HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRESS

We had a birthday party on Saturday to celebrate Gress turning 5. Even though he has only watched spiderman a handful of times, he really wanted to have a spiderman birthday. Can’t really fight a 5 year old on that so, spiderman it was. We threw a party in the neighborhood park that has the water fountains you can run around in. We had it set up picnic style in honor of Labor Day (I mean Spiderman) and several families came to help us celebrate. It was a blast! So thankful we get to celebrate another year with our awesome son!

The Last Month

I asked Rad last night where the last month went and we both looked at each other with a puzzled look on our faces. It is hard to believe that we moved just over a month ago. These weeks have flown by and honestly, I can’t tell you what I have done with my time. I think my scheduled has been so packed that I was just in “keep moving” mode. When I finally made it home from the whirlwind traveling job with Wrangler Jeans (which was quite fun), I couldn’t wait to just “be” with all my boys.

A little bit about the Wrangler job. Our project was photographing some of the top bull riders, ropers, a rancher turned pro football player and a musician wearing the latest style of Wrangler Jeans. Each place we went seemed to be my new favorite part. The first part we were photographing at the Professional Bull Riding competition in Boise, Idaho. These are the top bull riders in the world. We got the chance to shoot a Brazilian and another guy from Wisconsin. Two very talented and well mannered guys. We watched them ride their bulls from the platform where they mounted the bulls. IT WAS INTENSE! And then in Redding, California we photographed 2 ropers, one at a rodeo and the other at a family ranch. What a great experience. And then on to Terra Bella, California, a short 7 hour drive South, we met up with a family that had a ranch and they had a son that now plays for the NY Giants, who won the Superbowl. We hung out with them on the football field and then at their family ranch amongst the California Orange Groves. What a great humble family. Each part was unique and amazing. It’s a good thing I like the beach better than the ranches because I could have easily stayed.

I did come home wanting my boys to have a few new manners as well as find a family activity that we all like to do together. I loved watching the one family ride and rope together. Even mom was a professional roper!  You could tell it was the thing that really bonded them as a family.

I am so glad to be back home. You better believe that I went right to the beach AND the farm when I got back!!! Here are some photos from the last few weeks…

Time Away

There is nothing better than the beach. Actually, there is nothing better than having a friend invite you to the beach house they are staying at. Tuesday early morning through Wednesday afternoon the boys and I hung out with our sweet friend Melissa, aka the farmer’s wife, on the beach and in a great beach house that someone let her stay in. It was so fun to be around her in that environment with the surf, and sand, and pelicans and seagulls when we are usually around farm animals and dirt. At one point the seagulls had descended on our snacks and I looked at Elijah and he looked quite content making balck balcking noises at the birds. It was just us girls and our cute boys on the beach. I was in heaven! Gress got sad when we had to leave to go back home (and secretly I did too). We had too much fun!! THANKS Melissa for the invite!!!!

Ready, Set…GO!

Oh how I wish I could pack these little guys up and take them on my next work trip with me. Especially Gress. I am headed to Idaho in a few days (then California the next week and Texas the week after) to produce a shoot with Wrangler Jeans. We will be shooting cowboys in their jeans before they get on the bull at the rodeo. My jaw dropped when I heard about this project. Very little production, basically just show up and shoot..that’s my kind of job.  But my days of easily leaving 2 kids and a husband who is slammed with work are dwindling…and I am ok with that. THIS is more important than any of that.

Today it rained. Since outside is way more fun than inside (or so Gress thinks) we decided to play in the rain. I’m not quite sure Mcree even knew what was going on. Because there were not big enough puddles, Gress requested I turn on the hose (which I did) to make even more puddles. I did draw the line and spraying him down with the hose.

And tonight we had a little family time at the Sand Gnats baseball game. We got there so early we entered our name (Ok really Rad did even with me begging him not to) into a drawing to sit on the Sealy Posturepedic Bed and watch the game. Well, guess who won and guess who got to sit on the bed. THAT’S RIGHT! And there were several people at the game that knew us so that made it extra funny. Also, Gress got to go on the field between innings and ride on a blow up horse to race another kid. It was oh so cute as the horse was way too big for his little legs. He was so proud of himself. While Gress loves Nate the Gnat mascot, Mcree is happy to give him peanuts and then scream and run away! I am happy to say we stayed until the end of the game AND the Sand Gnats won!!

 

And we celebrated a special someone’s birthday this week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAD!!!!

Is it really only Friday?

You would have thought it was a Saturday with all the family time we crammed into today. There were so many things happening in and around Savannah that we had to see. There was the Tall Ships Festival which happens only every 15 years. They bring HUGE ships to the river and you can tour them. Since we don’t like crowds, we decided to show up early before the event started and walk around and ride the ferry to see them from the river. I’m pretty sure Gress was more interested in what was floating in the river than the actual boats but we had a great time together. I think being on the water only reminded Rad and I how much we want to be on our own boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then after naps, we all needed a break and Savannah College of Art and Design was having a Sand Arts Festival at Tybee so we headed out there to see all the sand castles. Ahh, there is nothing better than the beach with ALL of my boys. I think I was smiling the WHOLE time watching Rad with them. They were playing in the water, jumping waves, and just being boys. We stayed almost until the sun set. It was perfect.

 

Bubba

This at the farm Melissa gave this to Mcree….and funny thing is, Gress used to have one just like it.

This is Mcree…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this was Gress..

Farm Life

Withdrawal. That is what we were feeling from being away from the farm for over a month.

Refreshed, renewed and wanting more. That is what Gress and I feel after today’s adventure on the farm.

The farm has changed quite a bit. The trees have all bloomed, the field is mostly planted and growing like crazy, the chicks, baby goats and bunnies have all grown and or multiplied and the pork chops today were delicious (fried pork chops and gravy, yea come on!)…although I do miss seeing the pigs.

It was so good to see the farmer, his wife and sweet baby Elijah who is now walking. We have missed you Williams. We went to visit, and maybe work a little. Gress worked way harder than me (actually I didn’t even lift a finger…okay, I watered some asparagus that were grown from seeds and won’t actually produce asparagus bundles for 3 years). We were flat out spoiled. We were fed amazing food (Gress ate 2 pork chops and could have kept going), Gress and Mcree loved playing with their buddy Elijah, and we walked around the farm checking in to say hi to all the animals. The farmers actually named 2 of the baby chickens after the boys. Gress so wanted to hold them but they are pretty skittish so he just hand fed them instead. I love watching the farmer and Melissa teach Gress. They are so gentle, patient and interested in helping him to learn. Gress really wanted to know how the pigs were killed and the farmer explained it on a level Gress could understand. We all kept looking at each other wondering if he would be traumatized. Nope, just curious!

When you are at the farm, you can’t help but look around and see the magnitude of responsibility the farmers have in their care. It is huge. They feed so many families clean healthy food, they care for their animals needs and for their own household’s needs. And it is a LOT of work on a daily basis. I am so thankful for their dedication to my family. And I am so happy that we get to see how it all works first hand. You are doing an amazing job Melissa and Andy! So proud of you guys.

Gress instantly fell asleep as soon as we left the farm while Mcree loudly babbled the whole way home.

And many people asked how the boys have adjusted to the move. Just great. I think they are glad to be able to move anywhere in the house without tripping over some item waiting to be packed or again having chairs to sit in instead of on boxes.

Moments from the last week…

Before we moved, Gress could’t resist taking one last swim. The water was quite cold but Gress didn’t care. And little Mcree wiggled his way into the water walking off the step multiple times without any fear. OH BOY! We already miss the pool!

And since we don’t have the pool, guess we will just have to go to the beach more! This last week we were there twice! Mcree kept following Gress around plopping down to dig right next to Gress. Gress would move and Mcree would follow. It was sweet to watch.

Our garage is still quite packed and Mcree doesn’t really like it! But he does like wearing hats (he even thinks the potty seat is one).

Gress went to a superhero birthday party. It was so fun to see all the kids dressed up.

And last but not least, we have a new pet in the house (and I am not talking about the mice..that’s another story!). Gress has a new fish!! The fish doesn’t yet have a name and is quite shy. He is bigger and fancier than the last two so hoping he works out!

Long Time Friend

Only a handful of you knew Rad and I when we lived in Iowa over 13 years ago. I recently found a photo that Rad and I had taken for the church directory before we got married. Let’s just say we look quite different. (I considered showcasing the photo here but it is pretty bad). I would like to think I have changed dramatically after 13+ years. But it took my long time friend coming to visit to show me that many parts of me are just the same. Nik and I hadn’t seen each other in years. The last time we spent significant time together was well over 6 years ago. I forgot what it was like to be around her. I forgot parts of her personality..but I remembered that we were kindred spirits. I forgot how easy she is to be around and how I can be completely be myself around her. She is so many wonderful things wrapped into my dear sweet friend. She just took 5 days away from her family to come hang out with us. We sat on the beach, walked around downtown Savannah, shared meals together and caught up on life. My heart is full. THANKS NIK (and John for sending her this way) for taking time out of your very busy life to share your life with us!!!!

 

Adventures of Moving

I must say that it feels quite good to be on the other side of this move. While I like my “things”, I found myself suddenly thinking that owning them was over-rated. If we were the type of people to stay in one place, say for more than 3 years, maybe I would think differently. But when you watch 4 strong grown men shove 2 HUGE armoires through a small opening, or when you empty the contents of a 2 car garage into a one car garage, only to realize that half of it won’t fit unless you unpack the garage and start all over, all the “things” become just that. Rad and I made a pack that because this house that we have moved into is significantly smaller, we WILL purge the things that we don’t need. It has already begun and I am really proud of our progress.

So how did the move go you ask? The night before we moved, our neighbors threw us a going away party and invited our block. It was SO much fun to be together as neighbors. We felt quite honored. After mingling and hugs, Rad and I were headed to the new house to clean it a bit and get some things done. Our sweet neighbors, the Colemans, begged us to take our kids for the night. And by night that included bathing them, feeding them and putting them down to sleep at their house. Let’s just say that was the icing on the cake for Gress. He loves those 5 kids and they love him and Mcree. Rad and I got home late and it felt really weird to be home with no kids. And, we found out there was a random shooting one block over. Nothing like going out with a bang. (Brought back deja vu memories from our Hosea Williams House Atlanta days).

Rad and I originally thought we could move a lot of stuff ourselves. Thankfully our stubbornness didn’t win because it basically took a village to move us. Rad was planning on going to pick up some latin workers that morning of our move. He trial ran it the day before to make sure where he was going to get them was legit. He showed up the day before at 6:45am and there were only 2 guys. He was pretty worried and in prayer most of the 40 minute drive back home that God would provide for that situation. Then 2 hours later a cleaning lady showed up at our house that was hired by the new owners to give an estimate of how much it would be to clean(another HUGE blessing that I wouldn’t have to clean that house one bit). She was the most pleasant (Latin) woman and loved on our kids. We found out she was a Christian which was a bonus and we asked her if she knew of anyone that could help us move. She said her husband and 2 sons would be at our house at 8:00am in the morning. WOW. Answered prayer for sure. It took 3 guys, plus Rad plus we had various other guys throughout the day, and one babysitter to get us moved. 9 hours later almost everything was in the new house, except for the garage contents that would have to be repacked the next day. There was still miscellaneous items and the fridge contents and some more garage items at the old house that were left but all in all we got the majority of it moved Friday. And on Saturday the farmer and Rad got the rest of the old house packed and unpacked and into our house. I also had so many women throughout the last few days helping me unpack, move furniture, organize my closets and dressers, decorate, iron bedding, set up my guest room for my long time friend Nicole who arrives tonight, and clean. THANK YOU Eny, Abbie, Melissa, Kasie, Amanda, Katherine, Ellie, Rachel, Steve, Andy, Cory and Randall. Thank you Melissa for feeding us homemade soup, amazing cookies, and homemade fresh picked blackberry pie. For those of you that know I don’t like pie, well I do now! It only took me 30+ years.

It wasn’t easy, and as I sit here now in a 90% unpacked and decorated house, I am quite exhausted. It was an experience for sure. I now know where Mcree’s secret paci stashes are, I hope to never see my 1 year old sucking on my razor ever again (yes the one I shave with), or have him squirt the bleach bottle all over himself multiple times, or hear your husband say, “we have our first casualty” only to realize he is talking about your kid’s prized fish and then hearing him confess to Gress that it was his fault they were dead.  There were moments of chaos, even with a numbered excel spreadsheet of the entire contents of each box we owned. You just can’t plan for craziness.

Do I feel at home? Yes I do. I like this house more than I thought I would. It is my no means perfect, or new, but it is comfortable and the most important things I have (Rad, Gress and Mcree) are here with me.

Gress has had several friends come to entertain him (which is perfect) and Mcree loves his playroom and even found the dress up bin and an old garbage can and proceeded to wear it on his head, stare in the mirror and laugh. We are all feeling quite at home. Thanks for being with us on the journey. Hoping to not do it again in 6 months but you never know.