Most recently - today was the end of John's first soccer camp at JBU. That means he's been spending his days and nights on campus since Sunday morning. Other than two nights that John Marshall got to spend with him (and a morning Isabella and I got to sleep in!), we've hardly seen him over the last five days. Needless to say, we are ALL glad to have him home again.
Yesterday was John's birthday, and he was able to sneak away from camp for about an hour at lunch for a quick celebration. I made yummy pound cake (thanks, Nan!) with strawberries and cream, and we gave him a fire pit for the backyard. Isabella can't quite understand why it's still in the box. She keeps asking when Daddy will open his present! I've tried to explain the difference between opening the present (taking off the wrapping) and opening the box. She's not satisfied...
Here we are singing Happy Birthday to John. He sang, "Happy Birthday to me!" The kids were cracking up!
Our anniversary was at the end of May. Nine years! John woke me up with a bunch of gerber daisies, and I came into the kitchen to find a dozen red roses in a beautiful vase on the table! John Marshall helped wake me up and was bursting to tell me there were more flowers, but managed to keep it a secret until I saw them on the table.
A sweet friend of ours offered to keep the children for as long as we were willing to leave them (!) and so John and I actually got to see a movie, just the two of us, and go out to dinner that evening. It's been FIVE YEARS since I've seen a movie in a theater without a child! It felt quite endulgent! Thanks to John's father and grandmother, we had some anniversary money to spend, and so we went to a ritzy restaurant called James at the Mill. The kitchen was open to the dining room, and I kept expecting Chef Ramsey from Hell's Kitchen to come out yelling at someone from the kitchen. John ordered the best glass of white wine I've ever tasted (so buttery and smooth!) and we were given an appetizer on the house that was some sort of fried goat cheese and potato that was incredible! We swapped entrees (he preferred the chicken, I the shrimp), and even went for dessert - creme brulee was, umm, extremely creamy. A huge thank you to the Matchells for giving us an evening out without worrying about our children! If you want to see what they did, you can read her blog. This is a picture of us after dinner - it's the only one we got!
We've had lots of outside play time, mostly in our backyard. We've got a new plastic swimming pool, a new sandbox, and two new box gardens. The kids have loved being out there! And since we live on a cul-de-sac, there is lots of space for the children to ride their bicycle, scooters, tricycle (you'd think we had six kids if you only went by our riding toys!). We also have a number of playgrounds in the area, as well as some beautiful sidewalk trails throughout town. With all of these fun places to be outside, it's given us great opportunities to make new friends. God has been so good to us! We're still meeting people who we're finding to be like-minded (strangely so!) and playing at the playground gives the kids something to do while the moms chat, alot! You can see lots of our backyard pictures here.
There are a number of farmers' markets in this area. Once a week there's one here in town, and on Saturdays there is one in Bentonville and one in Fayetteville (both about 30 - 40 minutes away). It's so nice to be able to buy and eat local, fresh food. It's such a great experience for the children to see where their food comes from. I found some beautiful wild flowers a few days ago at the one here in town.
Here are some pictures of the farmers' market in Bentonville.
The beginning of May brought Mother's Day and our very first visitor - Mama Sue! She flew in to stay with us for a few days, and the children were so excited to know that our family could actually get to us all the way out here! We had some nice weather for the weekend, and spent some good time outside showing Mama Sue this tiny town, and the larger city of Fayetteville nearby. On Mother's Day we went out to lunch, we gifted Mama Sue, and my children gifted me a big, cozy blanket from Pottery Barn (I love it!). Between Mama Sue's camera and ours, we took a TON of pictures. You can see them here.
We are still church hopping out here in Siloam Springs, and are finding that quite a few people are doing the same. There's been talk of the need for a PCA church in town, and I know of a few families who would definitely be interested. We're seeing slowly but surely why the Lord brought us out here. John has seen fruit on his team already from the little time he got to spend with them before they left for the summer, and we're experiencing very quick and unexpected friendships. We can't wait to get home for a visit very soon, but it's comforting to be in a place that we feel is right where God has us.
Ok, I think I actually got to the end of my brain, at least to the place I left off in my last post. Time to kick back with my wine cooler and watch a movie with my husband!
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