In July, we went to visit my Grandma, Aunt Robyn, Uncle Mike and seven cousins who live in California. Yessssssssssssss!!!!!

Isn't my Aunt Robyn Gorgeous? And this is AFTER 10 days with the Peters...

Henry learned how to swim in my Aunt's pool. He was so proud of himself!

After all that hard work swimming, the children needed to rest and bathe in the sun.

I could live here.

William and his (second) cousin Michael were usually best friends. We won't mention the moments when they weren't.

Henry got to go for a ride on Tesa, Robyn's horse. (Ha! my friend Tesa will fiind this amusing..) I didn't have my camera on me when they all saddled up. Henry, Dabney, William and Michael were all sitting on Tesa's back. I think Tesa is glad we left too.

The night we got there, Thomas looked around and commented, "All these blonde kids makes me feel so ordinary."

It was hard to say goodbye, we had a great trip and miss them so much!!

A few days after we returned from California, Berdine (pronounced Berdina) arrived. She is the daughter of a brother of a girl who became like a sister when she was a graduate student and I was a kid. Got that? She's like family...

My kids still don't know how to treat guests. They just get so excited!!

Berdine is an excellent swimmer (I actually got to watch her take a swimming lesson when I was 18, she was just a kid and I was visiting Holland). Berdine helped Dabney get more comfortable in the water. My technique of throwing him kicking and screaming into the water is frowned upon.

While Berdine was here, we went all over the place having fun. We went to parks. We went to farms to pick blueberries. We went to the beach. We went to Boston and New York...

It was a sad day when we said goodbye to Berdina.

Hello to all my friends, family, and curious bystanders! As some of you well know, I have had technical difficulty remaining in-touch. For those of you who know Tesa Sansbury, you know that she has, without shame, been showing me up with her extensive use of a "blog." So here I am, falling victim to peer pressure and my shame of being outdone. Welcome to my Blog!!

Favorite Pastime

Adventure, intrigue, swords, pirates, Indians, and two boys named Matthew and Mark are taking form. The boys love to hear a Matthew and Mark story. These stories are created by their very good dad and shared before bed. What their very good dad doesn't have to live with is these very same boys traipsing all over the house re-distributing toys (that have been organized time and time again) under the pretense that they are playing Matthew and Mark and are off on an adventure. These adventures always culminate in a spectacular, gigantic, and fantastic fort that looks like a hurricane shelter in a time of duress. But we are making memories here and the general status of organization is not what really matters. Right? Oh, well.

Memorial Day weekend, we visited our good friends, the Govantes Family. I think our kids traumatized Mia. They were relentless about helping her learn to share her beloved toys. That's just how Godly my kids are. They're always willing to help with the sanctification of others.

Aren't these hats the coolest thing ever?

On May 11 (this just HAPPENED to be Dabney's birthday...) Dabney finished his reading lessons. As his reward, he received his wish - a Peter of Narnia Suit of armor. This suit is now his favorite thing in the whole world. Before he received it, he would fall asleep singing, "I wish I was Narnia, I wish I was Narnia, I wish I was Narnia, etc..."

Trip to Illinois in April

In April, we went to Illinois to work on our house. We received lots of help from the kids. While we were there, Henry celebrated his sixth birthday.