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5 months ago.

he's still little : )

i'm so glad i'm not pregnant : )

he's getting his first tooth. obviously i don't remember when the other kids did, but i'm really pretty sure none were this early. i bought him a new car seat hanging toy yesterday when we were out shopping. he's into toys now, he can hold them & get them to his mouth.

and he officially sucks his thumb. it's perfectly darling.
his right thumb, with his other four fingers open over the side of his cheek.

more & more he's aware of the other kids. they do the craziest things to make him smile & laugh. and once he does, they are totally convinced that that is now what he likes : ) for instance, chady likes his tummy tickled like this & chady likes it when i say chicken! & chady likes it when i sing this.

well ... not always : ) but the thought that counts is sweet.

right now he is buckled in his car seat on his way to the mountains for his first camping trip - bonus being i found ben's old little orange trucker hat, so he'll be camping is style.

some chad faces -

- - -

still dreamy? yes, xoxo

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good bye from the mountains!!

 

just a quick good morning before the day starts. well the day has actually started, hasn't it : ) i'm out of bed, the majority of my children are out of bed! the excitement is running high around here, tomorrow we leave to go camping.

camping is so much work. this days plans are completely devoted to shopping & packing & loading & making sure we don't leave anything behind : )

june has by far been the fastest month of the year, it was seriously just memorial day ... like yesterday!! chad is 5 months old tomorrow.

we're looking forward to our vacation, in spite of the work, being together for the next 7 days sounds really great.

until next time ......

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i've just spent the last two hours cleaning house. it's been therapeutic. i also happened to spend the two hours before that shopping ... that was therapy, too : )

i love putting fresh sheets on a clean bed. i love a running dishwasher, a clean table with fresh flowers, a vacuumed carpet & swept floors. i like the fresh cool for june breeze that's blowing through the open windows.

i also happen to love 60% off sales at old navy & flip flops for my boys for a $1 : )

here's a line i scribbled down yesterday that i heard from a line of a song 'tomorrow freedom is today's surrender'

i've been letting that run through my head since.

here's another one that i wrote on the wall in our now clean room 'but GOD'

little chad calvin & i had a chat on the way to the store today on just how good God is.

He is good.

i know hard & hurt & pain. i know rough & things that don't make sense.

but God ....

but God anything, really.

and oh my goodness, is He good.

i cried this morning listening to molly pray at breakfast. she's the one around here who keeps track & makes sure we're praying for everyone ....

and if by chance we forget .... no worries, dolly's on it.

she prayed very simply for the little girls whose mommy went to be with Jesus last month. she thanked Jesus for their mommy & for them.

i think God got what she meant.

He is good.

it's the second afternoon in a row where it's just me, a sleeping 2 year old & a sleeping baby. so un-normal having everyone else gone. 

grammy dates & birthday parties are the reasons they're all away.

on my desk right now sits my phone ... waiting for an hello text from rex. an old picture of jack as a baby. the mothers day card sailor made me. a red mug filled with good chap stick, coins & credit cards. chad's little tiny hospital band. a book i should be reading, my dead ipod shuffle. a black & white framed picture of molly, chad & i. a pay stub, info on traffic school & my latest shopping receipts. and a couple love notes from rex.

do you keep dark chocolate in your panty drawer? as of 17 minutes ago, i now do. dove dark chocolate.

last night ben got his pajamas on & then came out riding his fire truck. he 'raised the ladder' to stand up & give me a kiss goodnight, then in a flash picked the whole thing up and ran back to his room, he dropped one end about the time he got to the hall door & then dragged the end he was still carrying back the rest of the way.

how beautiful are 5 almost 6 year old little boys.

target! target has school supplies already. crayons, pencil boxes, cute new erasers & it's not even the 4th of july!!  i walked around in shock. ask rex, he'll tell you : )

i was ready to scalp sailor today .... she's a bit of a pack rat. her spaces are so messy. she doesn't put away her clothes. she's so crazy creative. the little girls & i cleaned their closet today ... go ahead & read i cleaned their closet .... 2 & 4 year olds are good for many things, serious closet cleaning not being one of them.  i uncovered what sailor was working on for rex for fathers day that she never quite finished or gave him.

i love that girl so fiercely.

- - -

look who went swimming for the very first time?  i know, your thinking in a oneies, really? well he was just sitting on the edge with me & little dips of the feet lead to happy leg splashes, that lead to a wet diaper that lead to  .....

he really liked it : )

i know, we're all completely jealous of ben's skin color!

- - -

have a fabulous sunday.

God is good.

 . . . i just got a text : )

little chad woke up early this morning.

we got the stroller out.

the little girls & the cat! took him for a walk.

the sun was on our left .... where usually its on our right.

regan in the morning : ) fly away pillow hair, mismatched pajamas picked out by her daddy the night before, her slow going walk as she's still figuring out flip flops.

rex calls her princess zebra foot when she wears these.

making sure the cat that thinks he's a dog stays on course.

 

- - -

on the way back i saw his black hat out in the field - jacky was hunting & shooting with his wooden gun ... beautiful boy.

ben slept through the early morning adventure, while sailor enjoyed the playhouse to herself.

it was a nice start to a good, slow, summer day.
days where you stay home all day. where you make coffee cake & call it brunch. where you aren't rushed to get out of the house & be somewhere. where you catch up on laundry. where babies can have an entire nap time in their own bed, start to finish. where kids play & you read stories to them. i like those type of summer days.

- - -

i have this short list to do this summer, one thing really ..... every day over 95 degrees should be spent swimming.

with bonus extras like having regan completely potty trained, go camping, eat more vegetables, celebrate our anniversary, learn about white balance, plan the next school year, use my clothesline, etc .... 

the first official day of summer has delivered, its 98 outside.

so save the occasional picture of chad pretty much the rest are related to water & kids in some way.

like the other day when they were out running through the sprinklers & it wasn't even 8am yet.

- - -

we celebrated fathers day with home made cards,

time with dad,

and a trip to our favorite frozen yogurt shop.

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molly teaching chad to color -

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and even if we aren't in water we're dressed & ready for it : )

- - -

- - -

i know its random & i actually do count the days out ....

here's the happy little grin that smiles up at me when he's done eating now.

toys are a new discovery -

'til they get the best of him & he goes back to his fist.

jack is always willing to let him be apart of his world -

- - -

they break to eat & then .....

and then they swim some more.

and when they aren't at grandma's they creatively make their own water park -

- - -

she's learned to float -

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a few random shots -

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there's more, we'll be back soon!

happy summer ~

- - -

there's a little boy baby asleep in our bed this morning.
there's muffins in the oven.
there's a game of candy land going on.

it's the weekend.
it's windy.
it's starting slow.

ben is snuggled up next to me - he just woke up & we're sharing an old quilt.
rex is taking pictures .... he always takes 39 of the same thing. click. click. click.click.click.click.click. is how the camera sounds when he uses it : )

welcome to the weekend post, long enough it needs chapters!

chapter one - last night
we had finished dinner, laundry was being folded, baby was talking, kids playing & i went running back and proclaimed SUNSET! up, go, move, find camera, find chad : )

i'm trying to do a photo a day this month .... each day is a different subject .... yesterday's was the sunset. and by the time i remembered we had to move, quick. rex thought our backyard would work - i thought past the orchards.
so here we are chasing the sunset -

loves from his daddy -

climbing under the barbed wire -

brothers -

i love how she says 'i hurry mom, hurry!' & 'wait me, guys! wait me!' she is hurrying to catch up -

the group of them -

end of chapter 1.

- - -

chapter two - chad rolls over.

he's gone stomach to back ... today he rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time. we clapped & smiled for him. jack is probably his biggest cheerleader - he's now convinced he'll start 'growing teeth & probably learning to crawl later today!'

his time of just being put wherever is probably ending : )

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chapter three - blended goodness

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chapter four - a family wedding

my girls watching the bride walk down the aisle -

my cousin got married last saturday.  she was crying as she walked down - he was trying not to as he watched & waited.

kelly was beautiful to let a little girl cousin who was taken with her pretty dress hold her hand and walk around with her -

another sweet cousin -

again, the girls were pretty taken with her : )

he wanted a picture of himself 'cut in half' -

mom & dad -

congratulations guys & welcome to the family, sylvester.

- - -

chapter five - boys in black & white

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chapter six - instagram

- - -

chapter seven - regan faces.

and big news in her little life .... diapers are pretty much a thing of the past .... yay & more yays!

next, sister friend just needs to learn panty etiquette : )

- - -

chapter eight - every day life.

afternoons have included snacks & good book reads.

good reminders -

molly's version of muffins one morning -

candles burning back when it rained earlier this week -

regan *reading* to her brothers .... maisy books can pretty much be read off the pictures : )

flip practicing -

- - -

chapter nine - instagram, con't.

 

- - -

i don't know how long i'll last tonight .... which will go first my computer battery or my resolve against the little bugs that are dive bombing my screen in the dark??

its late and everyone is in bed .... even i am tonight. no post from the chair while chad eats. today was hot - and he & i were hot together so we didn't stay together as long as we would normally!

i really just have some pictures to put up tonight ... not a whole lot of thoughts or stories or news.

 

 

the other night, on the 28th, i wanted a chad-is-4-months-old-picture. i've learned it usually works best not to over due those sort of things .... isn't that how pictures go anyway, it ends up being the first or last picture you take that turns out, not the 14th, or 79th in between : )

 

so we were outside & one by one they started showing up and i am always one for family pictures : ) so .... why not call everyone .... 

or at least try for everyone!

something about the extra eager hands that want to run up & push the button .... the camera gets a new angle every shot : )

- - -

some chad thoughts:
   'hi i'm chad. my mom wants to remember a few things about me right now so here we go .... i'm 4 months old. mom thinks that's pretty old, daddy reminds her i'm actually still pretty little. she did this thing the other night where she stood on the scale and then she held me too and then she did some math & came up with 15 pounds. it was her unscientific way of recording my well baby weight. dad actually told me tonight i was getting kinda heavy. we have this thing worked out where he holds me just so in his arms & when he does i'm suppose to sit still & quiet and just hang out. i do & i like it.  my brother jack thinks he's got all sorts of tricks figured out that i like. he calls me 'ch-calvin' and we play legos together - i do most of the watching, he does most of the building. i got to be the patient when all the kids played doctor the other night. mom was ready to swoop in and save me til she saw i was smiling and having a good time. i've actually held onto a little toy. i laugh when sailor talks to me. i haven't been dropped or fallen off anything yet - mom says huge score for her! i like baths & watching the tree branches blow in the wind outside. i like my daddy holding me. molly & regan are good company and my brother ben is great at telling me all sorts of interesting facts about life - i think i'll know exactly how to be 5 when i get there, thanks to benny. most people say i look like ben or maybe jack but they always end with 'well he sure belongs in the family, doesn't he!' mom's been pretty soft lately cause i've been wearing the boys old clothes and that's what moms do, dad says. in other big news i'm not the youngest person in our family ... i've got a new cousin! we've got our own club, her & i - we call it .... well since mom is typing this out she won't say, but anyway yeah for amity grace! that's about it, i still pretty much eat, sleep and now i smile & talk, watch jack play legos and sit outside in my swing. mom still says i'm crazy dreamy - i like mom'

 

- - -

the 28th also meant two months till our anniversary -

- - -

we got one : )

- - -

and good-bye!!

- - -

- - -

i'll explain the picture, promise : )

it's late ... we had a great day. it really was a terrific day.

we are watching public television - there's this funky group that rex likes & they're playing. so its like a free concert in our living room.

random picture #1.  sister friend thought she needed to sleep in her 'ugg boots' that night.

picture #2. i love - how he's holding his blankie. how close they are standing. their backpacks. his & her too short jeans. her head on his shoulder. how they are the closest in age of any of our kids.

#3 - we washed cars today. he usually always puts one kid on the roof to wash the top. we also mowed the lawn. really ... he washed the cars & i mowed the lawns, with rolled up santa pants : )

#5. she helped

she got such a kick of being sprayed with the hose. she waited for jack to chase her.

#6. jack lost the hose : )

#7. it rained yesterday, complete with thunder & a little bit of lightening and then a rainbow. today these clouds ...

#8. drying off -

#9. this picture is from 1979 and is me or really its from tonight & its chad : )

#10 my little video of chad in the tub is not uploading. grouch.grouch.GrouCH.

he splashed & kicked & then .... wait for it ....

.... he wore the little yellow giraffe 'jammies.

- - -

that's all, good night.

they told us to hurry!
they told us to come quick!
they had a new trick!
(when i saw them all lined up holding hands, i told them to hold on ... i needed the camera)

we clapped & said way to go!

- - -

 

- - -

happy weekend ~

oh and this ... this is my very favorite picture of the week.

a post a day -

jack is chasing the girls & benny around with the vacuum in the living room. 'if you go off the carpet you loose a star!' he declares over the noise. the upside is the floor is getting a really nice vacuum job : ) chad is watching it all from his bouncer.

its windy tonight & i am chanting to myself i-love-where-we-live-i-love-where-we-live.  wind makes dust, lots of dust. it makes stove tops dirty. it slams doors, loudly.

you know how something like dusty, windy, slamming doors can just trip you up? along with a combination of, well .... a lot of other things? rex suggested i just go take a shower : )

i did.

and then God showed us how abundant He is. how He is a God of unlimited resources.

and sleepless babies & rough math lessons & dusty stove tops loose their unnecessary importance & we go 'YAY GOD!'
 

we went to the farmers market today, our 1st of the season.

we bought fresh strawberries -

and ate them.

we went to the library. our books were due today .... but the ones from another time were late .... $68 late [cough.cough] the public library is funded in part by, us!

- - -

and last, he got to be a part of school today ... thanks to his preschool age sister : )

one more time ..... 'YAY GOD'