House sick

It's just a house.  Right?

Wood. Nails. A little paint.

But it also houses beautiful, irreplaceable memories - first baby, first food, first steps, first Christmas, second baby, third, fourth and fifth baby.

And those not so beautiful, but equally irreplaceable, memories ~ messes, fingerprint-stained doors, smudged windows, "art"-covered walls, scratches, dents, and ketchup-stained ceiling (don't ask).

Bob and I were married in 2003 and bought our first town house in Virginia Beach. We lived there for 11 months when we found out God was moving us to a new city, giving us both new jobs, and blessing us with a baby.  We sold the house (in less than a week), moved into a garage apartment in the middle of nowhere (seriously), and waited for several months while we searched for our new home.

We moved here in January 2005.  Five months later, our sweet Robbie was born.  And nearly seven years later, we are bursting at the seams.

So we had a little photo shoot for our beloved house.

Our house has been on the market for about six weeks, and I am praying that God sends just the right family to make this house their home.

We have purchased a new house and will be moving in the next few weeks.  Each night, I pray that the moving and packing fairies will come while I am sleeping.  That seems to be my best bet of getting everything ready to go.  So far, no luck.  But fingers crossed.

I am so very thankful for our new house and cannot wait to get everyone and everything settled there.  (And Pinterest seemed to come along at the perfect time for all of my decorating and creative ideas!)

But in the meantime, I am taking in all the memories and still trying to wipe off the fingerprints.

Time keeps ticking...

Time goes by so quickly.

The summer began with many, many sleepless nights.

And two scrawny babes.

Then a few smiles began to appear.

and a couple chins.

5 Months

As of last week, Jack weighs 13 pounds, 2 ounces, and Ryan weighs 14 pounds 6 ounces.   

They are the best of friends.

and are constantly holding hands.

It was a long summer.  And it took quite some time for the family to adjust.  But, by George, I think we did it.

My sweet Eveley is LOVING school and acting very grown up.

And crazy Caleb is constantly asking to "hold" the babies.  But he still doesn't know which is which.

Here he is showing his tractor book to "Jack" --

Last week, I walked in the living room to find Eveley reading my Bible to the twins.  

I hid in the back and listened to her story.  It went something like this:

"God told Mary and Joseph that they were going to have a baby.  And He knew it was going to be Him because God is real smart."

Eveley loved her golden crown that she got this weekend at a birthday party.

I walked past Jack and found that she decided to share.

He was not amused.

We have lots of exciting things going on around here!  I'm excited to share soon. 

Happy 5-month Birthday, sweet Jack and Ryan!

Pimp My Ride

I'll admit it. I am a minivan driving mama.

Unlike some moms, I did not have to go through a weird internal battle to submit to the minivan.

I cut my teeth on a minivan.

It looked something like this.



I got my permit and driver's license driving this.

And then had the great privilege of driving my four siblings to and from school in this.

But then I got a job and could purchase my own vehicles.

I bought this in college.




And this in law school.



I got married and began having babies.

Robbie didn't mess with my cool factor. But when we were pregnant with Eveley, and knowing that we desired to have a big family, we took the plunge and bought the minivan.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

The doors open with the push of a button. There is crazy cargo space. The sound system is pretty rad. And it {somewhat} comfortably fits our entire family in it.

But last week, my medium-sized ego took a beating.

Thursday evening, an unfortunate lawn mower accident demolished the rear side window of the minivan. I didn't see it, but Bob noticed it when he arrived home from work.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll take care of it."

I didn't think about it again.

...until the next day when I had carpool pickup.

I went to the driveway to find this.

Really??? Bright, cobalt blue tape???

"This is no biggie," I told myself as I buckled Caleb into the backseat.

We headed down the road to Eveley's school to pick her up. And a few, short minutes later, we were riding in a wind tunnel.

When we arrived, the minivan looked like this.

So I parked beside this jewel and hoped no one would notice the giant disaster on the side of my minivan.

Ummm...honey... this is why they call it painter's tape!!

But the kids thought it was an awesome adventure. So I just cranked up Bob & Larry, put on my giant shades, and pretended I was driving this.