summer in review

Welcome to our summer in review! Tomorrow is the first day of September and we are soooo anxious for the summer's heat to end that my heart is moving on to fall! Big apologies are due for the incredibly LONG absence of blog updates. You'd think we went on an extended vacation or something... we didn't. I've just been running as usual and trying to keep the kids entertained indoors as much as possible. Ten minutes in this southern heat and cheeks are all pink, clothes are all sweaty, and everyone smells like wet puppies. Here's a list of pics and details, caption style, to show some of our summer highlights. Hope you enjoy!

B and "Shirley the Great" (my grandmother) at a church concert in Waco.

N pretending he's a painter. (I love that plastic bowl "painter's hat"!) His paint palette is the plastic lid from an empty cardboard oatmeal container.


J in a new dress! It was handed down from a dear friend of mine who has two girls and a baby boy. I wish you could see all the sweet little lady clothes she gifted to us when she visited! It was such a blessing to recieve, but an even greater blessing to spend a few precious hours with an out-of-town friend while our little ones played. Doesn't she look absolutely adorable?! Of course, I may be slightly biased ;0).

B trying to put himself down for a nap in N's toddler bed with the padded letter "T" for company.
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In June we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science for a friend's 3rd birthday party. The kids had never been before. They have a children's museum there with small versions of places in the world for them to explore. Our three loved the firetruck, kiddie kitchen, and farm best.

J driving the firetruck with friends from church, Eliana and Gideon.

N, J, and B riding rocking horses at the miniature farm.

Posing with the life-size mammoth statue outside the animal and dinosaur building of the museum of nature and science.
J was not impressed with the dinosaur bones, but she LOVED the taxidermy animal displays. Sadly, the two pics of her with the black bears refused to upload. N thought it was all fabulous! Sweet B had fallen asleep in the stroller by the time we reached the animal building. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fun at home with daddy. The kids LOVE to pile on PT's lap when he sits down in this chair. It's hilarious because they barely fit all together, but they are determined even if they have to sit on each other's arms and legs to make it work.

N and J morning fresh and looking cute! B refused to stay in the picture. He prefers to try his best to get a closer look at the camera when I try to get a cute, posed group shot.
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Friends invited us to their parents' cabin in east Texas for Independence Day weekend. We left early Friday morning and followed them there and drove back just in time for sound check before service Sunday morning. We had the best time getting to know their family better and spending the weekend in a gorgeous place away from the city! We rode four wheelers (kids too! - they rode in front of us, one kid with one adult, slow, but they thought it was great). We shared meals. We played ping pong. We walked along the trail. We looked at the stars without city lights in the way. It was wonderful! We loved getting away!

The view of the "piney woods" from the upstairs deck of the cabin on the top of the hill.

J and Daddy laughing.

Sparklers!
On Saturday night we went to the pond for sparklers and fireworks (a set of 9 canister fireworks that our host was brave enough to light the fuse for out on the edge of the dock and then run so we could all enjoy!) Most of the time the grownups helped the kids hold the sparklers steady, but N and friends Ethan and Adelaide went solo when the sticks were first lit (and nice and long) which made for good pics. You can't see N's friend Ethan, but that's his sparkler on the left. J and B were too short and too unpredictable to handle sparklers.
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"Now I'm number 4?"

N turned four early in August. When did four years go by??? He was so tickled to actually have a cake. It was the only thing he asked to have for his birthday. We don't do complex sugar very often, so cake is pretty rare at our house. It was a strawberry cake with brown sugar and butter drizzle on top. He thought it was fabulous! Funny birthday moment: N asked, "so will I be number 5 tomorrow?" ;0) He was sad to learn that he has to wait a whole year to turn 5.
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Well, that's our summer in review. Hope your summer has been filled with moments of great JOY and many reminders of God's greatness!

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."
Psalm 37:23 NLT