Happy Birthday, Carrie-Girl!

January 20.

The day that God planned long ago, from the beginning of time, to be the birthday of my sweet Carolyn Jane Atkinson.

Carrie--named after two very special people...her Grandma Carolyn and her Great-Grandma Jane.

On that winter day in 1996, Carrie joined our family, and I held her in my arms for the very first time.
And she gave me her little Carrie pucker for the very first time.



Fifteen years ago!
It's not so hard to believe that it's been that long ago when you look at the pictures of Paul and me!
Look how young we were!





And how clueless!
And they let us take her home!
And we thought that we were ready!
Oh, the mistakes that we have made!



But, oh, the love!
Little did we know how our lives were about to change.
Little did we know how much our lives had already changed.
And little did we know how much a little baby would change us...from the inside out.



Thank You, LORD, for sending our Sweet Carrie.
You are so good to us.
Bless her today, LORD.
Amen.

Enjoying the Journey,

Joshua's Turn

Yesterday it was Matthew that tickled me.
Today, Joshua has me chuckling.



All throughout the morning, William would stop his work and ask Matthew if he could call him Matt.
Matthew would say, "Nooooo!"
Finally, Josh had enough of it all.

William: Hey, Matt! What time is it?
Joshua: It's "Don't mess with Matthew" time.



At lunchtime, we were trying to get a better idea of what Carrie might like for her birthday.

William: Carrie, what do you want for your birthday?
Carrie: I don't know.
Joshua: She wants a new bedroom.
Carrie: No I don't!
Joshua: You want to sleep in the barn!

What?????



And this afternoon?

Joshua (when told to use the bathroom before bed): Carrie's in the bathroom. She's in OUR bathroom. And now she's singing. That's even worse. Hey, William. Put that on Facebook. She won't get mad at you.



The thing with Josh is that he is so matter-of-fact when he says things.
And his vocabulary and his dry sense of humor really surprise me a lot of the time.

Maybe because I'm so gullible anyway.
Maybe because he still has a little boy lisp and still says "lello" instead of yellow.



Oh, the many sides of Josh!



Josh, the tender-hearted.



Josh, the silly head.



Josh, the cool man.



Josh, the determined.



Josh, the thougthful.



Josh, the dramatic.



Josh, the stubborn.



Josh, the shy.




Josh, the loyal.



My Joshy-Boy!



Never a dull moment.

Enjoying the Journey,

From the Archives, #1

Matthew.
We call him Matty, and I think that he will always be Matty to us.

He's a pretty funny little guy.
And he sure doesn't mind getting his picture taken.









His laugh comes right from his belly!
It's not hard to get a good one from him.

Last weekend, we went up to Rob and Brandy's house for our family Christmas party. Brandy got a moose pillow pet for Christmas.
Matthew LOVED him!
He laughed and laughed at that moose!





And he rode the moose.
Gitty up!





Sleeping?
No. Just pretending.



He's gaining words by the day and is putting all of those words into sentences.
He repeats everything everyone says...especially what Joshua says.
I love how he talks right now. He puts lots of space in between his words.
Staccato speech.

One thing that Matty really loves is gum.
He likes hot gum best--anything minty is hot gum.
There are some that are too hot for him, but he will try them anyway.
Tonight he got one that was a bit too hot.

Matty: Hot...gum!
Me: Was that gum too hot?
Matty: It's...cool...now.
Me: Your hot gum is cool now?
Matty: Yes. Put...in...frigerator.

Did I mention that he is also a problem-solver? :)

Enjoying the Journey,

Oh, Glorious Day!

Temperatures in the seventies...sunshine...a cool breeze.
That equals the perfect day for a field trip to our local apple orchard!

This is one of my family's favorite September haunts.
For seventeen autumns, this has been one of my favorite fall-time traditions.

There is a great big apple barn with tons of fun buys!
Fresh produce, candles, honey sticks, baked goodies, apple cider, frozen fruit, popcorn, jams and jellies, fudge, chestuts, pumpkins, beautiful big mums, and our favorite...apple cider slushies!

Even though you can buy apples already picked, we love to pick our own!
Nothing beats standing in the middle of an apple orchard with apple trees full of ripe apples!



The games you can play and the things you can do in a really good apple orchard are endless...





The family who owns this orchard even encourages their guests to taste test apples off of the trees.

Off of the trees, Matty!
Not off of the ground!



Mmmmm...good!



Picking with friends makes a trip to the orchard extra-special.







I think Josh is sharing a bit of advice on apple-picking.
He looks pretty serious about what he has to say.



Ahhhh...an expert apple-picker.



William has been picking apples from these trees for a long, long time.



And the pumpkin patch!













A picture of me and the boys.



Carrie had fun hanging out with some friends at the orchard.



Oh, so pretty!
There's just nothing like apple orchard apples!



For years, I've been wanting to try my hand at apple butter-making. A good friend shared her recipe for crock pot apple butter.
Boy, did this smell good!
Who needs a Yankee candle, when you have the real thing simmering in your kitchen?!



I know that I said that I was going to not look back, but how could I resist finishing this blog post that I had started back in September?!

Especially when it is one that brings back such fun, happy memories.

Enjoying the Journey,