Picture Catch-Up (Part 2)

Brooke giving me a birthday pedi!

Mom brought over cake and flowers on the afternoon of my birthday. 

That's what you call a table full of love!

How many kids can you pile in Noni's lap?!

Brody had been over playing at a neighbor's house...this is how he came home :)

Brody and Beckett spent a couple days with my inlaws in Shreveport last weekend, so I took advantage of only having one little monkey at home!

We picked up Brooke and visited the bookstore...

Had cappuccinos at PJ's...

Well. Levi had gummies ;)

Played in the phone booths...

Let mom keep Levi while Brooke and I got manicures...

And took late naps!

We've been in the adoption process for 15 months now, and a lot of our paperwork is expiring, so we get to do it all over again. Endless paperwork...

Brent and I went to this fun little antique show on Saturday, and I picked up these cute little syrup jars for the boys! 

Brent also bought me this beautiful antique tea set and dessert plates. I'm. In. Love. 

Such gorgeous detail. 

And he took another late nap that day too!

Brooke wanted to come over and have a tea party with the new china, so we happily obliged. :)

Daddy letting Levi drive in the hay meadow! 

Enjoying using the syrup jars!

Before Beckett's preschool open house :)

Picture Catch-Up

Tomorrow is the first day of school - 1st grade for Brody boy and my sweet Beckett's very first day of preschool. They are all asleep, but I'm wide awake - wondering how tomorrow will go and praying for them. Praying for God to protect them and lead them, but more importantly to use them. To use them to show love to someone. Or to use them to bring a smile to someone's face. Or to include someone who may be feeling left out. I'm excited to see what this new school year brings! My boys have great teachers, great schools...and I can't wait to hear how everyone's day goes tomorrow! I know Levi is going to enjoy having a few hours of alone time each morning. :) 

I also thought I'd take advantage of the fact that I can't sleep to get caught up on some pictures! 

My grandparents grew these pumpkins this year! It was so fun to go over and see pumpkins already on their porch. Made me so ready for fall!

Brooke spent a few days with us the last couple weeks, and she and the boys had fun creating a "secret hideout" in the woods. This is the entrance that Brooke decorated. :)

Not much is more fun than playing in the woods to little ones. 

We went out to eat for my grandmother's 70th birthday last week! Always fun to get together with that side of the family. We don't get to see them enough!

Breaking news! At 6 1/2, Brody finally lost his first tooth! He pulled it himself, but then got upset because he didn't like the way he looked with a hole in his mouth. That was not how I had imagined that moment going - totally caught me off guard. Silly boy! He's fine with it now, thank goodness. 

We've been spending some evenings at the pool. The kids just love it. Trying to take advantage of it before they cover it in a few weeks!

We got to keep sweet baby Canaan for a little bit one day, and I don't think Brody put him down the whole time. This boy loves babies! And I love that he does!

Brent and I took the boys on a little surprise date to see Planes 3D last weekend. It was pretty cute, and I know they had fun. 

Headed to a birthday party, looking so handsome!

Pool party with the Vinsons !

Pawpaw and his sidekick doing their new favorite thing - shooting bows!

I had to take Beckett for allergy testing in Monroe. Poor little guy, they did the pricks on his back and then also did the injections on his arm. 

He was such a trooper! For being such a brave boy, we went for lunch at Chick-Fil-A and a carousel ride in the mall!

The next day (and again a few days later) I was at the doctor with this little guy, because he was bit by what they are guessing was a spider on his foot! I'll spare you the daily pictures I took of his foot (it was pretty awful), but this sweet boy had a rough go of it for about 6 days. We can finally see some improvement today!

Brooke and Brody registered together for the last time at Hugh Goodwin! Brooke will move to the middle school next year. I'm so glad they've been able to go together for two years!

In the silence...

It's 10:40 pm, and all is quiet in my house. I'm the only one awake...sometimes this is one of my favorite times of the day. A few moments to myself to reflect back on the day. As I sit here tonight, I look around me and see that my living room is scattered with little reminders of how blessed I am. There are blocks and a guitar and a rubber ducky and a toy drum on the carpet. There is a sippy cup in the corner. There's a baseball bag on the coffee table. I see a brush and a headband on the couch where Brody and Beckett were playing with my hair earlier. There is a little puppy backpack on the counter, and there are no less than four pair of little shoes scattered around the room. 

Sometimes I grow weary of picking things up, just to be drug out again only moments later. But tonight I'm just thankful. Thank you Lord for this mess! :) Thank you for the noise that fills our home and for the little hands that play with these toys. Thank you for these babies who still love to crawl in my lap and be held. Who still love to have their back scratched and their heads rubbed. I know I will blink and this time will be gone. 

I'm so thankful that it's a Sunday night, and I'm not sitting here dreading having to leave my boys to go to work in the morning.  For five years, that is how I felt. I literally felt sick at the thought of Monday mornings. Not that I didn't like or  appreciate my job. But it wasn't where I felt like I should be. I needed to be home with our babies. I was missing out on so much, even just working part-time. My husband and my children weren't getting the best of me. They were just getting what was left over at the end of the day. I'm so glad God placed the desire in my heart (and in Brent's heart!) for me to be home full-time. It took us a little while to get here, but it is so worth it! I now sit here on Sunday nights excited about Mondays! No more dreading. I have my boys all week long. And even when Brody starts back to school in a few weeks, I get to take him and be there when he steps out of those doors in the afternoons. I can eat lunch with him and go on field trips with him. And even work in his classroom! 

I am just so thankful that I am getting to live out my dream job. It may not be glamorous or require higher education. It is challenging and it sometimes stretches me more than I like to be stretched. I laugh when I think back to when I thought "If only I could stay home - the house would always be clean, and laundry would always be done..." Ha! There are dishes in the sink and dirty laundry to be washed and dirty floors as I type this. But by golly, this job is the only thing I want to be doing right now. 

When I get tired of settling toddler disputes or sweeping lunch crumbs (and I definitely have those days), I just try to remember how just a couple years ago I wanted nothing more than to be home doing just that. And when I worry about whether or not I'm getting this mom thing right, I hear Brody pray tonight "Dear God, please help us get to Lennox faster." - I get tears in my eyes, and I think maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right. 

I wasn't sure where this post would lead to tonight, but I guess it's pretty clear where my heart is - With those little boys that make my heart practically burst with love. They also know how to make me laugh. This is the conversation I heard through the door tonight after I had tucked them in and left the room. 

Beckett - "I'm sceered of the dark."

Brody - "Don't be scared. God is always right there with you."

Beckett - "Where is he right now?"

Brody- "He is everywhere."

Beckett - "Is he in my tummy?"

Brody (in his best scary ghost story-telling voice) "He's riiiiight besiiiiiide youuuu. He's toouuching youuuu." 

Beckett - "MOM!!!!" 

VBS, a care package, and a baseball game

Brody and Beckett went to VBS at Knowles this week with their Noni. They had so much fun! Levi wanted to get in on the picture taking too :)

We sent care package #9 over to our little cutie in Korea on Friday. Hope it reaches him soon! I do have a little bit of an adoption update to share, so I'll try to do a post on that soon. 

Beckett has nicknamed him "Lenny".  Haha! He loves to help me mail off care packages to our Lenny boy!

Yesterday, our church's Kid's Club took a back to school trip to Little Rock! We spent the day riding water slides at Wild River Country and then enjoyed an AR Traveler's game that evening! I didn't take many pictures, but we sure had fun!

We even ran into Brent's cousin and his little family (who we hardly ever get to see) at the game! So fun!