round here

round here...

summer is in full swing,

we are enjoying lots of time home,

kiddos are growing, changing, (fighting), playing, hugging, creating,

justin is loving his new job working with food and people once more,

we are spending lots of time with family as one of the patriarchs is in his "twilight days",

and mama...

well, mama is watching it all,

soaking it all in,

trying to enjoy it all,

trying to wrap her arms around it all,

trying to see her Savior in it all...

 flowers elise picked for me from the front yard

isaac when his poor eye swells up.  he has allergic reactions to stuff and just rubs, rubs, rubs...

elise discovering we have dolls from nanny and when i was a kid...little girls and dolls...

drawing a picture of her beloved cousins, eva and mara

reesey doing what he does best...chillin'

isaac banging on stuff.  doesn't matter what it is, he'll bang it 

justin found him like this one morning, not long after moving to his big boy twin bed.  if you can't quite tell, he's sleeping horizontally inside the headboard

and another one caught sleeping...elise fell asleep while actually coloring.  the marker lid is still in her hand!

and yet another one found sleeping in an odd place.  went up to check on him after putting him down for a nap...yup, found him in his chair.

rock band with aunt mare mare (elise put that costume together herself!)

love this face!

kissing daddy as he leaves for work.  we are so thankful for his new job at trader joe's.  what a blessing.  God's hand and planning are all over this.  within two months of being laid off, he was starting at tj's.  after years of applying for job whenever he'd get laid off and never hearing anything back from companies, this opportunity came through in less than two months!  Thank You loving Father.  it's so nice to see my husband enjoying what he does again.  there is no price tag on that.

everyday moments

i've been reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp lately.  this book has been rocking my mindset and heart, which is what i need when i only get a few moments here and there to read!  the section that has been sticking with me is the concept that God is in our everyday moments.  He is "I AM" which is present tense.  So in all the everyday moments of my days, He is there, I AM making each moment holy.  Not looking ahead and not looking back, not caught in my rush, full attention here, in this moment.  so here are some of our every day moments, i'm praying and asking God to help me soak up and savor.

isaac falling asleep with his books

the kids dancing around in animal masks we made (she's a kitty cat and he's a monkey)

loving the exersaucer.  it's the perfect perch to watching his siblings' craziness

there really aren't words for this, except to say, this sums up isaac's perfect balance of roughness and gentleness in one picture

 his other favorite perch...the bouncy seat!  (p.s. he's laughing, not crying)

all three kiddos awake at the same time, no one crying, no one screaming, no one fighting, no poopy diapers, just playing...a sweet moment

izie needing to be with daddy while he finished the lawn

reading before dinner

stuffing a cooler full of colored pencils and baby dolls (add that he climbed up there himself!)

getting soaked and sand-covered outside before dinner in the kid pool our awesome neighbors bought us

painting nails

only aunt mare mare would let her favorite niece paint her nails :)  you're the best mare!!

elise's careful precision and focus was adorable.

can't forget to add the hello kitty sparkles!

beautiful!!

what do pretty girls do after they've painted their nails??  have a tea party, of course!

our children are so blessed to have their aunts and uncles as such an integral part of their daily lives.  thanks mare for keeping family such a priority.  we love you!!

brothers