Summer Adventures #1 - Aunty Ruthie

Growing up, I had a lot of honorary Aunts and Uncles, which is why it doesn't seem confusing or odd to me for my boys to have the same experience. I always knew who my biological family members were but, the blessing of having a lot of other men and women in my life who showered me with love was pretty special. Ruth is going to be one of those 'Aunty's' for my boys and has such an amazing place in my heart. My dearest and closest friend for so many years, she knows me inside and out and loves each and every quirk - I love that about her and love every chance we get to hang out. Here are some photos from a fun night with my favorite Fro :)



Love you Ruthie :) xo

Summer Adventures: Some thoughts...

So, it's Sept 17th and I have yet to post any photos on our family blog of our summer adventures. EEEK! Every time I go to start, I either have a photo shoot to do, something to do with the boys or something football related ;) This morning, as Ben quietly plays and Jacob is still sleeping, I've decided to make a dent in the giant stack of photos that represents a blessed summer of family memories for which I am so thankful.

Do you ever get so busy with life that you don't stop to think about all the ways you're blessed and, instead, get bogged down in all the details of day to day life? I fall into that trap all of the time and, for me, a calm , peaceful and grateful heart comes primarily from two things: daily prayer & frequent journalling. I am such a verbal processor and, by writing things down, I am able to remember what's truly important and realize that the things I've been stressing about are small in comparison to those things that will matter for eternity, like my relationships - primarily my role as wife and mother but also as friend, daughter, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law. It's when I stop to pray and journal that I start to think about the weighty responsibility of parenting and it's only, when I am in prayer, that the desire to take this responsibility seriously and tackle it head-on starts to grow.

I've been having more of these moments lately. God has brought enough things into my life that have made me stop, slow down and come back to a place of prayer. Parenting has brought me to my knees a lot lately - namely, parenting an almost-3-year old who is too smart for his own good. As we look ahead to celebrating this amazing human being later on in October, daily I wonder how best to train him to be a little boy who loves the Lord. I've started reading 'Grace Based Parenting' and I'm trying hard to send my child out into the world with a desire to honor God born out of a real Love for the Lord and not born out of guilt. I'm trying so hard to allow myself the grace God offers so that I can pass that grace along to my children. I am constantly challenged by this huge task and constantly blessed by the seemingly unconditional love children offer at this age, even on the days where you don't feel like you're doing a good job as a parent- it's almost as though they extend that grace to you and, in their unconditional love, you can catch a glimpse of the love of the Father. Funny how that works.



So, what I'm trying to say is that, in between the family memories I'll share from our summer, there is a lot going on - a lot of trial-and-error parenting, a lot of frustrating moments, a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, a lot of early mornings with little patience for the toddler that wakes up wanting to play right away, a lot of puzzled looks by parents who realize their toddler has once again developed a new bad habit that we need to adapt to....But, even as I write this, as I verbally process our day-to-day life, I see the joy in all of those things, good and bad. I see the light in Jacob's eyes when he watches his brother, I see Jacob's bright smile even as his brother steamrolls his head, I hear Ben saying 'Mom, what a beautiful day,'  I see my boys snuggling each other in bed while Jon reads them a story, I hear Ben saying 'Jacob and Jesus are friends because they're both babies,' I see the amazing imagination of my almost-3-year-old, I hear Ben singing 'I just called to say I love you' at the dinner table, I hear Ben saying 'Well, fanks' when I congratulate him on using the potty, I hear Ben saying 'I love you so much, with emphasis on the SO.'



I see and hear all of these things and, even though I know I'm a work in progress as a mother, wife, and friend, I know that 'He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.' I rest in that grace and hope and pray that, when others come in contact with me and my family, that they will see Christ in us and, through our lives, experience His grace. That would be amazing and make this whole, crazy adventure so worth while, don't you think?

June 28, 2011: Campbell Valley Park

Campbell Valley Park & Good Friends = a great morning! With Jon almost being done school and our summer on the brink of starting, it was great to hang out with some home group friends one last time before disappearing off the social radar for the summer! I find that, in the summer, I fall off the map a bit when it comes to my usual hang-outs because we're trying to make the most of precious family time - one of the main reasons why it was easy for us to both decide to go into teaching. It's totally worth it and we have some amazing summer adventures together but I do miss seeing some of these ladies as regularly as I get to see them in the Fall and Spring when I'm on Maternity Leave.

This particular morning, I met up with Juliet and Kathryn at Campbell Valley Park and we decided to go for a little hike....totally great idea but I didn't exactly dress properly for a hike and there was a small but steep hill at the beginning of our hike that I got the blessing of experiencing in flip flops with the double stroller - I'm not going to lie, those boys are heavy but I think the highlight for me, while there were beads of sweat developing on my forehead, was hearing Ben from the doubles seat saying 'Go Mom Go.' At least I had my own cheering section and some good company to laugh about it with after :) We headed to the grass afterwards to cool off, have some snacks and I couldn't resist capturing some of these moments between the two older boys - Ben & Jonah, you guys were too cute!



Watching Ben interact with Jonah makes me excited for when Jacob and Ben can start interacting more than just when Ben steam rolls over his face :)




Just before heading over to Kathryn's to hang out, I decided to snap a few pics of the boys. Can't get enough, in my opinion ;)



I absolutely love the expression on Jacob's face in the bottom right photo - pretty sure he's just taking note of all these occasions for a future date when he's suddenly the BIG 'little' brother and I don't think that's far off :)



Impromptu hang-outs are awesome and this particular day we got a chance to see Holden & Jamie right after hanging out with home group friends. With Ben being hit and miss for naps these days we were totally up for a park date and, I had my camera with me anyways so we got some pics of these two little buddies!



Love this kid and his curly locks :)





Oh, child-like fun :)



I love that Ben is at the stage now where he actually interacts with other kids rather than just plays 'around them' and the interactions are pretty hilarious. Here they are sharing their uninhibited excitement at nothing in particular ;)



Good buddies



Thanks friends for such a great day. I'm so blessed to have so many mommas home at the same time I am & Ben is lucky to have so many good buddies by association!

June 21, 2011: The Ladies

Here are just a few pics from a recent-ish get-together with some of my favorite ladies! We headed over to Brita's place and had some yummy lunch and went for a walk. I actually was able to leave Benjamin with Jon's mom on this particular day so I was even able to carry on complete conversations with these wonderful friends.



Jacob and Huddy!




Thanks for your hospitality Brita and to all the other ladies for continuing to set aside time to hang out - what a refreshing morning. Love you guys!

June 19, 2011: Fathers Day #2!

Even though the Turner name won't continue on as it might have had Josh still been alive, I know that my dad is so thankful to have Jon for a son-in-law and especially thankful for the extra testosterone that Ben and, now Jacob, will bring to our household. If, down the road, we ever have a little girl, I know Grandpa Turner will treasure her the same way I felt treasured as a little girl. Thanks dad, for truly making me feel like I deserved someone as special as Jon and encouraging me to wait to find it. I love you and I love that God brought me an amazing man to make my husband and the father of these beautiful boys!

lk



I love this last pic because it truly captures Ben as he really is - a squirmy wormy who barely sits still for photos these days but honestly, I kind of love that! It reminds me to enjoy the photos that capture us as we really are rather than having a whole hard drive full of posed memories. Happy Fathers Day to my amazing husband and to all the GrandFathers in my life. To those who are no longer with us, I miss you, and to those who are currently showering my boys with Grandfatherly love, thank you. They are so blessed because of it!

June 18, 2011: Fathers Day with the McCarthy's

I must say that I am so thankful for the amazing father Jon is to our boys and I know that a huge part of that can be credited to his upbringing and the example his parents have set before him. Here are just a few shots of the McCarthy men!



Happy Fathers Day!

June 16, 2011: Hanging Around

Well, considering the fact that I'm posting this in late August, you can tell that things have been a little crazy around here and there hasn't been a lot of time to sort through my own family photos in the midst of the various photo shoots and summer adventures. Either way, the posts will come slowly but surely over the following month as Jon goes back to work and there are more lazy afternoons where hopefully both little munchkins give me a break like they are this afternoon. These ones aren't really pictures for any particular reason - just saw a photo moment and decided to snap some pics. It does astound me how much Ben looks like Josh in these pics, though :)



My little man -




Jon hopping in Ben's pirate ship - this kid has a vivid imagination and apparantly no regard for size limitations!