10

We had a very delightful 10th anniversary! We spent 5 days in Chicago-the best "us" vacation since our Honeymoon. We stayed at the Drake Hotel down in the heart of the city and traveled all over the beautiful city. Our transportation included walking (a little too much for my pathetic body and by week's end I was experiencing pain), taxi, bus and the el-train. We dined in some very tasty restaurants. We enjoyed some deep dish at Gino's, warmed up with a spicy Blood Mary or Bloody Mike's as the call it at Ditka's. And we even spotted Mike Ditka as we were leaving. We dined in China Town, Navy Pier and filled ourselves to the full at many other places. I probably would have gained weight if it wasn't for all of the walking.

Some of the highlights from our trip included traveling by boat through the city on an architectural boat tour. This was a wonderful way to experience the city; We took the self guided Frank Lloyd Wright tour and his home and studio tour. His home was so innovative, impressive and ahead of its time. We spent an evening at the famous Navy Pier and an afternoon looking at sea creatures at the Shedd Aquarium; we were in the city during the The Taste of Chicago food festival-lots of food and even more people and some really cool street performances; of course the view from the John Hancock building was great but the most unique event we experienced was the strange and oddly satisfying Blue Man Group. This performance is definitely different but we recommend it!

Its been 10 years since Sarah and I first said "I Do," and every moment has been filled with bliss...mostly. We have had our ups and downs. Our "ups" have been crazy wonderful; our "downs" have have certainly terrible but it has all been better together. I can not image anyone else by my side-I all the more believe that The LORD definitely and divinely brought us together. He knew I would need an strong, thoughtful and supportive woman. She is peace in the midst of the storm and in this story I think I am the storm. Thank you for this lady. I look forward to celebrating our 20.

Manhattan or Bust

Traveling with young children is challenging. Can I hear an amen? Amen! And traveling without Sarah is even more challenging. Sarah wanted some "alone time," this summer in order to accomplish things we hinder her from doing, or in other words James had to leave with the kids for 4 days. We traveled to Manhattan to visit family and a few friends. Abigail has always been a very good traveler but Asher proved not to be as he began whining soon after we hit the road (He doesn't like sitting still for very long). Abbie had fun feeding family's two dogs pieces of bread as they performed dog tricks. Abbie also loved sleeping over with cousin Leah. Asher had fun chewing on new and different objects. One particular night, after hanging out at my parents home, I returned to my grandma's home (the place we were sleeping) as thunder storm hit and knocked out the electricity at about 8pm and the power didn't return until around noon the following day...Asher didn't seem to mind.

Another late afternoon and early evening we spent time with the Vandorn family. This was the first really hot day and so it was a perfect day to take a dip in their community pool. We all had fun! Additionally, The Stewart and the Nutter families were enjoying the pool too-its was a pool reunion. And in grandma fashion, my Grandmother made our entire family a feast before leaving town so we were all fat and happy as we left town. Of Course we were all happy to return to see Sarah-But she was at a Bible study until 11pm and So Abbie cried "I want to see mommy" as I tucked her in for bed. Welcome home James.

treasure hunt

Abbie and I created a treasure map while Sarah was away on a photo shoot. Our authentic treasure map, including burnt edges and candle wax from hundreds of years of use, provided detailed directions to our buried treasure in our backyard. When Sarah returned, she followed the map through the perils of our back yard and risking her own life until she arrived at the treasure. I had fun showing Abbie how to create the perfect Map and Abbie enjoyed finding the treasure!

our summer backyard campout

On a cool evening in June, when the weather was just right, Abbie and I pitched a tent and set up a our camp site in the backyard. Our summer fun began with delicious food from the grill. As we ate our dinner (saving room for s'mores), Asher played in the baby pool. After Asher had splished his last splash, Sarah prepared him for bed while Abbie and I readied the fire. The sun was now setting as we roasted marshmallows over our fire pit in pursuit of the perfect s'more. Abbie sat toasting her marshmallow to perfection, with a huge smile accoss her face and said "This is my best day ever!" And it was a perfect day. Now our bellies were full and with bedtime upon us, Abbie and I headed to our tent for the night. We read books and watched a short movie which we had checked out earlier that day from the library. Yes, it's true, I had a laptop and we watched a movie in our tent... I never said we were roughing it. Our perfect day ended as we drifted off to sleep. In fact Abbie enjoyed it so much, we slept in the tent the following night. Great food, camp fire, s'mores, a borrowed tent, a borrowed air mattress, free entertainment and time with my daughter. It was one of my best days too!

Asher enters manhood

That's one small step for Asher, one giant leap for us all. Okay, manhood maybe extreme but Asher finally took his first steps and may I add, on his own initiative! Until now, he has shown no interest in walking unassisted, but he took 2 small steps followed by a leap towards me. After his first baby steps, we made him do it over and over and he was enjoying ever step. At times he was exuding so much joy in his new accomplishment, he was taking several quick little steps...too quick for the rest of his body. Up next on his accomplishment list-soccer!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOYS!

both of my boys had their birthdays last week, so we celebrated them together. this will be the first of many times they share a cake, the bday song, and asher will probably always get more presents than james. i think james felt a little jipped in the whole thing though. he grew up with a twin brother. jason was more outgoing, and as he remembers, ALWAYS blew out the candles on their shared cake. well, this year his shared cake was with his son- but abbie blew out the candles for them. he was waiting for the one year he'd be able to blow them out and in swooped those little lips of abbie's and poof! he missed his chance again. maybe next year, baby... maybe.

we had a great time with friends and family and asher LOVED the cake. he is so happy, and full of life- a true blessing to our lives.

as james begins a new year of life, he will face new and harder battles with tumors returning to his jaw. the treatment is going to be rougher and the hope is getting smaller. but we know that God is the God of the impossible, and we will continue to live in the hope that he is able to do more than we imagine.

now, let them eat cake!

R.O.C.K in the USA!

to celebrate abbie's 5th birthday we threw a big rock n' roll party in the backyard! this is the first year the weather in april has cooperated and what a huge blessing that was! i tried to clean out the garage to set up the stage, but there is no way there would have been enough room. her friends all brought their own instruments and with marjorie's help we got a stage set up for them to perfom. the first game was called FREEZE PLAY! everyone played their instruments until abbie held up the STOP sign. whoever made the last noise got to go join abbie in dancing. it came down to two boys, and at this age it's too hard to declare only one winner. our friend noah made a turn table, that he was sliding his record on, like a dj! it was so creative. our next game was called RHYME TIME! we split into groups and they each made up a song using rhyming words. my group simply sang, "see the dog and a frog on the log... yaaaaaa". abbie's group sang "jingle pig, jingle pig wearing a nice wig. he danced a jig and ate a fig, jingle jingle pig". the last group sang about skat the cat, "i had a big cat with a silver hat. i wanted to chat but he ate a rat then he told me to skat... dubi du bop bop du bop and a rat a tat tat." it was a great time! we made ice cream sundaes instead of a cake and then a dance party started. it was a great night.

we are so blessed to have a great group of friends to share good times with. this will be a big year for abbie as she finishes her soccer team, possibly starting a karate class and she will start kindergarten in the fall! we love her so much and are so proud of the creative and compassionate young lady we see.

you can enjoy a glimpse into the party by watching the show! enjoy!

www.sorellimages.com/theparty/

ABBIE IS FIVE!

last tuesday abbie turned five! it is hard to believe...

we have a big rock n' roll birthday party friday night and will have a lot of fun photos to share! here are a few of the actual birthday, which was packed full of fun.

we love you, little miss abbie. keep loving God and growing into

the beautiful woman we're seeing.

spring soccer started today

GGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

abbie has been wanting to play on a soccer team and today her 6 week spring session started! it was so cold, but with 3 layers on we headed out to the field. her good friend jack is on her 'team' and they had a great time pretending to score goals! their coach was so enthusiastic and really wanted to make it a great experience for them. he remembered all their names right away, and paid good attention to each of them. it was really refreshing to see. they started at 6pm, getting new shirts and soccer balls. after some free time, they played tag, trying to dribble the ball and catch the coach. when they caught him 3 times he had to do something funny. they chose jumping jacks, push ups and star jumps. i'm sure he is glad i have photos of him doing his star jumps! they loved it though.

they did a few warm up stretches, on the ground... the cold, soaking wet ground. abbie hates getting wet and so she chose to do the stretches standing up. in the end this really paid off, because she never got cold and stayed dry the whole time. you can see the wet and muddy spots all the other kids have on the back of their shirts but not abbie. she is a crack up!

after several more rounds of tag and some different drills with the ball they split up and played 4 on 4 mini games. it is funny to watch them try to chase the ball, get control of the ball, head toward their goal and then get the ball taken away. i had to remind abbie that she wasn't supposed to get mad but to get the ball back. it is an interesting thing to teach her. she isn't used to running after someone to take something away from them, but she'll quickly learn.

her legs got tired, but she loved the whole thing. each tuesday from 6-7 they'll be out there learning, growing and exploring the sport of soccer.

enjoy the slideshow of the day.

www.sorellimages.com/soccer2009/

star wars

I have recently introduced Abbie to one of my childhood pleasures-Star Wars. I will be honest, even today when I pass by the toy aisle at Wal-Mart, I will purposefully find the Star Wars action figures. I own all the Star Wars DVDs and I am always in the mood to watch one of the films. Therefore it is no surprise that as I was shopping for Christmas gifts, my eyes were drawn to a Star Wars, the original trilogy, video game. Every Thursday is daddy-daughter Star Wars Day when we play the video game. Abbie enjoys playing this game and has learned all of the characters. Sometimes we will even break out my vintage Star War figures and separate them into what episode they appeared. Abbie and I spent some time this week drawing Boba Fett and Darth Vader: