Thursday, January 26, 2012

Lash's Pre-Wedding Festivities...



Ash and Chris were married in July.  They just celebrated their six month anniversary.  In honor of their sixth month anniversary, I decided I'd blog about their wedding.  So here's the pics from the pre-wedding festivities.  I still can't believe my little sister is MARRIED!!! 

bec and lash

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the group at the shower

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bridesmaids

sisters and the bride

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mom and girls

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Really Good Reasons NOT to Blog:

Inevitably, in the life of every blog, there comes a time when the LIFE that you're blogging ABOUT starts to encroach on the TIME that you have to do the blogging.

And then you get behind on the blog.

Waaaayyyyyyy behind.

And it's really a shame to miss out on all the life in the in-between times, so instead of just catching up, it continues to pile up.

But I'm a fighter.  And I'm determined that I'm not going to indefinitely succumb to the Really Good Reasons I Have NOT to blog, but I am going to share some of them with you here so that you will understand why you've been staring at "The Last Lake Hoorah" for months! :)



Really Good Reason Not to Blog #1:

We Moved!!

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After 18 months in Hartsville, and the Lord repeatedly closing the doors on about four different houses that we pursued buying there, we heard of a church plant that was coming to the Pontiac/ Northeast Columbia area and began to entertain the idea of moving back toward "home" in order to be a part of the church plant, Grace Presbyterian, (ARP) and closer to our families.  We found a house we were interested in that was right off of the interstate (which was convenient, since Benjamin would already be making the 50 minute commute to Darlington every day....) made an offer on it, and the Lord swung open the doors each step of the way to make it happen.  So in November, we moved!  
I really don't know where it is that we live.  The interstate sign says "Pontiac", but geographically, I guess it's considered Northeast Columbia, but our address says "Elgin."  This isn't necessarily ideal for someone as directionally challenged as me :) 
I'm thankful that my phone has GPS.  :) 

We have LOVED our new home and have little by little started getting settled...  Not that we have any pictures hung on the walls or anything,  but we're making progress.  :)

It's been so nice to be able to see our families without having to pack up and spend the entire weekend away from home.  I'm not a light packer.  It always took me one entire day to pack and three days to unpack for a weekend trip to visit family in Lexington.  That is no exaggeration, and I'm thankful to say that for the three months we have lived in our new house, I've not had to pack a suitcase one time.  This is HUGE for me. 
We're able to stay in touch with many of our sweet Hartsville friends by hopping in the car with daddy each Monday to return to our homeschool co-op group in Hartsville.  It's worked out great to be able to still maintain the wonderful relationships we built during our time in Hartsville!

We're thankful for the move!  But moving takes a LOT of time.  There isn't a whole lot that is fun about packing and then unpacking.  And the thing about it is that life doesn't STOP just because you move.  Laundry still needs to be done, food still needs to be prepared, toilets still need cleaning, etc, etc...  Blogging isn't as high on the priority list.  It's too bad, but it's true.  


 Really Good Reason Not to Blog #2:

The Holidays!
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Ok this one is typical.  I always get behind over the holidays.  I take way too many pictures because there are way too many "moments" to capture.  And I'm all about "capturing the moment," ya know.  And this year we had just moved.  And we have like, zero furniture in our new house.  We kinda look like squatters right now.  So in the midst of Christmas shopping, I was trying to think of what color couch goes well with Lime Green living room walls.  That's another post in and of itself...  But I'm not real decisive.  So deciding on Christmas gifts as well as couches really got in the way of blogging.  Plus, there were moments to capture. :)
fam pic in front of the chrsitmas tree



Really Good Reason Not to Blog #3:

People Need to Eat!

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Its amazing really, how OFTEN two little people need to be fed.  Someone is always hungry and food doesn't just appear out of thin air.  Although, that would be nice.  I guess more than just food, caring for two little people seems to take up a lot more of the moments that I used to find here and there to do things like... blog, when I only had one little person to care for... 

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which brings me to...



Really Good Reason Not to Blog #4:

We have another little Ryan person on the way! 

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Yeah... so that would probably be the main culprit for the lack of blogging. Running around after two little people and growing a third = one tired mama!  Whereas nap time used to be blog time, it is now FAMILY nap time. 

We found out a couple of weeks before Christmas that we are expecting our third little baby sometime in late August.  Considering the fact that Thomas was only a little over 7 months old at the time, this unexpected blessing took us quite off guard. 

Isn't it funny how the Lord works?  If he had asked me, I would have had my first two children back to back.  That was always what I envisioned my life would look like... but after we had Benson, there were times when we wondered if he would ever have a sibling.

Four years later, the Lord gave us precious Thomas.  And it was perfectly timed.  I look back and am so thankful that I wasn't the one who decided when our second child would come into our family and the world.  Only God knows the trajectory of his life and how he will be used at just the right time when he's 10, 15, 20, 50 years old to bring about God's purposes and to bring Him glory in a beautiful and God ordained way and time.

I like to think about the ways our lives intersect with others.  It's so big I can't wrap my brain around it, but I'm thankful I can trust God's goodness in His timing of bringing His people into the world.

That being said, even though little Ryan person number three wasn't on our radar screen yet, I'm fully confident that the Lord has a beautiful plan for this baby and the timing of it's arrival in the world.

To God be the Glory!  Great things he has done!! 


Friday, October 28, 2011

Our last lake hoorah!


There's something about posting lake pics in October that's slightly disconcerting.    It makes me wanna throw some clothes on the babies... like they must be cold or something, since it's cold outside... but let me assure you, it was NOT cold this day... It was a hot day in July!

We went out on the boat with the Ingrams and had a great time! 

B with Thomas and Ruthie, sweet little blessings :)

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The daddies with the "big kids" 

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Look at that expression!

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And look at THAT expression!

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hahaha... these kids are funny :)

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And cute :)

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The big kids with their babies...

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I'm so thankful for these four doodles!

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I love when Thomas grabs Bensons face... it's so sweet and tender :)

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If you just stare at this picture for a minute, it gets funnier and funnier...

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We love us some Ingrams!

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Thomas, enjoying lake life... fat and happy! :)

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This time is life is so precious!  Have I mentioned wanting to freeze time?! 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Independence Day in October

When I took these pictures, I told Becca it would be September before I got around to posting them. 
I was wrong...  Next week's Halloween.  Crazy!  Life with two muchkins is kinda busy... but I will say, now that we're all sleeping at night, there's hope for the blog!  Among other things :)
Here's a lil flashback to July 4. 


Me-Miss came with us out on Nana and Papa's boat to watch the fireworks on Lake Murray!

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This is Benson "not smiling"

trying not to smile

Which, without fail, makes him smile :)

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The boys love their Nana and Papa!

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It's kinda neat that even though my sisters only have sisters, that through Benjamin, they have gotten to experience life with an "older brother"...

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All the joys of it :)...

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I love these girls!!!

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I love enthusiasm.  I mean, if you're gonna go, go all out!

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Nana, with Benson, Thomas and Peaches.  There's a lot of love here :)  And some storytelling to which Benson is LOCKED IN!

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I love this time in life!  Sleepless nights and all... it's such a blessing and gift!!

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Sweet baby Tom Tom.  That's what we call him.... "Tom Tom."  :) 

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Becca is like, Super Aunt.  She stayed with us when Thomas was just a few weeks old and they totally bonded... now, she has this special way with him.  When he's fussy, she can calm him.  And when he has a dirty diaper, she's on it.  She's pretty much my right hand girl.

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The Thomster... "That's also what was call him, "the Thomster"..." 
Also, "lil' chicken", "doodle-bop", "doodle", "Punkin'", "Punkin' Lunkin'", "Suga" as well as various combinations of those...
"Hey lil' doodle bop chicken!" for instance. 
He has a few nicknames :) 

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Hunter and Benson!  Cutie Patooties :)

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And after the fireworks were over, it was lights out!

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