Papa Bear Turns 60!

This past weekend we broke in the van by taking it on our first family trip to Williamsburg to celebrate Papa Bear turning 60!

The boys had a fabulous time! I had all the best intentions of taking pictures of them and their grandparents while we were there since I'm so bad at it when we're out of our normal routine and our camera ran out of batteries. Ugg.

Andy's sister took lots so hopefully we'll have some to share soon. But, I did get a few.




Now that the fun is over, it's time to get back on track and keep plugging away at our mile long list of things to get done before Annabelle arrives in about 4 weeks (give or take 2)! Lots of fun progress to share soon.

Happy Birthday, Poppy!

Poppy,

We hope you have a fantastic birthday. We wish we could be there with you to celebrate. We love you so much.

Love,
Samuel, Joseph and Annabelle

4 Generations

My mom was here from Saturday to Wednesday and while she was here (among a million other things) she threw me a *Blessingway. My grandmother and aunt drove down from New York to attend. I had several friends from Charlottesville here as well. It was wonderful. My cup is so full!

This was only the second time we have had the 4 generations together. I just love these pictures. I know they will mean so much to Annabelle when she is grown since she is named after them. (Annabelle gets her 'Anna' from my mom, JoAnna, and her middle name, Jane, from my grandmother. The Belle comes from my grandmother's mom, who's maiden name was 'Bell').

I just love these women!!!


* A Blessingway is a time where family and friends of an expecting mom gather around her and celebrate this new life then encourage her with verses and prayers.

Rewarding Good Behavior

Raising kids is not easy. No one ever said it was. It comes with a lot of trial and error. But, the rewards are eternal!

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

One things we've been trying lately is focusing on rewarding good behavior instead of bad behavior. We still discipline for bad behavior, but we are making much more of an effort to reward the good behavior.

It seems to be working.

The boys both have a sticker chart and they will get a sticker when they demonstrate a character trait that we are trying to instill in them.

They would get a very small, non purchased item at the end of each row and then when they finished their whole chart they could go out for ice cream.

Ice cream to these kids is why life exists.

Joseph hasn't filled his chart up yet, but he of course wants to go get ice cream too.

What reward systems seem to work for your family? I'd love to know.

G.Grandma and G.Grandpa Visit

My grandma and grandpa visited the first party of April on their way home from being in Florida for the winter.

They brought a present for each of us. It was so special. The boys are still obessed with all their treasures from GG!

The stay was not long, but it was so fantastic to be with them. I did a horrible job taking pictures. Our times together are so rare and I should have documented it much better.

They stayed at a hotel right down the street because it had a pool and they know how much our little fish love to swim.



I wish so much we lived closer. They are amazing people!

This is one of the woman that Annabelle gets her middle name 'Jane' from. My Dad's mom has the middle name of Jane too! How neat is that?!