fast forward

I looked back at my last post and it was October, so I was about 8 months pregnant.  Well, sleeping in the room next to me is a 4 month old little boy! So, yes, life pasued the blogging, but here's the fast forward of the last several months!

October:

• Baby prep!
• The end of pregnancy was not comfortable! (I'd never been that far along before since our bigger boys were preemies!)
• Our church approved us to move over to England and start a new ministry to university students there (very bittersweet...exciting opportunity, but many things and people we feel incredibly sad to leave)

November:

• Our sweet Callum came! Born Nov 22 at 3:40am. He was about 7.5 lbs and was a dream! 
• Thanksgiving with an 8 day old :)

December:

• Life with THREE boys! 

• Flew to Atlanta to spend Christmas with my family (my sister and her family got to meet Cal)

 

January:

• Grayson and Jackson's first professional haircut!

Grayson was very serious the whole time! Ha

Jackson was trying very hard not to smile!

• Traveled again to Atlanta for training and then to England- thank you family for keeping our kids in this tundra we live in!

(saw my dear friend Catilyn while in Atlanta)

(Sheffield, England)

February:

• Traveled to Indiana
• Finally settled back into life at our home
• Cal outgrew the newborn phase (so sad!!)

March:

• It's starting to warm up here, which has meant the occasional warm-ish day to play outside!
• Cal is now 4 months!

september summed up

I guess with the shift back to "normal life" here in Minnesota, comes my inevitable forgetfulness about keeping a blog.  None the less, here's to playing catch up over the past month or so.

September can be mainly summed up by 2 words: potty training.

Well, sort of potty training.  It's been a long road...one I thought would last a week and then we'd be good to go.  Nope, not with these two little guys.  They're doing great, but we've changed countless wet undies, poopy pants, puddles on the floor, cleaned up lots potty time with poor aim.  Anyway, potty training is not for the faint of heart.  I'm thankful for Andrew who has helped in so many ways and has as always been there in the trenches too.  Many, many hilarious, pathetic, and ridiculous stories to tell here often with an angle of grossness and a few ending with me crying, pregnant on the floor.  Really though!  ...just ask! :)

Aside from that major theme, we've also been thrown back into classes starting and our normal schedule restarting.  Andrew's time has shifted some what in preparation for us potentially moving to England next year as that has taken a lot of attention.  His schedule has incredibly been more flexible which has been such a huge blessing.

We've also been grateful to host Andrew's mom and my parents for quick visits! Oh how the boys love grandparent trips too!

On top of all that, I entered my third trimester of being pregnant with our third baby boy.  We are very excited and feel incredibly blessed to be having another child.  He's very active and overall has been less aching on my body than the previous two!  We feel a little anxious about how the heck to add in another little human into the mix of our sometimes chaotic lives, but we're trusting the Lord for lots of extra grace!

 

Here's a picture of us from our staff training in August.  

One of our good friends is a photographer here and she napped these last week (October)! 

Our next photos will be as a family of 5!

last days of summer

Since returning from the beach, we've spent time trying to enjoy the Minnesota summer and family time.

some highlights:

• Staff Training with a Biblical counselor
• Staff Retreat up north on a lake

 

• Made lots of ice cream with Daddy

• Going to a few weddings! And G + J were ring bearers in one!
  
  
  
  
  
  hanging out with the flower girl at the rehearsal!
• Going to parks

• Twins game

  

• MN State Fair

• Lots of playing outside

• Potty Training

started with lots of coffee and enthusiasm!

so did these cuties!

• First Georgia game of the season

(still potty training during the game!)

beachin' it part 2

After four days with my family in Amelia Island, we drove a few hours north to Hilton Head Island to spend time with A's family.  As soon as we got there we headed to dinner with the in laws. It was so beautiful out!

beautiful view!

Me and A after dinner

The next morning we hit the beach!  It actually felt great since it was a little overcast.  And we know it helped our sweet fair skinned boys too! :)

J carrying water

Grandma burying their feet in the sand!

Gray's favorite: "runnin'"

Jacks splashing as he walked

His parents rented bikes for the week for all of us and it was so nice to bike! The boys did great in the kid carrier that Andrew pulled around.  They even were lulled to sleep once...they were slumped over on each other sleeping when we got to the pool one afternoon.

Grandma Knight pushing them on a tire swing at a playground. 

The next day we headed to a petting zoo.  It was great! The boys loved touching the horses and seeing pigs, goats, llamas, chickens, etc.  But the pinnacle was a pony ride! I was skeptical at first that they would ride the pony, but J jumped on right away.  After G saw his brother on the pony, he finally got on the horse.They looked so stoic, but LOVED it! They didn't want to leave or take their helmets off! So cute!  I thought they looked like little bobble head boys in their "ho-se hewmets."

Before G worked up the courage to get on a pony

G riding with Daddy by his side!

Brave Jacks looked unenthused, but was giddy inside:)

One day the men went fishing and me and the boys and Grandma ventured back to the beach.  It was hot but sand, open space, and water made these boys happy (except for a few toddler meltdowns!).

Papa caught a shark!

The women (me and Grandma) and G and J

Gray loved making turtles in the sand with a little mold.  He wanted them all lined up and didn't want to destroy any of them.  Jacks on the other hand lived up to his "bulldozer" nickname and loved crushing them. I love being a mom to boys!

After the men got home, the kiddie pool was christened! It was great to have it especially with the shade!

One afternoon, these little princes were eating snack in their towels :)

After logging in some beach hours, we decided we all needed some pool time as well.  Oh, the boys LOVED it! They were jumping in from the side of the pool after Andrew coaxed them toward him.  It became such a hit that Papa and Andrew were just catching jumping boys for quite a while!

Papa, Jacks, Daddy, Gray, and Grandma

Oh, and Andrew and I had the first real date night we'd had since June! It was such a treat! 

It was so nice to be surrounded by such a rustic beach setting! All the Spanish moss made me a little nostalgic.  It reminded me of living in and visiting Louisiana.  It felt like home and made me think of spending time in the summer with family and a hot, humid childhood!

We so loved the time we got to spend with family.  It was such a blessing after being away from familiar things for several months.