A Time for Celebration

 

This past Saturday we got together with the Colvin side of the family and celebrated all the birthdays in one big celebration.  It was a great day, if I must say so myself.  We enjoyed a lot of good food and fellowship despite the heat and humidity.  The kids had fun, well, being kids. 

This also marked an anniversary for Mamaw and Papaw, the first one she celebrated without her beloved.  I’m so glad she joined us for all of the activity.

My littlest cutie, London (yep, no baby yet:()  London thinks she can “wim witout a best”…swim without a vest.  ACTUALLY, she does fairly well in the hot tub where her feet can touch.  But I wouldn’t go so far as to plunk her in the pool and tell her to swim to the other side.  She LOVES the water and LOVED a day spent with her cousins.

 

This is the newest Colvin, 5 month old Lincoln.  He too enjoyed himself.

The kids and adults enjoyed challenging one another to games like washers, baggo (i.e. cornhole), croquet, and the new favorite…GAGA ball….played on the trampoline. 

After working up a sweat Uncle Greg was kind enough to get in the pool and help the kids get the water moving to produce a whirlpool effect.  The kids were loving it. 

Little buddy

London, note, she is wearing her vest. 

A lot of fun was had by all.  Before we knew it, it was 10:00 and everyone started to clear out as the sun quickly disappeared.  And just like that, everyone was gone.  Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed the day and look forward to more opportunities for good food and fellowship with friends and family…but let’s have this baby first:)

Blueberries

 

Well it’s that time of year again, time to pick blueberries.  Believe it or not, this is a favorite time of year for us.  The kids LOVE to hear that blueberries are ready!  Of course a lot of this has to do with the fact that as they pick they also eat, but add to that fresh blueberry pie, blueberry buckle, and frozen blueberries for pancakes and smoothies all year, and their sold!

We went today and the weather was ideal.  I’m not sure how many days I’ll have left to go picking before this baby arrives, so I was thankful for the nice weather as we were able to pick about 23 lbs.  Usually it’s sooooo hot that we can only stand to pick for so long before we need a break, not today.

 

Way to go, my favorite kids!  Thanks for all your help:)

Papaw

 

It was only a week ago that this dear man, Joe’s grandfather,  went home to be with his precious Lord.  He lived a full life of 92 years, yet it was not easy to say goodbye.  He was affectionately known by his family as “Papaw”.  By many as “Loren” or “Nick”…regardless of the name he was called by, he was known by all as a humble servant who enjoyed the simple things in life, lived many years in pain but NEVER complained of it.  You just don’t meet many men like Papaw.  He was a man who worked hard, loved people, loved life, knew what it meant to be happy, and was truly blessed.  I am honored to have known him for the past 17 years.  While I am thankful that he lived to be 92 and that he no longer feels the pain that his body suffered with for years, I miss him.  I miss the way he said my name, Elizabeth, with a country twist like no one else.  I’ll miss his coming up to see the newest addition to our family, he was always one of the first no matter the hour!  I’ll miss his stories of his life.  I’ll miss stopping in to see him as he pulls tootsie rolls from his pocket for each of the kids.  I’ll miss his excitement at Christmas as he opens his family scrapbook calendar and carefully looks over the pictures for each month.  I’ll miss him.  We’ll miss him.

BUT, I have the peace of knowing that he loved Jesus and I will see him again someday.  I will reflect over the years that I was able to spend with him and learn from that.  There was a lot to learn from him.  It’s sad how you take advantage of all of the times you have with someone, and then like that they’re gone.  You can’t ask them anything anymore.  You can’t sit with them one last time, they’re just gone.

I admired his ability to live simply.  To need so little yet to be so happy and full of life.  As I look back on my time with Papaw, I know there is a lot to learn from him and a lot to be thankful for.  I thank him for giving to his family.  He was truly a wonderful man.

The day after Harrison was born…April 4th, Papaw’s birthday!

Christmas 2010

Mamaw and Papaw at the family reunion.  Pray for Mamaw…they were married for 66 years and did everything together.  I can’t imagine the loneliness.

My favorite:)

15 Years

Life’s been pretty hectic lately, but I was very thankful for the opportunity to “get away” with my wonderful husband of 15 years, yep that’s right, 15!!!!  It just so happens that it fell right at the time of the Indiana Homeschool Convention in Indianapolis, perfect timing for a few nights alone:)
We headed downtown Thursday morning, checked into our hotel, and took off for a walk at White River State Park.  There we rented a surrey bike and took a 4 mile bike ride along the canal downtown.  It was wonderful!


The seemingly “little” pregnant lady at the bottom is me:)  We stopped at a couple of points of interest on our walk from bike riding to dinner.

We ate dinner at Ruth Chris’s Steak House.  We took a picture of the menu in part because the prices were ridiculous and because I doubt we will ever return.  They were kind enough to “give” us chocolate covered strawberries to complement our meal in honor of our anniversary.  The steaks, mind you, were $45 (NO SIDES INCLUDED), nothing in life is “free”.

You can’t be in Indy without seeing Lucas Oil, right?  We walked right by it each morning on our way to the convention.

I was very proud of my kids as once again they entered into the IAHE art contest.  This is Jackson’s shield which won him 1st place!  Way to go buddy!  He was so excited.  Btw, the BIG circle on the top left represents me, I’m hoping that’s because I’m pregnant.

This is Sydney’s “Copy the Illustrator” project where she copied Beatrix Potter.  I believe this is the Tailor of Gloucester. 

Lastly is Holland’s “Copy the Illustrator” project where she drew Benjamin Bunny, also from a Beatrix Potter book.
It’s always fun to see all of the art projects at convention.  We had a great weekend renewing our minds!  We loaded up on much needed curriculum and some great books for summer reading (and school year reading too of course)!  The kids were quite excited and Holland has already posted her “Summer Reading List” on the fridge.  I’ll keep you posted:)

All In Good Fun

 

Don’t know about the weather in your neck of the woods, but we experienced some heavy thunderstorms today.  If you have kids, you know that they can only be bound by the walls of your home for so long!!!  Especially when large puddles begin to form before their very eyes, they’re just way to tempting.  For my boys this was definitely the case.  Our side ditches filled rather quickly with water.  They were supposed to be riding their bikes in the driveway during a brief break from the rain.  I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow they ended up riding their bikes IN the flooded sideditches!  What’s that saying…”boys will be boys”?  Well my girls were quick to join in and I was quick to grab my camera before the next downpour began.

Miraculously I managed to get the majority of my plants into my garden before the first downpour…here’s my garden now…

Garden plot #1…flooded in ONLY the places where there are no plants!  Praise the Lord.

Garden plot #2…well this one resembles more of a small pond.  We did plant about 6 rows of corn but no plants.  The weather forecast shows BEAUTIFUL weather for the weekend so it all should dry up nicely.  Oh, and those pics of my kids swimming in the side ditch, did I mention the high for today???  61 degrees…not exactly swimming weather.

A visit East

 

Picturesque landscapes like these abound in the neighborhood where my parents live.  I did not grow up here, but this is where my parents now make their home.  Joe, myself, and the kids headed out “east” to spend the Mother’s Day weekend with them, and a beautiful weekend it was.

Thank you Aunt Sarah (my sis) for endless playtime on Friday!  Let’s see…we played kickball, baseball, tennis, fiddlesticks (mini-lacrosse), lots of rollerblading, and of course enjoyed the playground!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swings, slides, fields of green grass, 75 degrees and sunny…can’t beat it!!!!!

We were thankful also for the opportunity to see my newest niece, baby Paige, along with my brother and my sister-in-law…a nice treat.

Baby Paige…

Enjoying the sounds of my brothers’ guitar as we sat outside just enjoying the day.

Ahhhh, and Mother’s Day.  Just like I wanted…pictures taken with my kids.  My husband is a very good photographer:) 

And of course, the couple responsible for it all…my mom and dad.  Thanks for having us, it was a real treat.

An Afternoon at The Cove

 

This past weekend found us busily working around our yard to do the yearly yard cleanup.  We had an enormous amount of mulch brought in, that we moved one wheelbarrow at a time, to all of the flower beds that needed mulching.  That and the digging up of several flowerbeds took most of the day for Holland and I while Joe and Sydney worked hard to get the pond and stream up to working order.  It was a very successful day of work, but we all longed for our day of rest!

If you know our family at all, you know that it is a rare site (this is the first time ever) to find us at a baseball game.  Die hard football fans, yes, baseball fans, not so much.  Well, after church on Sunday we thought it would be a fun outing for the family to go to the local minor league baseball game.  So we headed off, for the first time in our 14 years in South Bend, to watch the South Bend Silverhawks play at The Cove.  It was a fun time, as you can see it was by no means a “packed house” but we were seated directly behind home plate, and fully enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for the opening pitch…had a lot of teaching to do.  We realized how much our lack of affection for baseball showed in our children’s lack of knowledge of the sport! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swoop, the team mascot.

A little cotton candy:)

The game was a little slow for London.  Thank you Sydney for keeping her entertained!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the game was over the kids were all allowed to come down onto the field and run the bases.  London got passed by most of the kids, but she did make it all the way around!

Way to go Little girl!  We had a great time relaxing as a family.  Who knows, maybe we’ll do that again.