Happy Birthday Dear Griffy

Griffin Andrew...

If I could bottle up your cute little 6 year old self right now and save it for rainy days, I would.  I am absolutely smitten with where you are with life right now.  Gone are your toddler days, you are certainly a big boy...which some days breaks my heart, but honestly I adore listening to your views on life and your commentary on the what's happening around you at your age.  You have quite a way with words and are just a hoot.  Dad and I find ourselves in stitches all the time over your use of phrases such as, "I love you just the way you are"..."Fortunately, I didn't do that"...and the ever so common, "but Beanie did" Ha ha!  You are a great helper, quick to tackle a new task or adventure, lover of all things boy and outside, builder of Lego's, ninja loving turtle enthusiast, reader and watcher of Superheros (much to daddy's delight), fan of the Bulls, best buddy of Charlie, wrestler of Beanie, defender to Crosbi & still my snuggle bug (you ask every night)!!  All that to say, I love you and always have "just the way you are"!  

The other day you were playing with some buddies when some of the moms noticed a lull in activity and a pile of boys circled up on the sidewalk.  Upon further inspection we realized you all had destroyed several aunt hills and were hypnotised by the desperate scramblings of these tiny creatures, and OK, you were smashing them too, I can't lie.  To our horror, as we panned out from the aunts on the sidewalk we realized that the sidewalk cracks weren't the only place the aunts were taking refuge, there were a fair amount crawling all over you boys.  Up and down your legs, in and out of your shoes, socks, shorts and shirts...and dare I even say hair.  I shudder to even recall it all because bugs crawling all over me seems like a nightmare, but you guys weren't phased in the least.  Us moms had a healthy mix of disgust and laughter as we shook tiny bugs out of socks and undies.  When I told daddy about it, he said, "Well, they're boys Abbi...what did you expect??" He is right.  And so are you.  You are all boy and all adventure and most importantly WILD AT HEART.  That is where I pray you will stay.  I want you to keep your free spirit, your zest for life, your love for all the good God has for us to experience here on earth.  I will also pray for wisdom...so that you never go sky diving with a second hand parachute.  Ha ha!  It's a big year for you buddy.  You are starting school and we have to send you out into the world.  6 years ago you changed my life.  You gave me one of God's richest and most abundant blessings and although I am nervous and sad to let you go (even in just this little way) I know that I have to give you back over to HIM so that you can change some more lives and so that your life can be changed!  Oh, the best and most beautiful parts of life are just around the corner for you bud!  I love that I get VIP seats.   I am praying for you to experience all the joy and even some sorrow...the full spectrum of life my son.  I wouldn't want you to miss out on even one thing.  Each piece of life that we go through, good or bad, happy or sad, helps shape our hearts and know God better.  We can learn to trust him through our trails and thank him in our joys.  I love you so very much Griffin.  To many many more celebrations of you!

xoxo

Mom

Adorable Eccleston Men

BULLS

Your Pre-K teacher Miss Wendy & you at Granduation

Your first "race" with the big & small Mick and Egly boys, so fun!

Birthday dount, of course!

And, your cake...neon green and perfectly turtles...you loved it and I love you.

Life.

I know I always say life is full and busy and with 3 kids, how could it not right??!!?  But this week, I've felt the business of life just fall on me and I'm tired.  I've fallen asleep a few nights right after I put the kids down.  Poor Ryski is on the couch all alone (although I think he secretly loves it every once in a while so he can watch all the TV he DVRs that I won't watch).  The last month or so has just been a lot.  Life's FULL spectrum has been at work in our life.  Great joy and great sadness and as always, transition.  I used to not really deal very well in times like these where everything is up in the air, but I am learning to take it in stride and get the most out of all the ways God stretches and grows us as we get through the good and the hard.  And feeling thankful for it all.

***as a warning, some of these pics are a little smushed, and I don't know how to fix it, but you get the ides:)

Feeling thankful for real friends.  

Without friends, I am not sure how we would get through the good or the bad.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our life.

For a few days my dear sweet Casey came to visit and experience daily life at our house.  I will be honest, it is hard for me to let go and just be when we have company.  But I am so lucky to have a friend that I can just be myself...and expose my family in front of too, ha ha!  If you don't have a person like this, I would recommend getting yourself one tout suite!  It's such a relief to not have to have "company" sometimes but just family.  She got a real taste of us, so she may not come back, ha ha!  But we love our Aunt Casey.  

Feeling thankful for fresh and sweet beginnings.

In May we added one precious Claire Michele to the Richard family.  Andy & Julie had their 2nd bundle and she is just a doll.  I am so looking forward to all the fun Claire and Crosbi will have as they grow!

We have also been to a few weddings, one being my brother in law Jason's, where welcomed another new member into the family, his wife Amber.  It was a really fun weekend seeing lots of family and friends and celebrating in style the last Eccleston sibling wedding.  Crazy.  I am so happy Jason found a match to share his life with.

 

 

Feeling thankful for milestones.

Griffin graduated this last month from Pre-K.  It was an adorable ceremony complete with graduation music (that'll tug at the ole heart strings).  I just can't believe these days are over.  I am so proud of all he's learned, the way he's grown.  He's ready to head into "BIG boy-hood" but I know we will both treasure these sweet days we have spent together running errands and playing in the afternoons.  He also turned 6, the stinker.  

Ry & I celebrated 8 years.  I can't believe all that has come to pass in that time.  I am so lucky to be married to someone who makes me smile all the time.  We were kids when we choose each other and turned out so so good.

 

Feeling thankful for goodbyes.

Finally May brought some sadness as we said goodbye to my Grandma Norma Elaine Richard.  She was an absolute wonder of a woman.  The last 6 years she has been trapped by Alzheimer's and so when I heard the news that she had passed away, I felt a lot of relief and joy for her.  I pictured her finally taking in a deep breath of freedom and running to Jesus and my grandpa, not bogged down by the cloud of forgetfulness that surrounded her for so long.  It really was with happiness that I said goodbye, knowing she is in a much better place.  She had beautiful and well lived life.  I was able to speak at her service and I will post the talk later.  I am so glad for the chance to say goodbye and talk with friends and family about her and what a lady she was.  I loved seeing all the pictures of her life from birth to present day and wished I could stop and talk with her at each picture and point in her life.  I wonder what she would say at 30, with 3 boys and 1 girl??!!  I saw a lot of me and a lot of my kids coming through in those old pictures and it's just so cool to see your history unfolding like that.  God is so good, and I know this because of the way he walked in my Grandma's life.  

Feeling thankful everyday

And in between life's ups and downs there is everyday.  That is where the real life is lived, 

so we better get to it!  

Home is...

Moving homes is such a strange thing.

When you think about the word "home" for most it is a source of comfort & joy & memories.  My first flashes of home go right to my parents house and piles upon piles of memories that make up my life.  My first day of kindergarten to getting ready for my wedding to bringing my babies there to see there Gigi.  But it also is about your surroundings.  The colors on the walls that stand up around you and protect from the chill of a cold night or hold frames with smiling faces of your lovies.  Comfy couches to sink into when your are tired or sad or need a place to think.  Knicks and bruises that you've added along the way that make the place less perfect ascetically but some how more perfectly home.

In our garage.  I was spray painting a frame and just had baby griffin with me out playing on a nice day and this just make it up on the wall in there!

  

Then you move.  You take all of the "you" out of the space and it's back to just being walls.  And it reminds you that paying a mortgage and painting and cementing things down doesn't make anything more "ours".  

We moved this week.  And it closed a chapter in my life.  5.5 years of solid living, in a house on Geneva Lane.  In it we navigated moving to a new city and started life over, we worked tirelessly to fix up a house, we tried to figure out parenting and have (mostly) survived, we brought home two more babies, went through a miscarriage, celebrated birthdays and promotions and anniversaries, we laughed and cried and screamed at each other.  We made a life.  It's been a good, bad, wonderful and ugly chapter...the best kind because there's a little of everything in there.  I smile as I close the door.  I can't believe it's already over because as clear as day I can remember sitting in it empty with Griffin in his infant carrier watching Ryan prep the walls to paint.  Now, I have 3 kids and my "baby" is almost too big for that very car seat.  There were a few tears as I said goodbye to the place that housed the foundation to the family we now have.  But mostly there are smiles because that chapter was so good.  And it was so hard and we were up for the challenge.  We didn't get it right every time, that's for sure, but we muddled our way through it.  It was crazy to leave it and as I looked around it empty once again I was just honestly overwhelmed with thankfulness at the life God provided for the time spent between those walls.  And so glad I get to take all that happened with me as I move forward.

Oh, and about the moving forward part...I am thrilled.  I keep pinching myself.  Everyday I find delight in a new drawer or closet light.  There's lots of great parts about our new abode, but our favorite among all parties in our family is the close range of our dear friends the Micks who can now reach our house by bike and are close enough to walk to if we need to borrow and egg or cup of sugar.  God has already provided so richly as we start this new chapter.  I shouldn't be surprised, he is in the business of knocking my socks off with "good" but I truly am thankful beyond words.  The timing, the place, the people...I give him a standing O!  Mostly I am happy that I am reaffirmed with the fact that HOME to me is a word meaning Ryan, Abbi, Griffin, Sawyer & Crosbi and where the walls are up around is secondary.  I will say though that I am pretty fond of these walls we got going on now.  We need a new coat of paint in a few spots and then I'd say I wouldn't mind staying for a year...or 10 or more!  But I'll leave that up to the big guy.

My awesome girlfriends who hosted a play date in the empty house so I could get some things done!  What would I do without them???

In summary: moving is a lot of work, God is good, I am so tired, I would recommend having your mother and sister in law come to help with your kids if you are moving (this was a God send) ***Big THANKS to Lori and Kelly...we have the best family***, friends who are neighbors and neighbors who are friends are the best, God's plans really do have better outcomes than I could ever scheme myself and HOME is where ever I am with these faces...

I love them.  I love our new house.  I love God.

I'll post pics of the new casa soon....when everything has gone through on the short sale and it is for sure our home:)!!

Happy Birthday Crosbi Lu

When I started taking her pics in these white onesies 12 months ago I couldn't imagine having the "full set".  She will never not be this tiny snugly baby, will she???  But alas, 12 pictures (and delightful months) later, here we are.  In the midst of selling our house in 2 days (SURPRISE...a great one, but still a shock!!) and muddling through the ups and downs of buying a short sale, our precious Crosbi Lu turned one.  I had already sent the invites out for the party when the house sold 2 days later.  Whew!  And although not exactly how I planed, we went ahead with the party and just packed up things we didn't need for it.  We couldn't by pass such a big event in little lady's life without a little cake.

And I am so glad I did!  Celebrating little miss "ONEderful" was so fun and just what I needed to close this chapter in her life, and also one in mine.  Bye to babies and first years.  I won't write too much on that yet, because I am keeping my composure on it pretty well. But beside that looming milestone of last first birthdays for Ryan and I, I think it's just nice as a parent to celebrate the first year and all that goes into it.  It's big for them, and bigger for you!

My pintrest "quick & easy" project that turned out to be anything but quick!  Ha ha!  But it did turn out cute...only took 1 million water balloons and 7 trips back to Target to buy them.  I know I am crazy, but after I started I was invested, what can I say??!!

This is a banner of all the month pictures.

We made C a book of her first year and all the guests signed it yearbook style!

 

My precious mom and Aunt Cindy worked tirelessly to make C these adorable C and 1 sugar cookies, complete with polka dot frosting for take home sussies!  They were cute and delish!

Crosbi and Avery playing girlie!

For sips we had pink punch in mason jars.

And for treats we had apps and that dreamy whip cream giant cupcake cake with strawberry filling.  And I am not too proud to say that it came from Walmart, they are awesome with their cakes!!

Aunt Ali brought balloons! And lots of family and friends gathered around the table in our house on Geneva to have one last celebration and mark one last milestone there!

Great Grandpa Bill and Gramee Lucille were able to come and it was so fun to have them in our house to celebrate!

I have to say she absolutely LOVED the cake and is truly my daughter!  Ha ha!  

And this is on her actual day!  Cupcake shirt provided by Aunt Ali, we headed to Dunkin Donuts and C Lu polished off an entire sprinkled circle of love!

Dear sweet Crosbi Lucille,

Nothing could have prepared me for the last year...I can't believe have such a beautiful family, 3 healthy kids, a daughter.  And you are pure JOY.  You came into the world and into our hearts in a BIG way.  What a surprise to hear that nurse say 12 pounds and an even better one to hear your perfect little cries in the delivery room.  This first year has been nothing short of a (sleepy) blast.  I have had immeasurable amounts of delight in putting together your room and dressing you and putting the first piggies on the top of your head.  I have loved getting to hold you, snuggle you, breath in your sweet new baby scent.  I am so thankful that I was able to nurse you and spend hours holding you and rocking you while I did.  There is nothing better than being your mom.  There is nothing better than meeting your big blue eyes after we have been parted and seeing them light up for me.  As hard as it is for me to see you walk (literally, you crazy little thing) away from this first year, it has been nothing short of amazing to see your little personality blossom and I just want more and more. I love the way you giggle with your brothers.  I can't wait to see who you will be in the wake of 2 older boys.  I love how determined you are, but also very tender hearted and so sweet.  I love your adoration for your dad.  I love the way that you sense Griffy, Beanie, Dad and I are a group and you want to be a part of that.  You my dear are the apple of our eye, the pumpkin to our pie & the cherry on top of this family.  I thank God for you and for your precious life.   I am beyond humbled to be entrusted with you and I can't wait to spend years (yes, even the tough teenage ones) getting to know each other, laughing with each other, painting our toe nails, eating chocolate, encouraging each other in our passions and watching God grow in each other's lives.  My darling girl, you have the whole world in front of you and it is better because you are a part of it.  Happy birthday C Lu.  To MANY MANY more!