Not Your Ordinary Basket

What we thought was a normal basket...

until we saw a mama mourning dove nestled in amongst the flowers.

(Look carefully and you'll see her in there!)

And now we know why she is so protective of her "nest."

Call me a crazy bird lady, but I feel a strange "protective mother" bond with this little mama. I don't want to water the basket and scare her off. I don't want to use the front door and disturb her. I want her to be able to enjoy her "pregnancy" and have a healthy baby bird soon.

Not My Best Week

Since getting back into the exercise groove, I've managed to pretty consistently workout about 5 days a week. For the past month I've been really good about getting up early in the morning and getting it done.

That has not been the case this week. I've been wiped out. Maybe it's the craziness of the end of the school year. Maybe it's the past month of getting up early catching up to me. Maybe it's a snowball effect and as soon as I take one morning off it's a whole lot easier to continue to take days off. It's now Friday and I've only gone running twice this week. That's not what a typical half-marathon training plan would have you do.

I'm guessing it wouldn't recommend eating loads of these, either.

Maybe Oreos have a secret sleepy drug in them because I've sure been sleepy lately and I've sure eaten a whole lot of these in the past several days.

I'm planning to run 11 miles tomorrow. Wish me luck!

2011 Honda

We are Honda people. We have a 1996 Civic (yes, Traci, we're still driving it!) and a 2003 Pilot. They've been good cars for us and Brian is very loyal to the company.

We are a big family, and we've now upgraded to a 2011 Honda!

Nope, not the mini-van...the Honda lawn mower. This is the first brand-new mower we've ever bought. The 2 others we've used were hand-me-downs.

Brian, Luke and the Hondas

Am I Crazy?!

I just signed up for this with my SIL.

What a way to spend the 4th of July!!

Track & Field

In addition to baseball, Ben decided to participate in track & field this spring. The track season is pretty short and low-stress. He's had fun competing and is already saying he'll do it again next year. Results from his most recent meet:

200 m run : 5th

800 m run: 4th

100 m run: 3rd

Discus: 2nd

High Jump: 1st

Finishing the 800 with Brian encouraging him to finish strong.

He loves the high jump!

One of his early jumps

Luke's Dedication

Luke was dedicated at church on Mother's Day. Our church doesn't do water baptism for infants, but a dedication instead. The 3 older boys wanted to come up with us, and I am so glad they did. I love the fact that we have publicly shared our desire to raise our boys in a Christian home and have acknowledged that these children are not ours, but our gifts from God and our responsibilities for the time being.

We pray for all 4 of our boys.

We pray they will become strong Christian boys and men.

We pray for their health and safety.

We pray for their futures.

We pray for them daily.

Mother's Day

It's the hardest, yet most rewarding job I will ever know. Just when I think I've totally messed it up, a loving hug or a kind word will convince me otherwise. I would have never guessed in a million years I'd be a mom to 4 boys, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Benjamin Howard

Matthew Robert

Adam Charles

Luke Randolph

To our own moms,

Thank you for loving us unconditionally! Words don't express how appreciated you are and how much we all love you!

My Mom, Sally

Brian's Mom, Marilyn

Playing in the Band

Ben has finally reached a milestone he's been looking forward to for a long time. He will be entering 5th grade band and taking summer lessons! He tried out some various instruments with the band teacher the other day, and the winning instrument is...

Does anyone have a trombone for sale??

Cheesy, But Perfect For Our House

"May the 4th be with you."

Get it? Look at the date this was posted.