Lots of Lovin

My weekend (already a week ago) with the Barn House girls spoiled him rotten. Ryan has never had more attention in his life. He hasn't been the same sense. Not quite as content to just sit. I think he is also becoming more aware of his surroundings. Hard to believe he will be 4 months old on Monday.
My friend Kate, took so many awesome pictures of Ryan last weekend. I LOVE them ALL and here are a few. Her blog has some great pictures of our weekend as well. I am so thankful, b/c I really didn't take any. She captured some great moments.
THANK YOU KATE! I will treasure these.

Coffee Break

I am often the last one to sit down for breakfast. Big surprise there! Sometimes everyone has eaten and have moved on. It's not because I've slept in ;) It usually means laundry is going, or Ryan slept late, or an accident of some sort had to be cleaned up, etc.
On those mornings I like to pretend I will have a few quiet moments and so I make myself coffee. It's never still warm when I finally finish. But I remind myself that someday I'll miss this, right?
Well, today was no exception to the rule. Instead of a few quiet minutes, Mason came with his Bible in tow, and said "I am going to read you The Bible." Not just 1 story, the whole thing ;)

This boy LOVES to read and be read to.

He reads before he falls asleep at night.

Lately he has been reading instead of napping :(A pile of books stays IN his bed while he sleeps.

He points to the words as he "reads" although not always from left to right.
He makes up some pretty funny stories and "real" words are not a requirement.

Rockin Out

The boys stayed with my parents during my reunion weekend. EJ met up with them for a sailing trip on Saturday, but had to work on Sunday. The boys had a blast. We are all still recovering. They put on a show for me on Sunday so I could hear/see what they had be rehearsing.

Thanks Grandma and Sir!

Art Lesson #2

Last weeks lesson was a Blind Contour Drawing.
We talked about how important it is for artists to learn to draw what they really see versus drawing what they think they see. Assuming it's a suppose to be a realistic drawing. So Owen practiced drawing his soccer cleat without looking at the paper. He could only look at the cleat. Technically your pencil doesn't leave the paper, but considering he is 6, I wasn't picky.
He didn't like the idea of not looking. He wanted the drawing to "look" good. It's not suppose to look good. It was really hard for him to not worry about what it looked like. As soon as I let him, he drew one while looking at both the shoe and the paper.
Ah, a good lesson for life too. Not everything looks good. It doesn't have to be perfect. Taking control of something doesn't usually help. Letting go is usually best, but oh so hard!

All Talked Out

I have been on the verge of tears most of the day. Overwhelmed by God's goodness. He has blessed me with the most precious group of friends.
My junior year of college at JMU, I had the awesome and crazy privilege of living with 7 other girls off-campus in the "Barnhouse." 11 years later we are still good friends and get together almost every year.
This was the weekend we all got together. It went by too quickly, we vowed to make it 3 nights next year (although I haven't told my parents or EJ).
It was like we hadn't spent a day apart. Each of us are very different which makes the weekend all the better.
We talked and talked and talked and talked some more. There was tears and laughter (the awesome kind that makes your stomach hurt). There was lots of yummy food. Lots of kisses and hugs for Ryan. I think he is going through withdrawal too.
I didn't take any pictures. I just needed to enjoy with my own eyes. I knew pictures were being taken and good ones too. So I have stolen a few from Courtney's blog.

A private dinning room and delicious dinner

Kate, Mary, Michelle, Courtney, Christy, Kathy, Becca and me

Thanks for the memories!