Nature Walks

The greenbelt is beautiful again this time of year, and the boys and I took TWO nature walks yesterday!  Benjamin was sure to bring his binoculars to identify various types of butterflies and birds.  Sawyer was very cooperative, riding in the baby Bjorn carrier for the first walk, and riding in the Bob stroller for the second.

On the afternoon walk, Evan took his scooter and Benjamin took a walking stick.  As predicted, the scooter, walking stick, and helmet all ended up being carried by me on the Bob half way through the walk. Unfortunately,we did not expect to be swarmed by mosquitoes on the trail, so we had to find an alternative way home.  The boys were good sports through it all, and I was impressed with how far they walked.  On our way back, Benjamin saw a skeleton of a deer.  He was very excited and noted that it was the first "real" skeleton he had seen aside from dinosaur skeletons in books. He later said, "Mommy, that skeleton was so cool, I can't stop thinking about it".  He took a picture of it and we sent it to Papa for identification.  

We are truly blessed to have this beautiful land behind our house.  It is one of the things that makes it very difficult to think of ever moving.

Easter

I'm a little late in posting this, but you know what they say ;)  This was the third Easter that the two boys have been able to participate in the Easter egg hunt in our yard.  As usual, it was so exciting for them.  This year it went by so quickly that we hardly had time to experience it.  The six adults followed the two children around the yard taking pictures for what seemed like only a few minutes.  I'm thinking next year the Easter Bunny needs to get a little more clever when hiding those eggs.  It also occurs to me that next year, that bunny will have to bring more eggs.  This time for 3 little boys!

Who is ready for an egg hung?!

 I'll be first!

 I've got to find more!

Its mine!

On to the next

 Yes, another one!

I wonder if there are more?

 After the Hunt

  

The proud hunters

Spoils of the hunt

Future hunter

Utter Glee

Blast Off!

Lance and I have had Regents School of Austin on our radar for several years now.  For a long time we debated where to send our children to school, be it private or public.  When we bought this house we were not thinking about schools, which was probably not the smartest thing....  Had good public schools been on the top of the list we probably would be living in Westlake in an old 1960's home, or in Circle C.  These are both great areas for raising kids, but I am so glad that we live here in Sunset Valley!

God works in amazing ways, and I think that putting us in a place where the public schools were less than ideal led us to seek out private schools, which eventually led us to Regents.  But when we first got thinking about private school we had not even heard of Regents yet.  I remember when Benjamin was just a baby, Lance and I went to an open house at the Montessori school.  It seemed like a good prospect, since both of our neighbors' kids went there  and, oh yeah, it was in WALKING distance from our home!  It was pretty evident right away that this would not be a good fit for us.  We knew that their policy of no "screen time" until age 7 would not work for our family.  We certainly don't park the kids in front of the television for hours but, come on, we like our television!  I was also not very impressed with their belief that we should not praise our children for fear of ruining their self-esteem.

God had a plan for us all along.  When Evan was about 8 months old we joined a life group at Austin Ridge.  At first we were taken back and felt like outsiders when we found that ALL of the couples in the group had some connection to Regents, whether parents of Regents students, or teachers themselves.  In fact, our life group then accounted for a total of 8 Regents students and 3 Regents teachers.  Lance and I wondered if we were in the wrong group and I felt that familiar sense of not belonging.  But something was different this time.  I felt a sense that God wanted us to stay with this group, that he had a plan that we were not aware of.  Keep in mind, Lance and I were still pretty much "Baby Christians" at this point so this was a big revelation for us.

After hearing so many great things about Regents, and seeing what a community it was, Lance and I knew it was the place for us.  Not just for our children, but for our family.  We started the application process in the Spring of last year, which seemed to impress the admissions officer that I worked with.  We went on a tour, went to an open house, took Benjamin to an evaluation, had an interview, and sat in on a class.  Throughout that process it was more and more clear that this place was AMAZING!  We just felt an overwhelming sense of wanting to go back in time and attend Regents ourselves.  What a dream that our kids could go to this school from Kindergarten through 12th and learn about God the whole time.

A few weeks ago on a Friday night, I headed to the mailbox with my heart pounding. It felt just like those times that I waited for acceptance letters from college, except somehow it seemed even more important.  I opened the box and saw a large manilla envelope and just knew what it was.  My heart soared.  I brought it in and Lance and I opened it.  Halleluja!  We hugged and cried as the boys slept upstairs.  We knew that this was just the beginning of something big, something that we would all be a part of for 18 years to come!  Thank you God for knowing what was best for us before we did! Thank you for your infinite blessings!

Here are some pictures of the acceptance letter and our reaction.  It was just perfect that the head of the school drew a rocket to symbolize the start of Benjamin's life at Regents.  It symbolizes the beginning of so many things:  our first child's first days of school, the beginning of his education, the beginning of our lives as members of a community of Christians, and I pray the beginning of something very special indeed!

Yes I know that the above pic is not very good, that we look like *&*^%, and that there is a spec of food in my teeth.  But, please try to focus on the look of pride and excitement on our faces.