Life Right Now

It has been a while.  Life in the country is great for us for so many reasons and hard for a few others.  I wanted to add pics but they are on John's computer in Seattle.  So just words today.

The boys absolutely love our very large yard.  Most days they spend at least 2-3 hours a day out there.  It is great for them.  They love living near family that loves on them.  Just yesterday my dad took the boys fishing in a boat on the river.  I hear it was quite comical - Brady in a boat trying to be still and quiet :)

We love the slow pace of life.  Our whole family loves to be at home so this is not necessarily different than being in a city for us.  We spend lots of days at home and we love it.  The boys still use their imagination every day - their age has not changed this a bit.  What they do with it has just changed.  Some days they are building a house in the top of a magnolia tree, others they are searching for treasures and even one day they got to be "firemen" with John while he burned a HUGE brush pile.  Life in the country speaks to our boys hearts.  We love that!!

There are other things that we struggle with that haven't been issues in our lives since we lived away from here - racial segregation for one.  This hurts my heart so much.  John and I have such a desire to cross the racial barriers but haven't quite found the way just yet.  honestly it runs deep on both sides but is kinda dismissed by people with an "I don't have anything against......people."  Sad since we will stand before God and worship Him throughout eternity right next to every nation and tribe

On a personal note , my heart is bent toward simplicity right now.  I hate that word because it is so popular right now but it really is the truth.  More and more each day I am convinced that there are so many things I can give my time to but I have to choose what is best.  I have been asking the Lord to make that clear to our family and slowly He is.  I want to know that at the end of my life I ran the race He set before me and that I cast away distractions that really won't matter in the end.  This is not just regarding who I invest my time and energies with but what I do with them.  So I am very introspective right now.  It is winter in my heart :).

maybe pics soon.  This weekend my oldest will be 8.  He is such a delight.  I absolutely love spending time with him and watching him learn.  I ask him if he would rather have a birthday party or a special family time my sweetheart chose time with just the family.  He is quite the family man/homebody.  So we are headed to Atlanta for a day at the Aquarium.  And of course a quick stop in IKEA.  We miss it being right down the road :)

Moving Forward

For the past 2 years Laura Story and her music has ministered to my heart like none other.  I love her songs.  Make Something Beautiful is my favorite song.  The second verse reads:


When I'm tired of pretending, and I can't recall my lines,
Do I say, I'm barely breathing, or just say, I'm doing fine.
I admit there is a yearning, for the hurting to subside,
But not at the risk of missing what You're doing with my life


It is hard for me to put into words how I am doing.  I feel like it is hard for people to understand this many moves in 7 years and the toll it has taken on mine and John's life.  There are SOOO many blessings that have come from the last 7 years and most of the time I wouldn't trade it for anything.  It has been our story and it has refined us in so many beautiful ways.  But the last few moves have been much harder and recovery is harder and longer.  But I am thankful to say that we are moving forward. When we moved to Seattle, John and I had this conversation about how we were doing after the very stressful last 2 months of 2010 and he said "it is ok if we are not good, we just have to keep moving forward."  I think this is the theme of this year for our family.  I have fought depression this year but unlike 09 and early 10 it has not gotten the best of me - PRaise GOD!!  We are just choosing to move forward and asking God to meet us right were we are.  And He has.  
We are close to being settled in here and I don't function well with an unsettled home.  So I am seeing the light around the corner :).  And the highlight of this week is my sweet friend Erin, who has lost 80lbs this year, has started Couch to 5K with me.  She has already been running but she gets it and she is willing to come along side me and walk this journey with me.  It is a wonderful blessing from God.  I can hardly move I am so sore but I have completed both of the runs the last 2 days and that is a huge feat for me.  
We LOVE having John at home and the boys love love love their 1.5 acres of roaming grounds.  The Cook's are moving forward - one.step.at.a.time.

In Case You're Wondering....

We are alive.  Lots has happened in the Cook house in the last 2 months.  It has been a heart-wrenching time in my life that I am still not ready to talk about in detail.  But I wanted to share some news with those of you who do care.  We are moving back to Reform, Alabama.  Those that have followed me for some time remember that we were living in that area when John unexpectedly lost his job in the spring of '09 and we moved to New York.  We are headed back the end of this month.  I will share more in time but for now this is our update.
Also, Brady will be having surgery on Thursday.  It is a tonsillectomy but they have "prepared" us that he is a slightly high risk for pulmonary edema because of a few issues.  A friend of mine's mom was out here this week.  She is a surgical nurse and she said that pulmonary edema is rare and said he will probably be fine but they have to tell us that.  So please pray for little man that his surgery would go off without a hitch and there would be no complications afterwards.
Thanks friends

Moving Again ....

...but just across the Lake.  Only one other time in all of our moves have we moved less than 10 miles from our previous home.  This move will require trips in the mini van across Lake Washington.  We are moving to the CITY!!!!  Lots has happened in the Cook's life since January.  The move is this weekend and we are actually so excited to see what God does in our lives over the next 3-5 years.  Yes, you heard me right.  It is our prayer that God continues to provide John with work and that He would allow our family to stay in the same home for at least 3-5 years.  We are joining a core team to plant a church in the "urban sprawl" of Seattle.  Did you know there are more Christians in communist China than there are in Seattle?  We are excited about the work and have surprisingly fallen in love with our city.  I can't wait to fill you in on more in the coming weeks.

This Proud and Sad Momma...

Jake has taken up running with John.  Currently they are running about 1/2 mile 3-4 days a week.  He ran his first race last weekend - we were so proud of him.

Over the last few months, Jake has been complaining of his neck hurting.  It has gotten worse so last Thursday we let B's ortho doctor check him out.  After exam and xrays and a little education on his occular albinism and nystagmus he recommended PT to see if we could help his muscles.

Today we had our first visist.  The PT ask Jake lots of questions and one was how often it hurt him during the day.  His answer was it hurts mostly all the time except when I am lying down.  :(
Then as we talked with the PT, I was answering questions and Jake overheard me tell the PT that his vision was 20/200 and that he was basically legally blind (we were talking in regards to distance from TV & Computer screen).  After we left Jake said momma I heard you tell that man I am legally blind.  So John explained what that means.  Momma had to excuse herself and shed a few tears.  Now that Jake is going strong in school we are seeing more difficulties regarding his vision.  The PT said we would work on this but that he didn't know how much it would help because we are working against an underlying condition. 

It just makes me sad today - that I watch my little one struggle and hurt.  Please pray with us that the PT helps - from research it seems that this could be life long for him. 

Doing Well

I really do want to pick this back up.  It will happen soon I hope.  But for now I am learning how to get my big rocks in daily.  This is a big priority for me and John this year.  So while I love this blog it is not a big rock in my life and so I haven't made it fit regularly.  Right now we are working on the following:
1. Daily Time in the Word
2. Daily Exercise - doing well with the weekdays - not so much weekends yet because we don't do schedules on the weekend.  But I am pleased with how it is coming.
3. Consistent school - I am LOVE LOVE LOVING school with my boys.  It is amazing to me how they are such sponges.  And Jake is to the age where we really have conversations during the day and I watch him grasping truths and making them his own.  It delights my heart so much.
4. Consistent home routine - this is not rigid but we are working to be diligent to do the work needed for the day so that we don't fall behind and struggle in other areas.  I am learning that all but 1 of our family members really needs peace and order to our home - and to have peace and order and little chaos requires daily work.
5. Healthy eating.  My understanding of the foods we eat has grown a lot in the past year.  We are slowly eliminating processed foods from our life and replacing them with whole, clean foods in their original form.  This makes for a bit more work in the kitchen but it is becoming a hobby (which John says I need) and I am enjoying learning and trying new things.  I find great delight in providing healthy meals and snacks for my family. 
6. Quality time as a family - this is the one we are trying to still work out the kinks with.  John going back to work out of the home is hard for us.  So we are working hard to figure out the best ways for all of us to fill our tanks with each other.  We are hoping that date nights will happen soon as well. 

So these things are filling my day.  We spend lots of time at home which my boys love.  I have seen their imaginations soar greatly over the last couple months.  Their friendships are strengthing and my understanding of what each of them needs from us is becoming more clearer - which helps us parent a little better.  Our family is in a good place right now.  Better than I think we have been in YEARS.  We are still looking for community but the four walls of our home are such a delight to me these days.  For that I am grateful.

7 year old Insight

 Jake is such a cool and unique kid.  I love the way his mind works.  He puts an amazing amount of thought into things.  John and I can say something to him and a day or so later he will come back with some thoughts or comments....he has been thinking. 
Last night at dinner we were talking about how fast his fingernails grow.  Way faster than Brady's.  So we passively talked about this for a minute and on to the next topic.  About 10 min later he said "Daddy don't laugh at what I am about to say: but I think my fingernails grow so fast because I pick my nose." 

Well I will admit John and I busted out laughing - it just took us so off guard.  I could not stop laughing.  Jake got really sad for a minute until we explained that we weren't laughing AT him but that what he said was just - well funny.  

This and That

Right now I have been exiled to my room while the boys and Nana prepare for my birthday in the morning.  I love that our kids love and expect our traditions.  It is neat that it has become a part of who we are as the Cook family. 

We are really getting into a good rhythm with homeschool the last 2 weeks.  Honestly, it has been on and off a lot this year.  Last fall had lots of travel and the packing of the house and holidays here and there and then the move.  Jake is really gaining ground on his reading but we are starting to hit some bumps in the road.  This week I have really struggled with the reality of Jake having ocular albinism/nystagmus.  Up until now these have not affected our daily life.   It is very hard for me to know how much to push him.  I have shed a few tears this week.  On one hand, I know that he struggles and we need to help him the best we can but on the other hand I do not want to disable him unnecessarily.  If you think of us will you please pray for God to give me and John wisdom and insight in to how to best help Jake deal with this disability.  He does not really know he has a disability and John thinks it is time for us to talk with him so that he can help us to know how to help him.  It makes me a little sad to have that conversation because I feel like it will take away a little of his innocence about life.  But only he can tell us what and how well he sees, when his eyes feel tired and such.  We think that if we give him words and understanding to some of his frustrations it might help us all. 

I am doing well - other than lifting I feel normal.  B has not slowed down a bit.  Rather than running full force he has mastered the art of scooting.  The itching has started :(.  Nana leaves tomorrow and we are very sad.  Hopefully we will survive the next few weeks.  We shall see :)

Life as We Know It...

Life for us slowly returning to normal minus the addition of the GREEN MONSTER.  That would be B's cast.  But let me tell you that thing has not slowed him down a bit.  He can scoot with the best of them.  John's mom is here for which I am so thankful.  She has been a huge help.  I feel back to normal.  We have gotten a good morning rhythm down that I am enjoying complete with homeschooling and some snuggling on the couch reading My Father's Dragon series which I HIGHLY recommend.  It is quite delightful.  Not a day passes that they don't ask for one more chapter.  

A friend of friends who lives across the water in Seattle loaned us her jogging stroller.  This weekend we had wonderful rain free weather and so we explored our little city of Kirkland.  It has a quaint little downtown area with all kinds of fun stores and a nice coffee shop.  This was refreshing for me.  Mainly because since my surgery and B's broken leg I haven't been liking being here.  It really had nothing to do with here just the fact of being without people - community.  And Saturday reminded me that I do enjoy this city and being here - I just need the people to come.  Soon I pray. 

I am a bit nervous about Nana leaving this weekend.  I feel more confident now that I can handle B after she leaves (at least in the house).  But I just know that we will spend our days in the house because I can't carry him up the flight of stairs required for us to leave said house.  I am a homebody but I like it to be by choice.  And honestly I have just felt overwhelmingly lonely at times the last few weeks.  With my mom and Nana here I have people. 

But this too will pass.  With every day we are re-gaining our footing both physically and emotionally.  I believe God when He promised to never leave me so I am choosing . fighting to trust that He will meet my needs. 

Quick Update

Today both me and B had follow up visits.  Mine went great.  Healing well and moving forward.  B's not so much.  The bones were 16 degrees off what they should be - the set in the ER was not enough.  So they recast him (bright green) and cut a slit in the cast and put a wedge in it.  They told us it would be very painful and well it was.  B has a super high pain tolerance and that baby wailed.  Momma is still distressed over watching him.  They told us if the wedge didn't close the gap to under 6 degrees we would have to do surgery.  It worked!!! - 1 degree off now!!!  Now with the wedge there is a danger for abscess on the skin because the cast is not pushing on his leg.  So pray with us this does not happen. 

My mom is leaving in the morning and John's mom will be joining us late Thurs night.  So John is working from home the next few days. 

Update on Brady

If you have facebook you know that yesterday was Jake's 7th Birthday.  We took the boys to Red Robin and this place .  It looked awesome and we knew the boys would love it.  Less than 30 seconds on the trampoline and Brady broke his tibula and fibula.  It was a freak thing and it sent us back the the ER we visited last week for me.  Same ER room to be exact.  The on-call ortho said he would have to have surgery to have it set and so they transported us via ambulance to Children's.  After 12 hours in ER he ended up only needed sedation to have it set rather than surgery for which we are thankful.   As you can see he is in a thigh high cast and can not bear weight for 3 weeks.
Problem is that I can lift weight for 5 more weeks and John works away from home right now and my mom is leaving this week.  We are hoping Nana will come back out here and help for a while.  Not sure how we are going to survive with 1. Brady having to be still and 2. Me not being able to lift him during the days.
So please pray for our family.  I had a very sad afternoon.  Just feeling isolated and did a lot of asking God what He was doing and why this was necessary.  John is REALLY tired from the last week and while he serves us without complaining I can see it - he is running on E.
Will update more soon
Thanks friends.

So Thankful for the Pain!!

Most of you know that over the last year I have had a few ER visits with chest pain.  I have had an endoscopy and some homeopathic tests and all have come back saying my body was great and that it must be anxiety. 

On Wednesday, I woke up and my chest once again starting tightening up.  I called John to give him a heads up but I was scheduled to meet with a trainer at the gym that morning so I wanted to push through - I mean it was suppose to be anxiety.  So I took the boys to the child care area and went to sit down for a minute - the pain was getting worse.  And then a wash of awful awful pain came over me and I began throwing up.  So after a few minutes I called John to leave work and come get us.  He brought me straight to the ER and as usual they began a cardiac workup - and nothing.  But this time the ER doc said he want to poke around and see where the pain was worst.  I had told him we had been through this several times the last year to no avail.  So when he poked around my gallbladder I begin to cry hard - awful pain.  So he sent me for an ultrasound and xrays and confirmed I had gallstones and in his words "a very very sick gallbladder, and it needed to come out today."  So they prepped me for surgery and that night I had it removed.

The Surgeon came in to talk about the risk and one worse case scenario was that one of the stones had escaped my gall bladder and was causing blockage in my common bile duct.  He said this could be lethal if not caught quickly.  He said if that were so he would have to get a GI doc to come in a remove it because he couldn't.  So the worst case scenario did happen but they could not get a GI doc in the first surgery so they had to keep me in the hospital and put me back under the next day - Thursday to take care of the blockage. 

I had hoped that I would go home last night but we had a hard time getting my pain managed off of the pain pump so it is looking like this morning.  My mom flew out here as soon as she heard and she will be here to help me through the recovery.  John has to fly to Atlanta Sunday through Tuesday as long as I am doing well he NEEDS to make this trip.  So please pray for easy recovery and for us to all be ok while John is away.  Thanks again for your prayers.

I can not tell you how relieved I am that after a year of these pains I finally know it was not just anxiety or in my head.  This pain and un-comfort I feel now is so worth it knowing I won't have to have another episode of worse than labor pain :)

Food For the Weary Soul

I want to post about us - it will come soon.  But right now I am in the trenches of arranging, organizing, settling in, creating routines for the flow of our day, getting library cards, gym memberships, finding a community group and women to be my friend.  I am busy in a very good kind of way.

Yesterday I was sad for many trivial reasons.  If you have ever moved I am sure you have felt those feelings.  The moments when you wish you could see a friend face to face or your kids could run across the street when there very best friend gets home from school.  I went to bed last night with a heavy heart and this morning I was reminded gently by a sweet woman (whom God has used of late to feed my weary soul) that I have a very dear friend with me ALWAYS.  He wants to commune with me often and “It’s my own inflated sense of self-importance, the elevation of my work, of my agenda, that keeps me from prayer-communion.  


This post is written so humbly and beautful and it makes me long to be with my father and to put my agenda aside and share my heavy heart with my friend.  I hope it encourages you in your day as well.

The Best Day of My Life...

 Those were Jake's words as he walked home from the park this afternoon. It amazes me how the simple things really delight a child's heart.

We decided to head out to Pike Place Market.  When we got out of the car we all smelled amazing bread.  So we followed our nose to Le Panier.  We ordered several pastries and tried them all.  It was so fun to watch the boys savor food and to use words like AMAZING, delightful and scrumptious.  But all of these words wonderfully described these pastries. 

Next we made our way through the market and it was delightful.  All of the beautiful flowers, homemade foods, pastas, fresh fish and all the produce a girl could ever need.  We went into Sosio's Fruit and Produce and meet our new produce man - Mr. Mike.  The kids fell in love with Mr. Mike (John and I kinda did as well).  He took the time - and man they were busy - to chat with us.  He gave us samples of some of his dried fruits and he introduced us to this:

Broccoli Romanesco 

He gave us some ideas on how to cook it.  Chef John will be handling that tomorrow night.  I will keep you posted.  Oh and he gave us one of their cloth bags as a welcome to Seattle gift.   

 

Next we stopped in Beecher's Handmade Cheese.  The boys got to watch them making cheese.  It was here that they decided their new careers of choice....Cheese makers.  Brady wants to be the man with shovel and Jake wants to be the grinder.  Homemade cheese at my beckon call - I could live with that :)

Then they got to sample some of the cheeses.  I recall the word AMAZING being thrown around a bit.  We even brought some home with us.  But first they had to give us a sample of their mac and cheese.  OH MY!!!!  Jake requested this to be his birthday meal this year.  It was SOOO good!!!

We we got in the car to leave Jake said Mama this was the best family day we have ever had.  Can we do this every Saturday?  Why yes son we can :)

After we got home I needed to go to the store to fill our empty pantry so John walked the boys down the street to play here:

What a beautiful place to play!!!  And then they walked back and stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate and to enjoy this sunset (just across the street from our new home):
















At which point Jake told his daddy that THIS was the best day of his life.

Grace Flows Down

John is a music man and so are my boys.  I enjoy it but I also enjoy silence.  I don't mind (in fact I mostly prefer) driving in the car in silence.  John often gets frustrated with me because I have a hand full of songs that I could listen to day in and day out.  The ones that really minister to my heart are my ones of choice.  And usually when I choose to turn on music it is for this purpose - to worship and fill up my dry soul. 

The song Grace Flows Down has been my song of choice this week.   This has been a challenging week.  It really has nothing to do with Seattle but just with transition and the previous 6 weeks.  The kids have had zero routine through this process and we have been here there and everywhere.  And John and I both expected this week.  We know from experience that these first few weeks are trying but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier. 

We aren't trying to get into routine this week - we are just adjusting to time change (been pretty hard), sleeping in a new place and feeling safe in our beds, getting a home set up, adjusting to dad being gone after working from home but specifically having him with us and at our dispense for the last 6 weeks.  Just those things this week :).  I have also learned not to jump in head first because in the past it has caused much frustration on my part.  So we are easing into life. 
But right now I have 2 boys who have had lots of freedom the last month and are in need of gently and graciously being reeled back in.  If you know me well gentle and gracious are not words I would normally use to describe myself - especially as a parent. 

Here is where my song comes in...I have ask God this week to teach me to be gracious to my children.  And the amazing thing that He is doing is often reminding me of His graciousness toward me.  He is filling my tired and weary self up with reminders of His goodness, gentleness and graciousness in my life.  I am thankful that God is about bringing it all back to Him.  I can't conjure of the traits toward my children but as God is filling my tanks with who He is to me and in my life it is overflowing into my kids lives.  The way it is suppose to be - right? 

So life right now is exactly what I expected it to be but as usual God is SOOOO much more than I could ever ask or imagine.  His grace flows down and it covers me!!!
Have a good weekend friends.

We are HERE!!!

After 2 LONG months we are here.  We are about to start the next chapter in His Story of our life.  Last night,  as the plane descended on the city lit up in all it's glory, I prayed.  I ask the Lord to meet us here, to bless this time and to make us fruitful here in this place.  And I have hope that He will.  He always has.  Sometimes, many times, it was not on my time line or agenda...but He has ALWAYS met us where we are.  And because He has personally been faithful to me I have no doubt that He won't continue to be faithful. So this morning as I sit in a hotel room waiting I am full of expectation and HOPE. 
More to come soon - we are headed to swim off some energy while we wait for John to return from work to get us and take us to our new apt.

Hurry Up and Wait

My speed seems to be way ahead of God's perfect timing these days.  And because of that we have faced many disappointments along this way.  For example, when we got word about the first potential job I emailed my friend Jessie to give me the rundown of what I would need to survive NYC in the winter.  And I started looking for apts and YMCA's and churches and NOTHING.  And then Rochester, NY came on the table and here I went again - hurrying up just to WAIT.  And then Atlanta, Saudi Arabia, Harrisburg Pennsylvania and Bristol Connecticut.  So you can imagine how my mind went to living in these places and then we had to wait - either because we passed up the opportunity or things were moving slow because of the holidays.  Either way I would hurry up and plan only to find myself waiting.  It was quite disappointing. 
Today, I experienced the same thing.  We have spent all week looking for apartments there.  We were told to look and let them know what we found.  Well we did just that and found what we think is the perfect place in the perfect location.  But it seems that it all has to happen before noon tomorrow.  It seems impossible because big corporations do very little by noon the next day.  Though it could still happen, I succumb to yet another disappointment of hurrying up to wait.  But tonight in my disappointment God spoke to my heart:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your OWN understanding, in all ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight."
I don't want to hold so tightly to my ideals of what is best for my family that I miss God and his straight path.  He has orchestrated this in his time and why do I not trust him to carry it out to completion - even the small details? 
Whatever you are doing Lord, help me slow down and wait!!!

Cook's Current Events

Life has taken an unexpected turn for the Cook's the last month.  I believe the last post I wrote was putting this blog to rest for a season so I could focus on the people in my life.  We were finally building relationships in Bham and starting to experience the community that we desperately long for.  It was becoming home.  But God has different plans for us.  In November, we found out that the company he was contracting for did not have another contract to place him on.  So with a one week notice we were jobless.  So we started planning - our plan was to move back to Denver.  There is a large flash/flex community (the programming languages John works with) in Denver and we were sure there would be a spot open for him.  But again, this was not God's plan for us.  After a few weeks, he did not have a single interview for a job in Denver.  So again we had to ask "God what are you doing?"

Options were coming to the table in places like Manhattan, Rochester New York and Saudi Arabia.  Then he had a really cool interview with ESPN but well they wanted to pay him pennies for his work.  So he turned down several opportunities and we waited.  We did this asking God for some specific request regarding his job but I will confess it was scary to tell potential jobs that we weren't interested.  But with a knot in our guts we waited.  And then it happened - from start to finish within 24 hours.  A GREAT job with a GREAT company.  The only catch is well in the words of my friend "it is about as far away from Birmingham as you can get without going to Saudi Arabia"  We are headed to Seattle for at least the year of 2011. 

This company does about 90% of their jobs remote (working from home) which is opposite of his previous company - thus his traveling about 50% 2010.  However, this particular contract is slated to last the entire year and required John to travel 3 weeks out of a month. We decided that it was not worth our family being together for only 16 weeks this year.  So the company is providing us with a furnished apartment rather than paying for John to travel for 3 weeks a month.  So Seattle - here we come. 

Stay tuned for more as we start this journey in the Pacific Northwest :)

Putting it to Rest

I am putting my blog to rest.  I hope to revive it again someday because writing is good for me.  But the truth is my capacity is limited right now and there are actually real live people in my life.  We are actually beginning to taste the fruits of community both with our faith family and with our neighbors who we hope to one day join us in our faith family.  I am not sure John and I have been here since we left staff almost 8 years ago.  We have had relationships sprinkled throughout but not community. 
I am really focusing on some healing in my life - physically, emotionally and spiritually that is requiring a lot of my time during my days.  I have 2 hearts at home that need mama to shepard them and love them with my time.  I have an amazing husband who is absent alot in this season which leaves me to go it alone.  I have for the first time in many years a desire to put forth effort to put down roots.  We believe we are here and we NEED to be here.  So here we are and I need and want to learn how to live my life not in survival mode.  This blog steals my thoughts more than it should so for now I am trading it in for the real live people in my space.  Thanks to those of you who have encouraged me through these last few years of struggle and learning. 

Roll Tide

Alabama Homecoming has become a Cook Family Tradition.  I use to dread it because you have to get up sooo early and drag little ones along that don't really appreciate it.  But this year the kids had a blast.  I admit I still dreaded it because I am a homebody these days.  But once we got there it was really fun.  Our neighbors joined us this year and made it even more fun. 

This is how all three of the boys looked at the end of the day.  It took 4 washcloths to get JUST brady clean.  They had a blast and it was sooo worth the clean up.