A Lot Going On

To try to catch you up on the past month would require a significant amount of time on both our parts, so I'll give you the bulleted version!

Jace has lost all his front baby teeth and is adorable :)

Samuel is learning new words all the time, especially words like, "cookie" and "water."

Both boys took swimming lessons and both have done amazing - Jace is swimming so much better and Samuel can jump off the edge and swim back to the side.

We've had some visitors since school ended, Nonie and DuDad came to visit as well as Ben, Meghan, and their giant kids - who we kept for a week while they enjoyed the wilds of Disney. Logan had a blast with these new friends, Boone and Brylee, although many of the boys' toys didn't survive! Perhaps one day I'll share the story of the great toy massacre... but not today.

Today is a sad day for me. At this moment I should be packing up Jace and Samuel's clothes, but I keep procrastinating. With the mess of the oil spill in the Gulf, I have been recalled back to active duty working in Miami (about 2 hours away), and Brian is on a list of potential people to be sent to assist in the response efforts. So, Logan is going to hang out with the neighbors and the boys are going to spend the remaining 6 weeks of summer with their grandparents. We're meeting Nonie and DuDad tonight on the road and I'm driving back to Miami and work tomorrow.

I know the boys are going to have a BLAST since they are already enrolled in a summer program that goes on field trips - not to mention Samuel will finally have someone his age to play with! But as I've never been apart from my kids longer than a couple weeks (and that was excruciating), I'm a little blue :(

So, I'll leave you with some photos from a couple weekends ago. Bubbles make everything better don't you think?

Jace uses the karate chop approach to catching bubbles.

Samuel gets up close and personal.

 And I love my family and home :)

Lighthouse Life Snapshot

At this moment Brian is lounging on the couch catching up on the news and our little Samuel just came in from the backyard - where he has been for the past 45 minutes driving the gator around in circles in a sunshower. So Samuel, who is wet, sandy, and just overall a yucky, grubby little boy right now, just climbs up on the couch in Brian's arms and rubbed his dirty little body all over Brian :) Though he protested at first, Brian is still snuggling with his littlist man - now that is Daddy love!

I wanted to share some pictures from the past few weeks.

We met the neighbors and they are very interesting, but look a little weird...

and this guy is just plain hard to figure out.

Jace has also become friends with some of the neighborhood kids who - I've got to mention this - are all GIRLS! I'm thinking that Jace was the only boy born in 2003... The fact that they are girls doesn't seem to faze him, here is Jace bombing some of them with water balloons.

Yeah, I'm praying for the next family moving in to have a 6-year-old BOY. PLEASE!?!

When the water isn't flying you can find us at MY favorite neighborhood spot, the big tree - and I am in LOVE with this amazing piece of God's artwork.

On a separate note, we had our first couple visitors! My mom and dad came to visit and help with the kids while I did some drills (THANK YOU Mom and Dad!) and while they were here they got to meet the newest grandchild (Dave and Suignette's little one) Reef Henry Johnson. It was love at first sight :)

I think he's winking at me - such a charmer!

Appropriately, we got to meet the little man on his mama's very first Mother's Day and had a fine barbeque and visit with the whole family. Speaking of... here's one of me and my two little princes from that morning.

Ummm, please excuse the dishevled look, I just woke up...

So there's a snapshot into our lighthouse life. We are happy and Blessed :) Oh, and Samuel briefly returned to the gator, but decided that pinching his sleeping daddy's nose was more fun... I love my family!

Lovin' the Lighthouse Life

It's been a crazy last few weeks! It took about two weeks, but we were able to get all our STUFF successfully moved from our old apartment to the new FABULOUS new location at the base of the lighthouse.

Living here has reminded over and over how amazing our Lord is. When we first moved to the area last year we were convinced we needed to buy a home. Our "needs list" included 4 bedrooms, a yard, trees, garage (or carport) and after months of searching and three failed offers we realized that the Lord was trying to tell us that our "needs" were not His desire. We settled for an apartment (well, two actually) and found an AMAZNG school for Jace while Brian found out how great it is to work at an remarkable unit. But we were not happy.

When Brian's Chief asked him last March if we wanted to move to housing, I immediately said, "NO!" Why would we want to move AGAIN and have to drive sooooo far to take Jace to school? It took a few days of the Lord working on my heart - and listening to similar stories of others - but we decided to make the move, and have felt such piece and joy in our decision. Even the process of getting out of our lease was a breeze. Oh, and our home? Four bedrooms, a HUGE yard, amazing trees, carport, and because HE loves us, he placed us right next to the lighthouse, a symbol of strength, guidance, and support.

I believe the Lord is trying to remind our hearts that we have a purpose, His purpose, and that we are to be a light for others. You see, in the past year, our little family has somwhat forgotten that. We've pulled away from the Lord, stopped going to church, gotten selfish, and not been leading the life that God has asked us to. Moving here has reminded us of that, and reminded us of God's mercy. Here we've been like naughty children and disobeying our Father, and He has continued to love us, so much that he still provided us with what we wanted (not needed, but selfishly wanted). I recognize this, and though I am ashamed of how I've acted this past year, God's welcoming back embrace and pure Love has rekindled my faith and spiritual desire to serve Him. 

You know, I had this whole other subject that I was going to write about, but when I sat down and started typing this is what came out. And as I finished this up (and B has no idea what I doing over here) Brian looks over at me and says, "I'm so glad we moved here."

God is so good.   

White Wonder

I had to do a photo shoot yesterday for some school projects and started playing around with some pretty little creamers I'd gotten forever ago. I LOVE how this photo came out...

It makes me want to decorate my entire home white...

...haha, YEAH RIGHT!

Two little boys, one big boy and a boy dog?! Maybe I'll just girlify one room of our new home, perhaps the office/craft room! YES! Bring on the white and pink!!

All about Jace - at school

The high schoolers at Jace's school are doing this GREAT fundraiser where for a fee (a cheap $15) they will go through ALL the photos from the year (from the yearbook and photo classes) and put any photos with your child in them on a CD.

So on the order form there is a disclaimer that says that in 4-6 weeks they will give you at least 30 photos, and that your child may or may not be by themself but in a group. So I was expecting to get a ton of group photos - no problem though, I figured it would be fun for Jace later on to look back.

I ordered a CD last week and got it today. Popped it in the drive and WOWZA ~ there are 150 pictures on the CD! And let me tell you, they must love our kid at that school because it was NOT just group shots, he was the center of attention in several of them :)

He is such a ham.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of them...

Jace's Birthday - Daddy got to eat lunch with him

Thanksgiving Lunch - Mommy and Samuel were his guests

our t-ball player

Jace's star student week poster

Jace being chosen as the Wisdom Student of the Week - a HUGE honor

soccer season - lots of fun

Career Day - we both went, but Dad did all the talking!

Because three times just isn't enough...

Perhaps we're crazy.

Perhaps we're brilliant.

But we've decided that moving three times in one year just isn't enough...

...so we are moving again...

...to HERE!

And we can NOT wait!

DO YOU SEE THE LIGHTHOUSE!!!!!!!!

How cool is that :)

Of course, moving means lots of this...

sigh.

Ollie and Busch

Last week we had the great fun of stealing my nephew, Ollie, away for the day and headed over to Busch Gardens. What a day! It was loooooooong, but full of laughs, roller costers and ice cream.

Watch out!

Look Mom - there's Dad and Ollie!

hmmmm...

More apes!

Vroom - gosh, 10 more years and this will be for real...

Yum!

Fun, fun!

Stinky-ness and New Shoes

I think I may have to give up showers.

It seems everytime I attempt to accomplish this necessary chore, SOMEONE gets into something they are not supposed to.

When I got out of the shower today, this is what I found...

Hmmm... who could have done this?

Yep, I think you're right... there's a certain look in his eye that screams

GUILTY!

Bring on the stinky-ness.

Or perhaps I'll just switch to nightime showers.

:)

Speaking of stinkyness, do your kids feet smell as bad as my boys?? Geesh.

After the emergency room visit last week, I realized that Jace needed new shoes for school (his others were covered in blood). The three of us went on a shopping trip yesterday and scored with some great new shoes for Jace (he said they were "hot"!) and some air-conditioned shoes for Samuel.

Perhaps the air-conditioning will help cut down the STINK.

Hope you have a stinkless day!

Love of Brothers

Sure, they fight.

Sure, they argue.

Sure, they disagree.

BUT...

...they sure do love each other.

Here's some of my favorite pictures of my two little men.

(Nonie got this one - I think it's my new favorite!)

Bumps and Prayers

With the birth of my boys, I knew there would be days (and maybe nights) spent in the emergency room. But when it happens, it still makes my heart skip beats...

I got the call from school Wednesday morning - Jace was playing chase on the playground, had tripped and hit his head on a piece of metal on a picnic table. I needed to get him and take him to the doctor for stiches. The drive to school consisted of several phone calls between Ms. H, the most amazing assistant in the elementary office, the pediatrition's office, and of course Mr. H at work.

Let me butt in here and just say that we LOVE Jace's school. During this whole incident, there were so many people involved in taking care of our little man, from his teacher staying calm and getting him to the nurse, to the nurse getting the bleeding to stop, to the entire principle's office directing kids to get out of the way (the high schooler's were changing classes when I got there), staying with Samuel in the car, and leading me to the nurse's office (unbelieveble I hadn't been there yet!).

As soon as my little man saw me he burst into tears, which made ME want to sob right along with him - it is sooooo hard seeing your child in pain. The nurse told me - get right to the hospital and don't peek under the bandage! Jace was so brave and I'm so proud of him. Once we got to the emergency room and into triage I got a glimps at the wound... and oh my GOODNESS! It was an awful-looking, PAINful-looking gash. We were sent to an exam room complete with television and Jace calmed right down.

Unfortunately, it took over two hours for the doctor to see Jace, by which time Samuel and I had already departed, leaving Jace in Brian's capable hands. Fortunately, the wound was clean and straight enough that they were able to do the "glue" stiches, which mean less of a scar.

Here's our brave little man...

Now, here is some backstory on how amazing our Lord is...

While we were driving to the emergency room we prayed for healing of the wound, and for peace and calmness for both Jace and myself. We also prayed for the children who were there with Jace when it happened - for them to have peace and comfort in what they saw.

While we were at the hospital waiting, Jace's teacher called to see how he was doing and shared this story. When Jace hit his head, there was a LOT of blood - to the point that it really scared the teachers even though they knew that head wounds = lots of blood. The amount of blood was great. As soon as it happened, several little girls in Jace's class and the other K5 class immediatly sat in a circle to pray for him. All during the rest of the day, the two classes prayed at different times for him to be brave and for him to not have any pain. That evening, his teacher went to church and her entire church prayed for Jace.

Let me tell you - PRAISE GOD and those prayers WORKED! After the initial jitters at the hospital, Jace has had NO problems, NO pain and NO issues with his head. At his follow-up visit with his Pediatrition that Friday, she was amazed at how well he looked considering the force of the hit. She said that he should have been all bruised up and swollen - but he wasn't. I told her he has been covered in prayer. God is amazing isn't he?!

And the next day at school Jace was considered a little superstar and everyone wanted to see how he was doing, even the "big" kids. They all heard what happened (it's a small school) and wanted to make sure he was okay :)

One last photo for your enjoyment - Mr. H thought it would be funny to show "what really happened." Hehe!

Hug your kids and pray over them! And may God Bless you as he has blessed us.

Blessing and Baptismal

I feel so blessed in my life. Though I have a earthly hero, aka, my husband(!), we all also have our ETERNAL HERO, aka, Jesus, who died so that we can spend eternity with him in heaven.

When we had Jace, my hero and I felt it was very important for our children to know about Jesus, our Lord and all that HE has done and does for us. Jace (and now Samuel) are such blessings and have such a spiritual relationship with the Lord.

A few months ago Jace asked Jesus into his heart as his Lord and Savior (Wow!) and since then has been asking us to let him get baptized. Since we moved we have not found a home church this presented a problem - especially since some churches don't feel that age 6 is "old enough" to understand. One day Jace decided that his DuDad could do it - and so that was that. We consider New Covenant Word our "Alabama Church" since we've gone there both summers that we stayed with Nonie and DuDad, and Jace is well known and well loved there too :)

Easter Sunday was the day. Our amazing, sweet, spiritual Jace stood before the entire Alabama church, spoke of when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior (in the car on the way to school - be still my heart!), and then proceeded to be baptized by his Grandfather.

How AWESOME.

Playing Catch Up

I am so behind in updating - YIKES! So sorry - in addition to finishing up a crazy-busy semester of school the boys and I went on a crazy-long road trip... whew, and it wasn't as easy as it used to be - maybe I'm just getting too old :)

Jace's first day of Spring Break began March 27th and that was the day the boys, Logan and I loaded up and drove to Alabama. My Hero is taking some significant leave in April (more on that later!) so he couldn't get off for this trip... but he did drive up Easter weekend for a quick visit.

Anywhoo - the first leg of our 4-part trip went really well - we left our house at 4 am and with the time difference got to Nonie and DuDad's at 2 pm that Saturday. The boys immediatly started rummaging through long-forgotten toys and letting loose their wild sides on the steep hill in the back yard... at least until Jace ran into the tree. Oh well, he only cried like TWO tears and after showing off his battle wounds was right back on the hill - that's my boy!

We had a great visit with Nonie, DuDad, Aunt K, Uncle M, and GranHawkins that weekend and headed out early Monday morning for leg 2 of the trip - Alabma to Missouri to see my folks. Unfortunately, by this stage of the drive, the boys had come to realize just how stinky it is to sit your hinney in a car seat for 12 hours and were not as pleased or excited about the drive. A couple new movies helped a little, but we didn't make quite as good time, arriving at my sister's (she lives right on the way) at 6ish that night. But what a nice time it was seeing her and my nephew and nieces!

Okay - quick funny story... I had not been to her new house and as we pulled into the neighborhood I was having a hard time seeing the house numbers, so when I saw a bunch of kids playing I rolled down my window to ask them. This sweet boy runs over and I ask him if he knows which house C, K, and P live at and he laughs at me as says, "Aunt Kryssy, I'm C!" Good gracious - he had grown SO MUCH I didn't even recognize him! It's been a year-and-a-half since I've seen them :(

So Jace and Samuel had a fabulous time running around and playing with their cousins while my sis and I caught up. After dinner together, we said our goodbyes and headed out for the last 2 hours of our drive - luckily, the boys slept for this part!

We landed at my folk's home at almost 10 and pretty much crashed for the night - who would have thought that sitting on your hinney all day could be soooo tiring! The next day we went to see my very sweet and special 94-year-old grandmother. She lives in an assisted living home with several other elderly people and Jace and Samuel had a grand time entertaining all the people that came in to see who was making all the racket! We didn't get to stay too long since the boys had pretty much used up all thier "being good" efforts on the long drive, but I did get to go back the next day and spend much of the day with her in quiet (thanks Mom for watching the boys!).

It was fun being back in my hometown. I ran into one person from my class, and several parents of classmates. I also saw my absolute FAVORITE elementary teacher, Mr. Ford, at breakfast one morning and what a treat that was! He laughed as I frantically turned my head side-to-side watching where my boys were going and said it brought back memories of his two sons when they were that age - thank goodness for people who remember what it was like to have young kids!

After just a couple days we planned our return, leg 3 of the drive, back to Alabama. We decided to leave Thursday because Mom and Dad wanted to drive part-way with us, so that morning we stopped by one more time to see Grandma and then hit the road.

Let me tell you, there is a stretch of road that goes for about 100 miles in the lower part of Missouri / upper part of Arkansas. It is two-lane, but really beautiful land that just makes you smile and thank God for creating something so beautiful. Right in the middle of this part of the drive is a little town called Hardy, Ark., and it boasts tons of little antique and flea markets - and I was itching to stop and take a look! Too bad Samuel isn't into that sort of thing... and he let it be know that he didn't want to stay long. That is also where Mom and Dad did their U-turn.

We pressed on and made it to the other side of Memphis before stopping for the evening in Honey Springs, Mississippi. The next day we finished up with a stop at DeSoto Caverns in Alamaba and then on back to Nonie and DuDads for some Easter weekend celebration!

The weekend was spent fishing, riding bikes, dyeing eggs, and catching up with family - and it was tons of fun! See for yourself...

And of course, it's not Easter Sunday without church, lots of homecooking (LOVE me some Southern cookin!), and picture upon picture of how cute we all look :)

The boys and I left Monday for the last part of the drive home, and are already trying to plan another visit to everyone - or get them all down here to Florida!

Take care everyone and love on your family!