War Eagle in July

On Sunday night, I told Abby Jane that we were going to go to Auburn the next day. She said, "Can you sew me an Auburn dress real quick?" Then she said she wanted to sleep in her War Eagle shirt, wanted to pray for Auburn football (heaven knows we need it) that night, and could she bring a shaker in the car?

I had to make sure she understood we were not going to a football game, but for a slightly last minute visit some dear friends for the day. (Isn't it fun to be able to just think... "I want to just get out of town, see some sweet friends, be in my favorite place in the world"... and then just do it?!) It was obvious Abby Jane was not disappointed with the plan! The Muncies had us over, and we got to see the Vaughns and the Coopers while there. Here are the girls all dressed up in Kirkley's room. The twins were not having an amazing morning of behavior, but it seems the big kids did!

After lunch, we headed to Chill, which has opened since we left. It. was. delicious. Kirkley and Abby Jane had their own cups full of the kinds of things only kids put together- I think Abby Jane's was pink lemonade sorbet with jelly beans, sour patch worms, blueberries, and strawberries. They were in heaven. Holly is 14 weeks along with their little one-on-the-way and looking fabulous! I have to say that if I were pregnant in July in Auburn, I think I might have my name bronzed on a chair at this place!
Jay (19 months), Kirkley (4), Abby Jane (3), Blythe and Joy (20 months). Quite the parade!
After yogurt, we hugged the Muncies goodbye, then went on a short sentimentality walk. We "told the sick trees we hoped they felt better."
We played on Samford lawn.
We sat on the steps of Samford Hall where Jake and I got engaged.
And I fantasized about the days when we might be taking pictures of these three in graduation gowns in front of this sign...

It was a beautiful day in the Loveliest Village!! Can't wait to go back this fall!

20 months

Well, we are less than a week before the girls turn 21 months, but it was still really important to me to blog 20 months as that was the age Abby Jane was when Blythe and Joy were born. So here is my biggest girl at 20 months...

And here are her sisters...

Joy: still fearless, crazy, absolutely no sense of inhibition, a clown, the greatest belly laugh, and if something goes wrong, she's mad. The other day at a park, a little friend threw bark on Blythe's head. Blythe didn't care, but Joy patted Blythe on the back, then started crying. So add compassionate to the list.

Blythe: quiet, sweet-spirited, lady-like, more contented, just plain precious, and if something goes wrong, she's sad. On our road trip to St Simons a while back, Jake and I constantly found ourselves getting onto Joy and Abby Jane. At one point, Jake said, "Do we have a third child?" Because Blythe was just contentedly riding along, not causing any ruckus. Glad our family includes one of those kinds of kids!

Blythe and Joy could not be more different. In the few months since I blogged on their development, their speech has exploded. They are not exactly conversational, but definitely communicative. A few most commonly heard words: hi, mama, dada, Abba (Abby) or Ah Dane (Abby Jane), tank tu (thank you), bye bye, puppa (puppy), nigh-nigh, phone, bow, nana, nyeah-nyeah (cheerios- we have no idea how that one came to be), baby, Boo (Blythe's nick name), fwowah (flower), bowl, Mimi, Bop Bop, Gee (Grammy), Paw (Paul), Beesy (Betsy)... and, my favorite: a version of "I love you!". Honestly, they're at that stage where they attempt most words we suggest, so the list really goes on... but those are most of their most successful words...

They love talking on the phone, playing in the kitchen, swimming, copying ANYTHING Abby Jane does, playing at the park, going to storytime, reading, building with blocks, riding tricycles, blowing bubbles. Favorite books right now for the little girls are the ones with puppies, our nursery rhyme book, Where is Baby's Belly Button, From Head to Toe, Where is Baby's birthday cake. Favorite songs: I may never march in the infantry, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Alphabet song, Jesus loves me, If you're happy and you know it, Alice the Camel. Joy is our particularly musical one.

Schedule: wake up-8, quiet rest time in bed: 9-10; "go and do" all morning; nap time 1-4; dinner around 5:45; bedtime around 6:45 or 7:00. But this is the age where there is finally flexibility in all of those times! We are really enjoying having turned this corner!

One of the most entertaining and most common practices in our home is accessorizing. Blythe is the queen of it. Abby Jane's bow basket provides great amounts of entertainment for all the girls. Joy actually is the most obsessed with bows, but Blythe in general is always finding ways to accessorize. It's very lucky we have several pairs of dress up heels, as commonly there are three pairs in demand simultaneously.

Sharing is very very hard. As they are on a constant playdate, they are always having to share, and we are frequently having to settle disputes over coveted and/or stolen items.

One of the highlights of the last several weeks is seeing them really take to playing with and entertaining each other. They play chase, they copy each other, they play peek-a-boo with each other from behind their cribs, they hold hands in the car.

THIS is when the fun is really starting!

Summer Saturday

We decided a rainy Saturday would be a perfect day to hit up a great farmers market we don't usually frequent. But as we missed our local market due to VBS, it was all the excuse we needed.

It was impressibly packed despite the weather, and the girls were delighted by the sights, sounds, and dogs at the "fancy" farmers market, as we ended up calling it.
There's a train play area in the square nearby, so we decided to go ahead finish soaking the girls' clothes...while they had the whole area to themselves!We somehow ended up NOT without the girls actually IN the fountain, but it wasn't for their lack of desire!
We joined Paul and the boys (Bets was on a girls' weekend) at the pool Saturday night. Here's my mom with a traffic jam at the ladder.
To give perspective on how high Cade is in the air right here, Paul is really tall- 6'4", I think, or something else impressibly tall. And there is his brave boy flying several feet above him!!
What's a fun night at the pool if someone doesn't go home with a split lip? Poor Blythe, it's not even her first. If you think she looks bad, you should see the other guy.

Just kidding, it was just a run-in with the pool deck. Sweet baby girl!

The Balancing Act

So as I've been thrilled to be in the middle of multiple sewing projects for 418 of late, my blogging has fallen off the map. I need to balance my time a little better. In the meantime, my amount raised is about to pass the $100 mark for July, after I get it updated! YEA!!! And some of that is just cash donations to go towards the ministry I'm supporting right now!

Retracing the last few weeks, though, here's a bit of a our summer. The summer is Jake's busy season with KSU's orientation, so the girls and I spend one night at week at my mom's to give him a quiet house before his biggest day of the week. The plan also lends itself to hanging with my mom, using her pool, and more convenient access to my friends for playdates on that side of town!

This is how we go to the pool: child labor, I mean, dividing up responsibility for carrying in all our pool paraphernalia.

Our precious little friend Maddy's 3rd birthday party.
Maddy's mom and dad are dear friends, so it was fun to be a part of their big girl's big day!

It's been a little while since the little girls have been to a kid birthday party, and they thought they were pretty big stuff with their pineapple sippy cups, leis, and cupcakes that Joy delicately smashed into her mouth.

The week following was VBS. I was delighted to serve for the first time, and I had an enlightening week with two five yr olds and two six yr olds. They kept me busy, but it was an honor to love on them and meet them on their various levels. In the afternoons, the girls and I kicked off our shoes...

I soaked up loving on my own children after not being with them during the mornings (p.s. you can sort of see how tired we were- I think I have a crow's foot for each child I chased through their VBS programs!),

and we enjoyed having a shady yard on 90+ degree days!

Independence Day

Better late than never! Last weekend, we headed up to Cartersville to start celebrating the Fourth. I made this Moon Pie Banana Pudding to bring along for our cookout. My roommate Stephanie figured out a recipe inspired by a dessert we had our getaway a few weeks ago! The only thing I did differently was add one layer of cool whip in the middle of the trifle. DELISH!

Jake and I ran the Peachtree Road Race Monday morning. We had a great time enjoying a HUGE Atlanta tradition, getting exercise, celebrating America, and each other'scompany! My earliest memory is of sitting in a stroller, eating animal crackers, and watching legs run by... apparently that was the Peachtree when I was 20 months old... or 2 1/2... one of those years.

We came back to our family up in Cartersville, and we found three very happy little girls

who had a big morning of parades and pre-parade breakfast partying with Jake's family and family friends while we were off running! I'm telling y'all, Cartersville knows how to do holidays. The Christmas and Fourth of July parades and festivities surrounding are just fabulous. After the parade, Abby Jane told me she saw "Big Bird, Clifford, and a cheese grater!" Betsy figured out Abby Jane was referring to Sponge Bob.

I love how casually Luke and Blythe are sporting their sunglasses!

Blythe's always got something in her hands...

One of the best things to do in the summer at Mimi and Bop Bop's is play with ice. An ice chest of ice can last five kids a. very. long. time.

Apparently ice is especially scrumptious when picked out of the grass and dirt.

Those are sparklers that Jake and Paul are trying to entice the kids with, I promise.

I won't be able to do the following story justice. In short, what started out as a ride around the block in Bop Bop's old truck that is mostly retired... became a 15 minute joyride with four parents and five children in the back... many calculations as to how much jail time we would do if pulled over...

then passing a police car that pulled out after us... and Ken pulling into an empty driveway like we lived there... good times, good times...

seriously, can you get much more illegal than this particular picture? Yes, she's standing up.

Jake set off a few fireworks, and the sparklers came back out after supper. Going to Abby Jane's first big fireworks show got shot down when the bottom dropped out and the thunder didn't stop. I think God decided he wanted to be our fireworks this year. And I have to hand it to Him, He put on a pretty good show on that July sky.

Thankful we are blessed enough to live in this country and celebrate our freedom! I have a thing about freedom, if you didn't know...

Saturday night swim

The Sheerins had us over to cook out and swim on Saturday night. We grabbed this pretty classic video as a taste of the girls' swimming this summer.

Here is Katie and her cackling-in-delight Carlton...

Blythe is content just to float around, even in the deep end, as long as she has an object in each hand...

Joy, as you saw in the video, is an unbelievable fish, and cries every time we have to leave the pool. She could do this for hours. Look at that face! And notice... there's no adult catching her. She's entirely independent, and can even climb up the ladder alone.

I have no words for this picture. Actually, I have a lot. Simply put, it brings me great delight to share with you this pic of Jake and Joy jumping into the deep end together.

I think there will be lots of pictures in the future of Jake and Joy doing something unexpected... like a 20 month old jumping into the deep end with her dad...

Splashpark Farewell

I so love and respect my sis-in-law, and I will certainly miss her dearly. She is so wise, fun, creative, giving, thoughtful, sacrificial, spontaneous, well-organized, an amazing wife, mom, and friend. Jodi and I really won out when Susan agreed to marry our brother.

Jake took the morning off to join us, and the girls LOVED having their daddy there!

Joy had a real thing for Scott at the splashpark, and was basically inseparable from him. Scott was precious and just doted on her the whole time.

Sweet, sweet girls...

We had the FABULOUS delight of running into our friends, the Dooleys, who are in town (from their normal home in East Asia) this summer for Lauren to have their second child! Harrison is three, and this was our first time to meet him. It was SUCH a treat to get to catch up with these sweet friends!!!

After splashing, it was picnic time... and rolling down the hill time...

This pic cracks me up- out of context, you would think Abby Jane had fallen, but she's really just mid-roll! It was so fun.

OH we how we love and are so thankful for our precious family! We are so excited for this next season of your lives, and we can't wait to see what adventures unfold for you, though you will be sorely missed.