End of summer 2012....

......summer welcomed a  new and exciting addition to our lives.  Daddy built this awesome swing set!!  Complete with a rock stage for our budding performers.  This yard gets more and more fun each season.

7 Kids using every inch of the backyard all day everyday.  If you have never experienced joy then just listen in for a bit.

This summer Addy graduated to the next class up.  Not only does she jump off the diving board ( something she said she refused to EVER try) she goes in alone and can go under for a little swim with the fish!  Warms our hearts to see her confidence building each day. 

 Water everyday...and in its many forms.  The boys love the sprinkler which is so nice considering Addy at this age was pretty weary of it. 

Squishy Baff.  Such an interesting experience.  Of course the adults around here haven't quite reached the maturity level of most.  I think our kids will be better for it though.

 The convenience of eating outside and its many benefits did not get lost on us. 

We had tons of fun swinging the warm evenings away.

 Not many pictures on hand here on the computer here but this is one of the Gregg men taken at a local Farm.  We bought 10 passes to enjoy this place and this particular night was the boys first experience here.  I highly recommend this place, Friendly Farm.  We left pretty covered in animal waste but TOTALLY worth ever dirty shoe.

The garden girls.  Most of the afternoons were spent elbow deep in dirt.  Fresh food everyday.  Sure is fun and such a cool time teaching the little ones about where our food comes from.  The boys used the pea rows to run and hide.  Next year we will have a decoy garden to keep the boy critters out of our space :)

 In late summer  my mother and I took Addy to go visit her great grandpa.  He is getting up their in years and thinks little girls are the cutest.  We stopped here to eat at Aunt Pappys ice cream spot.This was her bench.

 Still has it after all these years.  It pains my heart to see the proof of time passage. As far as being the granddaughters I should be, I'm failing quite a bit. Fully really. I don't go down often at all.  Truth is that it frightens me a bit.  Every drive down to Concord rushes back floods of memories of growing up.  Great memories but with it comes a lot of sadness.  My goal this summer is to make right with this.

Addy calls him little old Papa.  She always gets a little quiet there but when we leave she always talks for days after about how cute that little old guy is .

.....in rolls Fall 2012.

And its begun.  Addy is part of the school system.  The big Kindergartner .  She was so excited and really only nervous that I was going to embarrass her.  Papa and Grammy had come over the night before with that adorable dress she is wearing .  Papa had picked it out himself!!  We ordered that cool tie dye backpack on line and she picked out her own 31 ( company name) thermal lunch tote with her name on it.  She was feeling mighty special.  Mom and Dad were feeling a bit overwhelmed with how much its all speeding along.

 Kindergarten school picture.  Mrs. Caravellas class.  There is a teachers asst in the class that she really digs named Mrs Jewell.   Its very comforting to know she is somewhere that she feels happy and safe.

 Giant Pterodactyl's!!!!!Soccer , Soccer, Soccer!!!!  This was a great year for soccer.  She is a little natural.  Never a side comment or moan about going.  Its becoming more enjoyable to watch too for us!  She loved all the family spectators cheering her on on the weekends too .

 Annual trip to Windy Hill Farms.

 Enjoying some time in the orchard.

 Two pumpkins.

Bo using their own legs and letting Mom and Dad and enjoy themselves...mostly.

 Halloweens in Townsend at Nana and grampas.  A family of super hero's.

 Two tired hero's

Best Folks EVERRR. Until they are about 8.

 Who says only boys can save the day???

Most fun time of year.

Uncle Mark and Elisabeth got married and look who was the flower girl.  Stunning.

 Not one family picture but what can you do.

 So handsome.

Who could be cuter?

 Daddy turned  old...haha and this is a gift from Mom to him.  Best gift ever.

Birthday Cupcake fun with the Gregg girls.

.....and last but not least, Mommy's least favorite season, Winter.

 First real winter to semi enjoy the snow for the little guys.  Addy and her friends are pros now out there.  Can't get them in unless you bribe them with marshmallows and hot chocolate.

 Merry Christmas!!!  Kids in matching outfits shipped to us from Mimi.

Then end of 2012 ended with Papa and Grammy heading to Columbia to visit family.  We had Lola and Bird here for a few weeks.  Look whose in love and guess which family is liking having a furry friend???

Okay, so this post has not blown your mind with  excitement, this I know....its a catch and I will attempt to make this loss of time up to you in the near future.  Some way, some how.

Ive missed a ton and Ive added some pretty awful pictures.  If I didn't add anything I couldn't move forward...lol!!  I missed a lot of exciting things I'm sure like the addition of a fish tank to our home and the loss of Addy's first tooth.  In the future I will try to not spare any boring detail...lol.

This is the okay to move on to 2013.  I hope that since our last visit that your lives have been richly blessed and that this new year has found you and those you love in perfect health.  May this year be a giant blessing to you.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. (NLT) Philippians 3:13-14

How beautiful to be a new creation in Him.

Hello Old friend

I'm ashamed at the amount of time that's trickled ( okay flooded is more like it) away since I last blogged.    Most days don't hold enough time for a proper leg shave or shower so to say I have stopped thinking about you Blog (what so ever )wouldn't be a lie.  You are important though Blog...I promise!! 

 You hold many -a  memory that my decrepit brain will eventually forgot completely.  I apologize and vow to re-prioritize.  After all, the baby books stopped updating themselves about 1.5 years ago and the camera gets charged, maybe if its lucky,once a month.....you may be my only hope.

Working on feeding you soon ablessedkindofchaos. Mama is back.  Alot has happened in our family since I last shared.  Looking forward to giving you a sort of play by play ( in as few words as possible as I suffer from a serious case of tired-itis-all-the-timis.)

Blessings, Jenny

 "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." 

Ecclesiastes 3:8

The Pressure of TIME...Connecticut

This summer was great.  Busy, wild, chaotic but lovely just the same.  We did so many little things that I cant even remember if you paid me.  So.....over the next few days Im just going to post some pictures of random summer days.  This 18 month-ish milestone has proven exhausting and BUSY ( how many times could I write that to make you fully understand what life feels like here??).

In July we drove down to Connecticut for a Gregg family reunion.  This was the first overnight trip we have been on as a family of five. Van was packed floor to ceiling.  We may have over packed but thank goodness we did because with these monsters, you never know what you may need.

We stopped at Wendys after our almost 3hour drive down in the van.  The kids did a great job.

 We packed the boys favorite 'vaccums'....whats better than a little tidying up in the hotel room.

 Owning the place.

 Room service!!  Here's Addy keeping the boys entertained.

 Most nights we ordered in Pizza and ate family style.

 Nana helping out poolside with a cranky Georgy

 So great to be here with the cousins too.  

The pool was Addys favorite activity on vacation.  After last years swim lessons she has become very comfortable in the water without us.  Works out nice since we really have to work together now that the boys have show interest in the water too.

 Within 2 miles of the hotel there were 3 huge playgrounds and they all connected through trails to one another.  We spent an entire evening here.  

 Plane! Mama, plane!

 The men braving the slide.

 Old school slide like we had back in the day.  The kind that was so hot you couldnt use some days...lol.

 They LOVED this part of vacation and so did we.  Because of where it was situated they could run wild with no real worries of anyone branching off alone or getting hurt.

 The grounds at Aunt Jeannes home were gorgeous.  We spent most of this day chasing the investigating boys.

 After the reunion  we met up with the cousins at a local beach and let the boys check one out for the first time.  They went nuts!!!  George wanted to move along alone and would flip when we tried to slow him down or caution him.  Drew smiled the whole time and ate a bunch of sand.  Addy collected a disgusting amount of crabs....gross.

 Blurry, but the first picture of all of us together at the beach.  So fun.

 Before the trip began we received new that Mark and Elisabeth had recently become engaged.  Addy was very excited to hear!

 LAst full day there the whole family went to Clinton Beach.  It was amazing.

 Daddy filling our mote.

 Addy and Stacie looking for crabs and shells.

 Grampa and his Mini Me, George.

 Drew, the little innocent looking cherub.

 One cool bathing beauty

 More crabs....yuck.

 Drew being a ham....wearing Mamas glasses and looking mighty cute.

Life is good.  This afternoon at the beach ended about 2 hours in with 2 very tired little men and a disappointed little girl. Mama was pretty bummed too but when the boys melt, there is no going back. 

Vacation was beautiful ad more relaxing than I had thought it would be.Looking forward to what next summer has in store.

 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16-17

4th of July...2012

 Fourth of July was not too eventful.  Mom got in some time with the garden.

 Excited to get back to digging in the dirt. Its been a good 2 years since I have been able to get this going again.  Its like a refuge from the craziness of our everyday life.  A place just for me.

Daddy played out back with the mini men . These swings are a favorite but also an annoyance because this is all they want to do , every time they set foot in the backyard...God forbid you didn't actively push them.  Needless to say ( and I am writing this a month later to catch up)...the swings didn't make it long before they were retired to the basement once again.

Addy and her friends decorated their bikes for the kids bike parade. 

Addy has never taken a liking to bike riding.  It was a success considering she got on it and peddled to the end of the road.  Poor girl is scared to fail so whenever we would try in the past and she would make a mistake , she immediately wanted off the bike.  Today was motivation watching all her friends pedal by.  I was proud of her and tried to encourage her to continue to try, even when its hard.  Isn't that true of all of us.

We turned back a little early to keep it a good experience and ended this great attempt with some yummy Popsicles.  A favorite in our home.  A Popsicle fixes all things. A perfect boo boo healer or celebratory treat.

Later in the evening, post dinner, we headed down town to see the annual activities in town.  They do some little things for the kids.....craft stuff, ice cream truck, music etc. at the old Elementary school so the kids got to meet up with some friends.  They enjoyed running wild and depleted the energy that survived the day.

It was a great day.  We are so grateful to be able to live in a country where we are free.  Free to live as we please , free to worship as we believe.

Praise God for freedom.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Summer Bubbles

When the going gets tough and the kids are dripping gross from head to toe....the only logical next move is to fill the pool with warm water, baby soap and make some serious bubbles. 

They think its all in fun ( Im the coolest Mom ever) but its really just a sanity saver.  Kids come in from play , wrapped in towels, clean and ready for pajamas.  Win win. 

I hope that this is a memory they keep.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalms 51:7