Thursday's Adventures

We've been on the road visiting grandparents and spending time with family.  I haven't had time yet to go through all of the pictures from the weekend, but I did have some a lot from Thursday.  Our first stop was lunch with my Grandma Murphy.

If there's one thing our grandmothers like to do, it's cook for their family.  James was tucking in to that chocolate pie.

After lunch the kids had fun shooting baskets, and after several tries I squealed with delight when James succeeded.  Ella came out to try, too, and got a couple in as well.

Little Boy Love

The most amusing part, of course, was capturing the kids shrinking back in fear each time they let go of the ball for fear of its bouncing back in their face.

I can't say it's been summer-hot, because summer-hot is simply a miserable sweaty mess, but this week has been hot, hot enough to need an iced tea break on the back porch when you're playing basketball.

Our next stop was KJ's Granny's house for a late supper.  We ate very well on Thursday.

We unloaded the car by the light of the moon, and the kids had the best time staking their claim to the big bed at Granny's house. 

It was a bit of a late night, but it was a good one.

Claire + Karis

I took some pictures of my nieces a couple of weeks ago to commemorate their 2nd and 5th birthdays.  Ella was able to spend Claire's birthday with her, and they had a really special day together.

When I start to count gifts and graces, I count many times over the almost 4 months my kids have had with their cousins in town.  It has been an irreplaceable time of making memories.

  I'll let Katie share the rest of the pictures, but those were a few that made me smile.  It's fun to have nieces.

The Lunar Eclipse and The God who Cares for Us

Sometimes I wake up with worries filling my heart.  

This morning I woke with a gasp just before 5 a.m. and jumped out of bed to check on James.  

He hit his head yesterday and had a goose-egg on the back of it, and I have no desire to relive the moment, except to say it was so terrifying.  And in the following hours, even though he never had any of the symptoms they say you should look for with a head injury, my heart was still a mess of worry and fear, because he's my baby, and I was powerless.  And as James danced around and played the Wii (lots of extra gaming hours last night as we kept him up longer than usual to make sure he was okay), and I talked with KJ in the kitchen, he reminded me that what I felt in the moment James got hurt is really the way things are all of the time.  We're not really in control ever.  We are always in the complete care of our Heavenly Father, and He loves James more than I do.

I jumped out of bed this morning and ran to James' room, making sure he was still breathing.  

I turned on the computer and was reminded of the lunar eclipse happening at that very moment, and when I peeked out my back door I had a perfect view.

I scurried around to find my tripod and adjust camera settings, and just stood out on the back deck watching the moon slowly disappear.

And I thought about how there is a God who holds planets and moons in orbit.
 

I thought about what Clyde Kilby wrote, "At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me."

I think the hard thing is trusting in His goodness and care even should the worst thing happen.  But that has always been the hard thing and is not unique to me.

And then it seemed like the moon disappeared, the sky was empty, and there were only stars for awhile.  But this planet kept on moving until you could see the moon again.

I'm thankful for mercies made new each morning, another chance to trust the giver of that good gift.

"Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption

that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord,

but that today, this very day, 

some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course

I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect 

who calls himself Alpha and Omega."

from Clyde Kilby's Resolutions

October 1 + An Angry Birds Birthday Party

James' birthday morning was really special.  He ran into our bathroom while I was still bleary-eyed and barely awake, jumping around with excitement.  He was so cute.  We made him wait until Ella woke up to open his presents.  We seem to have a tradition of opening birthday presents in the morning light as it streams through our front door windows. 

First Birthday

You can tell from Ella's face that she is figuring out what it is before James.

One of the highlights of our familial year was keeping the kids out past their bedtime one night and going with friends to see The LEGO Movie, which was so fantastic.  I was actually really pulling for a LEGO party this year.

Below is probably my favorite picture of the morning.

He's such a beautiful boy.

As much as he loved the new LEGOs, he was just as excited about the 99 cent Angry Birds coloring book he picked out.  He spent the entire morning coloring each page while watching The Great Mouse Detective on Netflix.

He got to hear the Birthday song from England over Skype, went out for a birthday breakfast with KJ, and after a quiet morning at home we went over for a birthday lunch with the cousins, which ended in a birthday jump on the trampoline.

I drove the kids across town to Target in the afternoon, thinking James could fall asleep and get a little nap in before his party that night, but he was so busy coloring he didn't fall asleep.  So, we walked around and looked at books and toys for a little while before going back to the church to set up for his party, at which point I discovered I left some important things at home, at which point KJ saved the day again by taking James to go pick up the left-behind items, as well as the cake and pizza.  

As you can well imagine, there are just a few things swirling around in my mental to-do list, so as I was setting up for his party I was feeling kind of low, feeling tired and not very put together, hoping James would have fun.  But you know what?  It was just the sweetest and best little party.  There were screaming, happy kids running everywhere, and our sweet church family brought him birthday cards with $5 bills in them.  Five is the best age for that.  James had so much fun.

KJ and our good friend and neighbor, Justin, pretended to be the pigs who stole the birds' eggs (making them angry of course).  We then let loose the mad hoard in the playground, hunting for their missing eggs.  It was really the perfect party game for James, because he LOVES hunting eggs.

I bought these little Angry Birds disc launchers that ended up being a lot of fun.  All the kids had one and just went crazy chasing the "pigs."  It took me awhile to notice that James had come outside without his shoes on, so barefoot on October 1 it was, heedless of dirt and ant beds.

After everyone got good and dirty we joined the adults for ice cream and cake.  KJ warned the kids about shooting launchers at grown-ups and hitting them in the eye, forcing them to wear an eyepatch the rest of their days.

Ella's Angry Bird banner was my favorite party decoration.  It was made with such love.

It was such a fun night, another thing in a long list to be thankful for.       

And those sweet pictures of James and I were all I really wanted out of the day.    

5 Years Old

"Would you like a special lunch for your birthday?"

"Um...hotdogs!"

"Okaaay.  Hot dogs!  Do you want anything to go with it?"

"On my plate beside it?"

"Yeah."

"Ketchup!"

"I mean, would you like a special kind of chip or anything?"

"No.  Dessert?"

Happy birthday to my favorite 5-year-old on the planet.  You bring so much joy and laughter to our lives every single day.  You are such a gift to us, and we love you.

  James is 5 from KJ Pugh on Vimeo.