40: My Blessed Life

(Photo source)

Well, this is it, my last 40-B4-40 post. Thank you for sharing the journey with me.

I made it to my fourth decade, and looking back, I have realized how incredibly blessed I am. I would love to share with you just a few (40, to be exact) of the many blessings in my life:

1. The Creator of the universe loves me and has a great plan for me.
2. I get to do life with my best friend.
3. We will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary next month.
4. I have an amazing daughter who is kind, thoughtful, and so very creative!
5. I have a wonderful son who is sweet and energetic and keeps me laughing!
6. My parents are now 40+ years in love and a great example of a godly marriage.
7. I have my dad's love for books and knowledge.
8. I have my mom's love for people and chocolate.
9. My sisters are two of my dearest friends (and are the only ones who truly understand how "unique" our family is!)
10. My two brothers-in-law (on my side) cherish my sisters and respect our parents.
11. My father- and mother-in-law are are also 40+ years in love.
12. I have been "thoroughly adopted" into my husband's family...parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins...etc. It's like I have an entire "second" family!
13. I have a very close (somewhat crazy) extended family whom I am blessed to see regularly.
14. I have three adorable nieces and three amazing nephews.
15. I was able to witness my nephew's miraculous journey of healing.
16. I still keep in touch with a lifelong family friend who consistently encourages me across the miles (and whose blog name I "borrowed" for this post...thanks, Lora! :))
17. I have an incredibly supportive group of friends.
18. We are blessed to go to a church where we are fed truth, challenged to grow, and enjoy community like nowhere else!
19. We have the best small group in the northern hemisphere (I really don't know much about the southern hemisphere...they might be the best there, too).
20. The same loyal, somewhat-spoiled dog has slept next to my bed every night for the last 11 years.
21. We live in a fantastic, family-centered community!
22. Our kids go to good schools where its evident the staff and administration care deeply about the students.
23. I am privileged to do what I love: 1) stay home to raise my kids and 2) write.
24. God has been faithful in the good times and the difficult times.
25. I have survived cancer.
26. God has given us our dream home.
27. At age 40, I weigh 30 lbs less than I did at age 20 (yes, it's true!)
28. At age 20, I could barely run .5 mile; two weeks ago I completed my third 5K!
29. I have two strong legs on which to run.
30. I have been privileged to meet, serve under, and be influenced by some amazing people.
31. I have had the privilege of serving and leading some pretty incredible kids who have grown into such impressive adults. (You know who you are, Reality Drama!)
32. I have co-authored a book.
33. I have had the opportunity to travel to 35 states and 4 other countries.
34. I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
35. I have hiked a mountain in Alaska.
36. I have a college degree.
37. It's almost my absolute favorite time of year...FALL!
38. I can read...and read...and read...and read...
39. I am living exactly where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to do at this season in my life.
40. The next 10 years are looking pretty exciting!

A Lego Party for My Little Man!

I can't believe my Little Man turned 5 on Wednesday! We celebrated last Saturday with a birthday party brimming with his favorite toys...LEGOs!!!

 

This party was so easy, and so much fun, I'd do it again every year!!

 

The decorations were simple and easy to make.

 

 

The games were fun, too, like the Lego Build Challenge

 

They really got into that!

 

There were even, real, live judges the kids had to present their Lego masterpieces to.

 

They even got to build their own snacks...just like Legos!

 

Of course, what's a party without a pinata?

 

  And then there were the presents: Lego set...

 

after Lego set...

 

 after Lego set.

 

Nine sets in all...plus birthday money to spend on, guess what? Yep, more Legos!

 

 And a couple of non-Lego gifts that were a hit, too.

Grandma & Grandpa came down for the party, too. That was a special treat!

 

 

Now, let the building begin!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!!

 

 

Summertime Fun: Part 4, Cousins and Chicago

I know, I know...school has officially started, but that doesn't mean Summer is over yet, right? Our last "hoorah" of the summertime was a trip to Chicago to visit family. The kiddos had so much fun playing with cousins they don't see nearly enough. Plus, we took in some fun family activities while we were there:

Bouncing fun with the cousins

 Our first visit to Legoland!

 

 Little Man is hooked...he could have stayed all day!

 We visited a fun restaurant called Choo Choo in Des Plaines, IL. 

It's like stepping back in time 60 years. They had the BEST

shakes and malts (the burgers were good, too!). But the best part was

that the food comes to you on a train! The kids LOVED it!

 Waiting for the food train!

 

Little Conductor Man

We did a little swimming and a lot of hanging out and just having fun. We were also happy to celebrate a birthday with a very special little girl...thanks for sharing your birthday with us, Manda!

Back to School!

In the last two weeks, Little Miss and Little Man have both started school (not on the same day, mind you. That meant double the first-day-of-school traditions like special breakfast (pancakes for both), pictures with backpacks, walking them to class, long good-byes, etc. I'll be glad when they're both at the same school next year! :)

 Little Miss and her breakfast-of-choice: German pancakes

Ready for 2nd grade!

 

 Little Man with his special breakfast: "fluffy" pancakes

Lookout preschool...here I come!

 

No photo session is complete without an action shot of Little Man!

 

 Double trouble!

Summertime Fun, Part 2: Beach Vacation

Two weeks ago, we loaded up the minivan and headed out for a 2-day, one-way road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. (One of the drawbacks of living in the middle of the continental U.S. is that it takes a long time to travel to the ocean...any ocean!) Fortunately, my family lives at the midway point, and since we were vacationing with them as well, we broke the trip up over a couple days. The downside was that once all the fun was over, we still had the 2-day drive home. But we made it, and it was worth every minute of the journey! As promised, here are some pictures:

Of course, the top priority was to swim in the ocean! (Little Miss had been

to the ocean a couple of times, but Little Man had only been once,

and he was too young to remember it!)

They took to beach life like fish to water (pun intended :))

Little Man and Zoe playing in the ocean with Nanee.

What's the point of going to the beach if you don't build a few sand castles?!

We got to see family we hadn't seen in awhile...like Zoe (above left), and we met

Baby Ezra for the first time (with Little Miss above)

Our resort had a putt-putt course, and the "big" kids got to go with

Nanee and PaPa one evening.

Little Man got a hole-in-one (actually, he got two of them!)

Zoe "walked" down to the playground to play  (video to follow in a later post).

The tunnel slide was his favorite.

Zoe with Mama and Aunt Nanc

Another highlight was visiting Ripley's Aquarium.

The kids were fascinated by all the underwater creatures.

They even got to pet horseshoe crabs!

Little Man especially loved the rays.

Overall, I'd say it was well worth the 2-day drive!

Summertime Fun, Part 1

We are in full-blown summer fun here...hence the lack of posts lately. Who has time to sit down at a computer when there is swimming to be done, parks to visit, playdates to be had, and road trips to be taken? (Well, that and the fact that we just returned from a 10-day road trip, but more on that in a later post.)

Here is a quick peek at what we've been up to so far in the first few weeks of summer:

 Both kids took swimming lessons. Little Man was not so fond of putting his

head entirely under water, while Little Miss might as well be called "little fish!"

We had a play date at a fun, farm park in the area. There was an awesome playground...

BIG farm equipment to drive...

little farm equipment to drive...

and real, live animals to feed!

(Don't let the jackets fool you...this was actually just a few weeks ago!)

 We've visited a local theme park a few times now (so thankful for season passes!)

 We picked blueberries...yummy!

And Little Miss finished her first year of piano lessons with a private recital in our living room.

(One of the perks of having your mom teach you piano...or maybe one of the drawbacks,

depends on how you look at it.)

What kind of fun have you been having so far this summer?