Seven Quick Takes Friday - Volume 11

I didn't do any Quick Takes in August, so I have to start out with a little celebration!  Ezra turned 9 last month!  It was a very fun day, as Michael surprised him by taking the day off so they could spend some one-on-one Daddy/Son time.  He tries to fit in a special day with each of the boys on their birthdays, but usually it has to wait for the weekend.  It's a fun tradition that they all look forward to and makes their birthdays even more wonderful for them.  Here's the happy birthday boy!

His presents consisted of a new Disc Golf disc, and legos galore. He said it was the "best birthday EVER!" but I think he says that every year! 

And of course, in the last month, Rachel passed her 7 month marker!  She's starting to think about crawling - she can get to hands and knees pretty quickly, but is still figuring out what to do other than rock back and forth.  She'll be getting it soon, I can tell!  She wants to be on the go!  It also seems like she's getting a tooth in... there's been a lot of swelling, bubble blowing, and more nighttime wakings, so it seems like it is on the verge of popping out!  She's also started solids - she isn't all that interested, however, so I'm just taking it slow and letting her have fun with it.  She likes the spoon more than the food on the spoon!

Rachel's first time on the swing!

I wanted to share some beautiful handiwork made by my friend, Amy.  She hand makes custom picture frames, and they are goregous!  Here's the one she made for Rachel - I gave her free reign to do what she wanted, and it was absolutely perfect.  I'm still having trouble deciding what picture I want to use in it!

And here's one she did for Judah when he was born!

You can see more of her handiwork at her blog!  These make wonderful gifts, for all sorts of occasions!

Check out this super cool video!  It's really awesome, and convinces me ever more so that life was truly created with such intricacy and detail by an incredible creative and amazing God!

This week, we finally finished up the last of Sonlight's Core D!  We had finished it a little unevenly, as we got ahead of schedule in some areas and behind in others... but now everything is complete!  It was a great year, and I love Sonlight as much as I did when we first started, a little over a year ago.  We're going to take a week to get organized and then we move onto Core E!

I have to confess, my "getting up early and exercising" progress has fallen totally to the wayside.  A number of circumstances (including a loss of air conditioning for 2 weeks, followed by house guests for another week) really threw me off. So I'm a little nervous about getting back into my running plan and seeing how far behind I've fallen.  Will I have to start from scratch again?  I guess there's only one way to find out... and that's to just give it a go!  I'm mentally preparing myself to get on the ball starting next week.  I'll also admit that I'm not totally excited about it!  But I know that I always feel better when I'm making that time.

This weekend, our marriage will be hitting it's teenage years!  Sunday we will celebrate 13 years!  God has certainly brought us through many ups and downs, and we've (literally) grown up together as we've grown closer to Him.  I am thankful beyond what I can express for Michael and his love and leadership!

Here we are on that day!

And here we are at wedding, just last week:

(Michael was the best man in a cowboy-themed wedding, hence the hat!)

Boy, do the years fly by!