AWE-drey!!!

a couple days ago our neighborhood grew...just a little over 20 inches taller and not quite 9 pounds bigger..baby Audrey is finally here!
(don't panic people, i am talking about my neighbor's baby!!)

we got to play with audrey's siblings the day she was born(grace and clark) and had a blast playing with glop, play dough, drawing, painting nails and swimming!

we took some pics for audrey and her parents to look back on to see what grace and clark were doing on july 27th, 2010!!

happy birthday day sweet audrey!(that's what everyone was shouting!)

we are so glad you are healthy and here!!

what about bob?

fun summer activity #10..."glop"!




everyone around here just calls it "bob" though, because i guess it looks like some character from a movie they have all seen(and i of course, have not!)

it was super easy to make(water, borax, glue, and food coloring of your choice), not too messy at all(hurray!) and tons of fun!

they even were able to color it with markers and blow it up into huge bubbles with straws!

summer is RAD!

summer rules

the tightly scheduled days of the school year have been shed from our minds like skin from a snake!

these days we are staying up late, sleeping in(sort of!), eating crazy things for meals at random times of the day, riding our bikes to RiteAide(Thrifty to those of us who can remember!)for ice cream cones, playing at the beach, enjoying parks...but best of all...

we have been swimming!!

after our fantastic time at gram and papa's pool and a great time had at a water pool/park/splash pad with the cousins, we came back down south and decided to find ourselves a place to swim!

after some searching, we found what had the potential to be a totally awesome place, complete with a huge beach entrance pool, fun things that squirt water from them, and a HUGE water slide! the best part...anyone under 17 is FREE!!!!!! (i know, crazy,right!?)

upon arriving we found out several not so fun rules...
1. each child under 7 must be with their own adult...within arm's reach at all times(impossible for a mom of four small peeps to accomplish!)
2. the slide doesn't open till 12, even though the pool opens at 11(torture!)
3. no running
4. no crying
5. no laughing(ok, maybe i was just imagining that the life guards were all thinking this should be a rule!)
6. no eating(what!?)
7. no one under 48inches on the slide(can you hear my boys screaming and crying??)
8. no having any fun at anytime, at all!(ok, that wasn't an actual rule, but it felt like it!)

(as garrett would say) total downer dude!

so we packed up our stuff and headed home and pulled out our own "pool"


(it is a far cry from papa and gram's cool pool...but heh,it's better than nothing!)

we pulled it out, dusted it off, pumped and filled it up(with a hand pump! my back is killing me!). then i sat on the couch with a good book and enjoyed the endless laughter out my front door!

the kids played all day, only asking for the occasional plate of fruit/veggies and pretzels to refuel, and then they went back to their sweet summertime fun!

it's got a slow leak, which i have yet to find, and loses more water than i care to admit each night(not very drought friendly!!), but otherwise it is awesome! :)

the best part...


tons of splashing, playing, laughing, running, eating and occasional crying allowed!!

always enough

growing a mess is harder than it seems, especially for one who craves neatness.

i keep coming back to this place, pasting pictures, hoping to capture little snippets of proof that God's grace is more than enough.

He promises that His grace is...
sufficient to keep me sane while loving my small people
enough to fill me with joy inside even as the "outside" is frustrating
perfect to makeup for my frailties and failures
deep to reach the darkest corners of my hiding places

He promises that because of His blood shed on the cross i am
completely secure
totally significant
fully enjoyed
endlessly loved

there has been great peace and joy found in playing this "tape" over and over in my head as i meander through my mess filled days.

american anniversary

not much beats getting to sit and listen as your dad explains what fourth of july means to your two year old daughter...

listening to my dad tell her about it refreshed all that i hold dear in my heart about our country.

i love fourth of july...the food, the family, the swimming, the fire works.

while in nor. cal. we enjoyed tons of all of the above!

around dusk we headed to a neighboring town to spread out blankets, chat with each other and await pure darkness and a truly spectacular fireworks show.




there was a gentle hum of conversation flowing through the wide open grassy park...soft night breezes, kids laughing and playing, families everywhere you looked, enjoying each other.


suddenly, all conversations stopped, kids froze in place, and everyone's eyes were drawn to the dark night sky.

it was awesome!

i took turns between watching the bright flashes and appreciating the awe on my two year old's face as she watched in wonder. (last year she hid her face for the full 30 minute show!)

except for the chest pounding booms, the park was silent.

i let my eyes wander around at other families enjoying the moment...
my eyes were drawn to the glow of a rectangular shape in a teenage girl's hands...her i-phone.

she was (i think) texting! never once looking up to notice the moment she was in, she seemed happy to just stare at her little technilogical advancement.

i felt sad for her, that she was missing such a sweet celebration of all that is freedom for us in this country.

i looked back at my sweet blonde firecracker and prayed a silent prayer...

God let all these little ones around me never get too old or be too cool for such awesome moments in life.

sweet retreat

after a totally awesome surf camp week with joe, we piled into the van and headed up to nor. cal. to deliver our rad nephew back home.

then we set up our own summer camp at gram and papa's house and had the best 10 days ever!

every day was full of swimming in papa and gram's fun pool...swimming after breakfast, swimming before lunch, after lunch, after dinner...pretty much every free minute was spent in the pool! (i was usually in the pool with them, so i managed to get 0 pics of the water logging...but it was a blast!)

one of the days we woke up extra early and ate bagels in the van as we drove to SF to spend some priceless time with some treasured friends!! it was a very full day of remembering all that we loved in the city!

here are some highlights of our sweet retreat...

sleeping in as long as we wanted to (if you look closely, you will see two sleepy heads in those piles of blankets!)




soakin in the rays and enjoying a great pool/splash pad






watching papa pretend to be reading a book while he was really just taking an afternoon nap





dancing away a slow summer afternoon




posing for a cousins photo (um, which of us has four kids, and which of us has three??)




filling up on some yummy take out (i asked a stranger to take this so i could prove to myself later that i am able to take all four kids out to eat by myself!)




breakfast at gram and papa's...one of my favorite parts...sleeping in, going slow, enjoying the cool morning breezes on the porch...ah!





tracking down some amazing wildly organic blackberries

it took some hiking through knee high weeds(or neck high, depending on who you are!) and some clever looking skills, but we found a few plump ones!





of course, i had to work even harder at keeping them in their bowls...



don't worry, we saved some!


see...


but then we ate them!


tasty!!


thanks to ALL of our family for our great summer camp getaway!
a special thanks to our awesome aunt anissa who answered our call to fly out from new temporary home in o'fallon, il!!! we loved having some time with you!