There and back: Part 4!

In order not to drag this on until September, I am hoping to wrap up our Virginia trip in the next two posts.

On Friday and Saturday, we were able to meet up with the couples with whom we were in a Newly Married Couples Bible Study WAY back in the day.  The little reunion was a sweet time for Dan and I.  We were able to laugh, cry and be real with couples we hadn't seen, and some we haven't even talked to, in 7 years.  It was such a wonderful time of fellowship.  We were reminded that it takes work to make our marriages work.  But even through the tough times, if we center our marriages on Christ, we can go through anything and come out stronger in the end.  We encouraged one another and lifted each other up.  I am already looking forward to the next reunion!!

When the group "disbanded" there were only 4 kids...and now, we have added just a few more (30 total!!) to our group.

I can't talk about our trip without a mention of our fun Sunday afternoon.  We were able to worship with Grace Bible Church in Lorton.  We fell in love with this little church while we were in Virginia.  We had gone to a bigger church but through God's leading we joined this small congregation just north of us.  What a blessing those fellow brothers and sisters in Christ were to us!  It was wonderful to be able to go back and feel as though we never left.

Sunday after church we were able to spend some quality time with our friends the Yohos.  I remember meeting Lacey for the first time when she was pregnant with her second (Bits) and Annika was just 6 weeks old.  Little did Lacey know that she wouldn't be able to get rid of me!  We both added kiddos and their family is just like ours...2 girls and 2 boys.  Since Lacey and I both had girls first, our playdates were quiet little affairs with story time and craft time.  The girls would dress up as princesses and they would play nicely together with their baby dolls.  Our biggest problem would be glitter and glue.  This visit was a bit different...boys have entered the mix.  Lacey handled it better than I (she's got a few more years of boyhood on me), but let's just say there was mud...a lot of mud. Enough mud to warrant showers.  Regardless, it was a super time with the kids getting reacquainted and there were some Broadway worthy shows.  I could tell my girls were tired as Annika was the "sound technician" for the shows which consisted of her pressing "play" on the iPod. :) We also got to see our friends Walter and Sarah and their girls which was also fun!  All these littles aren't so little any more! :(

Silas, James and Landon showing off their muscles. :)

As we were pulling out of the Yoho's driveway, Dan commented, "I wonder how many times this van has pulled in and out of this driveway."  I think there was a point in time when we lived in Virginia where if you would have put the van on auto pilot, it would have driven right to their house.  Thanks Yoho's for a lovely afternoon!! Our door is always open for whenever you take that road trip! ;)

Next up: a trip down memory lane...

Jumping to 6 months

I am interrupting my road trip adventures to talk about a sweet little someone who is already 6 months old!  Simon getting older is sneaking up on me.  I remember with Annika I could hardly wait until she was older.  With Simon, I just want him to stay little.  Maybe because we know--that is if our plans are the Lord's plans :)--Simon will be our last little one.  He's a good caboose to our train so to speak.  But that being said, I find myself saying already too often, "Well, that will be the last time we use ..." or "We won't be needing this anymore."  O.k. got to stop this before I get too nostalgic.  Goodness grief, the kid is only 6 months old, it's not like he's going off to college!! Even though I know that will come all too soon! Sigh.

So, where was I?  Yes, Simon is 6 months old and is a chunky little guy.  Here are his stats from his 6 month appointment:

Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz (97%)

Height: 28 in (92%)

He's starting to sit up pretty well.

 He's loving his solid foods and fills his bumbo out nicely--sometimes when I pick him up to take him out, the bumbo comes with him!

His sisters love to spoil him with attention.

And, when Grandma E was out he got his first "haircut."

Since he's already wearing 12 month clothes and see previous bumbo comment, we thought it's about time to start his workouts (you may recall when Landon was little enough to jump around in this thing):

Untitled from Our Plain Life on Vimeo.

I'm kidding about the workouts...but, that has got to be super for the thigh muscles.  Hmmm, I wonder if those things come in adult size?

There and back (Part 3) with a little birthday party

While we were on our vacation, a certain sweet little guy turned the big "3."  I am afraid that his birthday may be like my youngest sister's birthday.  It never failed that when we were on vacation, my sister Rachel would have her birthday.  We would then celebrate it where ever we were...which was often in the middle of some state or national park.  Rachel's birthday even fell during our family reunion in Maine 2 years ago.  So as tradition would have it, we celebrated in our little cabin and her "birthday cake" was Hostess cupcakes with matchsticks for candles.  Even though we weren't roughing it on our trip, I did throw together an impromptu party for Landon just so he wouldn't think we ignored his special day.  Thankfully, we did have some good friends to help us celebrate.

  Considering which cupcake to choose. It's a big decision! 

His new "Lightening the Queen" car--Can you tell the poor boy has two older sisters? ;)

Happy Happy Birthday dear Landon.  Your daddy and I love seeing you grow into a little boy.  You often remind us that you are a big boy now and need to do big boy things.  You constantly keep us on our toes and often make us laugh...even when we want to pull our hair out.  God has given you a strong personality that we pray you will use to do great things for your Savior.  We pray your big heart will show others your love for Jesus.  You are a sweet little man and we all love you so much no matter what you get into next.

There and back! (Part 2)

When I left you at the last post, we had just made it into Virginia.  It was so fun "coming back" to where Our Plain Life started.  Just add a few extra kids into the mix and it's like we never left.  The agenda for the rest of our trip was to enjoy the company of good friends.  I can do that.

On a side note, I don't think there is anything like the friends you have when you first are a parent.  Sure with each stage God brings new friends into your lives, but these friends are just a little bit more special.  You feel a certain camaraderie that you didn't have before.  These little ones have just turned your lives upside down and there is nothing better than knowing there is someone else riding on the roller coaster with you.  Other than Dan, these mommies are the ones I went to with each new thing this little bundle of joy threw at me. Because, weren't we all the perfect parents before we had kids?  Then when we had our kids, we realized this mommy shtick is hard!! I think I got more from these mamas than from any parenting book ever written.

But, back to our trip, like always, BG spoiled us with yummy food and comfy beds.  As Dan said, "B you always make me feel special."  I agree!

It was sweet to see the girls get reacquainted. It seemed like just yesterday they were like this:

  and now they are like this:

Already too cool for the pool. :)  But if they are anything like their mamas, they will love the sun, sand and surf!! (Hopefully, we can bring them back to the Outer Banks someday).

All the G, E and D kiddos together (not including the little D still waiting to make his appearance).

Forever friends!!

There and back! (Part 1)

Yes, we are home.  Yes, we have been home for over a week.  Now, shush, I just didn't have it in me to blog about it all.  It was quite a trip.  Despite over 40+ hours logged in the car, it went very well.  The kids did great and were entertained.  We only watched 3 DVDs which I thought was pretty good.  So let me give you a run down of our trip...not all at once but it a few posts.  Here we go!

Day 1...we headed out at 4 a.m.  Phew! That was early, but it was so worth it.  All 4 kids went back to sleep so Daddy had a few hours of quiet driving time.  The weather was great and the road was clear!  We were off for a grand adventure!

We did go a bit crazy at one point. ;)

But, the end destination for Day 1 was a good one indeed!

It was so sweet to stay with friends that we knew before kids and now the kids outnumber us.  Even though it was a short stop, it was a fun time.  The kids took no time getting to know each other and the adults were able to have a yummy (and semi-quiet) meal together.

Thanks to At Home with the Howell's for such a lovely time!  Hopefully the next trip will be a bit longer.

Day 2 started a bit earlier than we expected, but it was all good in the end.  We were planning on hitting the road about 6 a.m., but little Simon decided to wake up hungry at 4 a.m.  So, if we were up and Simon was fed then we might as well get going.  We rolled out about 5 a.m. in the midst of an early morning thunderstorm.  Not ideal driving weather...but Dan rocked it and we rolled into Virginia at about 3 p.m. And guess what faced us?  Traffic!  Excellent.  Thank you Ms. Virginia for the warm welcome. Can't say that I have missed the "beltway" traffic one bit. What I have missed are the sweet little faces that welcomed us an hour later. 

Already I knew this was going to be one great trip!