County Fair

Baby Five

With each child that I bear, I become rounder sooner.

If You Give a Girl a Cupcake ...

... she will want to decorate it, along with the rest of her Daisy Troop.

Family Reunion

FROM THE ARCHIVES OF JULY:
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Jeremy's mother is one of 13 children. Most of these people are married and most have children (there are 40 first cousins plus their spouses), some have grandchildren (good luck counting that), and one has a great-grandchild! The family gathers often but there are get togethers that you can't miss, such as Easter, the Summer Reunion, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This is the picture story of the Saturday of the Summer Reunion.What family outing doesn't include camping? Here is Jeremy's parents' campsite.
Grandpa and Isaiah
Morgan, Madeleine, and Noah color. Jeremy and I came out Friday evening, left the three older children to camp, and returned on Saturday morning.
Isaiah crawls toward the camp fire.
Noah plays with the camp fire. His favorite part of camping used to be water and bikes. Now it's fire. Hellloooo, testosterone!
Madeleine made this paperclip necklace.
This is Franny, the best mother-in-law ever, and me.
Aunt Cec (background) remembered bubbles. She brought them out in the afternoon for the kids to play with. Jeremy and his cousin Michelle begin to fill water balloons!


Mixed in with the water balloons were water pistols.

After the water fights, Angie spotted Noah resting beneath the tree. She called me over in time to take his picture.
These are the best parents-in-law that a girl could hope for!
These beautiful young women are two of Jeremy's cousins. From left: Angie, me, and Michelle.
Not only does the filthy little boy have dirt from head to toe, stitches, and an ice cream cone in one hand, he's finally found a little green caterpillar for the other hand!
Jeremy sits with his dad.
At the end of the day, Franny (Grandma) and I took the older three kids to do one of their favorite camping activities: the shower. They were FILTHY. We undressed them and turned them loose in the shower with a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo. Jeremy and I took home three squeaky clean kids and one mostly-clean toddler.

What a fun weekend!

First Days of School

The girls started school last Thursday, had half days that day and Friday, and began full days Monday. They ride to school in the morning with Jeremy.Noah started Pre-K on Monday. He goes to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the afternoon. He is beyond thrilled, as he has been asking when it would be his turn since Madeleine began Pre-K two years ago. He jumped out of the van and didn't wait to see if I was following him. When we arrived up at his classroom, he put his things away and said, "Mommy, are you leaving now? Can you go home, please?" When I picked him up, he was excited but seemed a little upset. I asked what was wrong. He replied, "Miss M is keeping my school supplies." Fighting back my laughter, I said, "yes, buddy, but they're still yours."

Wordless Wednesday

Prayer Request

This young lady lost her life in a car accident earlier this week. I didn't know her but she taught Morgan (pictured here) during swimming lessons this summer. She was only sixteen. Please pray for Emily and for her family in their time of sorrow.

Overheard

Madeleine: Morgan, how many kids are you going to have when you grow up?

Morgan: Oh ... seven, maybe eight. How many are you going to have?

Madeleine: I think six or maybe seven.

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It's not that I want my children to feel that they must have a certain amount of children in order to be a family. It's not that I have ever set a number for our own family; we haven't (although we hoped for at least four). But this conversation that I overheard in the Starbucks Drive-thru made my heart soar.

Now I know that we're training them well. If they see no limit to how many children they are willing to bring into the world then they know that children are blessings, not burdens. They know that the more children there are, the better. They don't think that they have to stop at two. They have never heard me say, "I can't handle any more kids," or "Four is plenty for us!" Just the thought of them hearing us say something like that makes me cringe.

Even when Morgan asked me if having kids was a lot of work, I told her, "Yes, but it is worth it and you are such good helpers. I couldn't imagine my life without you and I hope that God gives us more of you." They know how we value them! Thank you, God!

Conversing With A Two Year Old

In Isaiah's two years, he has not picked his nose. A few days ago, he discovered a nostril. He came up to me at the campsite we were staying at, slowly extended his arm, and showed me a nice little tidbit on the end of his finger.

"Oh, yuck, Isaiah. Wipe that on your shirt," I said.

He considered my request, wiped it on the edge of his already dirty shirt, and moved his little finger back toward his nose. He said with a very serious expression, "Ima get anudder one."

I laughed so hard that I cried.

Tooth #4

Dear Morgan, I am as real as you imagine me to be.
Love,
The Tooth Fairy

Grubby Little Boy (again)

I love grubby little boy pictures. I haven't posted much lately but I'll come back around.