15 Sweet Valentines

For some Valentine's Day is just another Hallmark occasion...a time to buy the clichéd cards and chocolates and express the stereotypical sayings about love.

For me, it's another occasion to praise God for the precious Valentine He gave me in 2001.

Happiest 15th Birthday

to our fantastically funny and gorgeously handsome son,

Edward Stuart!!

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Birthday Boy!

Every birthday brings with it a chance to reflect. ...on the speed of time, the size of our children, and how important it is to love these kids -- each and every day -- with our entire beings.

This is our little Valentine boy...

This is him today.

 

 

14!

Wow!

And, best of all, he is 14 on the 14th, his star birthday. And he is definitely our star today!!

Happiest Birthday, Budboy! We love you more and more everyday!!

Saturday Sweethearts

Is it possible that these two are as big as they are? 

We feel so blessed by their close friendship, despite the 7.5 year age gap. It's going to be really hard on Ethan when Edward goes off to college one day. 

Until then, we'll enjoy these moments...

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Sweetheart

My very favorite player on the Wyomissing High School Boys' JV Soccer Team!!

Saturday Sweetheart

Edward made this helicopter with K'nex last night. The model itself came from the instruction book, but he made it have working gears and rotors.

Such a clever and creative guy!

Friday Funny

"See, Mommy? I have a 2-pack [of abs]!"

Love this kid!

Having a Ball

Mondays and Musings and Musings and Mondays

Our 11.5-year-old

Happy Monday! It's the second to last Monday in August. Nearly the end of another month.

You can tell the summer is waning. We've had a few evenings that were decidedly cooler than usual. And this morning the air felt even a little crisp.

Amazing.

It feels like Summer just started...though with the new school year looming, we know that's not true.

So our middle child had his "half-birthday" last Tuesday. 11.5 It seems so strange to think of him being only a half-a-year away from 12. Wow! One year later, and we'll have two teenagers.

Okay. Mentally filing that in the "Do Not Disturb" folder of my brain.

Edward had a quiet half-birthday. We did summery things, which means that we hung out, got bored, did some playing, ate some donuts. We gave him an inexpensive digital watch and a remote-controlled car, both of which have been enjoyed immensely already. Love when that happens!

Speaking of time, Edward started soccer practice tonight. They had to move his team up to the U13 since they didn't have enough players in the league. It should be an interesting -- and challenging -- season for them.  Ethan starts his U6 practices sometime in September. He's really really excited.

Speaking of soccer, we finally got a call for the ball bags we bought the boys. I special-ordered one in July for Edward because it was supposed to go with his uniform, which is navy-blue and white. We picked it up today. It was black. Hmm... When I went back into the store to inquire about it, they told me that was the only ones they had left in stock. When I pointed out that I "special-ordered" it in JULY, they shrugged and said that they don't even carry it in navy blue...just royal blue, red, or black. Sigh.  Both boys liked them better in black, so we kept what we "special-ordered."

Speaking of ball bags, we got Ethan an early 4th-birthday present: a Size 3 "football." He was so excited with it that he hugged it all around the store. We even got a chance to play with it last night. Emily took a bunch of photos as we played. I'll post some of those tomorrow.

Stuart took last Thursday and Friday off from work. He needed to have his computer serviced before he heads out on any other trips. It was taking about a eternity decade month hour to start up. Okay, so maybe not quite that long, but it was definitely longer than normal. (It brought back to mind the days when we had Commodore 64/Vic 20s...and you could start a program loading, go to the bathroom, get a snack, and return to the computer before it even finished loading. It always made me think of mice running on a wheel inside the computer's 5 1/4-inch diskette drive.) He called me from work this morning and said it was definitely running better...and even started up in about a minute or two.

So my Monday "chores" are calling. Hope you have a GREAT start to your week.