Lily's Photo Shoot

Yesterday at the park, my friend Lily brought her fancy camera and took some pictures of me and the boys. Here are some of my favorites!

Levi James Rocke

Our time in Fort Wayne was sweet in many ways......playing on the driveway, watching Sam the tree guy cut down a tree in the backyard, and lots of time with Daddy and grandma and papaw.

But getting to meet "Baby Levi", as Luke says, was the sweetest! What a buddy and a gift! 

Abbey worked so hard through a long, grueling delivery...so proud of her!

Cider mill pond

I am not much for swimming, so I have totally unappreciated this gem in Ace and Jeffy's neighborhood the past 10 years! Someone left some canors, kayaks, and paddle board on the beach for the community to use, and it was so amazing! This little peaceful lake might be my new favorite place in the world! We couldn't get enough of it during our time in Fort Wayne a few weeks ago!

The first day we kept the he boys appropriately clothed....after that, buck naked....why worry about washing underware when naked is more fun anyway!?

Saturday Marina Walks

Recently we have found two walk/bike ride destinations for our Saturday mornings together.  Both to marinas!  One marina has an outdoor restaurant with a great seating area….perfect for a little packed lunch while watching the boats. On the way, there are even little league baseball fields to watch a game or play on an empty field. The other has a rocky path that juts out into the lake. It is the perfect spot for throwing rocks and watching the sailboats head out for the day. 

I'm not sure why our family feels so sweet and complete to me on these little excursions, but I'm thankful to have them here!

Lots of Personality

I so often look at the boys and wonder if it could even be possible for other peoples kids to have more quirky personalities than mine. Of course I decide "no," but I'm sure all kids are like this. I just love it!

Here are a few videos from the last couple weeks…..such goobers!

Dan pretending to take the guys down a waterfall….

Dan plays the Luke-named "woah-woah" game. It is basically airplane on Dan's knees gone bad. The airplane breaks and the kid comes crashing headfirst into Daddy. All the guys love it, but Luke especially. He asks Dan for "woah-woah" all the time. The other day, they were playing it, and Luke stopped in the middle. He walked over to Jack's Ducky, and said, "A Ducky woah-woah?" Hilarious. What started out like this with just Ducky woah-woah escalated to Ducky, doggies, blankets, etc. woah-woah when Calvin and Jack got involved!

And the guys nearly had me and Ace and tears last weekend when they were singing along to some worship music. These guys really love it and seem to mean what they are singing. One of their favorites is  Chris Rice's "Whom Shall I Fear" that the boys call "Angel Armies." Even Luke will start saying "Angel Armies" in the car asking for it. Another favorite is Chris Rice and LaCrae's "Awake My Soul." But my far my favorite is listening to them sing, "Lord, I need you." I pray that that will always be my heart and theirs. 

  

And here a picture of the guys playing with their new friends Lucca (far left) and Julian (between Cal and Jack), and another little new friend Jack (in yellow). Seeing them interact and play like this is so sweet after not having it for a couple months!

Back to Indiana

The boys and I travelled to Indiana last weekend for a visit while Dan was in New York for a work conference. It was so good to be back, though the visit made me miss the states more than I have since we moved. Ahhh, the space to play without having to carry a stroller and everything we might need to the park. We just played in the driveway with little riding toys! Poor Luke hasn't had riding toys since we moved because it is pretty complicated to try to get them all the way to the park...

Grandma and Papaw's house is maybe the boys' favorite place in the world. I does feel like a retreat. They guys love sleeping in the "crow's nest" and being with Grandma and Papaw.

Nana and Aunt Kim, Uncle Jason, Addie, and Teddy came to visit us, and we went to a Fort Wayne Tin Caps baseball game. It was great!

The kids all congregated at the fence, though it was hard to appreciate much of the game.

Addie and Calvin love being together. It has always been the case, but as they grow, it seems their friendship grows, too. I love watching these guys play!

The ball park has a splash pad….I mean, shouldn't every ballpark have one?! Brilliant! 

Teddy just tried to eat the water. 

Such a sweet, happy guy!

Luke and Teddy played together a little bit. Aunt Kim had them just rolling with laughter tickling them at the same time!

Luke and Teddy are not quite 4 months apart in age (Luke older). It will be fun to watch them grow up together….Luke has some catching up to do….