School Time!

The summer went by way too quickly, as it usually does. The kids are back to school and the house is quiet again. Yes, there are still two kids at home, but it's quiet. I must confess that in some ways that's good. But mostly I miss having them all home. With that said, however, all three kids were excited to start school. And I am really thankful for that. L-R~Josiah (1st grade), Isaac (2nd grade), Keziah (3rd grade)

I think the picture below is so precious. Brothers having a little chat before their first day at school.

I try to look for the positive things about the kids going back to school. One thing is that I try to make these days special times of bonding for Titus, Tirzah and I. This is the last year Titus will be home with us, so we're trying to make the most of our time together. He enjoyed helping me make chocolate chip cookies for an after-school snack.

Just in case you were wondering, the kids seemed to have a good first day. Each one had something they thought was exciting about their day. The only little hitch we had was with shoes. Apparently Keziah's feet grew more than I realized. I had a pair of tennis shoes in the closet we were saving for school that I meant to have her try on last week. I forgot. So Sunday night when she went to try them on we discovered they were too small! We found a pair to get her through her first day and then after school we had to make a run to the store to get some shoes that fit!

Children are indeed a gift from the Lord. I pray that I will not take these gifts for granted and that I will take good care of them.

Vacation

Earlier this week we returned home from a 9-day vacation, spent with family. This trip I hardly took any pictures. I think the only pictures I took were a few at Carousel Park in Joplin, MO. (Fun place, by the way. If you're ever in Joplin you should go check it out!). Two days into our vacation Tirzah came down with the stomach flu. After that, every day of our vacation was spent with someone having the stomach flu or a fever or both. That part of it was miserable. I hate the stomach flu. I hate it even more when we're on vacation!

We did enjoy being able to spend some time with our families (the sick one was usually quarantined for the day). And one afternoon/evening Nathan and I even got to spend some time by ourselves. It was very nice. And after nine days of vacation, there's something bittersweet about coming home.

Back at home we're trying to take advantage of our last days to spend as a family at the pool. We have really enjoyed our family pass this year. We're sad to see summer slipping away, but the kids are excited to start school on Monday. Pictures to come...

Nathan's Early Birthday

We celebrated Nathan's birthday early since we will be leaving for vacation on his actual birthday.

Happy birthday Nathan! We love you!!!

Lifting Weights

I have some hand weights that I use with some of my exercise videos. The other day the kids found them and thought they needed to build up some muscle. :)

Even Tirzah thought she needed to use them!

This picture cracks me up. My boys. Life sure is interesting with these guys! And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Family Time

Sunday afternoon our family took some time to hang out at one of our favorite spots. Actually, the kids and I have been here several times but this was Nathan's first time to go with us. We really enjoyed our time together.

Too bad summer is already coming to a close!

It's Been Awhile...

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I haven't been very consistent with my blogging. I think I go in spurts. That's kind of the way it goes for me with so many other things too. This year one of my New Year's resolutions was to try to be more organized. I haven't done a very good job with that, but at least I keep trying! In the past I would have given up several months ago. This time God has really helped me to try to keep going and not give up when I drop the ball. I'm so thankful that He has helped me with that!

This summer has been flying by! We have spent a lot of time gardening and swimming. We've gone on a few picnics too. The picture below is from an outing to a small lake we like to visit. We could sit and watch the ducks for a long time! We got to see a swan up close as well. Those pics may come later. Even though I helped (very minimally) with the garden when I was growing up, I really didn't pay very good attention to how to garden. I really don't know what I'm doing. One thing I do know how to do I am failing miserably at...weeding! In spite of my negligence God has provided some yummy veggies for us.

These are some of the veggies I picked one day.

They were turned in to a very yummy side-dish! Oh how I love to eat veggies straight from the garden. I think the kids do too. They cleaned their plates dry that night! As for Nathan, we still have a little work to do on him. But I told him that if God keeps providing such yummy garden veggies for us, he will turn into a veggie lover yet! We'll see...

4th of July Weekend

My parents decided to join us for the 4th of July festivities. As always, we were so glad to have them here!

Our town had it's celebration on Saturday. The pictures I have are from our adventure at the parade. Grandpa and Titus (with some fancy shades!).

Grandma and Keziah waiting for the parade to start.

Titus, Tirzah, Grandpa and Josiah

Look who's missing a front tooth!

Grandma blowing bubbles with Tirzah.

Tirzah is such a big girl. She wanted to walk home like everybody else, her little bag in hand. She persevered and made it home!

In the afternoon Nathan, Grandpa and the kids went to the park and the kids enjoyed jumping in one of those blow-up things. Mom and I took our time walking through the quilt show. Of course, after looking at all of those beautiful quilts we had to go to the quilt store!

After supper we lit our little bag of fireworks. Poor Tirzah didn't like it AT ALL! Grandpa took pity on her and stayed home with her while the rest of us went to the city's firework display.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!