three is a magic number.

September 3, 2012 - Our sweet boy was put in our arms forever.

And life since that moment has been sweeter and harder than I could ever imagine.

I've talked to several girl friends & mentioned that it seems like Bo has always been with us.

Which isn't to say I can't remember life before him. The fun of carefree marriage, just the 2 of us.

But I just had no idea the immense joy that a tiny bean could bring to our life.

Yes. There are hard moments. Times when I wonder how that same sweet bean could be 

so incredibly aggravating. Times I am so disappointed in myself for my lack of patience.

My lack of compassion. My lack of understanding. My failures as a parent.

These past 2 weeks especially have felt tedious, to be totally honest.

I just read Jen Hatmaker's blog today and read this quote:

"We are not capable of healing our kids' bodies and hearts and minds, but Jesus is.

We can trust him with our little families, because He is a good God and He is ever for us."

That's a lesson I've been learning lately. The beauty of the Gospel.

How I need to remind myself daily of its truths. 

I will never be a perfect mother. 

Our family will never be perfect. 

But we have a perfect Savior.

And there's nothing more beautiful than that.

And I have been given such an amazing gift in my husband and my son.

And I just praise God for them.

For the tiny moments of each day.

The triumphs. The trials.

The quiet. The chaos.

My precious, naughty, sweet, stubborn, remarkable boy.

And our family of three for one year.

sweet 16

Today my baby sister turns 16.

She's currently at the State Fair, so we celebrated on Tuesday night.

It's the first family party we hosted at our new house!

We got Chinese food & ate out on our back porch.

I made a peach cake... and didn't have any candles.

So we lit a twig.

The cake was really good. (The batter was also divine, just saying...)

Happy birthday, Jay Beth.

We love you!

the great indoors

What up, John Mayer reference.

Many friends have asked for pictures of the inside of our house...

And I realized looking through these pictures that for some reason I didn't take any upstairs.

Took a picture in the attic, naturally... but skipped the floor in between for some reason.

Anyway.

I give you: the downstairs & attic.

View from front door:

 Living room: 

 We're told this used to be part of the living room before a dividing wall was added.

Right now it is my home office.

 Office/entertainment... nook... hall... place.

 Dining room

 Kitchen (with a peek of downstairs bath & laundry room)

And, as promised, attic:

Ta-da!

So I guess I'll just keep everyone in suspense about the second floor until a future post.

(Really, this isn't a literary tactic. I'm just forgetful.)

Spoiler alert: We are going to be doing some light painting in the kitchen.

At some point. Hopefully within the next month.

We have substantially decreased the amount of boxes still laying around,

and the guest bed has sheets on it.

SO - come on over, friends & family.

new digs

I have a good excuse for my absence. 

We moved into our new house last Tuesday & just got Internet today.

We've been busy unpacking boxes and making it ours.

Bo decided to share with Mom...

Wet morning exploring the backyard...

(house is center, garage is on your right)

Safe to say he likes it here.

There is a lot A LOT of greenery that we will be tackling.

Colden ponders what we should do with this ... garden.

A firepit, of course! Ah, much better.

So. That's what we've been up to over the last week.
A huge, HUGE thank you to all the family who has helped us move!
More photos to come as we continue settling in!

a country cottage shower

Yesterday we had a shower for my future sister-in-law, Bailey.

Bailey & Robert will be living in North Dakota on a beef ranch,

[well, Robert's already there, but Bailey will be joining him after the wedding!]

so we thought it would be fun to incorporate some of that into the shower.

 Unfortunately, I was slacking on pics [again] and didn't get a picture of the food before it was gone. 

The shower was at Bailey's Aunt Jen's cottage on Lake Ontario - such a beautiful home & setting!

Bailey's sister Katie, my mom, dad, Victoria and I all made different jams for favors.

We kept the decor really simple - just ball jars with zinnias from the garden 

& wildflowers from the field across from the cottage! 

Seriously - what a view!

Part of the dessert table - lovely cake made by the one & only Manda.

I heard it was scrumptious - sadly I didn't get a piece! 

That just means you have to make another one, Mand!

Drinks & desserts - what's not to love?!

The beautiful bride-to-be opening gifts.

My sweet sisters, taking advantage of having control of the camera! 

The bridal party, L-R:

Jayne, me, Emily, Bay, Betsy, Martha & Katie

[sidenote: I think this was the only picture with all our eyes open!]

Bannister Babes, minus Mom:

& one more to get Mom in the picture with us.

So blessed that my brother has found such a wonderful girl to spend his life with!

Love our growing family!

Thanks to the Hartway-Wilson clan for all their help in throwing such a fun party!

We love you, Bailey & we're so excited for the big day!