End of July

The end of July has been a blur - if not the whole of July.  It was a great summer month with temps so hot it felt like August the whole time!  We've enjoyed a month of fun but also chaos.  I got a job 5 hrs/week at Jacob's Well as an event coordinator and its amazing how difficult it is to fit 5 hrs into an already packed week.

While Logan had five mornings at Vacation Bible School, Benny, Eden and I had our mornings to ourselves.  It was a flash forward to fall when Logan has mornings at the Montessori.

Bennett as gotten really close to Eden and I suspect he will really grow close to her this fall when its just the two of them home with me in the mornings.  He loves her a lot...sometimes a little too much - I have to remind him not to smother her!

And, of course Benny has a personality all his own...wearing his shades and life jacket inside.  Just one of many of his interesting combos.

Eden is making leaps and bounds in development.  I forget what a fast changing age this is.  She now grabs onto whatever she wants and is eager to move and play with toys.

She is the best baby ever.  I am in awe of her.  She loves to chat and sings herself to sleep.  Its the cutest thing ever!

Love those baby blues.

And we're ending up the month with swimming lessons for the boys.  They are parent-child lessons which means John and I are both in the water with the boys.  Its crazy.  That was probably not a good idea in this crazy season, but soon they will be over and the boys can move on to independent lessons.  They love the lessons so its been good.  Eden sometimes come along and hangs out in her seat or sometimes stays with a friend.

We had our outdoor church service on the last Sunday of July and it was rainy!  Go figure!  We've been needing rain for two months and we got a ton while we all stood out in the rain for an hour and a half on Sunday.  Oh well!

To the cabin on a whim!

Our friends Dave and Shelly invited us to their awesome cabin for the day on short notice!  We were happy to drop everything and make our way there for the most perfect day of the summer!  The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the day away was just what we needed!

Eden was sleepier than usual, but she got to sleep in a little bassinet down by the lake.

Little Henry is almost exactly one year older than Eden.  I love watching to see what Eden will be like one year from now...so big!

The boys loved the water, the boat and...

Big Mabel!  They took their first ride with John!  They enjoyed it!  Logan said, "Mom! I rode Big Mabel! She was FUN!"

Our friends Grady and Henry.

Daddy and Eden

Always smiley

Baywatch 2012.  Look out ladies.  Haha.

Logan is becoming quite the swimmer.  Looking pretty serious here!

A favorite is the water mat, which is so fun for the kids!  They wore themselves out jumping from the water mat to the tube and back.

Eden and I spent lots of time playing in the shade.

And there was fishing!  The boys were in heaven!  And not afraid to touch the fish, either!

At the end of the day, we were all tired out.  Eden and Henry spent a little time playing before we had to go home.  Thanks to the Peters' family for a great day at the lake!

Olympics!

We've been talking about the Olympics to our kids since earlier this summer.  We have been so excited to cheer on Team USA in all the fun summer events.  Tonight it was finally time for the opening ceremonies.  We planned a little party (pizza and ice cream - how American!) and invited Mollie and Aubrey to join us.  The kids were so excited!  Bennett almost missed out when he fell asleep before dinner, but we were able to rouse him - phew.  

The kids donned their USA colors and Eden showed off her Olympic Tummy Time skills!  

Gold medal for her!

Logan was totally into the opening ceremonies, which got a little intense at times.  He was clearly understanding the big picture of the whole world coming together.  We explained about all the countries having their people represented to work together and compete.  I think its such a great lesson to have our kids see so many countries and people together.

Bennett loved his "torch-like" ice cream cone.  Yum!

PS - Amy and Andrew are actually AT the Olympics after a 10 day tour around Europe.  We couldn't help but think of them on their awesome trip while we watched the opening ceremonies.  In fact, Bennett could understand that A & A are there, so he thought we should go to.  He got his shoes on and said "I'm ready.  Let's go to the 'Lympics, Mom!"  Sadly, I had to explain that London is across the ocean and we wouldn't be at the 'Lympics this year.  I'm sure we'll get some great stories from Amy and Andrew, though!

Playset Done!

We now have our own little playground in the backyard!  It arrived from Lowe's via a big truck several weeks ago and after LOTS of hours of John (with some starting help from his dad).  It was no small feat to get this playset all put together and leveled out on our slightly-sloped lawn.  John did an awesome job and it looks even better than we imagined!  Our lucky little boys got this playset as a joint birthday gift from all the grandparents.  What a great gift for our family - we love it!

Logan's Procedure

Cheers to 9 Years!

We celebrated 9 years of marriage today...its hard to believe all that we've experienced and how we've grown in those years.  God has really blessed us and changed us and challenged us.  We are so thankful for all of it!  Two cities, three houses, three beautiful children, and lots of jobs later, we are reminded of how great it is to just have each other to walk through it all together.  

Its been such a crazy week that we were thankful for just a few minutes together on the couch at the end of the night before we both just fell asleep!  We hope to do something a little more celebratory in the coming weeks.  Happy Anni #9, babe.

Baby Story Time

Our library has such great story times with the new children's center.  I can't always remember which ages are on which days and today we hit baby story time which was perfect.  It was about time for us to do something special for Eden.  :)

Under the parachute.

Logan was such the proud big brother, very interactive and engaged.

There was a little play time after so we stayed for a bit.

Happy Baby!