numbers

two darling little baby boys

1.5 months, 3 months

twenty fingers, twenty toes

too many wet bibs and diapers to count

twelve to fourteen bottles per day

two evening baths

one to three~ the number of times a day i get peed on or spit on

eight of us loving these boys with all we've got

two stories, two paths, two destinies...

the number of times we've been blessed by family and friends since experiencing what twins would be like ~ sooo many...from baby swing to bouncy seat to 

delicious casseroles, etc..."it takes a village" after all

one good and loving Father God, still above all things...He know their names.  He knows their futures.  He has a plan...

He loves them even more than i already do, which is a lot.  soooo much assurance there.

please remember these two little peanuts in your prayers...may they know joy and hope and love and warmth from here on out, a thousand times over.

free fallin'

my kids really do love this summer pastime 

cool pics i thought

the extraction

umm....yah, so nobody expected the requested tooth extraction to unfold like this...

just so happened we filmed this one, even though there have been other teeth pulled before on other occasions...

later, after all was said and done, i said to Jeff "i could never be a dentist....just that sound...couldn't do it".  Jeff's response~ "apparently i am a dentist!!"

Hudson was a champ...after an initial few seconds of his eyes as wide as saucers, he went super chill like it was no big deal at all to have an extra tooth removed that wasn't even wiggly.  like just another day in the life of this kid.  thankfully, both teeth were lingering baby teeth.  

he's since moved on to water tricks out of the side of his mouth where he's left with a cavernous hole.

have i mentioned it's never dull around here??  

summer pics scooped from Jeff's phone

so, i figured it was time for a week of random pics.  cuz i stole them from Jeff's phone when i realized he'd captured some special little memories that i wished to preserve!  he's a keeper!

above and below~ cousins...old and young!  Miss Cali is full of spunk and cuteness...Joelle is kind of cute still too, haha!

AJ's pitching debut of 2017!  he's playing with boys who are 12 and 13 years old, yet he seems so calm and fearless.  it is pretty priceless, i gotta say.

me and Jeffrey.  at grade 8 graduation number four.  two to go.  yikes-ers...will we make it??
debatable :)

brothers and a new pool toy.  kind of keeps it fun for them.

Canada Day!  what an amazing country we enjoy...so abundantly blessed!

longtime friends and an evening fire.  another gift i cherish more and more these days.  and dear Carl all bundled up...gotta love him...

goofball #1 and goofball #2, right here...

bliss...

when far away family comes to visit, we descend on them.  such a treat to connect with dear cousins and their sweet families.  you are all so loved!
not sure about Hudson here, but i guess somehow, DNA aside, he takes after his father?!?  check out Jeff's high school yearbooks sometime and it all makes sense...Serge and i were snapping pics~ but just looking at these people is joy!

cheers to July!  until next year... 

skills

two weekends ago we were at a ball tournament that ended for us with a skills competition.  the competitors could choose to enter one skill~ hitting, pitching, running or bunting.  once we convinced AJ that bunting wasn't the best choice for him considering he'd never really officially done it, he settled on running.  it was a good choice.  the Ethiopian did not disappoint!  came through like a champ just oozing confidence...didn't matter how tall the guys were beside him, or that his leg length alone in comparison to theirs would require AJ to work that much faster. 

 he was seemingly unfazed by it all...

stepped up, ran the bases on the clock, and collected his third place ribbon.  he seemed not the least bit surprised, apparently guessed he'd get third! :)

Hudson decided on pitching.  it was a netted target that the boys had to pitch at with points awarded for hitting the four corners and the centre. 

Hudson walked off with a second place.  such a fun and unexpected ending to a great tournament of summer ball.  

AJ crashed on the way home, all the sun and fun just wore him right out.  i could just imagine, i was beat from simply spectating.  love these times and cherish these two!

nice job my three cute Wranglers!  

Hudson footage that makes me smile

and the more i smile, the better i feel!  strange how that works...

the first clip is Hudson's short solo in the end-of-year school production where Hudson slayed the role of the Mock Turtle in an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.  the quality of the video is bad, might have been too dark or too far away, regardless...i didn't even know his part was so involved, and especially didn't know that he'd shine so brightly in that role!  he had people laughing at his lines and exaggerated physical drama.  it was an appropriate time to be the "show-stealer", and somehow he knew just what to do! :)

 then there's this one, Hudson deciding to skateboard down a grass hill for kicks!  because, hey, why not!?! 

this boy...high octane with resulting high stress occasionally "pour MOI" (not gonna lie), but also high returns of joy too...you just gotta love him.

summer inspiration

so good...

this link

and this one too...

really good

and one more!

can't get past the eyes...

the take away??  do something~ somewhere, somehow, some way.  

a little compassion goes a long way...