OBX 2011

Sammy hanging with daddy on the beach in all his mismatched coolness!

Happy Marcus!

Running!

My boys.

Sam with mommy.

So handsome!

Up the dunes!

Cutie

Playing in the sand.

Awww!

Jeremy, Lucy and Sierra

Cousins!

Jessica and girls

Cutie again!

We had a fantastic trip.  It was very busy with our two munchkins, but we still had a good time with Jeremy Jessica, and family, Janessa and Justin, and Jeanette and Rachel.  Peter's folks, John and Abby also came down for a few days.  While the weather was a little chilly for my liking, it was sunny and the ocean was as beautiful as ever.

A rare opinion!

There was a recent news story that showed footage of a little 2-year-old girl in China being run over by a truck as she steps into a busy street.  Many bystanders are shown walking past her as they completely ignore her.  Then a second truck runs over her.  Finally someone comes to her aid, and tries to help her.  I felt immediate outrage at the driver and the bystanders who did NOTHING to help this little girl.  I noted that many folks had posted comments online expressing their outrage.  This kind of brutality makes us angry, and well it should!

Then I began to think about our culture.  Are we as innocent as we seem, as justified in expressing our outrage at the above scenario, or are we also as guilty as the truck driver or the bystanders.  Oh, I know, in our culture it's legal, done in secret; after all, it's not a life, is it?

My husband is reading a book on American History, and we've been talking about many different aspects of American History.  One thing I often struggle with is the fact that many of our founders participated in slavery, (even as they touted freedom and rights for all mankind!)  How could they have been so blind?  As I think more about this issue of abortion and the precious lives that are ended before they have a chance to even breathe, I wonder, will generations look back on us and wonder how we could  have been so blind?  I certainly hope so, for at least in that case, they will understand and value each life that is given by the Creator.

I'm not one that feels comfortable expressing my opinions or deep thoughts to many beyond my closest friends, and yet, I just couldn't not say anything for some reason.  

~Julie

My Little Men

Video of the boys

This is a video we made for Peter's sister, Laura.  She's in Africa for awhile serving with some missionaries there.  Sammy has a new communication skill; when we don't understand something he's saying and he knows it, he'll stop us, and say, "I sayin'".  I was pretty happy to catch that here.  The whole times he's trying to tell me "baby smile" and I don't get it until the end.

Enjoy!

My boys-compare and contrast

Fun facts about my kiddos.

Sam: 7lb, 14oz at birth.  8 hour labor, born at 4am on his due date.

Marcus: 6lb, 13 oz at birth.  2 to 3 hour labor, born at 3pm 2.5 weeks early.

Both 19 inches long I believe.

Sam: quiet and calm right after he was born.

Marcus: Screamed as soon as he came out.

Both gained nearly 5 lbs by their 6 week check up.

Sam 12 lbs ?oz

Marcus 11 lb, 6 oz.

Sam slept the first day he was born almost all day.  After that I was lucky to get more than 1.5 hrs of nap out of him during the day.

Marcus still sleeps at least half of the day away.

Both prefer daddy to calm away their nighttime grumps.

Sam was born with dark, almost black hair.

Marcus was born with sandy, red hair.

Both had no trouble with chub.

Chublicious Marcus at 7 weeks

                                      Sam took awhile to smile (he was too busy studying things)
                                                               Marcus smiled pretty early.

Looks like roles are reversed here!

I'm realizing that if I don't write these fun little things down, I will forget for sure:-)

best husband ever!

There once was a backyard in need of a fence.

My handsome husband decided to fix the afore mentioned need.

So, he hired an assistant and got to work!

They cheerfully worked all day, (well one of them did) in the nasty Memorial Day heat

and the fence took shape.

They used nails (pokies)

hammers and saws.

They were quite the team!

Looking good!

Pictures!