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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Wordless (Mostly) Wednesday

From three years ago:

Wordless Wednesday

A Labor of Love

Looking back, I can see that it's been awhile...a LOOOONG while.

So long, in fact, that the last thing I posted was about Edward's 14th birthday in....February.

Gulp.

SO much has happened. Good, bad, easy, fun, hard. My brain has nearly popped with it all.

I'm good at giving out advice about savoring the moments, slowing down, yadda, yadda.... But it's hard to take your own advice, huh?

So here's a quick recap. I'll post more with photos after this. I think I just need to unload my brain.

Since February...

Edward had his first Keystone Exam. Emily was accepted to Albright College and won a Shirk Scholarship. We coached Ethan's Spring U8 soccer team. Both older kids went with friends to the prom. Emily graduated from high school. Edward finished 9th grade. Emily got her first good job (after a failed first bad job complete with an office full of e-cigarettes). We renewed her permit, and Emily started learning to drive in earnest. We switched Edward to 21st Century Cyber School. He started 10th grade. Emily developed a type of seizure similar to epilepsy. (We're still investigating.) Edward started school and his second year of high school soccer. We moved Emily into....college! (Eeek!) Ethan finished 2nd grade. And Stuart was accepted into the continuing education program at Albright College to finish his bachelor's of science degree.

Now, everyone is completely and utterly....overwhelmed!

It's amazing. We did manage to squeeze in a trip to Knoebel's with my parents, an overnight trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands, and our annual day of Camp Woohoohaha! But it was a tight squeeze. (And despite the millions of bites we all sustained while visiting the islands, all three kids were trying to figure out how to move down there. *wink-grin*)

So there you have it. A recap of months and months of events in one or two paragraphs.

And there it is....my brain unloaded...I think.

Until I remember that a week from today our youngest turns 7!!!

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

My three sweethearts!

A blast from the past. This was from 2011 or 2012. It's amazing how much they've changed over the years. You think they do the most changing when they're babies, and they probably do. But during the years that follow there's a lot of change happening.

Here are a few more:

And most recently:

December 2014

Friday Funnies

This was us yesterday.... 

But we're officially finished with the Fall semester! Yay!! Phew! Wow! Boo-hoo!! Lots of emotions today.

It's the end of the first semester of Edward's high school years...and the end of the last Fall semester for Emily's high school years. 

Lots of emotions today......

Wordless Wednesday

A Day in the Life

Or the life in a day?

Sometimes it feels as if we're living many lifetimes in one day. There's so much going on.

My brain tries to sort out our schedule and keep everything straight. Soccer at 3:30...drama at 6:30...dinner at 5:30...little-guy soccer at 6.....laundry, meals, cleaning, and, oh, that's right...I have a newspaper story due.

Still. The soccer season is nearly over. Drama rehearses for a short period of time during the autumn. All will end before I know it and life will slow down, if only a little.

Enjoy the moments as they come, I tell myself.

I got extremely nostalgic this past Sunday when we passed a mom and her young daughter walking on the sidewalk as we drove to church. Suddenly, I pined yearned longed for that time again. It seemed so much easier, simpler somehow. The kids got up and had breakfast. We got dressed. We did school. We had lunch with a couple of PBS shows and then read a story together. After that, it was playtime. The kids loved playing outside. They built "fairy houses" in the flowerbeds and washed rocks and ran around defending our house from "bad" guys. They were little, and I could carry them. My kisses were still magical and healed boo-boos. We colored together.

It was while I was thinking about this and admitting that I missed that time that our 6-year-old piped up, "But then you wouldn't have me."

My heart froze.

He was totally right. He's 11 years younger than Emily and 7.5 years younger than Edward. To go back in time 10 years would erase his existence.

Never.

Then I got to thinking about how much I enjoy the kids now. And while they don't play outside very often anymore...and school takes a bit more time than the morning (mostly due to concentration problems),..and they're not as much into PBS kids' shows anymore...and I can't carry them (they're 5'10" and 5'9" tall now...and even the "little" one is 4'6". Sigh.)...they still love to hug me...and my kisses still have magic of some sort in them because they are filled with love.


Enjoy the moments as they come, I remind myself.

One day I'll feel nostalgic when I see a mom and her teenagers walking along the sidewalk, chatting together.


Enjoy. The. Moment.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  

What makes you feel nostalgic?

Saturday Sweetheart

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

Using His Head

Life has been extremely busy with school and activities and...soccer.

Edward has soccer everyday after school, and Ethan has soccer on Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

Sometimes life feels consumed by soccer. We finished watching the 2014 World Cup just in time for Edward to begin the high school soccer season.

Not that I'm complaining.

It's my favorite sport. I love the speed and skill the players display. It never slows down; only pauses for kicks and throw-ins.

Stuart and I are having fun coaching our U8 team, the Blue Cheetahs. The kids have plenty of silliness and energy to make it very enjoyable.

And then this happens.

Edward's team played Oley, and for the second year in a row, he got headbutted.

Ironic?

Hmm...

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!

Introducing...

...our freshman, Edward Stuart, Class of 2018:

 

 

 Sigh.

Update: Saturday Sweetheart

So we drove 35 minutes to see Edward's first-ever away game as a boys' high school JV soccer player, and all we saw was this:

In fairness, we were told the JV team played after the Varsity team. But due to the rainy weather, we think they played them early. Edward did mention afterwards that he thought about calling us to let us know...but he forgot.

Sigh. Oh, well.

We were there. See? *wink-grin*

Saturday Sweetheart

What a difference seven years makes, right? The little guy on the left was 6 1/2 when he first started playing soccer. Now, at 13 1/2, Edward had his first high school game today. He's on the JV team and, while they didn't win, he seemed to have fun.

Here's a little trip down Memory Lane with the blog post I wrote on his first-ever day of soccer back in 2007.

I'll repeat it: What a difference seven years makes.

Saturday Sweethearts

I'm so thankful for how much my children love each other. Don't get me wrong, they have their moments of wanting to strangle each other, too. (Sometimes more often than we parents would like.) But it isn't unusual for them to find something fun to do together.

Here are my boys this morning, reading together from a pile of books I discovered on a shelf under our coffee table. They spent another half-hour reading more of them together.

Relaxing mornings. Amusing books. Brotherly love. Three perfect ingredients for a Saturday Sweethearts post.

Saturday Sweetheart

It's always so amazing how quickly our children grow. 

This is Edward, our 11-year-old sweetheart. His is one of the most imaginative, funny, quick-learning boys I've ever known. He has a heart as big as a canyon, and he desires to be a missionary pilot when he grows up. I don't know if God will call him to do that, but it warms my heart to hear him talk about it.

I know he feels a bit slighted at times by his big sister and little brother seeming to get all the attention, so I wanted to honor him with this post today because sometimes -- more often than I like -- I forget the treasures I have right in my own house. 

We get so busy looking around on other people's blogs or on Facebook...and the best-est stuff ever is sitting right next to us.

Love you, Budboy!

Merrily Musing Along on Monday

"Monday. Monday. Can't trust that day."

Not sure why, but I love Mondays. Maybe because it's a fresh start to the week?

It's been a ton of months since I last did a "Monday Musings" of some sort. And I've missed it. It was always such a fun way to recap the previous week's events. I'm sure I chronicled a lot about our family's life during the years that I actually did it.

We're gradually winding down for the school year. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, we're way behind the finish line of other public schools. Everybody else seemed to get out last week (or earlier). Makes it a bit hard to concentrate given the invites to play or hang out. Still, it's always good to wind down from a school year...though I can NOT believe we're actually at this point again. Wow! Didn't we just start?

Emily is finishing 9th grade -- her first year of high school. She picked out courses for 10th grade, and they look challenging but fun for her. Edward is finishing up 5th/6th grade and will start with 7th grade math and reading next year. Yikes! It's making my head spin. We're considering what to do school-wise with Ethan this fall. On one hand, I like that kids have time to play and, well, just be kids for as long as possible. But, on the other hand, he is SO excited to be like the big kids and learn, and he's already doing some basic reading and math...so it would be a shame not to grab hold of that enthusiasm in some way....

We had a nice weekend, happy to have Stuart home from Italy (again!!). He's been travelling more often again lately. We'd gotten spoiled having him stay local with only a few trips a year. Since the end of April, he's been on three trips with another one coming up soon. Sigh. But I guess it's part of his job, and we're happy for the employment.

I finished writing 26 (!!) articles for a supplement the newspaper published this past Sunday. It was a lot more challenging than I originally thought it would be...and I have to admit I was more than a little bit burned out at the end. It felt like I started working full-time for the newspaper again. The finished product looked very nice, though.

I'll end this brief Monday Musings with a recent "Ethan-ism" that tickled me:


Me, after tucking him into bed: I love you to pieces.
Ethan: And I love you to "together things."

Saturday Sweetheart

It's hard to remember that this round-faced cherub is our 11-year-old. It seems the years have literally flown by, and he's growing into a the proverbial "fine young man." 

Wow! 

Did I just type that? 

I cannot imagine my boys as men...though that's what they're heading towards -- whether or not my "mommy-heart" likes letting go of their boyishness.

I decided to post Edward's photos today because, well, I noticed a generally lack of him on my blog. He's a hard one to photograph since his eyes are very "photo-sensitive" and have a hard time staying open in a staring position for long. Still, he deserves blog time, too, right?  

 

Edward's Half-B'day

Our "Budboy" turns 9 1/2 today...NINE and a HALF!!

Wasn't it just yesterday that we were celebrating his first birthday with "Pooh Bear" plates and cups and napkins. The poor baby boy fell asleep during his party. He had a terrible cold.

Now, he's teetering on the edge of double digits, heading ever closer to teendom.

It's a melancholic feeling...on one hand, happy to watch him grow up into a nice, young man...but hard to let him grow and spread his wings, knowing that this time will continue to go by so quickly...too quickly.

But, for today, we'll enjoy 9 and a half.

Sigh.

Happiest Half-Birthday, Edward Stuart!