Sweet moments

I am not sure if Reece and Mariemma would have this tight bond if Adam were home. I do know that many days Reece and mom are all she sees--so it is understandable that she loves her brother. She wakes up asking for him and they end the day with a sweet night night hug. Here are a few sweet moments from the past few days:

Dinner outside--in the cool of the day!

Super heros or bath time buddies? They think they are super heros--which by the way was Mariemma's idea!

I love the bond these two seem to have. I love how Reece cares for Mariemma and how ME totally follows Reece. As I was folding clothes yesterday, I overheard Reece telling ME about heaven--tears in my eyes. I pray the Lord will use my children to strengthen one another as they grow in the Lord.

Mother's day and Easter pictures

In the last post I promised some pictures and well--life happened. I have been taking pictures just not faithful to post them. I thinking trying to keep the house spotless--while it is on the market--is taking its toll on so many other areas of my life. I really feel like I am on a hamster wheel or something. I do the same thing every evening and never get ahead. I guess I should be thankful I go to bed at night with clean floors, folded laundry and put away dishes!

Anyway we had a nice Mothers day. My mom came into town for a visit. We had fun--and we didn't have much of an agenda! The weather was beautiful so we spent most of our time outside enjoying the sunshine. We planted the front flower bed-which has been on my to-do list for several weeks.

As I was working in the yard--up pulls a florist delivery truck. And--you guess it--Adam sent me flowers. It was so sweet of him to find a way to make my day so special. White tulips were in my "going away" bouquet at our wedding. I love them--they say fresh, new, and lovely. My mom was also speechless when the man pulled out two vases--one for me and one for her. It was nice to be pampered!

It is officially summer here in the deep south. We have been to the pool twice, busted out the sun block, and made strawberry short cake! Mariemma gets really excited when she sees the plate--she says lick it! I think she would be happy with just the whip cream. Last year Adam built a deck with a picnic table and bench. I just could not have imagined that now both children would sit side by side and eat dinner together. Mariemma has to be right beside Reece--she loves her big brother. I love seeing their sweet face laughing together.

The flowers--how beautiful!

Reece looks so big to me. He is no longer a toddler--we are officially a little boy.

Lick it!

Easter Sunday morning--oh what a wonderful morning it is!

I just love this picture of Chase--he dumped all the eggs out and didn't really seem to mind!

Every body look left--at least they all looked the same direction!

PJ dance party at Grams house--these three really love on another.

message to papa and Easter 2011 002

He is risen--just as He said! It has been a wonderful Holy week and a great Easter Sunday. Here is a video of the first annual Kelly/Sanders egg hunt. The kids had such a wonderful time. There were about three adults per child at the egg hunt. Next year I think almost everyone will have the "hunt" part down pat--but a new crop of babies will be walking by then! What a blessing to celebrate with our family!

Spring pics

Spring is here--and I am behind on posting pics. I have been hit by the deployment blues over the past few weeks. Which means a real lose of motivation. I feel like I maybe starting to see the other side of the slump. After much prayer and a few new summer plants, I am starting to feel more like myself. Here are a few pictures from our last few weeks.
I love pots. This big green one is new to my collection. I learned a few tricks after last year. I am hopeful to have better luck this time around. Reece has been learning about plants at school. Here is his plant project from last week. We have both been amazed at how fast plants grow!



Here is one of my pots in the back yard--lots of sun. I pray they make it through our hot Alabama summer!
Reece helped me plant today--well he at least kept me company.

Mariemma never keeps her glasses on--but today she learned they really do help on sunny days. She just looks so cute.

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt with cousins Evie and Jonas. Here are the boys eating a cookie

We had to pull them out of the air bounce. They could have played all day.

Oh the joys of finding eggs. I just love how this picture turned out!

This is another cool pic--I kinda like the overexposed look. This was really fun to both kids. Reece rode the pony and Mariemma made horse nosies while she watched.

Ok so this was Mariemma's first egg hunt. I asked Reece to teach her how to find eggs. Well at first he just grabbed them all but by the end he really started to delight in watching ME discover them for herself. Reece really wanted ME to find this one hidden in the tree.

My mom was so sweet to give the kids these egg grabbers--for lack of a better word. They pick the eggs up out of the dye. Well ME had no idea what they were used for but she really liked playing with them!

Yes I have to say this was the cleanest egg dying experience ever! But he did such a good job.

BUGS!

So I started this post several days ago--and I am just now getting around to finishing it. Reece is really into bugs. His sweet teacher Mrs. Harris is teaching on bugs and plants for the rest of the school year. Reece tries really hard to find a bug or plant to take to class. Well Tuesday we hit the jack pot. I was out taking a few pictures of our dogwood tree that finally decided to bloom. I put Mariemma in the wagon with a dum dum pop and Reece was of course running around getting out some energy. Reece came running up with this really awesome find--a luna moth. We have read about them but never seen one. Reece was really sad that it was not alive but what a treasure for him to share with his class.

Mariemma has never been one to smile for the camera. I hate it because Reece really is an easy laugh. I think we are starting to turn over a new leaf. When I got the camera out to capture--no pun intended--Reece bug, Mariemma just yelled "cheese". It was so cute--I just had to take her picture.

Marines in action

http://player.theplatform.com/ps/player/pds/GbvL4E_KCd?pid=JzgeewYhkoRZwzEmDMbSYY4UsGsSA3Vi Here is a link of Adam's unit doing what they do best. I cant seem to be able to actually post the video to the blog. Adam's Marines supply all the rocket fire seen in the video. I hope this helps some of our non-military friends get a feel for what Adam is going.

Chatter box

A few weeks ago I took ME to the doctor for her well baby check up. The doctor of course asked about her speach. At the time ME could only say a few words well. I think she over heard me tell that to the doctor because she can really talk now. It is such a joy to watch her grow--and to watch Reece teach her so many things. Papa I hope this video can fill in the gap in a small way. Your baby girl knows you--and loves you!

an all-star

Here are a few pics from the weekend. Reece had his first soccer practice! He was shy at first but seemed to warm up after a little while. To see these little ones in soccer socks it really cute--and funny. I had to roll the socks down a few times just to keep them below his shorts.

Home sweet home

We have been traveling for 10 days to visit family. It was a wonderful break from our daily routine but boy am I glad to be home. Here are a few pics from our trip. We went to a train park with my mom and dad. Reece seemed to have a good time but he was very worried about ME getting hurt on the trains. We also went with Truss and Scottie to visit GG. There were tons of other highlight but I am just to spent to talk about them tonight--maybe after a good night sleep in my own bed! One of the trains at the park

A happy little boy

How heavy are you?

A walk together

visit with Truss 004.MOD

We are on our spring break road trip this week. Frist stop Gram and Grandads. We spent the evening with Jake and Truss. Here is a video of Cilla and I playing this dance wii game--everyone has a funny moment in the video. Hope this makes you laugh!

The proud....

Today I just needed a little pick me up after working through all the paper work of listing the house. First I needed to refocus my heart and eyes on the Lord for both wisdom and peace. Then I needed to be reminded of why it is my husband loves what he does as an officer of Marines. So I found a recruiting video! It was just the motivation I needed--I love you Marine!

Oh and Amy--I hope you enjoy!

Blessings

I was driving to pick Reece up from school yesterday when a new song by Laura Story came on--Blessings. I was so encouraged by the song--it is about how the Lord gives blessing in all forms. Blessing through trials, grief, and pain. Of course blessing come in easier ways too but those that come in hard times are deep treasures.

I have been somewhat reserved about writing my thoughts and daily struggles in blog form for obvious reasons. On the other hand I do hope my time during this deployment can be of encouragement to someone else. Days are hard and long--as any mom can tell you. I feel like there is always something to do or that needs tending too. But that is not really where the hard part comes--missing that deep friendship that you can only have with a spouse, relaxing at the end of a day, knowing A is missing such sweet times in the life of our children, needing fatherly advice on how to raise a little boy, dying to myself--there are many things I would enjoy doing right now but cant do alone with two kids. The list goes on and on--yet daily the Lord is my provision and gives rest for his child.

Time is prayer has really focused my heart and daily attitudes--I want to experience the Lord working and I am. We were in Wal-Mart at the end of a long day, the kids were hungry and I needed to find one other item. I had no idea where it was or where an employee was. Reece and I prayed and nothing really happend or so i thought. I was about to give up and head for the check up but then an employee ( I am convinced she was the only one in the whole grocery dept) turned the corner and helped us find what we needed. It was sweet to delight in the Lord with Reece by my side. This may seem small but right then it was big--Mariemma was screaming and Reece was eating everything I put in the cart he was so hungry.

The means of grace have never been so really to me. God is my comfort and provider.

On another note: Mariemma is growing up right before our eyes. I am hopeful to attach a video of some of her recent milestones.

thankful for a big brother

Reece is so glad Mariemma can play more with him--I think the feeling is mutual. The past few days have been so beautiful outside--and we had cabin fever really bad. So to the sand box we go. Last summer ME just ate the sand but this year she like to play in it. She has learned to shovel sand and wipe her hands off with her shirt. Reece has really delighted in showing her how to dig in the sand. They played together yesterday for well over an hour just digging together.
Wipe off the sand!

Lunch outside on papa bear's table!

The two of them just working away!

Papa, R really wanted you to see these football guys. He got them for his birthday and totally loves them. He always picks the blue team to be his team.

Is that duck my Valentine?

It really gets to me that you cannot copy and paste in blogger--so I forgot to put the pictures in before I typed the text so that means pictures first and words later!

Reece gave me such a pretty Valentine!Mariemma learned the word duck and quack today!

They were posed together so nicely just seconds before I took the picture

Reece came dangerously close to the water as always.

Mariemma decided to eat more bread--she is a cute little duck!

Happy Valentine's day! Reece has told me several times today Happy Valentine's Day--he is so sweet. Yesterday our friends took Reece to pick out some flowers for me and a stuffed animal for Mariemma. He was so cute when he rang the door bell with flowers for me. We had a fun day today at the zoo and then we feed the duck at the pond by the library. The ducks were a little aggressive so we fed them from the bridge--it seemed safer. Mariemma ate more bread than she gave away. Reece loved playing in the dirt and throwing rocks. We miss our papa valentine! Here are a few pics from the duck adventure.

Another snow day

Snow days mean you have to try different things to keep spirits up. It is so pretty to see snow covering the ground but I have seen enough for this winter! The kids were going crazy so I enterained them with the ipod--ME has the ear buds and Reece has the ipod. They were both quite while I got layered up for the snow adventure!

Mariemma is fifteen months old today and she has seen 5 or 6 snow days! She now knows what snow is and when she sees it she is noticable excited! Do we live in Alabama or New York? I was thankful this snow shower did not stick to the roads so we did get out later in the day. Reece was happy to play snow ball fights over building a snow man. It is rather hard to build a snow man and play defense with Mariemma. I was really gald the kids could only play out in the white stuff for about 20 mins! It is a whole lot of work to get layered up and dry off for just 20 mins of play but we did it. Here are a few pics from our adventure.

Mariemma did not really like it when she landed face down in the snow!

I had to work on teaching Reece to make bigger snow balls--like this one was not going to do any damage!

My snow angle!!!

They both decided to slide down the small hill between us and the neighbors. It was too cute!

Happy snow baby!

The Furman Football Party!

The party was a blast! Reece has been talking about a Furman football party since August and it was finally time on Saturday. The Sanders family has been apart of Furman football for many years so it was not hard to decorate. In fact the only thing I bought were purple and white M&M's, everything else came right out of the tailgate box! Of course Uncle Pete was the star in Reece's mind. Go figure the most treasured gift from the party are airplanes from none other than Uncle Pete.

A dear friend offered to organize the games for the boys and they had a wonderful time. They raced around baseball bases, played flag football, played hockey, and kicked field goals. I am so thankful Reece enjoyed his special day with all his friends. Thanks to everyone who helped me pull it all together.
Reece, Uncle Pete, and Luke

The treasured airplanes. Yes that is Adam's Furman jersey--I found it in the closet and Reece was so excited for me to wear it.

A Furman helmet cake

Baby Truss came to the party while his mom and dad stayed home with new baby sister. I am not sure if he likes sharing the bath tub. I cant believe Truss has enough hair to stand up! Mariemma looks bald compared to him.

Good kick

For sure this was a highlight of the party. The kids did a few warm-ups! Reece had the best push ups of any four year old! You have taught him well papa bear!

The Huddle!