Chugging along...

We've been enjoying a busy month full of routine. In some ways, no news is good news. Soccer keeps us busy - next Monday is the last day of regular season. Katy is loving being on a girls' team for the first time and she plays hard. She got her first goal of the season the other day. Her team is really strong and have only lost to one team (twice). For David, the most important thing is that he is having fun, and he's just learning the basics of what it means to be on a team and be a good sport, pay attention to your coach and referees, etc. Truth be told, his team is...ummm...really terrible. It's a good thing they don't keep score at this age because the average score is about 8-1. Once the coach of the other team let us have an extra player on the field to try to even things out (it didn't help that much). He said to me one day, "Mom, my team isn't very good at winning." True, buddy, but you're having a good time, right?

About a month ago, we participated in the baby dedication ceremony at our church. We were very fortunate that many family members were able to be there with us (and for the first time, several of these family members are also members of the church, too!). This time we were supposed to submit a picture and write something about the dedication to be projected during the service. We wrote:

[ChurchName] has been our church family for 8 years, since we were expecting our first child. We have been supported in countless ways by this body of believers as we strive to raise our children in the way of the Lord. Joe R---, who invited us here 8 years ago, will be praying for us today for the 4th time as we dedicate our sweet gift, Anna Ruth. 


In trying to decide what to write, it really hit me how much our church family has been intertwined in our lives and our family over the past 8 years. I am so thankful for the people there who have been friends, servants, mentors, teachers, and givers. It is an awesome community to be a part of. 

She's a lucky girl to have so many people to love her.

I had to share one picture from the ceremony, because seriously. If you saw my boys regularly at church - their typical behavior in the lobby is to run around like crazy people as if it is an indoor playground until I physically wrestle them out the door. I gave them a little speech before we went up there about appropriate behavior and they. were. ANGELS. David literally had his hand on Luke's shoulder the whole time and they stood perfectly still and silent. Who are these children? Maybe something that I'm saying is getting through...somewhere.

Katy and David are both doing well in school, which is so great. They had a walk-a-thon to raise funds recently and I got to walk with both of them. It's usually my first peek into their class (friends, teacher, etc). David has a very good little buddy in his class, but I only know his first name, and nothing else about him. Haven't met his mom or anything. 

I wish I could show the video of the principal doing the ChaCha slide with all the kids. I was laughing so hard  watching it. They have such a great principal. 

I have no idea how to edit photos - I was just trying to erase his school name from his shirt, and I don't have time to figure out how to fix it. Ugh!

Beth took this one - she's finally eating solid foods - so twice a day I am stripping her down for this mess! She's loving it, though, and it's nice that she's eating something other than nursing! And she's starting to get mobile - not crawling but rolling and scooting. Video soon...

A typical evening on the sidelines of a soccer game.

The boys are getting lots of bonding time these days (not at this moment, here they are watching TV)- they are obsessed with footie jammies. And Aunt Mel brought home her broken work phone for them to play with. They had all kinds of funny questions like, "Which button do I push to hang up? How do I look up my contacts?"

Reading together cuteness