Meeting the newest little Furman baby

My college roommates and I all spent the day together on Wednesday so that we can meet the newest little Furman baby. Marianne had sweet baby JB 10 weeks ago. He is such a cute little guy and tolerated all the craziness of the rest of the group well.

Nothing like having 10 kids (including 4 one year olds) hanging out all day. The babies played well inside most of the time and we put the big kids outside with some water. They were all busy and happy!

I'm glad we all live close enough to make a day trip and be together and that our children can know each other too. These are special ladies to me! So very thankful for them.

When you don't want to leave

Yesterday our good friends came over to play. Will loves, loves, loves to play with his buddy Eddie. They can become quite adventurous together. They spent a solid 4 hours outside cutting down trees and branches in our woods, including the poor pine sapling pictured below. We did convince them to come in for lunch but otherwise they played outside the whole day. We would periodically go out and check on them and they are usually fairly responsible, so no big deal.

Jill yelled out the door at about 1:15 that they were going to be leaving in 15 mins. We packed up the baby and her things and she headed out to the car. A couple of mins later she came in and said she couldn't find Will and Eddie. I went outside as well and we started yelling for them. No response. I put on my tennis shoes and started walking around the edges of our woods while yelling for them. No response. I went down and checked the creek, the fort, even Will's secret hideout. No response.

By this point, I am having to talk Jill out of calling 911. I go deeper into the woods, still yelling their names. No response. I check the neighbors pool, still calling them. no response.

Take every thought captive---don't panic. Where are the boys??? Lord help us find the boys.

After a solid 20 mins (which is a very long time to not know where your child is) I finally catch a glimpse of Will's yellow shirt and hear them. They are deep in the woods hunkered down behind a log, underneath some brush.

"Boys, did you not hear us calling you?" "We don't know. We didn't want Eddie to go home. "

So there they were, hiding in the woods, with their acquired treasures they found on this hike-a dog leash, 2 golf balls, a beer pitcher, and a plastic plant container-- so that he wouldn't have to leave.

Good grief. About gave these mamas a heart attack.

Lets just say there was some discipline that occurred as a result. I love that Will wants to play outside in the woods. It's one of the reasons we moved to this house. But for heavens sake, answer your mother when you hear her and see her frantically searching the woods.

Boys!

Babies, Babies, Babies

I have lots of friends who have had new babies in the past couple of weeks. Jill and Allen welcomed their 3rd little boy, Wyatt Allen, on April 23rd. The sweet boy was 2 1/2 weeks early and weighed in a 8lbs 9oz. He is super handsome and I loved snuggling with him the other day.

My high school friends Candice and Catie both had little girls. Candice had Hallie on April 25 and Catie had Mary Grace on April 30. I can't wait to meet these two.

We have one more little girl we're waiting on. My college roommate Sara is expecting little Sophie. She was due last week but Sophie is pretty content and not ready to make her entrance yet. Sara's mom carried her babies to 42-43 weeks, so it looks like Sara is following the same pattern. Come on little Sophie! We want to see you!!

Here's a pic of Wyatt. So sweet. Anna was really enamored with him, which is good. We really need her to like babies :) It makes me excited to see and hold our two newest ones in a few more weeks.

 

While we were at Jill and Allen's, Catherine and Will finally decided they were brave enough to try their zipline. They loved it! Super super fun. Our kids love love love to play at their house--ziplines, swingsets, 4wheelers, motorcycles and jeeps (the kid versions), and Jill is never scared for them to get dirty or make a mess. It's a great place for their 3 little boys!!

I'm so thankful for these little ones and I love to see how God grows families.

My Surprise Birthday Celebration

For the last few weeks, Jay kept telling me not to plan anything on the Saturday night after my birthday. That I'd get my birthday present then. I assumed that meant that we were going out to a nice dinner together for my birthday.

To my surprise, on Saturday afternoon Jay told me that about 15 people were coming to our house that night to have a birthday dinner with me. He had invited lots of friends from church and Bible study to spend a girls only evening here.

He even arranged for Strossner's to cater dinner. They came and set everything up. It was very yummy!

Somehow I ended up with 3 birthday cakes.....
...so my friends made me try all of them! And yes, they put candles in them and sang to me. Some of them even brought presents, although they weren't supposed to.
It was a great evening to just relax and enjoy time with friends. I'm so thankful for my thoughtful husband who planned everything. He's pretty amazing.

A "Major" Birthday

Catherine celebrated her friend Abby's birthday last weekend at a local horse farm. These girls have been buddies since they were born. I still can't believe they're 6 years old already.

Catherine really liked the chickens and was especially excited that Abby and her family were taking 6 chickens home to their new chicken coop.

The main attraction was riding the horse, whose name is Major. Catherine informed me that he is the biggest horse in SC. I don't know if that's true or not, but apparently he is a pretty big horse.


Thanks Abby for letting Catherine celebrate with you! (And thanks Special K for the pictures.)

Celebrating Sara and Sophie

My Furman roommate Sara (on the left) is expecting her first baby in about 10 weeks. This past Saturday all 4 of us roommates were able to be together to celebrate with Sara at a baby shower for her little girl Sophie. The four of us went out to lunch together and then we went to a baby shower hosted by her friends in Charlotte.

Three of the four of us are currently pregnant. I am 22 weeks with the twins, Jill is 31 weeks with baby #3, and Sara is 32 weeks with baby #1.
I loved all the fun baby shower food and decorations, like this gorgeous cake
and these beautiful paper lanterns.
And it was lots of fun seeing Sara's sweet baby presents. Each baby is so special, but there's something just a little extra exciting about the first time someone gets to do all the baby stuff and starts that phase of their family.
Congratulations Sara! We can't wait to meet baby Sophie!

3 Roommates and 7+ Children

On Saturday night, we got together with two of Jay's Furman roommates. Jay spent lots and lots of time with Lee and Allen and we are glad they live close by so that we can all see each other. It's a little different now for us to all hang out than it was in college. Who knew these 3 would have 7 (and more coming....) children?

The big kids:
The little kids:
Catherine (age 6)
Will (age 4)
Cade (age 3--4 in a few weeks)
Eddie (age 4)
Anna (age 21 months )
Charlie C (age 20 months)
Charlie T (age 21 months)
And 3 more on the way--Jill and Allen are expecting baby #3 in about 3 months. We are now 16 weeks with the twins. (And to Jill's credit--I didn't turn as far sideways as she did. She also always has enormous babies.)
We're glad to still share our lives with our college people. Furman is such a special place to us.

A Quick Get Together

Last Sunday afternoon, my Furman roommates and I had a quick get together for lunch. It was great to have some time to chat and catch up and celebrate! Both Sara and Jill are expecting babies in late April/early May. I love these girls and am so thankful for their friendships.

The Wedding Helpers

One of the things that was most amazing to me about hosting the wedding this past weekend was how God used it as an opportunity for the body of Christ to help each other. So many people helped not only Clair and Ben, but also helped me. God truly sent me a helper every day last week. I didn't seek these people out, but they offered to play with my children, pressure wash my driveway, bring me breakfast, decorate my yard, and more. It really helped me not feel overwhelmed. I guess God knew I needed the help.

My best helpers were my children though. They have been so patient while I worked on cleaning inside and outside the past few weeks. They (mostly) happily rode their bikes while I pressure washed the driveway or planted flowers or weeded the yard. They even helped clean inside and tolerated my craziness when I started organizing everything in sight. Hey, you just never know who may look into your linen closet!

Clair had so many sweet friends who came to help prepare things last week--put out candles and jars, hang sheers, add ivy to the arch, make wedding signs, direct traffic, bring food and drinks for the wedding party, and just take care of so many details.


We know that this wedding was covered in prayer by so many people, and one of the ways that was obvious to me was by the help of everyone involved. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The Wedding!

This weekend we hosted a wedding for our good friends Ben and Clair at our home. It was such a great weekend of worship and thankfulness from not only Ben and Clair, but their family and friends too. We are so excited for them to begin their marriage and are so glad that we got to be part of the celebration.

We had lots of fun decorating and planning the ceremony. Everything looked beautiful and natural. A great friend from church decorated the entrance to our driveway. The driveway was lined with mason jars that had candles in them and raffia tied at the top. Underneath the patio we had sheers draped to create an entrance area where guests signed the guest book and then were seated by the groomsmen. Everything looked so festive that I'm hesitant to take down the decorations.

Clair has been babysitting for us for months and our children love her. Catherine stayed here for the wedding and was so excited about being with Clair and the bridesmaids all day.
The beautiful bride
The wedding ceremony was wonderful--worshipful, encouraging, personal--all as the sun set in the trees behind them.
The wedding party
We love celebrating marriage and are so glad this worked out for us to host their wedding. (I don't think this will be a common occurrence, however.) Congratulations Ben and Clair!!

To check out more wedding pics, click on the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2367214706693.2141480.1440191938&l=ccbd1d1276&type=1

Happy Birthday Eddie!

Our dear friend Eddie turned 4 on Wednesday. It's hard to believe he's already 4 and that Will will be 4 in less than 2 months. We love playing with Eddie and are so glad he's our really cool friend.

Birthday Candles

Crazy Kids

Silly boys

Baby Curls

Pure sweetness