blessed beyond measure

Shew. May has been a bit of a whirlwind. Haven't been able to blog as much as I'd like to, just keeping up with, well, life. So here's some of what we've been up to. In no particular order. Aden was dedicated at church. Or more like the parents were dedicated. Of course we believe in Aden's God-given right to choose salvation for himself, so this ceremony was more of Brandon and me committing ourselves to raise Aden in a Christian environment. I tell you what, this boy is just joy with skin on. Trey graduated from the 3-year-old Cubbies class in Awana. He was so proud of himself for having earned eight patches for learning so many Bible verses. This is helping keep us accountable with scripture memory too! Aden's walking. This developed over the last week or so. He had never really even stood much on his own. Just up and walked. He's still a little tentative with it, but it won't be long until the callouses on his knees will finally be able to heal....

Why peace , you may ask? Two boys. No one is crying. No one is whining. No one is wanting anything. No one is fighting. No one is hanging on my leg. No one is making a mess. No one is hitting, or kicking, or smothering, or knocking over, or stealing from, or elbowing in the jaw anyone else . Yes, peace is a rare commodity around here these days.

Y'all probably already know that Trey is terrified somewhat timid in regards to change. New people, new foods, slight alterations to his routine. Any of those and more can cause a violent breakdown. So imagine our shock and joy when he picked out his first new big boy bike, hopped right on, and started riding the aisles of the toy store. Actually rode at home too, after a few pointers from Daddy. Milestone passed without incident. Someone make a note. Those are few and far between. Not sure exactly how he did it, but Aden bruised the side of Trey's face about a week ago. Not even close to matching the three bruises and two goose-eggs on Aden's head, compliments of Trey, but it's progress anyway. I have no update for you on the ch-ch-changes around here. Nothing at all to report except my growing anticipation. Hopefully soon. Here's another clue to get you through. Mother's Day was beautiful. Time with family, delicious meals, and a precious photo coll...

I'm Aden. I'm eleven months old today! Life is good, folks. I've got a lot going on these days. It's nice and warm outside. At first I didn't like that "grass" stuff, but it's growing on me. Bwahaha, I crack myself up! Got a tooth finally popping through. Mama says she'll be sad to lose the toothless grin. Speaking of Mama, she has caught me a few times standing up by myself. The big people aren't supposed to know I can do this just yet. I kinda like being carried around. So for now I'll just keep pretending I can't do it. I say lots of intelligent things. But these big people, I don't think they're really listening. They just nod, and maybe say something totally unrelated to what I'm talking about. Simpletons. I'm funny too. But most of my jokes are above them. This Trey person. I like him. He's kinda scrawny. But he amuses me. He has a mean streak. Mama fusses at him and says one day he'll regret i...

I plan our meals a month in advance. This is due to an abhorrence of the 5:30 PM song and dance marking the first few years of our marriage. "What do you want for dinner?" "I don't know, what do you want?" "I don't know." "What can we have?" "I don't know." So much nicer now. I can plan out what to get when stuff is on sale, make sure we don't have the same thing over and over, and occasionally incorporate some comfort food. Flexibility must be built in, though. Sometimes new recipes flop, or no one shows up for dinner, or good grief you just need a pizza. Anyhoo, yesterday I decided that what I had planned for dinner was not something I had a taste for. This happens on occasion. And becomes a pantry challenge. To create a meal with ingredients already in the house, but not using ingredients that belong to another meal on the schedule. You think I'm a nerd, don't you? You're about to love this nerd. Mi...