgia this week to celebrate my Aunt Carolyn's 75th birthday!  She invited as many family members as could come, and we were in!  Many of these relatives I had not seen since I was a teenager, so needless to say there was LOTS of catching up to do.  We had SUCH a good time talking with everyone and enjoying the peaceful lake house where we stayed.   Setting out! This was a 5 hour trip, so DVDs were helpful!  (P.S. Georgia is connected to Florida, so I thought it would be a 3 hour trip max, but it turns out we had to go to the opposite northern corner of Georgia.  Five hours it was!) Bliss.  This is where we stayed. We did lots of this and this. Seth enjoyed the softer grass. Our grass here is not a pleasure to be barefoot in, but this was nice! Birthday celebration dinner at a steakhouse No family gathering is complete without Monopoly! and plenty of porch-sitting! The whole crew Since we've been ba