Fathers and Families

Hape Fothrs Da!

We had a great Father's Day this year! Jason and Melissa came to visit from TX, and Uncle Fred come down from DC. We felt truly blessed to have so many out of town family members come to Memphis for the weekend.

And as every family get together should, we ate lots and lots! Thursday Jason and Melissa, Terry and Angela (and Gemma) joined us for a late dinner. Since John and I had to work on Friday, we all went to bed early. Heck, who am I kidding. We went to bed early every night! LOL!

Jason showing Luke how to shoot the water gun.

On Friday we made the trek down to MS to visit Nonna and Pop and see their new pool. We were excited to see Uncle Fred, who had been put to work laying sod. Evan played a little while in the sprinkler, but loved splashing in the new pool with Nonna. Luke....well, he didn't like much that night.

 

Saturday morning we had a brunch with John's mom's side of the family. PawPaw Charlie always make a mean brunch. YUM! Everyone who hadn't seen the new house came by on their way out. It was also a great time to watch the video of Melissa and Jason's wedding pictures.

Saturday night we had everyone over our house for a big Father's Day cookout. It was my first 'real' entertaining event since moving in. Even though we have had all those people over before (and many more people), it still felt official somehow. John grilled pork tenderloin for pork sliders and I made rosemary roasted red potatoes, green bean bundles, and white chocolate and strawberry cake balls. (Yes, Missy, I took pictures to satisfy my food porn addiction.) The cake balls were not planned, but when life gives you ruined cake...make cake balls. 

No matter how 'open' your house is, everyone
will always congregate in the kitchen.

Momma made an appearance!

The boys

Asbell men!

As every "fun uncle" should, Jason swung Evan around by his feet. 

The night ended with Evan giving John his Father's Day gift from him and Luke. Luke was asleep and didn't get to participate, but I doubt he minded. ;) This painting was created by Gail Wilkins for The Stirring's 10th anniversary. The moment I saw it, I knew it would be in our house! I tried to buy it for John for Christmas, but he really wanted a guitar and I couldn't swing both. I contacted Gail about the painting knowing I wouldn't need it until June. I was amazed by my own will power not to break the secret. Terry and Angela let me store it at their house because I knew there was nowhere to hide it during the move. There were a couple little hiccups that almost spoiled the surprise. I had to pay Gail in cash so John wouldn't see the check. He kept asking why I was hoarding cash! Also, 2 weeks ago he started hanging things on the wall of his music room. I ran in there and said, "heeeey....whatcha doin?" hoping to secure a place for his painting without him knowing! In the end, it all worked out and he is super happy with Gail's art.

Evan explains the complexities of the piece.

Mommy and Me Week

Most people know I am a teacher, but most people don't know I work 12 months a year. My job is at its busiest from May-August. The last month of school, summer and first of the school year are slammed for me. Some things have changed this year, and I couldn't really control it. Evan does not qualify for Little Georgie's anymore which was always my saving grace during the summer. Childcare on campus! Score! He's too old for that program, so I signed him up for as many camps as would take him. There were some weeks that it just didn't work out and there was no camp available. This was one of those weeks. So, when life handles you challenges...I want to try to make them into opportunities. We had "Mommy and Me" week and I don't want it to end.

After some social media requests, I found amazing things to do around this city for cheap and free! I have lived here my whole life, so I know the ins and outs for adults. Since I was looking to entertain a 4 year old, I considered myself a novice. We needed things pretty close to home, outdoors and before noon. Via Facebook, I found East Memphis Moms' blog. What an amazing resource! If you haven't liked her page on FB, go over there right now and check it out.

The week flew by! We did a lot of really exciting and fun things.

Monday
It was raining cats and dogs on Monday morning. We will got out and went to Village Toymaker for story time. She read Surfer Chick, a story about a surfing chicken. It was cute, and Evan loves most all stories. They created a little craft with a coffee filter, markers and a spray water bottle. VTM gave them a snack and sent them out into the store. We were super excited to see Evan's classmate, Austin and his baby sister, Blake, at story time! Now, all this is free (reservation is required), but you try to get a 4 year old out of there without a toy! Luckily, Evan picked out a $2.99 bag of army men. They are currently having a battle in his room.

 

Tuesday

Tuesday, Malco shows 2nd run movies at 10am for $2. Austin and his sister, Blake, joined us again for the movie. Evan loved having a friend there with him! They watched "Over the Hedge". There was only one majorly disorganized part where a day camp of about 60 kids came in and they all got refreshments about 30 minutes after the movie started. It did not effect Evan (I am not sure he even noticed) but the disorganization of it drove the teacher part of me insane. Luckily after about 15 minutes things settled back down. I wouldn't have even known there were there. We went to daddy's office after the movie and he joined us for lunch at Back Yard Burger. 

Wednesday

After a yummy breakfast, we met our friend Katie and her little boy Henry at the water park on Wednesday. We were truly blessed with beautiful weather this week!! Evan loved playing in the water and got really brave toward the end of the time. It took about 2 hours, but he finally ran under the big spitting snake. He was really proud of himself!

Evan helped cook my eggs Wednesday morning.

Evan loved people watching while we were there!

Thursday

Thursday morning we spent some time at Cameron Brown park. I love that park. Evan and I walked the lake and watch the men fish. He is obsessed with fishing. I hate fish. I am dead serious...hate them. I have one phobia, irrational as it may be, it's still a phobia and it's of fish. Please someone came take my child fishing for me. 

This man moved about 3 minutes after we sat down.
I don't think he liked Evan's play by play...even if it was in a whisper. 

The playground rocks over there and we played several rounds of chase and spent a while on the swings. 

For lunch, we were able to reunite some of the Lunch Ladies. A couple had to work and couldn't make it. :( But we had a great time with the ones who did make it. 5 mommas, 5 kiddos and 3 hours of fun. 

LC and Evan just chillin' outside!

Friday

Daddy got to join in on the fun! There was a rousing game of 'Go Fish' played. Team Evan and Mommy brought Daddy down with just one card left in his hand! We then headed to the pool where Evan was the only one to brave the water. It was just too cold for these old fogies. After an hour and a half at the pool, we went to the mall for lunch. Evan did so good at the restaurant. We haven't gone out to eat in probably 6 months. Luke just isn't at an age where being strapped into a high chair for 45 minutes is a possibility, so we stay in. It was really nice to sit at Bonefish enjoy lunch with Evan. The waitress thought Evan was so cute! She brought him 'glowing' water. I really wish I could have taken a picture of his face when that came to the table for him. I know Luke will get there (I really don't want to wish his toddler-hood away) but I am really looking forward to taking both boys out to eat. Grandmom made a surprise visit while we were browsing the bookstore, and as most grandmom's do, she spoiled him with a little goodie. He really did deserve a little happy for what a good boy he's been all week.

This week has been fun. I have caught myself say again and again (inside my own head), "I could really get use to this" but I know God designed me to be a working momma. I love my job, love love love my job, but it will never replace my family. My family always comes first. God blessed me while a job that undersands and values that. When I was planning my summer, I really saw a lot of challenges with our schedule. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to spend the whole week with E! And guess what? I get to do it all over again in a couple of weeks. :)

Trusting vs. Believing

This is the reason (or at least what I am claiming) I got so behind on the blog. We moved into a new house 6 weeks ago. Through the experience of getting our old house ready, keeping it show ready, negotiating with buyers and sellers, packing, moving and unpacking I can officially say I never, not ever, want to move again.

There is too much to write in one post, but I think I'll hit some highlights.

1. Moving sucks.
2. I don't want to ever move again.
3. I will live in this house forever, God willing.

We signed on Monday afternoon and started moving Tuesday. We were completely out of the house by Wednesday night. It took 10 hours (with movers), two moving trucks, countless (possibly 20 or more) trips with John and my car, and a day and a half off of work to get our entire house emptied and another house filled. But please don't discount the 4 months it took to get the house ready! This was a long process.

The 2 weeks after we moved are pretty hazy, but my own personal goal was not to mess up the kids routine very much. While we were home as a family, we did things we also do. We made dinner, played with toys, went outside, but once they were in bed it was game on! I think this really helped the boys transition to the new house. They are in love with it! Evan calls the attic the "master room" and Luke loves the open space downstairs. Both boys are having a big time running around the backyard. Here is a short clip of Evan telling you about the new house. It's a little rambly (we had literally just woken up and hadn't left bed yet) but I think you'll get the gist.

listen to ‘Moving’ on Audioboo

We have been in the house 6 weeks and there are still boxes to be unpacked and rooms to finish. We'll get there...later than sooner, but we'll get there.

There is one story that I would like to remember from this experience. We were negotiating with the new buyers (of our old house) and I was becoming very agitated. I was being very emotional about my old house. We lived in that house for 10 years. We started our marriage within those walls. I spent a lot of time mourning loved ones lost in those rooms. I brought my first and second baby home from the hospital to that house. I was emotional about it. I laid the floors. I dug the pool. I completely transformed the exterior, paint, landscaping, etc. Sigh. I expected people to be able to see all that when they walked in. They just saw a house, not my home.
I love my relator and trust my husband so when they said we needed to take the deal on the table, I did. I wasn't happy about it though. I prayed a lot for God to change my heart. I told people I was leaving it in His hands. If it was supposed to work it would. I said all those things, but had trouble actually believing them for myself. Just to be clear, I heard very clearly this was what I was supposed to do, but just didn't feel it in my heart. I knew I had to do it and I knew why, but I wasn't happy about it. It was a matter of trusting vs. believing. I trusted God would take care of us, but did I actually believe that His way was the correct way? On one random day I got a random phone call to go on a random errand. I didn't plan on going to that store on that day, but needed one specific item. I ran into someone who knew the person buying my house. She was literally standing right in front of the item I needed. I haven't seen this person in close to 15 years. God lead me straight to her to hear this story. We talked for about 15 minutes and she shared the story of the family buying my house. I don't want to go into long details about her story, but to say it change my perspective is an understatement. God does that to me quite a bit. Even if I am going along with His plan, sometimes I still need a quick kick in the shin to appreciate/trust His plan. It's always the right way, the right choice at the right time. Always. I am not sure how long it is going to take, how many lessons I need to learn to get that in my thick skull.

I hope she is enjoying my old house as much as I did those 10 years. Here's to 10 years of new memories!