My sweet boy is nine

Little Joe's birthday is July 4th. He has been counting down the days until his special day, and now it has come and gone. He started the day with a requested breakfast of eggs, bacon, and biscuits with strawberry jam. He spent the morning building his new lego, while the afternoon we tamed the heat at the pool. Wednesday evening we are at church but tonight we met earlier to share a meal together. Hotdogs. It is no surprise that Little Joe loves hot dogs. I rarely cook them. Maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Anyway he was thrilled to share a favorite meal with dear friends followed by a fireworks display.  
He ended the day saying he is glad his birthday is Independence Day. My boy is so sweet and thoughtful. He served his brother and foster sister first thing this morning by playing with them as I prepared breakfast.  This is a common scenario. I am so thankful for his love towards them.  He even shared one of his gifts, a candy bar, with Baby Joe. I have to admit when it comes to chocolate he freely gives. His mama has a different approach unfortunately.

Joe and I rejoice in the life of Little Joe and the past nine years. Our pray is that he would love the Lord with all his heart and mind.

Graduated

By the end of the day, I am exhausted or too thoughtless to sit down and write a blog post. Throughout the day, things will come to mind to put on the blog, but end up being forgotten. But something that happened earlier this week I will not soon forget. Joe had his very last appointment with his oncologist. The events of the past five years since Joe's diagnosis have changed our life forever. We are thankful for God's sovereign, loving hand over our life. There is not a safer or more comforting place to be.

Ocracoke 2012

We have been back from vacation for a few weeks now.  Our annual trip to Ocracoke is one of the highlights of our year as a family.  Before Will (can I break the blog rules, Joe?) was diagnosed with cancer we didn't take vacations.  We would visit family or maybe spend a day or two somewhere.  Although, each day is precious and to be cherished my husband has intentionally set aside time for us to make memories. Ocracoke is special.  It is low key. Not much commercialism. That is what we like. This year was filled with bike rides, fishing, surfing, playing in the sand, walking on the beach, grilling out, taking naps, and exploring. Here is a glimpse of our week. I have yet to download pics from my camera. 

These are from Joe's swanky phone.

                                         Once off the ferry, these boys slept until we returned home.
                                                       They played so hard.

A game of catch up

April has come and gone. We have enjoyed the beautiful spring weather with plenty of walks, runs, biking, and just playing in the back yard. Baby Joe loves to be outside and cannot get his mama out there fast enough. Little Joe is deep in baseball and doing great as first baseman.  NC requires homeschooling families to give a standardize test each year.  Joe administered the test in early April at his office so that our student could have a less distracting environment.  We have picked, eaten, and jammed up strawberries. We are preparing now for a two week vacation.  One week we will spend at the beach.  The other week will be spent loving 'this old house'.  She turns 90 this year.

A passed out child returning from a father/son camping trip

Family picture riverfront downtown

Some shenanigans in the back yard

Water and Ninjas

My youngest loves water.  He looks at the sky and tries to convince me it is water.  He likes to drink water, play in water, throw water, and see all types of water.  In the boys room, there is a poster of jets landing on an aircraft carrier.  Baby Joe doesn't notice the planes.  He sees the water (ocean) first.  This will be a fun summer at the beach.  I imagine lots of wave chasing.  Here, he is thrilled to help his daddy water the garden. Very intense in his work.

My oldest likes to spend time outside training to be a Ninja.  I think this is inspired by the Legos he has been creating lately.  Baseball starts for him tomorrow night. The coach has him at first base; a position that requires a lot of focus. This will be good for him, and his mother.  I will learn (hopefully) to let the coach do the coaching.  We look forward to cheering him and his team on as a family.  I am thinking lots of picnics at the ball field for the next two months.  Here are some training shots, for being a Ninja not baseball.

               To little Joe's defense, he is in mid sentence, thus the strange expression.

Prankster

Things get a little crazy around here in the evenings. Silly boys run around giggling trying to expel the last bit of energy before they are put to bed.  The fun does not always end once they are asleep.  The dogs take advantage of the undivided attention they receive while Joe and I talk about the days events or parenting concerns over a nice pile of dishes to wash and dry.  Gabby has a few tricks up her sleeves to show off.  Her latest is "the Spurgeon sandwich".  Both dogs will be lying in their beds, when she gets the idea to pull one on Spurge.  She takes her bed and tosses it on top of him playing a funny little joke. She does this all by herself while we laugh and take pictures.  What is so funny is that Spurgeon lets her do it.  Either he does not care at all or he feels sorry for her and humors her by playing along.  The pictures are bad.  I failed to make sure my settings were right.  I was more focused on capturing the sandwich.  We love you, Bugs! Spurgeon is a good boy. He puts up with a lot.

Baby Girl

We have had Baby Girl with us now for almost 4 months.  She is such a delight to have in the home.  I used to say she is the happiest baby I know, but she is possibly the most content person I know. The boys love her and give her much attention.  Baby Joe's affection can be a little rough at times but she just smiles at him.  Little Joe will do school work or play Legos with Baby Girl nearby and she watches him closely.
She wakes up happy.  After sleeping for 12 hours, she squeals to get your attention.  Once she finds your face she smiles and squeals even more.  She is beginning to roll on her side.  She kicks her legs in her bouncy seat to bounce herself. She sucks her thumb for comfort and loves looking intently at her fingers.
People will ask me "how long do you think you will have her?" I usually say I don't know. And it is true. I have no idea how long I have with her or the boys or Joe.  Recently instead of thinking about her case and what will become of it, I have determined that the right response is to live in this moment.  To love and care as if it is my last day.  Our days are number as well as our time with these sweet treasures that the Lord has given.  Cherish them, my friends.