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.

Farewell Tour Part 1

My brother's family flew out to Manila on Friday the 1st to begin the adventure of a three-year job over there. After their packers tucked the last of their things into their truck, they were to come down to my mom's for one last hoo-rah of cousin time. My sister Jodi came in town with her three on Thursday, and she and I began the partying a little early. Unfortunately, as happens with moves, unforeseen items came up and prevented the Elliotts from joining us until Saturday night.

It was a taste of what it will be like when Jodi's and my kids are the only cousins. It was plenty of fun, but each of the oldest three were lacking their little buddy. Katie (7) goes with Scott (8), Ian (5) goes with Ryan (6), and Abby Jane (3) goes with Ashley (3). There will be big holes without those special buddy relationships, but most families don't have those stairsteps anyways- so it's a taste of more normal age range of kiddos for this season of life. Jodi, Mom, and I managed to make the fun go on while we awaited the Elliotts with things like popsicles after dinner (the twins' first!)...

Pool time- here's her three- Katie, Ian, Maggie...
My three looking at the spillway by the pool...
Jake came over Friday night and got in some fishin with his big girl on Saturday morning...
Then we boot-scooted over to my fantastic Grandaddy and Granny Joan's house just in time for hugs and Granny Joan's snacks in the sunroom...
Grandaddy's BRILLIANT paper airplanes to glide off their deck (which he built himself, including all kinds of amazing adirondack furniture on it!)...
some swinging time...
and some flying time. Or so the kids thought. Joy wanted to go as high as the big kids had gone.
For some reason the twins slept HORRIBLY while we were there. So on the night before this picture, Jake and I got a collective 2 hours of sleep. CRAZY. Definitely called for a treat that Sunday morning. Here's Jake handing out doughnuts to the feeding frenzy, which is a bit of a tradition for him anyways...
Reading is another big family tradition at every single get-together. There are tons of pictures of every aunt and uncle with a passel of kids crowded around for a book. Susan, a former elementary school teacher, is always a particularly popular reader.
One day after my sister's family headed home, I watched Ashley while Susan took the boys to Six Flags (they got free tickets through some reading program). We had some quality little girl time in Grammy's driveway. Our last time with this sweet family was at the splashpark, and I'll give it a separate post...