We spent Easter this year at Aunt Jean’s…eating yummy food, hunting for eggs, and catching up on life. I love this picture that Heather snapped of all of the kids together (from left to right: Annabella, Jordan, Dylan, Val, Jonas, Xander, and Roman). I can’t believe how big they’re all getting!!!
We are so grateful to Mark Fielder, one of Tom’s good friends from the fire department, for letting us go camping on his land over Spring Break!!!
It was definitely a cool day and an even colder night, but we very much enjoyed walking through the fields and the woods, following the creek, collecting firewood, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and staying warm in our sleeping bags. It is always so soul refreshing to get away from it all and just be in the great outdoors.
I had the worst case of strep throat I think I’ve ever had and was pretty much in bed from Saturday through Monday. My sweet little Xander asked this morning, “Mom, are you feeling better today? Cause I’d really like to go somehwere…” Thanks to prayers, rest, and antibiotics I actually started feeling like myself today. So, after taking the boys to a few quick appointments in the morning, we headed to IHOP for lunch (spontaneous fun) and to Pinkerton Park to play.
Here’s Tom on his annual golf trip with his best friend, Jim…I love these faces so much.
Tom and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in Turks and Caicos!!!
Thank you so much to Aunt Julie and to Grandma and Grandpa who took care of our wild and crazy boys for us while we were away. There is NO way we could’ve done it without you.
Tom and I talked about how this was our best trip together yet. We flew to Florida and then on to Turks and Caicos, rented a teeny tiny car, stayed in a sweet bright yellow house a few blocks from the beach, spent mornings on the beach snorkeling and reading and resting, ate lunches listening to the sound of the waves, spent afternoons resting at home, and spent evenings eating home cooked meals on the screened in porch and riding bikes for ice cream or frozen yogurt or picking up groceries or watching movies. We saw sea turtles, stingrays, barracudas, and lion fish when we snorkeled (Tom saw a black reef tip shark!!!). We marveled at the beautiful, huge yachts. We saw a rainbow (or two) every day. We ate a delicious lunch and dinner out. We went on a snorkeling tour (we saw JoJo the dolphin and his family, I got incredibly sea sick, and Tom ate a conch spine). We renewed our vows on the beach.
I am so blessed to be married to Tom…his love for and patience with me heals my soul and gets my heart every day, he gave me three beautiful wild at heart boys, he makes me laugh countless times a day, and he’s still always the one I’m drawn to in any room. Here’s to 10 more years!!!
For more pictures, click on “Turks and Caicos 2018” in the Picture Pages column to the right…
I enjoyed my post-Christmas dinner/movie outing with Mom, Darren, Kerry, Julie, and Jeanne. We went to see The Darkest Hour (a film about Winston Churchill) and ate a yummy dinner afterwards.
I loved being able to be a part of the boys’ winter parties on the last day of school before winter break. Xander’s class hunted for candy canes, painted ornaments, and played reindeer antler ring toss. Jonas’ class listened to Mrs. Blackburn’s special Christmas stories, made a ribbon/cinnamon stick ornament, and exchanged books with their secret pals. Roman’s class decorated Santa hats, enjoyed a game of holiday bingo, and played musical stuffed animal presents. They loved joining in the holiday sing-a-long in the gym…their favorite part was seeing the Gingerbread Man.
Tom and his good friend, Dave, have been working really hard to get a wood burning stove set up in our living room and running for us by Christmas!!! They finished this week, and it has been such a blessing. Tom enjoyed taking Jonas out to cut some firewood.
I was so excited when Kerry invited me to help out with Evening in December, Daystar Ministry’s annual fundraising event. It was a beautiful, sparkly night at the Loveless Cafe with music by Michael Tait, Cindy Morgan, Sandra McCracken, The Isaacs, and Alison Krauss. My favorite part, by far, was getting to hang out with my big brother.
We spent Thanksgiving in Virginia this year. Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa, the Northern Seyfrieds (Tim, Mary, Lindsey, and Audrey), the Longs (Rich, Sherri, Kaitlyn, and Andrew), the Paccassis (Dave, Tree, John, Lily, Peter, Sam, Gianna, Philip, Sam, and Gabe), and five priest friends from Ghana (Father Felix, Father Eric, Father Patrick, Father John, and Father Eric).
Tom was the assistant coach for Jonas’ soccer team this season. It was a good run. Here is Jonas being honored by Coach Tom and Coach Tom (yes, two Coach Toms) before his final game. His award…”Most Fearless”.
Happy Halloween from the Seyfrieds!!!
Jonas: a Ninja
Xander: Ash the Pokemon Trainer
Roman: Steve from Minecraft
Tom: an alien
Jodi: Katniss Everdeen from the the Hunger Games
I loved being able to go on Roman’s kindergarten field trip with him to Walden Pumpkin Farm. He visited with the animals, learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin, picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, and went on a hayride.
We had a wonderful Fall Break!!!
On Wednesday, I took the boys to the Patterson Park Community Center indoor pool. It was the first time that Jonas and Xander were tall enough to ride the big, twisty slide…so they were super pumped. Roman was bummed out that he couldn’t ride it but found a friend from school to play with and got to spend some special time in the water with Mommy.
Grandma and Grandpa came in on Wednesday night to spend Fall Break with us. We always love their visits…Petra too, she does laps around the house as soon as they walk in the door.
On Thursday, Grandpa and Tom went golfing, while Grandma and I took the boys to the zoo. First, we stopped to see the monkeys who were spunky and swinging from the branches. Then, Grandma rode the zoo’s zip line ride, Soar, with Jonas and Xander…she’s so cool. The boys were even tall enough to ride it with each other, which was really exciting for them and a little bit scary for me. We rode the carousel several times, and Grandma got to cross two things off of her bucket list (riding on an elephant and riding on an ostrich). Afterwards, the boys ran around on the playground and we snapped some pictures with the pumpkins.
On Friday, we relaxed at home (the boys love playing board games with Grandpa), and then went to Walden Pumpkin Farm. The boys visited with the animals, ran through the mazes, and played in the activity center.
I enjoyed being able to go to each of the boys’ fall parties. They had so much fun wrapping their friends up as toilet paper mummies, making scarecrow and pumpkin crafts, and eating yummy fall-inspired food. What a great way to ring in Fall Break!!!
The boys were SO excited to run in the Fun Run. Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored them!!! They had a blast running and helping raise money for their school.
Roman had Apple Day in his kindergarten classroom this afternoon. I loved being able to be there with my little buddy and help out. It was such a fun set up…the kids rotated through the following stations: apple stamping and face painting, apple stained glass, apple graphing, apple weighing, and apple tasting. I think Roman’s favorite station was apple tasting…with red and green and pink apple slices, red and green apple chips, apple fritters, apple pies, and apple juice.
The boys had Donuts with Dad this morning at school. I was SO incredibly moved by how many dads showed up to be with their kids…the line literally wrapped around the school and snaked down the hallway…I teared up and applauded all of the daddies as I walked by…especially this one with these three boys.
Tom and I were so excited to get to go to Montgomery Bell State Park for a quick backpacking and camping trip. We were beyond blessed to have a good friend stay with the boys for one day and one night, so we could spend some much needed time together away from it all out in nature. Here are some pictures from our time together…
I got up early this morning and drove to Franklin to run the Franklin Classic 10K. The weather was beautiful. The course was hilly (I heard one guy I ran beside say, “I hate Tennessee!”). But I love Tennessee, and I was so grateful to be able to run and to reach my goals (pace myself from the beginning so I could speed up at the end, run the entire time, and beat my personal best).
