YES, I KNOW.  It’s just too much cuteness.

So today Daniel graduated from Pre-school. We are a low-drama family, I think. Okay, well, we are 5/6ths low drama, plus me. I bring the emotions, for sure. They started out the ceremony with this video of painting the nursery and the baby gradually getting bigger and bigger, and yes, I was crying.

Mr. Comedy

Daniel came strutting out like a rooster when they called his name. It was pretty hilarious, but then he got on stage and went silent on us. Our kids definitely get the stage fright. I feel their pain. I used to get it too.

His teachers coached them well on how to pose for photos when they receive their diploma.

We love our Dan man. And yes, of course, JD took his shoes off during the ceremony. He and I have a thing about wearing shoes.

I was thrilled on our trip home, when Caleb got Daniel to sing one of his graduation songs for us and even caught it all on video.

This video is extremely sweet, and listen closely because Caleb has one well-timed funny line at the end. Watch it. You’ll be glad you did.:

For those of you reading via email, here’s the link: April’sblogvideo

And now we are all so FREE! Alan has been completely done with his thesis, even with approvals of the thing, for a week now. Joshua finished his school year today. Caleb finished his school year yesterday. Dan graduated. Now I have only to finish up my grade book and report cards, pick out a new house, and move out of this one. Bring it on, y’all! I still can’t believe it’s all really happening!

The post Daniel Sings the Gospel Fuzzies (And it’s ADORABLE.) appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Today I took all the boys to the beach, by myself. Yes, it was a bona fide foolish thing to do. I might not try it again any time soon. It’s been warm here, and I just really wanted to go to the beach! The boys very excitedly dressed in their swimming trunks and packed in the van. We’ve never gotten ready to go somewhere so quickly!

Do you have a soundtrack to your life? I am one of those people who burst into RANDOM songs, ALL the time. If I’m not singing, I’m not happy. I sing, and I sing, and I sing. My head is like the “shuffle” option. It just pops up different songs all the time. Sometimes it’s because the song fits the day, and that was the case today.

There’s a new song out that just FELT like TODAY. To understand the title of my post and the vibe of our day out at the beach, you should hear this song:

Isn’t it great? So peppy! Plus, it really is a beautiful day to be alive.

Only, one small problem. I have a toddler.

He ties with his brother Joshua for being the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. 🙂 But at least his fits are silent. That’s right. That picture is one of JD’s famous “silent fits.” He was mad at me because I wouldn’t let him chase the birds anymore.

So let me tell you about our day.

First, we went to our favorite beach. It always has this great big tidal pool/drainage ditch that you have to cross, but usually there’s a bridge, and we just deal with it.

Today the wooden board that we call a bridge was gone, and the great big tidal pool was almost a river that went all the way to the ocean. It was massive. I would have taken a photo, but I was too busy trying to keep JD out of that nasty water. Alan says it’s nasty sewage drainage water. 🙁  He is a civil engineer, so I figure he knows a thing or two about it.

We had to hike a half mile around the thing to get to the ocean. That may not sound far, but when you are escorting a person that is two feet tall, insists on walking himself, all while lugging four beach towels in your shoulder bag, let me tell you, it’s far.

The big boys waited very sweetly for the slow team (JD and me) to catch up. They love jumping in the waves, and thankfully none of them get in too far.

Look closely. That’s Dan, not JD, looking for more ladybugs.

JD has this fascination with chasing birds. Do all little boys do this? I think ALL of mine have. When I decided to do the beach thing by myself, I thought it would be okay because last time JD just sat and dug around in the sand and complained a little bit. No biggie.

This time JD kept taking off after birds. Now that wouldn’t be so bad, but I have three other boys to keep an eye on. I had to keep making Daniel come with me to get JD.

In this video, you can see the boys running, but you can’t tell how big this drainage pond is. It was much longer than it was wide!

Finally, Dan just banked himself in the sand and started building ladybug houses. Caleb soon joined him.

We found lots of ladybugs in the sand today, and we all thought that was really neat.

building ladybug houses

This is the best I can do for an all four boys pic.

Once JD accepted that I was finished chasing birds, he threw his silent fit, and then he spent a while watching a ladybug. Joshua started asking to go home, so he took a vote. We said, “JD, do you want to go home?”

JD smiled, “Yes!!”

Hoping to avoid the long trek around the nasty water pool, I spotted what I thought would be a short cut around the other way. Let’s just say it didn’t end where I thought it would, and we ended up walking on asphalt in our bare feet. Thankfully, the boys are so used to California briars in their bare feet in our backyard that I was the only one complaining. JD was happy to be carried all the way back to the car, which didn’t end up being a shortcut at all. It was another long hike. I was so grateful that Joshua could carry the beach bag for me!

It was not the peaceful day at the beach that I had pictured. It was a stressful hour at the beach. One hour. That’s how long we lasted. I mean, of course it wasn’t relaxing. Ha! What was I thinking? But I was singing, “It’s good to be alive,” the whole time because you know what? It is!

The post “I wanna live like there’s no tomorrow..” appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

These videos crack me up. It’s just so Daniel. He’s “reading” a book about John Smith, the best leader that the Jamestown settlement had. He kept focusing on the photo of John Smith, wounded in the Indian camp. Daniel read it as, “Him dead. Him died. meh meh meh meh meh….” Perhaps a lot of what I say to Daniel is simply translated as something from Charlie Brown’s teacher.

To get the full story, you ‘gotta’ watch both movies! 😉

I thought Joshua’s, completely oblivious to his surroundings, comments were also funny!

The post About John Smith: “Him died. Dead. Dead. Dead” appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

That’s us at a Washington Nationals game on Memorial Day. We love baseball games, and that was really fun.

Plus, we’ve gotten to see some wonderful friends this week. Thanks for having us over, Pastor and Terri!!!

Their dog is probably still recovering from what Daniel seemed to think was their ‘play date.’ Poor Annie.

So good things have happened, and a few crummy things have happened, but nothing all that terrible. I think the main thing getting to me is just the stress of this humongous move!!

So three thoughts for today:

1. A good night’s sleep will fix a lot of things. I’m hoping to go get one in a minute.

2. A grumpy baby will ruin anyone’s day. If you don’t believe me, then it has obviously been a long time since you hung out with one.

3. The world still turns. All of today’s problems will be forgotten three weeks from now.

4. No matter how early I get up to have coffee, every child in this house will be awake before I’ve gotten the coffee poured into my cup…

But they are ADORABLE. Here’s your weekly dose of adorable. Just watch this video of JD crawling over to wake up his brother:

Choose joy….choose joy…..choose joy….I’ll just keep repeating it to myself.  Never mind that the dryer and the washer are both full and I want to go to bed. I’m choosing joy…….

How’s everyone else’s week going?? I could use some GOOD news. Or some misery company…ha….

The post On the Outside Looking In appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Welcome!!!!

I’m almost finished converting to WordPress for blog hosting and the new name!!!

That’s really the whole reason I’m doing all of this was to get my own name and drop the whole “blogspot.com” bit.  I definitely like this better!

I will have the pages at the top all finished up soon.

Meanwhile, I want to say THANK YOU for following me from the old web address to the new one.  Pretty please, pause a moment and leave yourself a trail so you can find your way back…..if you know what I mean.  I’m just terrified I’m going to lose all my readers because they won’t know how to find me.

Here are several ways to always know where my website is and keep in touch:

1.  You can follow me on my Facebook page, via the “Like” icon on my sidebar.  Each time I post something new, I always post it on my Facebook page.

2.  You can subscribe via email, and this is a great option if you are not a regular Facebook user!

..but if you don’t really want to hear from me every day or even every few days, that may not be for you.  Ha!  Of course, I’m sure you would never get tired of me…

3.  If you have bloglovin’ or any other form of reader, you can add me to that by copy/pasting my url.

4.  You can just bookmark me.

5.  You can follow me on Pinterest or Google +, but that won’t let you know when I post something new.

6.  If all else fails, go to my old website, and click the link that I left there!

old site:  The Liter Side of Life

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