Spring Break and Catchin' Up

Sweet Bailee Ann

Go Celtics!

Jonah and his best bud, Thomas

Between numerous playdates and sleepovers, I thought I'd use our break from school to catch up. Luke just finished his first season of basketball. He played on an Upwards team through a church in MP and loved every minute of it. Once he learned what guarding meant, he went at it with all his might---intimidating faces and all. I think he scared some of the other kids on the opposing teams. : ) He even made the paper with his great shot---straight into the hoop! This was the first team sport he has ever played, so he learned lots of great lessons. In the beginning, there were tears every time he missed a shot, but he got over that. Santa brought him a b-ball goal for Christmas and it has been great. He's out there shooting hoops every spare moment he gets.

Next month is April and in our family that means a marathon of birthdays! Noah will be 11 on April 2. Luke will turn 8 on April 8---Easter this year---and our sweet Bailee will be 2 on April 19. The party plan is stressing me out. We alternate years on friend parties (i.e. last year was family only so this year is friends). I can't do 2 big hooplahs every year. In the past, we have combined the 2 boys and had one party since most of their friends are the same. This year, however, they are disagreeing on what they want to do. Noah wants to have a campout and Luke wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese. As of now, we are at a stand still with no one backing down. Sigh....

Two weeks ago, Robby and I went to Atlanta GA for the national HPBA Expo (hearth, patio, and barbecue association). Not only was it a great time to learn about new products and how to grow our business, but we really enjoyed the time away. I guess you could call it a baby-moon (never knew that existed when I was pregnant with the boys!) because it was probably our last time away together for a long while. Once we get baby girl home, we won't go anywhere for a long time. We had some (interesting) experiences riding the Atlanta subway and ate LOTS of yummy food. One of the greatest blessings was having dinner with other hearth retailers in the area. God once again reminded us of how much favor He is giving to us. So many businesses are struggling and even going into other areas of business to sustain themselves. Our busy season has been busier than we could've ever imagined and we are so thankful. We know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is all to HIS glory. We do not take it for granted and we do not forget to say thank you.

After Spring Break, we have 8 more weeks of school until our summer break. No big plans for summer except to just enjoy the time with our family. We are adding on to our house so that will be big excitement. I want to paint (again!) but no other big plans except hopefully, a trip to Haiti!

If you've read this far, bless you! Like I said in the beginning, this is more of a journal for our family than news for anyone else. : )