Summer Spectacular

It wouldn't be summer without Summer Spectacular! Every June brings work days at the church, stapling lots of butcher paper, much anticipation on my kids part, and finally, three nights of "VBS on steroids". We are so grateful to Patty (the mastermind) & all of the musical cast who spend hour upon hour learning lines & dance numbers. My girls were so impressed as always. Judah did so much better than I could have hoped. He spent a little while each night in the nursery while Tom & I taught in the first grade craft room, then joined us for the musical. He was mesmerized by the loud music, dancing, lights going on & off, and all of the glowsticks. He made it through happily each night, going to bed as late as 10:30. Next year the auditorium will be under construction so we'll have to wait until 2013 for the next big show, Joseph. Thank you, thank you Patty & all who make Summer Spectacular a great memory for our kids!

kids of the first grade teachers in session 1...

he really is more than half of her size!

Judah & cute pie Addison - two little green froggies. I am in love with the tshirt onesies that they give the babies to wear - they make me so happy for some reason!

Judah at 6 months

Oh my, I could just squeeze those chunky little thighs all day long! Our Judah sure is a huggable chunky boy at 6 months. (edited to add: on Monday at his 6 month checkup he weighed 19 lbs 5 oz 79%, & was 28.5 inches long 95%). He becomes more joyful & sweet every day. He has become a very go with the flow baby as long as you can get him in a bed for naptime. This month he finally got weaned from his swaddle, now you can just put him in bed with his big frog or monkey blanket & he just rolls around & squeels until he decides to go to sleep. If I go in to check on him he really quickly rolls to his tummy & plays possum like he knows he's supposed to be going to bed. He still loves to nurse or take a bottle & has tried a few solid foods over the past couple of weeks. Surprisingly, he kind of got a kick out of it at first but now takes a few bites & then isn't really interested. I'm sure he'll be very into food soon. His milestones this month: he can sit unassisted but still needs a spotter because he'll reach for things & topple over, he can roll all over the place (no more playing on the bed - he's fast!), he reaches for us, he jumps up & down when you stand him up, & he has his two bottom teeth cut through the gums. He's gotten really smiley lately & laughs easily. He is so much fun & I have no idea what we'd do without him!

eating: nursing every 2 to 4 hours during the day, one solid feeding of a couple of tablespoons most days - playing with whole foods like fruits & veggies, rice or oatmeal cereal, and a few purees

sleeping: 3 naps a day, usually a short one in the morning & evening, & one longer one in the afternoon, sleeps from the 10 pm dream feed until 5 to 6:30 am, then back down for an hour or two

likes: water (he's pretty good in the pool), bathtime, sucking on ice cubes in his teether, watching his sisters & Bitsie, being tickled, Praise Baby dvds in the van, being outside

dislikes: being by himself for very long, being held when he's really tired

He's very tolerant of all the goofy things his sisters do to him! Mae loves to make him look silly so she can laugh & laugh - here he is with her summer spectacular mask on & in a tent that she made for him.

Hanging out with cousin Paige. He often sucks his first two fingers upside down like that. We love you Bub, Bubbie, Brother Bear, Judah Boo, Chunky Monkey, Butter!

Anna at 8

Eight! That sounds way too old. Each year has gone faster & faster. Right now our sweet Anna is a girl at one moment - playing with her AG doll, swinging outside, being silly with Mae, and then in the next moment a young lady - using a huge vocabulary, being mature & compassionate, or rolling her eyes & using a teenage "I know everything" voice. She loves to read, use her imagination, play computer, ride her scooter all over the place, do crafts, & be with friends. We love, love, love our precious Anna - even on the days when it seems like we argue over every small detail. She keeps us on our toes & we can't wait to see all of the amazing ways that God is going to use her very strong sense of self & soft heart for His glory!

Favorite thing to play: with our neighbors Abby & Emma

Favorite foods: tomato basil chicken sausage, peanut butter sandwiches, pizza & breadsticks

Favorite toy: razor scooter

Favorite thing about school: her teachers, writing

Favorite thing to do with mom: make friendship bracelets

Favorite thing to do with dad: jump on the trampoline

What she wants to do when she grows up: ???

Dream day: play with friends at gymnastics, ride her own horse, make Bitsie feel better (she has a cough)

Anna's 8th birthday party

Pool party! I was really glad when Anna settled on a pool party for her 8th... she had run through several ideas that were going to be lots of work for us to plan, so I jumped on this one. Our neighborhood pool only allows a few guests per family so we had to keep it small, but we had just the right number of girls to keep our eyes on since the pool was extremely crowded. We had about an hour of swim time - enough for a cannon ball contest & lots of dunking of Mr. Tom. Anna had asked me to make a double layer pool cookie cake (she is always very specific about what kind of cake she has in mind!) & I think that it was a hit. After swimming, pizza, & cake the girls came back to the house for Anna to open her gifts. Her sweet friends know her so well & she loved everything she got. We were thankful for a very laid back party, fun friends, and a hot sunny day!

Anna's last days of 2nd grade

How can another school year have already come & gone? Everyone said that once your kids get into school time just speads up & goes faster & faster. So true. I can't believe that Anna is now a 3rd grader & that tomorrow she will turn 8.

On the last Thursday of school they squeezed in one last project. The kids researched a historical character & memorized a biographical speech about their life. Anna chose Betsy Ross & did a great job committing tons of facts about her to memory. She chose this dress up of Kylee's to wear, wanted her hair in an updo, and carried the flag. Mae, Judah, & I went to her classroom for their "living library" performance. All the kids were lined up around the room & frozen like statues. They each had a stamp/button on their hand that you could press for them to come alive & tell you their speech just like in a museum. Such a great idea - the kids learned a ton & got lots of public speaking practice.

The next day was her last in Miss Y & Mrs Buce's class - realizing this brought a long, sad cry fest the night before. Anna has adored these two amazing teachers this year - God has been so good to put her in just the right class every school year. They had an ice cream party on the last day & watched an awesome class video that the teachers put together. Bring on summer!

Adventures in eating

For the past week or so we've been letting Judah try his first tastes of real food. I know that the mess will get old quickly, but for some reason I just love little babies with food all over themselves. I love their expressions when they eat, how they smear themselves with food like they are giving themselves spa treatments, and this time how fun it is for the girls to join feeding their baby "bub". So far he has gummed apple slices, banana, avocado, & baked sweet potato. We've also spoon fed him mashed banana, brown rice cereal, & pureed avocado & sweet potato all mixed with breast milk. I think the avocado has been his favorite. We are looking forward to seeing the differences between this chunky monkey & his sisters - will we finally have an eater in our house? We are hoping to hear, "can I have seconds of..." instead of "how many bites to do HAVE to eat to be finished?" at our table!

San Antonio

On Memorial Day weekend we headed down to SA to visit Tom's family & attend Jenny's wedding. God was so gracious to us - I was very apprehensive about the car ride with Judah since he is not a car sleeper AT ALL - but he did awesome. He only slept about 30 minutes of the 5 1/2 hour trip each way, but he didn't cry on the way down & only about 10 minutes on the way home. Heavenly - thank you Lord! We had fun hanging out with Josh, Mandy, & their boys on Saturday until Nana & Pappy made it home from their vacation in Europe. We were thankful that they welcomed us this weekend & babysat during the wedding dispite their jet lag! On Sunday we got to see Uncle Matt & Aunt Pris & her kiddos, and I couldn't resist getting some family pictures while we were dressed up. Unfortunately a lot of the close up ones got nixed because I had lipstick on my teeth (don't look too close!)... that's what happens when you try to get yourself & 3 kids all looking cute at the same time. Oh well, the ones of the kids were precious. Anna: almost 8, Maelyn 5, Judah 5 1/2 months

Nana & Pappy with all 8 grandkids... L to R: Dylan, Kaden, Judah, Logan, Maelyn, Presley, Kelly, & Anna

Jenny's wedding was beautiful... a testimony of God's faithfulness & a sweet time to celebrate joy being restored. Jenny & Brady did a great job of making the event a happy one while honoring all the family involved including Brad & Sarah's parents & relatives. Jenny looked gorgeous as always! Praying so many blessings over this sweet family of 5!

Kaelyn & Zeke

Jenny's dad, Rick & Brad's dad, David, walking Jenny down the aisle

little Chloe

Jenny & Brady

Love you Jenny & I can't wait to see all the wonderful times ahead for you & your family! Thanks for letting us share the day with you.