Six Chapters

In a perfect world, this blog post would be broken into six chapters: 1. Our 14th wedding anniversary 2. My kids are growing up! 3. Harbor graduates from Awanas Bible Study 4. Harbor graduates from Cub Scout Kindies 5. Harbor graduates from Kindergarten  {I'm feeling a bit blue writing all that out!} 6. We've MOVED! {packing, packing, packing!}   But, life isn't perfect, so these six chapters are condensed into the Cliff Notes version. {Just like college, but not written in Shakespearean English!} : ) For our 14th wedding anniversary, David secretly constructed his own Pinterest project for our dining room table.  He doesn't drink Coke, so he had buddies drink the bottles for him and he filled them with my favorite flower, our wedding flower- hydrangeas.  A few days later, he surprised me yet again by refilling the bottles with yet more fresh flowers. He is so handy and creative. The engineer in him makes life fun! 14 years have sure gone by in a hurry! I know people on social media {and the world at large!} don't like to hear the sappy love fests from old married couples, but life  with David is pretty perfect. If my life ever looks adventure filled- or plush and easy- or fun and safe, you can thank David! He is the protector of our family and I'm so thankful to be his. 

My little ones are full of life and energy!

They are getting so big.

Hollin is already nine months old and I'm starting to think about 1st birthdays.

Sigh.

I'm in shock that I even just wrote that.

ONE year is coming up with my Hollin Leslie.

Utterly unbelievable.

Harbor smiling big for his Lego collection stored on a new Ikea shelf.

{Our house is empty and on the market!} 

He requested popcorn for breakfast in May.

I thought it was a swell idea.

: )

Henry had his very own play date with a new buddy, Jude. 

I made sixty custom reception invitations for a family in Utah.

Hollin has two bottom teeth, is babbling, pulling up, and still breastfeeding 100% like a champ!

{sleeping through the night.. not so much!}

: )

While I was packing, I rediscovered the Halloween dinosaur tails we made the kids.

An impromptu T-Rex dress up party shortly ensued.

Who says boys can't play dress up?!

: )

Harbor graduated from Awanas at church.

He attended a two hour scripture memorization class once a week

from August to May.

This is his third year to be faithful to the program and he memorized over 100 verses.

I pray he hides them deep in his heart! 

Some dear, dear friends of ours moved to Colorado from Arkansas this month.

Judith and I taught together in Arkansas for many years and right about the time we moved here two years ago, we playfully began scheming about them coming out as well.

The mountains might have been calling their names, but the Lord definitely opened all the doors in His perfect timing.  We are so excited to have them so near us again!

Harbor enjoyed play dates with school friends

{and little brother Henry was ever close}

We tried to keep Harbor from graduating Kindergarten,

We closed off all the hallways with tape in our new apartment.

He busted through them with gusto!

And the inevitable happened.

My first born, my baby walked across his first stage.

{and I cried happy tears for him, but was so emotional}

We attended a reception afterwards in his classroom.

This year has been one of the best years of his life.

Kindergarten was above and beyond what we had hoped.

I'm so thankful he thrived.

We are sad to let the good things go from our hands, 

but I know the best is yet to come.

Mommy and Hollin

Daddy and Hollin

Harbor and I with his sweet teacher

{hello, chevron!}

: )

And lastly, I woke today to find Harbor "reading" his new yearbook.

I pulled out several of my own to show him my class pictures.

We are house hunting for something with a bigger back yard and closer to Harbor's school.

A 4th bedroom would be ideal. 

It is a quick temporary move, yet I can't help but make it feel like home.

Five people in a two bedroom apartment has been the best design challenge.

At the old house, I had to decide what went into storage, what came to the apartment, how to make sharing a room {the boys} for the first time work the best, and what we would need to continue home schooling through the summer.

It was hectic.
Three kids all under six, breastfeeding full time, finishing off the school year strong, and church commitments added to an already full plate.

We enjoy moving
 {I would say that classifies as a 'confession' of sorts, but I don't think it surprises anyone!}
but with each child, I can feel the pressure to be even more organized and task oriented.

Without any family to help us, we are on our own to make it happen smoothly.

All of my oil paintings came to the apartment as David feared the heat would ruin them.

It is a great apartment with mountain views.

We are in love! 

It is our first apartment.

I feel blessed to  be married 14 years and to have always had homes,

but the challenge of organizing and sorting to make things fit- and fit well- has made me giddy.

Summer is upon us and we have lots of hiking, biking, play dates, and zoo trips in the works.

These days are the happiest.

What have you been up to?

: )

Henry's 2nd Birthday Party {all the details!}

Henry's favorite toy right now is the train.

We can't leave Barnes and Noble for him playing with the train table

and every movie he loves is train themed: Polar Express, Dinosaur Train, and Thomas.

It was an easy choice to have a train party.

I wanted his eyes to widen and his little mouth to drop open.

I wanted him to feel really special.

I can't believe he is two years old.

I'm resisting the temptation to link to his birth post and reminisce over all his newborn photos.

But I digress.

We started looking at train tables and I didn't fall in love with anything.

They just weren't sized right for our space and I honestly didn't love my color options.

When David offered to build a knock off Restoration Hardware train table, my heart skipped!

He started by buying some black iron and painting it a glossy black in a little paint booth he set up in the basement.

He took over my craft room and built a top that was perfectly sized for our living room.

He painted it a nice peaceful cream.

I began work on a train banner for the mantle.

I also made a quick train shirt during nap one afternoon.

And stayed up really really late {like 3 a.m.} baking train cookies and whipping royal icing.

This is only the 2nd time I've ever used royal icing- and let me tell you- there is a definite learning curve!  They are far from perfect, but little Henry's eyes bugged when he saw them and he yelled, "Trains," which made my late night worth it.

They also tasted like heaven on earth, which means everyone wins!

: )

We kept the party very small with just our little family of five.

Living far from home means no family, but they mailed gifts and cards and money for our baby boy, and for that we are SO thankful!

I served my cookies on a pretty platter and we sang Happy Birthday.

And then Henry came into the living room and saw his table for the very first time.

Oh, he was so surprised!

He stood so still and finally looked up at us and grinned.

It was a moment, y'all!

Precious is what it was!

Aren't those black iron legs to die?

I am always so impressed with David's work.

He is really great with the details.

Since I opted for a soothing color scheme, David worked in the fun and color with all the accessories.

He ended up buying three of four train sets in order to get all the pieces he wanted.

It was a labor of love and David and I have already joked that this will be in our house for our grand kids to enjoy. It is sturdy and gorgeous and not going anywhere.

: )

The banner was a fun photo back drop!

I reused a party hat from Harbor's 4th birthday in Chicago and added a wooden train piece.

We set up the tripod and took a slew of pictures.

Henry was so sweet and happy to have a cookie in one hand and a train in the other.

It doesn't take much to impress little ones.

Me and my birthday boy!

And Harbor thought my cookies were awesome, which made me feel good.

He has requested a monsters party for his 7th, so time will tell, but he later drew up a few monster cookie ideas for me.  

He is a mess!

It was a small, but perfect "two-toot" birthday for my Henry! Happy birthday, sweet cakes! Mommy loves you!