Will's 1st soccer game

Two sweet brother before the big game!

This Spring Will decided that he wanted to play soccer. Sounds great, except that Mike and I know nothing about soccer. Also, I guess it was kind of our dream that he would choose baseball as the first organized sport that he wanted to play. Oh well, obviously this is not about us! Its about Will and the fact that he wanted to try something new.
If you know Will, this is huge. He does not like anything new or change of any kind. I mean, he flipped out when we got a new couch this past Christmas! (This is why we are praying hard for the boys when Wynn arrives!) Anyways, we were pleased and excited when he loved his first practice. We were even more pleased when he had a blast a his first game! He loved it! And Mike, Luke, Mimi, Aunt Joy & I cheered and cheered for him and his teammates and had fun too!
Here are a few pics from Will's big day!

Will is #6. Here he is listening to Coach Jimmy.

Going for the ball!

Getting ready for the ball to be thrown in.

Will and his buddy Chase

Luke cheering for brother!

Listening to strategy from Coach Jimmy

Getting ready to throw the ball in after being kicked out of bounds.

Post-game snack

Yay! We won!

Easter 2013

The classic front porch pic

We have been in Charleston now for a little over 3 years. Each Spring has been so nice and warm and Easter has always been hot! But not this year. This Spring has been unseasonably cool. Now I say this relatively, because we have not had the cold, rain or even snow that some of our friends and family have had. I mean honestly 60 degrees is not cold, but when you are used to it being 75 in March, than yeah 60 is cold!

Well, this Easter sunday this year was gorgeous! It was ended up being cool, even though the forecast was supposed to be sunny and 75. But as the day went on it did get better. 

This year we celebrated with our church family with a picnic after church, an egg hunt in the back yard and then a pot-luck Easter dinner that evening with our community group. So, enough of the recap of the day. Here are the pictures of the boys!

She has a name!

After months of dwelling on names we have finally come up with one that we love for our baby girl. It took us awhile because we just could not agree on anything. You see, we have criteria for naming our kids. For us, each child has to have a family name as their first or middle name. Each also needed a strong meaning for their name or we wanted it to be biblical to represent our faith. With her we also decided that we did not want her to have one of the top 10 most popular names of her birth year. 

So, here is what we have come up with...

Wynn Eliese Fessler

We love the name! Here is the story... Mike had been suggesting names since Christmas when we found out we were having a girl. I turned down everything he liked. He was getting a little frustrated with me so in turn he turned down everything that I liked! One night we were watching the Golf Channel. They have an anchor on the channel named Win McMurray. I sat for a minute and then turned to him and said "You know what...I kinda like the name Win." He started laughing and said, "I like it too. I wanted to suggest it but was afraid you would turn it down." We continued to think about other names, but after that night I think we knew her name was Wynn.

As for her middle name, Eliese is my grandmother's name. She and I have always been close and she she has been a huge encouragement to both Mike and I during our marriage, so this was the perfect way to honor her. 

Now for the meaning... 

• Wynn means "holy, blessed reconciliation; joy and peace; fair, pure"
• Eliese means "God's promise"

So, she has a name. Her nursery is just about ready and she has clothes and diapers to get her started once she is born. Now we just have to wait 6 more weeks until we get to meet her!

Me at 31 weeks 

New things

Ok, so it has been a month since I have updated. Let's just say that we had a little computer mishap that involved us buying a new hard drive and we lost lots of pics. To say that we were bummed was an understatement, but here we are back up and running and I have got LOTS to tell!

We have had some new things happen to our little family in the past month and they have been awesome! The biggest, most impactful change has been Mike's new job. Since Christmas, Mike & I had been praying for a way to provide for our family, especially after the baby comes. Mike felt like God was telling him to pursue something that was more full-time. (He currently serves River Church in a part-time role, so he had time to spare). After a week or so of searching he found an opening with an organization called Water Missions International. He interviewed and they hired him and he started at the beginning of March. Its been a crazy busy month for him so far, but working there is truly a blessing and we are excited that God has chosen to us to become a part of the Water Missions family.

The same week that Mike started his new job, Will started soccer. For our family this is huge! Everyone knows that we are big sports people and we would love to see our kids be involved in sports, especially since they played such a huge role in our lives. Ok, so soccer is not a sport we know much about and it is not what we would have chosen for him to play, but he LOVES it! And that's all that matters! So far he has only practiced, his first game is April 13, but still he is so excited each week to go. In fact, the past couple of weeks, he has been dressed with his shin guards, socks and cleats on an hour and half before we leave! Can we say excited?!?! He does pretty well and is catching on quickly, but each and every week he runs up and down the field with a huge smile on his face. To me, that is priceless and says everything I need to know. He is having fun!

 

 

 

Of course, Luke was a little upset that he couldn't play soccer quite yet. He can play in the fall when he is 3, but we aren't sure we are ready for that quite yet. But, in the midst of our new job and soccer excitement Luke decided to start riding a bike. All by himself! He LOVES his bike and rides it all over the place. He is so cute and so proud of himself and of course so are we! In fact he is constantly looking for an excuse to go out in to the garage and practice. The cutest thing, I think, is the fact that his little bike has a compartment in the back for him to store things. And, boy does he, especially his snacks! I will give him a snack as he heads out to ride and then watch him put in in his bike. He will ride awhile and then stop for a snack break and pull out his snack!

  
 

Obviously, I am proud of all 3 of my boys! I'll update on myself and baby girl soon. There is news to tell with her. We have a name! But, you'll have to wait until my next post to find out what it is!

 

Potty Training a 2 year old

Yesterday, I made the decision to start potty training Luke. Well, that's not exactly true. I did not wake up and think it would be something fun to do. We actually had been preparing for weeks, buying all the underwear and special treats, even thinking through night-time scenarios. We also were going to be using the same 3 day system that we used with Will, so there was a procedure already to be put into place. I just had to start it and it just happened that our schedule opened up giving me a couple of free days during the week that I don't normally get.

So, we started yesterday morning. After 2 days things are going well. I have actually been a little surprised. It seemed harder with Will or maybe it just took him a little longer. I don't know. Maybe its because Luke has literally grown up watching Will and wanting to mimic him in everything he does. Maybe Luke was just ready. Whatever the case, I'll take it. As you can see, he is happy so I am happy too!

Watching tv on day 2 of potty training. The child is only supposed to wear a t-shirt and underwear for the first couple of days. This lets you see accidents easier. He did so well that I let him put on a pair of pants by lunchtime!

Funny story, when we trained Will, he cried when we put on his 1st pair of underwear. He did not want to learn to use the potty. When we started yesterday, I had Luke take off his diaper so that I could put on his new big-boy underwear. He gladly took the diaper off, but cried when I tried to help him with the underwear. He actually took it from me and went to the other side of the room where he proceeded to put it on correctly. By himself! Oh, how different these 2 boys are! But, that scenario let me know he was ready!

13 weeks to go

You read that right! We have 13 weeks until we meet this sweet baby girl. This pregnancy is flying by(it always goes by much faster once you hit the 20 week mark anyways) and things are starting to get real. Like, in a few short weeks I am going to be a mommy to 3 little people. Oh wow! That still makes my head spin at times!:)

People are always asking me how I feel. Well, to be honest, right now I feel pregnant. It is getting harder and harder everyday to get up from off the floor. It is sometimes even hard to get off the couch! I still have lots of energy(even though I feel like I could nap everyday around 2), but I am getting increasingly out of breath just doing normal things. Walking up the stairs is hard. Carrying something is even harder. But, the good news is, we will meet her soon and I won't feel this way anymore. Maybe that is why I am writing this all down, so that one day I will remember just how this sweet and precious time felt.

We are still working on a name. The middle name was easy and we are pretty set on it, but the first name is proving tricky. We have one that we are favoring and as soon as we know for sure, we will announce it!

A Christmas Recap

It's so hard to believe how fast the Christmas season goes by! We put our tree up a week and a half early this year, so we could enjoy it longer, but it seemed to go by in a blur of excitement. So, I told you about our Christmas in Disney. But I have not caught you up on our other celebrations. This year we also did Christmas in Charleston and in Atlanta. 

Because we are on staff with a church, we are required to be at our church's Christmas Eve Service. We don't mind, though, since it gives us the chance to wake up in our own home on Christmas morning, which has been our rule since we got married 7 years ago. This year we got up, opened presents, stayed in our pj's and pretty much vegged all day! It was great and the boys loved being able to play with their new toys all day!

                                      

 The day after Christmas we loaded up and headed to Mimi & Poppy's to do Christmas with family in Atlanta. We spent a few extra days then normal, and it was nice. We didn't feel rushed and really felt like we got to catch up with everyone. The boys adored all of the attention they got and loved getting to play with their cousins. They also loved being on the go and getting to go to new places. This trip included a trip to Ikea and The Varsity! Maybe not incredibly exciting to them, but I sure had fun!:)

Overall, we had a blessed Christmas season. Our boys heard the Christmas story so much that Luke still walks around saying Baby Jesus. Will's Sunday School teacher even told me that he raised his hand to help tell the Christmas story and even answer questions the Sunday before Christmas. In my book, that is the most important thing. They know WHY we celebrate Christmas. Decorations are fun, gifts are nice, so are family gatherings and huge Christmas meals, but at the end of the day, I want my boys to know that Christmas=Jesus. Period.

 

**All of these pictures were taken Christmas Eve. We weren't able to all get in one together, but with the help of Will, our little photographer, we were able to get one of Mike and I, and that doesn't always happen!