january misc

A little Catan with cold-natured Matt :).  We love that these nights are more frequent now...

Charlie's 2!  Monkey-ing around to celebrate :)

And some sweet time with Mammaw & Pots at Cracker Barrel on the way home...

Super Bowl!  Garner assumed her position of protest ;)

And we started school in a different spot this day...

Unplanned twinning with Jen :)

And a fun bowling outing with co-op.  Garner only wanted Jenn to help her...

Co-op class fun!

And some sweetness with Garner and an m&m activity...this girl loves her treats!

The first time she's put one of these puzzles together all on her own!

And one of my favorite videos of her ever...can't believe she was so happy and normal with the camera rolling.  She is describing the story from the book The Mitten

I'm going to miss these days...

And he's just cute.  So I took a pic :))

Major miracle that Garner cooperated and even communicated with our sweet dental hygienist for a cleaning!

And another awesome Revival NOW event with Coach Spears and our old FCA crew...

They were thrilled to see that B wore an Evans tshirt under his pullover in their honor :)).  Love his thoughtfulness in the little things...

Fun felt activity from Jenn. Garn played with it over and over :)

And a "daddy's home!" tackle after a week of missing him during tryout season...

Just wanted to have this documented for her later...

Although I try not to let it bother me often, the mess in Greer's room sometimes touches a nerve that makes me feel like I'm going to go a bit crazy.  She is not bent towards organization or cleanliness, but teaches me so much constantly about loving well and seeking the Lord and His Word and just enjoying life.  This particular day of cleaning, I truly was at my wits end and was close to talking to her about it in a way that I would have regretted...when I found this under piles of other stuff.  It was propped up against her basket of dress-up clothes in her closet and literally stopped me in my tracks. She is my test in patience and grace...and my precious reminder of what should really even matter in this world.  I am so grateful.

She has more posted like this in the lower part of her closet wall (her closet is her playhouse ;)) and it made me realize that one of the most frustrating things I find in her room (cut-up paper that is never properly disposed of!) is there because she writes these and then cuts them out.  When I asked where she gets the verses, she said that she looks in the Bible or her devotional book and writes the ones that she thinks are really good for her.  Now, we truly cannot live in piles of paper trash, but wow...it still brings tears to read them all...

And finally, we finished out the month with a weekend of hosting the 9th grade guys for DNOW.  They were so much fun and very respectful and kind to our Gs.  We enjoyed our little family sleepover in our room too :)

Good good stuff.  February coming soon :)

jen's 40th

One of my oldest (in years known ;)) and dearest friends from here turned 40 in January.  It is so hard to believe that we're all approaching the end of our 30s!  Because we met when we were in our 20s and just starting to think about having babies, I think we will always see each other that way :))

On her actual day, we grabbed lunch and a good visit...fun and silly pic taking with the kiddos...

Our kids love her so much :))

And then...little did she know, but we had big plans for the weekend :)).  Her hubby wanted to do an awesomely laid back, fun, surprise girls' night for her and it was perfect.  We spent the afternoon decorating his very cool downtown office and she truly, truly had no idea...

Jenn L. and the Amandas are incredibly creative...

She was so surprised and cute when they arrived to "check on his office on the way to dinner." We had a great time greeting each other, enjoyed dinner and then took turns sharing all that she has meant to us...

...and then played a fun round of LCR after dinner :)

So appropriate that Jen would be the one to take home the winnings!

Sweet sharing :)

And, oh the laughs in the photo booth!

We wrapped up the evening with more games and visiting....such a sweet and hilarious group of ladies!

Love you dearly, my friend!  So thankful for your friendship and so many years of great memories. Happy happy birthday...we loved celebrating you!!