It's my quilt!

I turn 40 tomorrow! I'm excited! I'm looking forward to starting a new decade... a new era... it's a great age! Life is good! My life is busy, busy, busy... but these are great times. I know one day I will look back on these years with great fondness... so I'm trying to just relish it all. (Even the fact that while I sit here and type Will has brought me two gifts from outside... a stick with a bunch of dried leaves on the end and a long strand of ivy with some dead leaves - his "love" gifts! I treasure those!) Speaking of gifts... check out the early gift I got from my parents... I have wanted this quilt for a long time and I am SOOOO excited to get it! I think it was made in 1933 by my grandma and several of her friends... maybe at a quilting bee! Her name (and the other ladies who made the quilt) is handstitched on the quilt. You can see her name in the picture. Thanks mom and dad!!

My Boys and Some of Their Latest...

They are each so unique!  So wonderfully, unique!  I love each one!  They really make me smile...

The other day at lunch Josiah asked me, "Hey Mom, when I move my hand through the air and then hear the whoosh of the air, that's thunder, right?"  (Should I just go ahead and admit right now that I am not nearly as deep a thinker as Josiah is and I actually NEVER ponder such things??  And these questions just come out of nowhere...  how's a girl like me to be prepared??  I'm just grateful that the Lord will guide me!)  So, anyway, I thought this question did not make any sense...  surely Josiah knows what "thunder" is!!  So, I calmly say, "No, thunder is the sound that lightning makes."  Then he explains to me that thunder is not actually the sound that lightning makes, but that it's the sound of the air rushing back in to fill the space that the lightning created...  so, hence, does the air rushing back in after he slices his hand through the air make the sound of "thunder", just not as loud??  Whoa...  I have NO idea!  Maybe it does... 

To my UTTER dismay we've had a mouse in the house!  Seriously, I am a total elephant when it comes to mice.  I completely freak out and cannot stop the shudders and sometimes I can't stifle the screams either.  The boys on the other hand think that mice are the cutest things ever...  Shepard REALLY wants one for a pet!  They kept telling me that if I would just look at it, I would change my mind about mice.  Nope...  not gonna happen.  So, we had a mouse siting recently - yep, I started to shudder and just completely froze up.  Shepard says, "Mom, you just go on out of this room and I'll take care of it.  If I catch him, I'll just throw him in the trash."  Yikes!  But then he looks at me so sweetly and finishes with, "Mom, I just love you more than I want to have a mouse."  Wow... he's so thoughtful!  I'm such a blessed mama!

Okay...  little Will...  well, he's BUSY!!  Even if he is sitting in a confined area - like his blanket - he's wiggling some body part!  The other day, I thought he was just playing quietly and contentedly...  what was I thinking??  If he's quiet, we all start to search for him. :)  We found him in the living room...  all the board games pulled off the shelves...  pieces everywhere and he was in the middle of filling one of the lids with water.  Oh boy.  So I told him to go get a washcloth and we would clean up the water.  He gets a washcloth, but he soaks it with water first and then brings it all the way dripping lots of water all the way.  His energy and playfulness - even his friendly mischievousness - are surely going to be gifts that the Lord uses in his life!

Aren't they each wonderful??!!

August Birthdays

I finally found my camera!  I don't think I've ever misplaced it before...  The boys are helping me with EVERYTHING while my shoulder stays in a sling and I think someone brought the camera in from the car the other night, but it never made it to it's "usual" home.  I found it hanging on the hook by the garage door.  Cool.  And all of my guys (all four) are totally awesome!  They are doing laundry, cooking and cleaning the kitchen.  Okay, so our grocery shopping trip was a little LONG and tiring, but they did help a LOT all the way to putting the groceries away.  I'm grateful for their great attitudes and their sweet help.  I really DO NOT like to not be able to use my right arm and find it hard to ask and accept all the help, but they have made it so much easier!

Here's a few pictures from the August birthday party at the Wassons last weekend - me, Will and Kim are celebrating this month!  It was a fun get together and we always love the chance to eat Shelley's great cooking! :)

Check out the candle birthday ages...  yep, I'm about to be 40!!

Shepard's Work Pays Off

Shepard wanted a new toy...  very bad.  Bad enough that he was willing to work some jobs to buy it.  He's never fully understood the concept of working for money.  I mean we've explained it, but somehow it's remained a bit of a mystery to him.  He thought that saving money meant it just suddenly appeared.  (Wouldn't that be nice?!)  Anyway, John offered to let him work a few outside jobs - he wanted inside jobs, but he wanted the toy more. :)  So, he worked hard...  sweeping, raking, etc and earned a dollar or two, but still did not have enough money.  So, he would ask for more jobs the next day.  He's a hard worker!  And, even though the jobs were not always fun, he worked hard and did his best.  When he earned enough money, John and I got him the toy that he had wanted and he paid us for it with his "own" money.  He was so excited!  He could not stop bouncing and pumping his arms up and down and letting out big whoops of joy!  He is enjoying that toy with a new found enthusiasm because he knows the price.  Way to go, Shep!  His comment to us afterwards was "Now I get it."  Ahhhh...  the lightbulb!
Here's his toy - a "Halo" guy... (he wanted me to take a picture of it)

Grandma and Grandpa with Will

My mom and dad came today to keep the boys for a few hours while John and I visited the doctor about my shoulder.  Looks like surgery in October for me.  Sigh.  I've never had surgery before and I am not crazy about the idea, but I'm hoping that my shoulder won't hurt anymore afterwards.

Here's Grandma and Grandpa giving Will his birthday gift...  Fun!!  He really loves it!  It has BIG wheels - his favorite thing!

Will's 3rd Birthday

Will turned 3 yesterday!  Almost hard to believe that our baby isn't a "baby" anymore.  He's a very active, busy, funny, ornery, playful little boy!  He lived his birthday with gusto...  mostly he just looked forward to having a cookie cake - with a 4-wheeler on it!  (He calls it a c-wheeler.)  He's past the age of needing coaxing to know what to do...  he sang Happy Birthday to himself, blew out his candles like a champ and tore through his gifts - no hesitation with this boy!

Here he is with his hilarious assortment of birthday balloons - picking them out was a big family adventure.

A basketball goal for Will.  He was THRILLED!  He pranced and giggled and shot baskets over and over and over again...  it was like he just never tired of it. 

I was trying to take a picture and he kept moving in these interesting positions...  that's when John explained to me that he was trying to pose for the picture.  Yep, that's what he was doing.  It was so cute! 

Cheeto Head!  Will was fascinated with this game from NLR Family Camp, so we set up a semi-cheeto head game in the garage.  We substituted a paper plate for someone's head! :)  The boys had a lot of fun playing this.

Now, it's finally time for that cookie cake!  (What's funny is that he only ate one little bite of it...  he never likes the taste of it, he just likes the "idea" of it.)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!!

Meeting Caden - Then the Creation Museum

I was so excited to get to meet our newest little nephew... Caden!  This is Josh and Joy's baby!  Oooohhh...  he's wonderfully sweet!

Here's me and my brother with his new little son...

This was such a whirlwind trip!  On the way to Nashville to meet Caden, we stopped in Memphis to visit one of John's client's sales.  It was the first time we have actually been able to watch another sale (other than our own) use his software.  The ladies there were so sweet and we enjoyed shopping another sale!

After meeting Caden, we drove on to Florence, KY (near Cincinnati).  What we thought was a 3-hour drive was actually a 5-hour drive.  It turned into a late night, but it was worth it.  We loved the Creation Museum!!  (And the hotel deal we got there was fantastic...  ahhhh, we chuckled at our little "princes" living in the luxury of our hotel - but it was actually cheap!)

Here are some highlights from the Creation Musuem...

First we saw examples of the animal "kinds".

This picture really shows the personalities of all the boys!

Will thought the camel would eat his hat!

We saw two planetarium shows and another show in the special effects theater.  Those were great!

We also toured through the Walk Thru History which was really neat.  Here are the boys in the Garden of Eden...  it was amazing how it really showed what a wonderful place that was and what we lost when sin entered the world.  It was so neat to see Bible history come alive and then see the big picture of how and why we need a savior. 

The drive home was long...  thankfully the boys are all very good travellers!  But, we think we've figured out just about how far we'd ever want to drive in one day. :)  I can't believe we did all of this trip in just four days.  We had to rest from our vacation when we got home!

NLR Family Camp 2010 pics

Family Camp was a blast!  And we did so much stuff while we were there that I have a LOT of pictures to share!

Carnival Night - horse rides, face painting, trike riding, and lots more...

New Life Ranch breakfast was scheduled just too early for us...  so this is NLR breakfast "Wasson Style". :) 

Boating on Flint Creek...

Josiah and Shepard got to do the SCREAMER - they both loved it!

Will especially loved this water slide that the staff made for the younger kids...

Shepard loved playing in the sand...

Trying archery!

Carpet Ball was definitely one of Josiah's favorite activities at NLR!

I love this photo...  pretty cool action shot, huh? :)

The Wasson Boys with our summer staff counselors - who were absolutely, fantastically WONDERFUL!  Will dubbed them "Uncle John" and "Mr. Brave".  These guys served us so well all week.  We were so grateful that they had been assigned to our family.