Hihowareya?

Well, hey there--nice to see you!
I feel like I should have a big announcement to excuse my lengthy absence. Really, we've just been having a busy, fun time with family--seeing all the sights and spending time together.

This is one of the MANY pictures Joshua has taken over the last two weeks. He may have to have his own private showing of all of his photography. :)

Another by Joshua

with the fam in Annapolis

on a long Metro ride

can't skip ice cream from Kilwinn's

Sight and Sound theather in Lancaster, PA. We went to see the production of Jonah. Tyring to decide whether or not to go? DO IT. It was awesome!

More from Joshua--this time at the Smithsonian

two cute cousins

and how stinkin cute is this??

Look at the difference in Joshua's arms vs in Nick's arms. He looks so big here!

Delighted to get to snuggle Jack Eli Miller. My teeny-tiny precious nephew.

So that's a little glimpse of what's been going on. Much to come in the next couple of weeks as well. Spring has been beautiful and we love having family around...

IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!

Sorry-we've been on a Despicable Me kick around here. :)

One of the spring traditions I just can't wrap my head around is this:

Eww. Yuck. Blech. Gross.
Yes, I know. Some of you love them. Well, I don't actually know anyone who loves them, but I am sure someone does.

They are cute, though. Just icky.
So Joshua and I made our own versions, based on this  inspiration.

Much better. And no big sugar letdown after looking at their sweetness. :)

The Bucket List

As time gets closer to the big move, we are making our way through our "DC Area bucket list." Some are things we haven't gotten to do or see yet and others are things we just have to do one more time before we go.
On that list, for sure, is the Kennedy Center. I've written before about what a wonderful time we've had every time we've gone there. We have gotten to tag along with a homeschool group's participation in the student-learning series there for the past 3 years. We have seen plays, science "shows," puppet shows, musicals, and my personal favorite, National Symphony Orchestra performances. Last week was our last visit of this season and we got to go to a NSO performance of world music--classical selections from around the world. It's so great because each child gets a cue sheet with information about the upcoming performance, vocabulary words to look for, trivia about the performance and extension learning activities. This was our first time in the Concert Hall, surprisingly, and we got to sit in the box seats. Joshua announced that he was glad he did not have to sit with "the commoners." :)

And last Saturday we went bowling with the homeschool group from church. We had a great time, although pretty much everyone agreed that bowling is MUCH easier on the Wii. ;)

silliness

everyone had their own bowling style...

the strike king

I did bowl, but thankfully, there is no photo evidence of my style or my score....

We also celebrated our last Blue & Gold ceremony with our little Bear den. They all earned their rank by the ceremony and are getting ready to be Webelos next year. Boy, will we miss those little guys-and their families. We've had a great time with them!

and so we keep working our way down the list. We have lots of company coming in the next couple months which means we will have great reason to take the time to see and do all the things on our list! The "lasts" will get harder as it gets closer to moving time, and we are committed to treasuring each moment we have here while looking forward to what new moments await us...

Going To The Chapel....

and now, FINALLY, that it's all over Facebook, I am DELIGHTED to announce the engagement of our big boy, our first born, the baby boy who first made us a family, to his beautiful, charming, artistic girl.

The proposal has been in the works for a while. I'm not a great secret-keeper and Jarrett is far worse, so it's a huge surprise Rachael didn't figure this out beforehand. But she didn't. J went down and had dinner with her parents earlier in the week (and I'm sure it was hard for them to keep the secret, too!) and this weekend was the plan. I'd like to stop right here and thank UNC for beating Duke so there wasn't a downer hanging over the weekend...

We are so happy for both of them and just thrilled to get to have Rachael as part of our family. She fits right in with our nuttiness and even tolerates the over-abundance of sports talk that goes on when all the boys are together. She loves to draw, which won her over with Joshie right away, and she has great taste and a fun sense of humor. SO happy that God brought them together.

The details, for those of you who haven't gotten to meet her yet:
*dating one year
*she's from Fayetteville (how convenient!)
*one brother who just enlisted in the Army
*homeschooled and she graduated from Eastern Carolina University with a degree in graphic design last spring
*working in Raleigh doing advertising and freelance work
*loves cats (huge bonus points with the little kid)
*supports J's college basketball addiction (big bonus points with the rest of them)

There is no date set yet, but I'm sure with all the questions, they'll come up with something soon. :)



Congratulations Jarrett and Rachael-we love you both!