InstaApril 2015

InstaApril 2015

I made a goal to do a monthly blog post with most of my Instagram photos.  I used to do that weekly, but I've become a slacker.  This month has been filled with spring flowers, tee-ball and baseball (when it's not raining), Easter, spending time with family and friends, celebrating our cousin's birthday, riding bikes, and a little of this and that. By the way, it's been raining cats and dogs. I can't remember the last time we had a week without rain. 

Fall is my favorite season but spring hasn't disappointed me.  I forget how pretty the flowers are this time of year. Thank goodness the Lord has given us the change of seasons.  It's refreshing.

This peony is one of my favorite flowers.  I hope it will survive the move to the new house.  I plan to take it with me. 

You can see why irises provided inspiration for one of van Gogh's famous paintings.  This is the view from my kitchen window.  The birdbath and flowers are between two crepe myrtle trees.  Looking at this helps make the chore of washing dishes not as bad.

I'm not sure what type of iris this is.  I think it might be a Siberian Iris or Japanese Iris, maybe?  Regardless of what it is, it's also one of the favorite flowers in my yard this time of year.

You know we love the Texas Rangers.  I'm pretty sure I took this of the boys on Opening Day 2015.

The boys thought indoor camping might not be so bad after all.  They were testing out the camping equipment at Cabela's.  

Over the Easter weekend the boys had a friend spend the night and we went to the movies.  Home was cute.  We got there early and for the first 15 minutes we had the entire theater to ourselves.  The guys thought that was so cool!

I took this at Will's Easter egg hunt on the playground at school.  He was obviously too busy to stop and look at me for a photo. I understand, hunting eggs is serious business. ;)

The teachers in Will's class had a great idea.  We labeled eggs with the names of each student so everyone had the same amount of eggs, and it made the hunt last longer.

Ben's class hunted eggs on the football field.  

 Ben wasn't the most aggressive egg hunter, which made me laugh.  If it were a race for anything of value, then we'd be in trouble, ha!

The Easter bunny found our house. 

Our cousin had a birthday party at a fun gym.  The boys got to go on a zip line, jump on trampolines and play in a giant treehouse and fort.  Oh yeah, and there was cake and ice cream, too! That's always Will and Ben's favorite part of the party. 

Will and Ben are old enough to take our photo now.  Will took this one just before we ate at Twisted Root--our favorite burger place. 

Ben and Will are all about Minecraft now.  By the way, I totally don't understand it, but I didn't understand their obsession with Angry Birds Star Wars either.  That's neither here nor there.  The point of this photo, is that Ben drew some images of Minecraft and he was very proud.  He likes to draw all sorts of things like this and Ninja Turtles.

I shared this photo on Instagram and I had a "mom moment" processing my thoughts and feelings about the boys growing up.  Will looked so big in this photo.  I know Will and Ben are still little, but they aren't little anymore like babies and toddlers.  They have thoughts and opinions, which they share more and more with us.  With that in mind, I realized that I share fewer photos of them now.  I'm trying to find the balance of respecting their privacy as they get older, while still sharing photos of the them with friends and family because I'm so proud that they are mine.  I don't know if there will ever be balance, but I'm definitely mindful of it now that they are getting older. 

 Back to things that aren't so serious...

Will at bat!

Ben hitting the ball off the tee! 

We've been taking advantage of the sunny days that are few and far between this spring by riding bikes.  Will almost had it down last summer just before he knocked out his front tooth.  Once that happened we took a break from riding bikes.  This spring he picked up right where he left off and he can ride now!  I'm pretty sure I was older than he was when I finally learned.  Ben's not really sure about us taking off the training wheels yet so we'll probably leave them on for a little longer. 

If you were to have a "day in the life" experience with our family by spending the day with us and doing all of our favorite things then our friend Ashley did that very thing this weekend.  We took her shopping at the outlet mall, and then we ate at Rudy's BBQ.  The day wouldn't be complete without a trip to Target and a stop by Whole Foods.  I'd say she really got an authentic experience.

Ben requested a Mohawk at bath time and it was so cute I had to include it on the blog. 

The New Old Farmhouse Update

The update is that there's no update, and that's okay!   We started the new year ready to move forward with our new home, but with most plans in life there's always something out of your control.  That something right now is the rain.  It's been one of the rainiest springs in the last few years, and there's no way to get the bulldozers and equipment needed to start the house to the land.  It's all good and we're counting our blessings.  We have a place to live, we're saving more money to build, and summer will probably be the best time to start the house anyway. 

We might be on hold with the house, but I can still find things that will go inside it.  This weekend I was lucky enough to find some great treasures at an estate sale.  I plan for this bluebonnet print to hang in the guest bedroom above the bed.  The vintage school books will look perfect on the built-in shelves in our new living room.  You know I collect milk glass so I couldn't pass on the vase, and the cats were just cute so they came home with me, too. I don't have a photo of the mid-century flip seat step stool I purchased.  It reminded me of something in my great-grandma's farmhouse, and I knew it would be perfect in my laundry room at the farmhouse.  The boys think the step stool is pretty cool!

I'll leave you with a Bible verse for encouragement.  It's one that helps me when I'm stressed and worried. 

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you.