Pickin' blackberries

I was going to write about our trip to east Texas to pick blackberries with our friends the Mortons, but Shannon (the wife of the Morton family) wrote such a great post that I figured I would just link to her blog. Click here to read about our fun trip this past weekend.

I am a Kingdom Kid!

It is hard to believe that 3 years ago, Maxwell went to his first day of Kingdom Kids (the preschool at our church) and on Thursday, May 14, Maxwell "graduated" from preschool. What sweet and wonderful memories we have of his time at Kingdom Kids in Mrs. April's "Frog" class, Mrs. Lisa's "Apple" class and Mrs. Pam & Mrs. Amanda's "Sunbeams" class.

Mrs. Pam, Mrs. Amanda, Mrs. Kelly

Ms. Marianne (music teacher)

Mrs. Beth (movement teacher)

Here is a "through the years" review of Maxwell on his first day of school each year. My how time flies!

September 2006

September 2007

September 2008

Since the day we heard about you...

On Mother's Day 2009, we had the privilege of dedicating Miller to the Lord at our church. Both sets of grandparents were able to make it to the dedication so that made the weekend even more special.
For those of you who may ask, "what does it mean to dedicate a child?", it simply means that Maria and I committed to raising up Miller for God's glory and to be used by the Lord however He wants to and our church body committed to supporting us in that endeavor. We did the same for Maxwell when he was 7 months old so we've been anxiously awaiting to have this opportunity with Miller.
The verse we chose for Miller is Colossians 1:9-12. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledege of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

We love you Miller!

Tell me about your day

Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick Maxwell up from Kingdom Kids, I ask him about his day. Like a good parent, I avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no, focusing instead on questions like, "what was your favorite part of your day at school?" As you might expect with a 5-year old boy, this process usually requires more than one question though.

This week I started with the standard (see above) and when his answer was too short for my liking, I followed that up with, "so...are you the line leader or caboose or anything else this week?" (There are certain "jobs" that the kids are assigned each week and they rotate through them).

He looked at me and with all seriousness said, "No dad, I'm on vacation."

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

On Monday, May 4, we celebrated Maxwell's 5th birthday. Well actually, the festivities started on Saturday, May 2 at his birthday party at the pool, but I didn't take any pictures there so I have no proof for the blog. Oh, I would have taken pictures, but Maria got sick in the middle of the "swine flu" panic so we had to basically quarantine her to the back bedroom and I got to do all of the birthday party "stuff" that we would have normally done together. So the truth is that I just didn't remember to take pictures at the swimming party (we all had a blast though!). (By the way, Maria didn't have swine flu...or any kind of flu for that matter. Just a virus that caused a fever for 2 1/2 days).

So on his actual birthday, May 4, we started the day by having waffles (his request) on our family birthday plate that Nana gave us last year (and that we just forgot for the other birthdays in our family).


Then we had our last day of Hot Shots soccer followed by lunch with our dear friends, the Shannons. Maxwell wanted to have lunch with his best buddy Jackson, so it gave us a reason to have lunch with the rest of the Shannon family, too. That night we then had the privilege of having dinner with the Mortons (which includes Maxwell's best girl buddy, Elizabeth). Thanks to his Nana, Maxwell even had a birthday crown/hat to wear to dinner. As you can see, Maxwell and Elizabeth had fun being goofy.


Maxwell, thank you for bringing so many sights and sounds into our home. We can't imagine life without you and we are so thankful that the Lord gave you to us. Our prayer is that over the next year you grow in your knowledge and love of the Lord. We love you!

Happy 70th Anniversary Grandad and Grandma!

I know this blog primarily covers the Upton family of four from College Station, Texas, but today we want to honor my (Matt's) grandparents who live in Orangevale, California. On April 29, 1939, M.G. and Viva Upton were married and today they celebrate their 70th Anniversary! What an amazing heritage they have established for our family--it is hard to imagine 70 years of marriage in the world we live in today.

Grandad and Grandma--thank you for the godly heritage you have established in the Upton family. Thank you for holding on to each other through all of these years and thank you for being an example of a godly (though likely imperfect!) marriage. We love you and are thankful for the privilege of honoring you today. Here is a special wish for you from the boys.


We love you!!!
Matt, Maria, Maxwell and Miller

Our first attempt at Bluebonnet pictures

The day before Easter we took the boys out and attempted to take Bluebonnet pictures for the very first time. Out of 122 pictures we took, we only got a few decent ones. Here are our favorite pictures. We really didn't get any of the two of them together that we loved, but we will try again next year!


This one cracks us up everytime we see it. Can you tell Miller is our "fit thrower"?