Glorious summer!

It took awhile, but we finally have the summer weather we have been waiting for! I haven't posted much since we have been out enjoying it with the kids as much as possible.

In July, Isaac's parents came down to help us celebrate Judah's first birthday. We had it at Jen's house, and it poured the whole time. We still let the kids outside in their bathing suits, and they loved playing in the rain. Judah had a good time too!





We definitely didn't let the rain get us down, and the kid's had a great time. Judah loved his first taste of watermelon and cake. It was the perfect day to celebrate our special boy and his first year of life. When we got home, I bathed the kids and then we let Judah open his presents (actually, the twins opened them and kindly let Judah play with some of the wrapping paper). Notice the lovely long-sleeved jammies. in July. Yes, it was that cold. yikes!


The next day, we dropped Judah off at Jen's to spend the day playing with Ezra, picked up Abby, and headed to Storyland. It was so much fun! Having Grandpa and Grandma Davis with us was the icing on the cake. Evalyn and Abby loved the Princess castle while Gavin's favorite ride was (of course!) the train. We stopped at Flatbread on the way home and had organic pizza made right in front of us in an open air kitchen. That was really cool! We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but we had such a good time. Here are some pictures of our day....

We got VERY wet on this ride!


Daddy and Evalyn stopping for gas.



Since Isaac gets severe motion sickeness, guess who got to ride all the round and round rides?



The pirate on the ship was apparently very convincing.


My favorite picture of the day....


We just got back from vacation in Pennsylvania and I still need to get some pictures from our trip up, but I am so tired tonight so it will have to wait. We are going to the beach tomorrow with the kids for family day. I will try to remember our camera this time! Have I mentioned how much I love summer?

Rain Rain Rain

Its raining, again. Now, I love me a good rain, thunderstorms are my favorite. I love sitting inside with a good book and a steaming cup of coffee, listening to it pour outside. I love the clean smell of it when you step outside, I love the bright green of the grass and the crazy growth of the plants in the garden. I love rain, probably more than most people, but, after three weeks of it (yes, you heard me correctly, three. weeks.) I am sick of it.

Not just the being-cooped-up-in-the-house-I-am-losing-my-mind aspect of it, but the fact that I am basically a prisoner with these three (and sometimes six) tiny people, that are losing. it. Their little bodies are aching for sunshine, exercise, and space. They want to be digging in the sandbox, riding their bikes, playing outside. I must seem like the warden to them, instead of a fellow suffering prisoner. The whining, tattling, and just plain misery are echos of my own feelings, but, being the mama, I have to put on my brave face and find some creative things to do to keep little minds occupied. After three weeks of this, I am running out of ideas. There is just so much play dough, crafts, painting, candy land, movies, reading and fort building you can do. Please PLEASE sun, come visit us soon. The natives are getting restless....

A Perfect Day...

I was just going through some pictures on my camera, and found some that I thought I lost. It was a few days after Judah came home from the hospital, and my mom was here helping out. Some friends from church invited us to the cabin they were renting for the weekend. I hesitated about going, but we decided that it would be nice to get out of the house, let the kids play in the lake, and run off some energy. We packed up all of our swimsuits, towels, fishing poles and baby gear. When we got there, the kids ran right into the water and played for hours. My mom helped them find sticks and rocks, and Isaac took them for a ride in the canoe.




It was so awesome seeing the kids having such a great time with their grandma. Living so far away from her is really hard, so it always brings joy to my heart watching her love on my kids and seeing them get to have their grandma's undivided attention. I loved seeing her play ball with Gavin and how excited he was when he hit the ball. She is amazing.







After a few hours in the water, I made them take a break and eat some lunch. We all sat down at the picnic table and started getting the kids situated. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Evalyn lift up her shirt and start nursing her baby doll. I asked her what she was doing, and she said that her baby was hungry too. I have been searching for this picture everywhere! I was so excited when I found it. It is also the only picture I have of Judah that I had from that day, as he spent most of his time in the shade sleeping.


Isaac was so great with them that day. I was still recovering and taking care of the baby, so he stayed out in the water with the kids for at least 5 hours. After we ate, he took Gavin out to the dock and fished with him. Gavin absolutely loves to fish, and I love watching Isaac showing his son how to do it, patiently casting and hooking endless worms or untangling the line. These are some of the sweetest pictures of the day...





Today it is snowing and cold outside, so these pictures brought me a different kind of warmth. It also made me miss the summer and my mom!