little bits of summer now that it’s august ….

it’s late tonight.
rex is actually still gone working.
the kids are all in bed.
the olympics are on.
the air conditioner is still running & it’s 10:24pm.

yes, target has school supplies & costco has halloween costumes but it’s still very much summer.
and though my head is swimming with school plans,
today we enjoyed summer.

we took chady for a well baby weight check – he weighs 15lbs 14 oz. just check out his leg in that 1st picture …. ah, that’s my boy : )
we went to the library.
we did lots of shopping & errands.
we went swimming.

jack told me today as they were all climbing out at one store he thought he’d broke is leg. i looked at him and told him it was against my shopping rules to break a leg.

i smiled, then he smiled & just like that, magic – his leg was not broken : )

he ‘learned to bbq’ the other night. which is good of him ’cause it’s a mans job & i don’t know how.

it was hot ….

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one thing i like about this picture is her little painted red toe –

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molly’s old training wheel broke last month
& rex thought maybe she was ready for the boys old bike without them …..

nope, not yet : )

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i should have gone back & found this same picture with benny in this old carrier ….. riding on his daddy’s back, even wearing the same old hat. this ride was chad’s first time – he liked it. and maybe it was just the everything about it, but i liked it too.

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having a little brother/sister pick-the-mud-off-our-legs moment –

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some summer nights we just eat watermelon outside & call it dinner.

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and when you can’t have watermelon, your mom’s phone will do –

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you know what i’ve been reading lately …. peace. there is peace when i quit stressing. i know huh, you had no idea i could stress out ; )
there is peace in letting go. there is peace in Jesus’ presence. i should stay there more ….

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rule one – you should not have a milk glass dish of dove chocolates sitting right next to your laptop.

rule two – photograph your children when you walk outside & they look like this –

rule three – lists made & actually accomplished before noon make you actually feel accomplished : )

in honor of the olympic spirit, they gave him a medal. he’s a winner alright! jack’s balance beam routine is …. (i can’t even type it with a straight face!) …. is well a treat to watch. so is sailor’s floor exercise routine : ) it’s safe to say we won’t be the cheering parents in the stands at a gymnastics event any time soon.

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i’m behind in blogging. and i can only see it getting worse.

did you know sailor had a birthday this month? of course you didn’t because there has been no mention of it here.

or how about our anniversary? again no mention.

but ….. here we go –

little chady chad is a whole six months old!!

here he is watching the olympics : )

they & by they i mostly mean jack & ben think we should take him to crawling school : )
he kinda needs to learn to sit up on his own first, i think anyway.

a couple of things stand out to me about him right now –
he’s a loud happy little guy who still sleeps in our room : )
ahhh.

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here is the only picture we have of us from 7/28 this year – sailor made us a book. it’s beautiful.

we did have a good weekend. we had a night by ourselves – or as by ourselves as we could get with little chady : ) and then last minute on saturday afternoon we took off together for awhile.

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i’ve spent the last bit of time trying to dig a splinter out of jack’s hand. i am not a good nurse. the boy is so hot, sweaty & dirty. you can hardly see the splinter for all the dirt on his hand. but he’s bravely stood & let me dig at it. i can’t get it …. we’ll have to wait for rex.

here’s to a new week.
…. ours will include less chocolate ’cause i’ve just about eaten it all, late nights ’cause we like the olympics & hopefully the pool ’cause it’s still hot!

 
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i have this story i want to tell. mostly because i don’t want to forget it. mostly because it’s beautiful. mostly because it’s an important part of their lives.

that might be too many mostly’s …. but that’s ok : )

jack is this crazy amazing kid.
he is kind, he will play so tenderly with the little girls.
he is gentle & thoughtful.
he’s actually really attentive to his surroundings. he notices when things have changed or are different.
he’s tough, he can take a hit, he doesn’t mind pain, sweat, heat or cold. he works hard.
he’s bold & confident.
sometimes he’s incredibly shy.
he likes justice.
he’s a passionate kid.
his missing front teeth, his freckles & his fresh hair cut are slaying me right now : )

he’s got this heart in him that bleeds love.

ben is this crazy amazing kid.
he’s a lover. he likes contact & to be close.
he’s either all in or all out.
he goes right if you’re going left.
he’s got an edgy confidence about him.
he’s charming.
he can be very, very helpful.
he’s got mercy in him.
his tolerance for pain is extraordinary.
he does mind work, sweat, heat & cold.
he is not swayed in the least by peer pressure.
he’s has an opinion about what he wears.
he’s determined.
his dreamy eyes, the color of his skin & his fresh hair cut are slaying me right now : )

the other night they were in bed & i was saying goodnight to them.
i haven’t spent lots of time with them at night lately …. their little brother is usually who i’m with. 
so somewhere between i love you & goodnight jacky asks me …

‘but mom, why did God make us anyway? i mean He coulda not. why did He want to? and why did He make things like trees & water? He coulda just had it all black. i just don’t know, mom. why did He have to make us?’

‘and mom, i wish there wasn’t satan. i wish he would’ve stayed good. i don’t want Jesus to come back, mom. ’cause chad and molly and regan and benny, mom, benny can’t go to heaven yet. mom can you ask him again if he wants to ask Jesus into his heart? you can ask him tonight. i’ve asked him mom. i’ve told him he just has to pray and what else mom …? i just really want him to have Jesus. and mom does God make people with … can He make people with pink hair? or purple hair? sailor said in the car the other night He couldn’t – but God can do anything. and i just don’t get why He made us ….’

i realized the beginning & ending of his questions really boiled down to his intense passion for ben.
it’s not the first conversation we’ve had over it.

i responded with answers like ‘God made us for His glory‘ and ‘i think He wanted to ’cause He loves us‘ and ‘pretty creative of Him to not leave it all black, right?‘ and ‘bud, we’re here to show His glory, His greatness & worth‘ and ‘yeah satan is a bummer‘ and ‘ben needs to know he’s a sinner before he can know his Savior‘ and ‘we’ll keep praying for benny‘ and ‘you can pray for him too.‘  and answers like that.

oh … and the pink hair well…. God coulda ….

jacky squeezed my hand so tight when we prayed for ben that night.
ben was underneath on the bottom bunk …. he heard it all.

but remember ben is not a go with the flow kid. and i’ve had such a caution in asking him.
not because i don’t want to.
not because i don’t want more than anything for Jesus to rule his life.
it’s ultimately not about me though …. its between ben & God.

monday night jack asked again, ‘can you ask him mom?’ while he leaned over & hung his head down to ben’s bunk …. ‘do you wanna pray, ben?’

i bent down by his bed and asked him.
and jack interrupted with ‘wait mom, don’t you think you should go get molly & ask her too …..’

july 23, 2012 – Jesus saved Benny. he said ‘bad heart is gone he has a new one …..’
‘and i know my God saved the day & i know His word never fails ….. salvation is here!!’

you know what jack said as i left the room ….. ‘hey mom when you said to pray for benny the other night, i prayed like a million times!‘ and he smiled.

not to us O Lord, not to us …. but to Your Name give glory – psalms 115

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i just realized i forgot to light my candle … i was going to light a candle tonight.

every now and then feeding chad at night he’ll suddenly look up all wide eyed …. when that happens he’ll want to sit up, look around and sometimes talk to rex.

tonight is an every now & then : ) so i’m typing one handed.

it’s been a nice saturday – we needed one.

…. here’s a little of what we did

she ‘helped’ her daddy –

the suburban’s brakes needed to be changed.

she practiced her skating skills –

they played together –

they mowed the lawn for me –

and he hasn’t seen much blog time lately (shocking, i know!) … he didn’t fix cars, or skate, or mow lawns : )

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i wanted a picture of him with his thumb …. i’m thinking we might have a lot of ones like this, this boy is a thumb sucker : )

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i tell myself ‘just do the next thing’ when the house looks the way it does right now. the problem is there are so many ‘next things’ to do that i don’t know where to start : )

that should give you an indication as to how messy the place is!!

but at the moment there is peace in spite of the utter mess. chad & regan are sleeping. the others are outside playing some game where they have lined up and are trying not to laugh at each other, while one does everything silly to make them laugh.

there’s lots of giggles. from the open window i hear ben is the best at keeping a straight face.

i like hearing their laughter.

so my table is now cleaned off & wiped down … from lunch & now it’s got laundry piled around waiting to be folded. i picked some fresh zinnias. costco groceries are still all around the kitchen.

i bought a 7 layer bean dip today. i’ve never bought one before …. it looked good & it will be dinner tonight. whenever dinner happens. rex is working late.

there is cookie dough sitting out on the stove, we made it last week for sailor’s birthday & every time the kids walk by they sneak some …. somehow thinking i don’t notice : )

i’m doing it too, so it’ll be gone soon & then we won’t have to worry over the temptation.

we’re in the middle of vacation bible school this week. it’s molly’s first year & she is very excited. she told me after i picked her up on monday that she saw a real panda bear. pandas & how God is wild about you is the theme this year, so i figured along with all the cartoon pictures everywhere maybe her teacher had shown the kids a picture of a real one.

nope, she saw a real one.

and i did not smile back, i kept a straight face & asked her to tell me all about the real panda bear that ‘doesn’t walk with 4 feet only 2′ and ‘has 2 friends’ and ‘sings’

… and sounds exactly like the childrens pastor, but she didn’t mention that part.

: )

i love vacation bible school. i’m so grateful for the people who are being like Jesus to my kids.
even little chady has been dreamy about early mornings & late breakfasts as we get up & go this week.

it’s worth what it’s done to our house this week.

that’s all for now, i really need to get a few things done before … chad wakes up, before rex gets home, before dinner, before bed, you get the idea :  )

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the picture was a do the next thing moment …. they’d clap, cheer & call his name, he’d look up, smile and laugh. over & over …. it needed to be remembered
and for the record the cookie dough has not sat out on the stove since last week …. rereading that i felt the need to clarify : )

i know you’re all crazy jealous of my homemade cut offs … the uneven frayed legs being their best feature –

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so i want to get these camp pictures up so they stay in chronological order of our live : ) before we move on to more camping & birthdays & the rest of summer.

we’ve been talking school dates this week & i am not ready for summer to end.

we’re right in the middle of it, its super hot & confession …. we just might have bought another new swim suit today. arguably the last on the racks, since they’ve been there since february the lady clerk informed me.

back to camp –
we had a great time. we started out first for a new lake site. we even deflated the green alligator & brought it along. but the lake was a bust. other than to provide an opportunity to thank Jesus for is goodness & protection as we lost our brakes at the bottom of the hill.

scratch the lake we headed back to the place we found last year. i confess i’d like to say we completely roughed it with no pavement, or running water or flush toilets  ….. but i’ve gone soft.

we had pavement, paid a dollar more for flush toilets & had running water.

 ….. and they still got as dirty as they did : )

my favorite parts -

• ben standing on rocks randomly shouting ‘BAM! BAM! BAM! ….. really loud.
• french toast for breakfast
• how dirty regs got
• campfires with rex … we realized it was the first time we’d camped by ourselves, the entire time
• nothing to do but play games with sailor
• sleeping in a tent
• an air mattress that didn’t go flat
• using moms old camp dishes

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camping in b&w

 

 

 

 

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camping in color -

 

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we were left to stand by a tree this year, no couch …..

 : )

i was going to ask the kids their favorite parts but it’s taken be all night to write this & they’re all in bed now.
another year in the books.

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1.
2.
3.
JUMP!!

 

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i was trying to come up with some great one liner to end this with …..

rex is snoring.
i want ice cream.
the screen is not keeping the bugs out.
tomorrow the trash comes, don’t forget.
i should go to bed.

those are all the things i’m thinking.

none of them sound too great : )

let alone inspiring!!

molly came into the room after sunday school today and exclaimed ‘mommy, we learned about Jesus! and here’s my papers.’

then she showed me her little craft that was a colored picture of moses with pipe cleaner arms holding up his staff.

it was beautiful.
have a great week.

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i really seriously almost bought that sign at target today!

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summer day #16 –

we mowed the lawns & signed up for vacation bible school.

we also bought milk & stopped by a park. chad needed to eat & it was better than us all hanging out in the car!!

i don’t know why target & i were not friends today. chad’s at that can’t-sit-by-himself-in-the-cart-yet/but-don’t-make-me-stay-in-my-car-seat/just-hold-me-instead age : ) usually (key word, there) he does okay with ben holding him in the back … not today.

we forgot to pay for something …. it got wedged down in the bottom of the cart.

and i was hungry – i’d spent my 6 bucks to wash the car instead of on something to eat.

we got out to the car …. finally ….. only to realize we’d left a small important piece of paper somewhere in the store.

back inside : )

good times.

but we found it & remembered that God really does care about the little things.

summer means a birthday for this very excited almost 9 year old : ) yesterday she made her own birthday invitations …. which she admitted was a lot of writing!!

and last, its friday, we have free babysitting & we’re going on a date!!
happy weekend -

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we tried to not spend the entire day recovering from our camp trip … with things like unloading the trailer & scrubbing ice chests.

we willed it to be hotter than the 92 degrees that was predicted – the 4th of july should be just blazing hot.

chady had a little nap. we made sure leftover camp food was no longer sitting out. we found all things red white & blue …

and then we headed to moms. the temperature got close to 100. we really did eat corn on the cob & apple pie. we watched fireworks. my dear brother sang ‘and i’m proud to be an american‘ over the phone to me. it was touching …

we cheered & clapped when they sang the national anthem on the local high school field –

yay america. yay freedom!!

 

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i was going to put up my 10 favorite pictures from camp & then rex got the brilliant idea to make it 12 since it’s 2012  …..

great news, every year i can have one more favorite : )

regan unloading her own sleeping bag –

my happy little camper –

jack’s wood chop in mid air –

sister friends …. yes they were that dirty the whole time : )

machete. hatchet. soda. sticks. the boys were good - 

chady’s little camp bath –

no words ….

camp fashion at it’s finest –

rex played for chad :  )

ben’s first time on a horse –

a brother & a sister –

i love lantern light –

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we stopped on the way home for laundry soap & shampoo : )  they have been soaked & scrubbed, lotioned & powdered. dozens of nails have been clipped, splinters have been removed. pillow cases have been changed. loads of laundry already done. we think the hot water has finally recovered enough for us!!

good times : )

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ohh, just one more  …. we’ll fill in the details soon!!