Day at the River

May 26, 2015 by Aliesha

On Sunday afternoon, one of the families in our life group (small group) at church invited our whole group to come to their house on the river for a cookout!

We had the BEST time that afternoon swimming, playing with bubbles, relaxing in the hammock, playing in the sand, kayaking, playing cornhole, water skiing (just Tad… not me, haha!), eating, and fellowshipping with our friends.

The girls had a blast in the kiddie pool and playing in the sprinkler.

Tad took CC out in a kayak while I took Vera out in one at the same time. Vera thought it was really fun, but Cordelia was a bit nervous! I felt like I could have stayed out in the kayak all day!

Jude is going through a phase where he doesn’t like sand or water very much, so he just enjoyed playing with a ball and being Mr. Charming.

We had a delicious cookout!

Vera got to ring the dinner bell when dessert was served!

Of course Cordelia and Jude had to take turns as well!

The girls made a new friend.

By the end of the day, we were all quite tired!

The kids always love getting to spend time with our precious friend Maggie!

We felt so blessed by our friends’ hospitality! It was such a fun day!

Easter and Catching Up

April 13, 2015 by Aliesha

So here’s the deal. We had an amazing Easter weekend (including a church pig pickin’ on Saturday), worshiping at church on Sunday and celebrating Christ’s resurrection, then celebrating with friends over a large Easter feast (having friends over = MY FAVORITE), and then enjoying the glorious weather on a family walk.

BUT… late in the night Sunday, we were struck by a stomach virus. We went down like dominoes over the next few days, with only one member of our family being spared. Last week was a blur of cleaning up after sick people, being sick, and once again, cleaning up after sick people. Whew. We were SO grateful for that bug to leave our house!! On the plus side, I didn’t have to cook dinner all week, unless saltine crackers count as a meal.

After digging my way out of the piles of laundry, I was able to get away for the weekend with some awesome girlfriends from church! We were celebrating Katie’s (below, blonde hair) 30th birthday, and it was such a fun, relaxing time away (especially after the crazy week!). The lady at the hotel front desk thought we were in college, so that made all of us mamas feel pretttttty darn good.

I think that mostly brings you up to speed on things… but I definitely plan to get back to blogging again! Sorry for the hiatus last week. I want to share my peach cobbler recipe as well as a pregnancy update, so watch for those later this week!

Ladies Who Brunch

March 23, 2015 by Aliesha

Over the weekend, I was blessed to be able to have brunch with two dear friends from college (whom I met my freshman year), Kate and Megan!

It had been waaaaay too long since I’d seen these precious girls (though, to be fair, for most of the last eight years we’ve all lived in three different states). It was so good to be able to talk in person and catch up on each others’ lives!

Kate wrote two books last year (which I reviewed here), and between the three of us we have 7 (soon to be 8) kids! Meeting Kate’s and Megan’s sweet children was wonderful!

Reflecting on the years since we’d all been together, I think we are all thankful we didn’t know what a crazy ride God had in store for us! Joys, yes, innumerable… but also heartache and loss. What a blessing to be able to trace God’s hand in each of our lives and know that He has been faithful in each and every challenge!