Who are you and what did you do with my boys?

We went to a Lighthouse event this past Saturday at a really amazing and unique local toy store, Playthings, Etc.  We went with our boys, but we came home with the Hulk and Batman.  

Awning

Last summer, my mom took down her awning over her back patio and had a roof built instead.  My mom's patio is 14'x20'.  Our deck is 14'x15'.  After much measuring, many geometric calculations :), and sparks flying while cutting metal poles, we had the frame adapted to our house.  

Putting up the frame

We were short one bracket because the frame would attach to our house slightly differently than it attached to my mom's house.  After an unsuccessful trip to Lowe's, I loaded the boys in the car and drove an hour (or more? seemed like forever) to the company that made the awning to buy a $4 bracket.

Just about finished

We laid the giant awning out in our yard no less than 4-5 times to calculate, measure, calculate, and measure again exactly how much fabric my mom would need to remove with her industrial machine.  I know 5 feet shorter, right?  True, but deciding where to take out the five feet was tricky because of the poles and the way the awning attaches to the poles.  A few days later, and tada! There it was.  Fortunately, we had helped my mom put up her awning at the beginning of the summer several times, so we knew how it went up.  It's been so nice to have another room of sorts.  The boys love to be out there, with the neighborhood kids, of course, :) when it's raining.  We plan to enjoy many hours there this summer.

T-ball

The boys had their first homeschool t-ball practice today.  Since it was the first day, there seemed to be general confusion about where to go and what was going on, and it wasn't just me.  :)    But once things got rolling, the kids were all having a blast.  All was well with the world when Sam and Isaiah were standing opposite each other, throwing the ball and catching it.  When Isaiah's line of kids went to the outfield to practice, and Sam's line stayed in the infield, I saw my little four-year-old in tears, with his glove over his face.  (That's a picture I should have taken... ).  After a while, when he was still crying, I went over and he was sobbing and saying that he just wanted to be with Isaiah.  So he sat with me for a while, then I stood with him in line for batting practice.  After that he was able to pull himself together and stay in a separate group from Isaiah.  

After it was over, two sweaty dirty kids played at the playground for an hour with some new friends.  The greatest part?  The boys were exhausted for the rest of the day.  They watched a video, sat in the yard, and were generally mellow.

Staying cool

Isaiah got this ball for his birthday last year.  We finally pulled it out and used it during a hot afternoon last week.  

Strike a pose

Washing the car!

The Vow

If you're like me, you saw the previews for the movie "The Vow" and were really interested in seeing it.  I mean, these days, who can't get excited about a movie that features a couple who honored their wedding vows despite the wife's amnesia from a serious head trauma? So I requested the book, "The Vow: The True Events that Inspired the Movie" and put the movie in my Netflix queue.  The book arrived first, and I read it in about two sittings.  This powerful retelling is written from the husband's perspective and is a must read for anyone who is married and/or believes in the God-ordained institution of marriage to be a life-long commitment.  Their entire story is centered around their faith in Jesus Christ.  Most excellent.

The movie arrived a few days later, and was most disappointing.  At most, it could be considered "inspired by" the Carpenters' story.  Faith in Christ isn't mentioned once.  The wife seems to recover (physically) from the accident almost instantly.  There are odd story lines, like the wife hadn't talked to her family in five years before the accident, that aren't in the book at all.  In the book, the wife's personality changed quite a bit, making it very challenging for the husband to love her.  In the movie, the wife's personality seemed the same before and after the accident. In the movie, there was a lot of friction between the husband and the wife's parents, a conflict that doesn't reflect the real life events at all.  I could give many more examples, but you get the point.

The movie would have had such deeper meaning and greater impact if they would have stayed true to the real life events of the Carpenters.  I really encourage you to read the book.  It's a quick, easy read that will leave you encouraged in your marriage.