Simply Sara

Saturday night we attended Newspring 's LiveFreeLiveLoud Benefit concert. It was great! Thousands of people spread out in lawn chairs enjoying great music and giving money to local charities. Our little entertainer danced the night away with his best friend Andrew by his side. The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show. "Boon-Boon" as Lucas likes to say.

What a great reminder that this really isn't about me at all. From Beth Moore's Breaking Free "We have a crippling tendency to forget what God has done for us. For a while, we're humbled. Then, if we do not guard our hearts and minds, we begin to think we must have done something right for God to have been so good for us. Therein lies another road to captivity. It is the road of legalism. Hezekiah believed he was right with God because of what he had done."

I'm having trouble sleeping again. Okay, let me rephrase that. My waking up multiple times throughout the night routine is becoming an annoyance again. I've always been big on sleep. In fact, my Mom loves to tell stories about my need for sleep as a newborn that landed me in a hospital in Atlanta because I never wanted to wake up and eat. (Too bad I don't have that problem now - not the hospital part, but the I'm not interested in eating part!) In high school, I was the typical teen who stayed up late every Friday night and slept until 11:00 on Saturday. College was the era of naps (typically after class, not during, unless it was an 8 am class). I got lucky when it came to Lucas's sleeping habits. Apparently sleeping genes can be passed down because Lucas has been a champion sleeper since about 4 weeks old. I think my favorite catching up on sleep season was around 12 weeks old when L started sleeping 12-15 hours straight every night. I would get up around 7 in the...

Last week we spent some time downtown at the local farmers market having our pictures taken by our dear friends, Ben and Skye. I wanted some casual and gorgeous photos to capture this exciting time in our lives. And I think Ben did exactly that for us! These are some of my favorites from the shoot!

My Daddy My world is upside down when we’re apart. You know just how to make me laugh and warm my heart. I am a reflection of the qualities that make you great. We share a bond, you and I, that nothing can ever separate. Mommy doesn’t always understand why we act the silly way we do, But the truth is, I can’t help but be happy when I’m with you. I will never fully understand all that you give to Mommy and me, Until one day I become a Daddy to a happy 2 year old just like me. Then I will look back over a lifetime of guidance and love, friendship and laughter, And know that God gave me the perfect example of how to be a loving father. You are my best friend and the greatest Daddy I could ever hope for. I will love you forever and ever. Happy Daddy’s Day!!

Here she is! Baby girl is front and center, filling out my abdomen and rocking my world. Matt took this picture of me last night when we went out to a new (to us) Japanese Steakhouse to have an early Father's Day celebration. My precious friend Kathryn sent me this amazing purse as an early birthday present. Thanks girl, I LOVE it! More days than not, I'm struggling with the "I don't want to be pregnant anymore; this is too uncomfortable and painful to go on much longer, right?" attitude. It isn't pretty. This morning I'm going with the "why in the heck have I been awake since 3:00 a.m. except for the 3 nightmares that occurred when I did manage to tune out the snoring (sorry honey) and sleep?" attitude. This one is even less pretty. I'm a 8 to 9 hours makes me happy sleeper, so this is going to be a very long day I'm afraid. Feel free to pray for me (or Matt and Lucas).

Welcome to our front yard. Okay, technically this mass of dirt only makes up the middle section of our driveway, but when you can't get the concrete guy to answer his phone and do something about the mess he made, it sure feels like the entire yard. We're getting our house ready to sell and fixing our broken driveway is first on the list. Thank you Jesus for the YMCA waterpark. I have a feeling we're going to be spending most of our summer mornings here. I don't mind wearing my (unattractive) maternity swimsuit too much. I'm just happy to work on my tan while little man has a blast. (I think bigger looks better when you're tan!) I love watching his confidence grow as he is in the water each day. Check out that fountain! One of L's favorite things to do is stand on top of the fountain then giggle with glee when the water squirts out.

I had a craving today for peanut butter fudge brownies. I found the receipe yesterday in my Pillsbury Best of the Bake Off Cookbook (wonderful, by the way). Since it's been too hot to play outside lately, I asked Lucas to help me. He loves helping me bake. His job includes pouring ingrediants into the mixer and turning it on. The whole process takes a lot longer when L helps, but he loves it so much that it's worth the extra time (and occasional frustration). Everything was going great until Lucas turned the mixer onto high right after I had added a 1/3 of our dry ingrediants resulting in this picture! Poor kid - he had cocoa in his eyelashes. Look at that yummy goodness - totally worth the extra cleanup from the cocoa/flour explosion. Wow! If you get a hankering for some rich, chocolate, peanut butter goodness, come on bye! The day ended great (after a melt down at dinner) with Lucas making this killer track for his monster truck. I love watching his mind work.

One thing I will never have to worry about in an emergency is Lucas not being seen by the lifeguards. Monday Lucas and I went to the YMCA waterpark for the first time this summer! We had a blast splashing in the shallow water, running through the fountains and going down the frog slide (Lucas did this over and over while I "caught" him at the bottom.) It's not that the lifeguards were especially friendly, but my adorable little man made sure to introduce himself and carry on many conversations with each life guard. It usually began with "I'm Gu-Cas. There's my Mommy (finger pointing wildly). I'm swimmin'" and so on and on. It became more and more comical as Lucas was spending more time talking with the lifeguards than actually playing in the pool. Switching gears, Baby Girl (that's what we call her since we can't agree on a name) is more active than I remember Lucas ever being. We have 9 1/2 weeks to go! She seems to be dropping now - I ...