Song of Summer

The summer stretched out before us, warm and welcoming

 

Endless

 

 

Whispering promises of easy laughter and baseball games and

 

Grass stains

 

 

Of splashing and sinking and finally, triumphantly

 

Swimming

 

 

Of daring and dreaming and

 

Learning

 

 

Of skinned knees and ice cream pleas and

 

Climbing trees

 

 

Of gardens growing and children growing and yet sometimes

 

When one is overwhelmed by how small one still is

 

Of needing a safe place to

 

Hide

 

 

We reveled in the long, hot days and the languid nights and most of all the

 

Sunshine

 

 

We watched our last baby explore the world with eager

 

Wonder

 

 

And whether throwing our hands in the air in exuberant

 

Delight

 

 

Or joining hands in a sacred sisterly circle of

 

Prayer

 

 

We danced to the song of summer

 

Together

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer...

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Back in the saddle

I'm just going to jump in and pretend it hasn't been something like three months since my last blog post. If I haven't had time for blogging in all these months, I certainly don't have time for apologies and explanations for not blogging! And this post may consist almost entirely of pictures....

 

Life has been a wee bit intense so far this summer, and a couple of weeks ago Lamont surprised the girls and I with a family getaway trip to Silver Mountain Resort for some recharging time together. Endless hours in the waterpark, riding the gondola 5 kilometres up the mountain (longest gondola ride in the world, I believe) and back down - twice, hiking, and just hanging out together in our favorite state (Oh Idaho, we may yet move back to you someday). It was amazing and so refreshing. Here follow the aforementioned pictures!

 



Far away dreams in her curly head as she gazes out of the gondola over the mountains....

 

A girl after my own heart! Ashley and I couldn't resist this puzzle in the suite.

From high up on the gondola...takes my breath away.

There is a playground at the top of the mountain. Katelyn has fallen in love with swinging lately and swings with this darling mix of very serious, thoughtful faces, and huge happy smiles.

Part monkey!

We went for a short hike on the mountain, about a mile. Most of that time was spent discussing the best course of action if we should happen upon the bears that the girls were certain lurked around every bend in the path.

Hannah apparently ran into a bear! She had no idea what happened to her leg, but was quite proud of this wound.



"Look what God has done! There's poetry in all I see...look what God has done!" ~Jaci Velasquez

Worn out on the way down the mountain and napping on Daddy's chest. A moment before this she was shrieking and giggling with her sisters, and then she just gave in and curled up and was instantly fast asleep. :)

Do they look like they are about to fall asleep?? No? I didn't think so.

....SOLD!

Ashley asks out of the blue at the dinner table, "Do animals go to heaven?"

 

I set my fork down slowly, deliberately. I am frantically thinking the prayer with which all experienced parents are uncomfortably familiar. Please, for the love of all things caffeinated, in the next two seconds give me a brilliant answer that satisfies their curiosity without lying or saying too much!! (Why yes, this prayer does apply to everything from the tooth fairy to the birds and the bees, thank you for asking.)

 

And then, as I smiled and opened my mouth to improvise an answer that was sure to leave all of my daughters unsatisfied and possibly in tears, I was cut off by this adorable conversation....

 

 

Ashley: "Do animals go to heaven?"

 

Hannah: "Nope."

 

Bethany: "How do you know?"

 

Hannah: "Because animals don't have souls, and only souls go to heaven."

 

Bethany: "I don't want to be sold to heaven!"

 

Ashley: "But Beth, it's ok to be sold to heaven, because when you get sold to heaven you are really, really expensive. And that's how you know that you are important!"

 

Hannah: "Am I expensive too?"

 

Ashley: "Yes, everybody is. Because it costs all of Jesus for us to be sold to heaven, and that is even more expensive than money, so it's like more than even a king or queen could pay."

 

Bethany: "Because Jesus died. That's how much it costs."

 

Ashley: "Right."

 

Bethany: "Why can't animals be sold to heaven too?"

 

Hannah: "Because they are not expensive enough!"

 

Bethany: "Oh. I see."

 

 

 

And everyone happily continues eating, completely content with their resolution of the question. Parent-prayer answered! And moments like this, when I get to sit back and watch my children embrace this God-given life with curiosity and intelligence and joy? They never, ever, ever get old.

Easter weekend pictures

It's been a full month since my last post and I only have a few minutes for the blog today, but I want to at least get some pictures posted from Easter weekend. It's so rare for us to all be in the same picture, and I love this one....

Crazy happy baby!

And here are a few that my mother-in-law took, and I stole from her facebook page. ;) I don't do as well now as I used to with taking pictures of the girls -- I guess my hands are usually full and I just don't seem to have the camera on hand very often. So I'm glad to be able to borrow these ones. Thanks, Mom!

She's seven months old this week. This is my fourth time through and I still don't know how that happens so quickly.

Speaking of growing up, this picture freaked me out a little! Six years old, going on sixteen....

Um...do they look a little bit crazed and terrifying here??

A friend recently told me that Hannah seems like she'll be a queen bee, and I can see it. Watch out for this angelic looking blond head -- she's going to rule something when she grows up!

My favorite picture of the weekend. LOVE this baby girl.

I keep thinking I'm going to write a post about how Ashley has two loose teeth, and how Katelyn just cut her first tooth and is sitting up now, and how my musical rehearsals are going, and how Lamont took an awesome trip all by himself to Salt Lake City to cheer on the Zags in the NCAA tournament (No. Don't talk about that. *sob*), and how school just started back up for me and I think I may have lost my mind to be taking two classes right now, and how it is finally SPRING and I do a happy dance every time I have to put on my sunglasses in the car, and how absolutely incredible life is....

But instead I just crammed all of those things into the longest run-on sentence ever. And I am off!

We're not gonna take it!

We've been laid flat by sickness for weeks on end -- just one cold after another cycling through our family and making us all miserable in endlessly alternating waves. Even poor little Katelyn. :( I have scrubbed everything I can find, disinfected more times than I can count, washed bedding daily for weeks at a time, aired out the house daily no matter how cold it is outside, and kept up our vitamins and lots of veggies and fresh fruit...all apparently to no avail. It has been SO frustrating! My dad gave me some ideas for building up our immune systems better, and in the week since then it does seem like we have improved, so I'm encouraged by that. I would say that as a family, we are probably 85% healthy now (and if you'd been in our house often over the last two months, you would know what a good statistic that really is!). Unfortunately, Katelyn still has this endless runny nose and cough. She is super sweet about it during the day, but has quite a bit of trouble at night, between the congestion and the cough. Last night was...difficult.

So this morning I was curled up in the corner of the couch, reading with Ashley, and I was so tired I kept losing track of what we were reading and staring at the book for several seconds before I could recover it. It wasn't pretty. And I thought, you know what? We are all just so run down, and so tired of fighting sickness and being exhausted. We're snapping at each other for no reason, and we just aren't having fun together. I think we need a break!

I called on the authority of homeschooling moms everywhere and canceled the rest of the day, and took my girls out to have fun. :) We went to the mall, and the girls played in the play area for an hour while Katelyn watched them and shrieked excitedly and waved her arms in the air, and became a bundle of giddiness whenever one of her big sisters ran over to give her a kiss. Then we had lunch in the food court (at the recently added Subway -- yay!), at a super tall table because the girls like sitting on the barstools. And we finished our impromptu day off with an hour or so of shopping (for sneakers and Easter dresses -- not to be worn together!) and picture taking, as the girls decided to pose with all the mannequins they saw. :)

Tall table with tall chairs! Now with 100% more fun than the regular height ones!

Lunchtime at the mall, now with 100% more fun than lunchtime at home!

Ha! Goofballs.

Giant yellow doors -- apparently they were begging for a picture. ;)

Ooh la la!

I caught them in a natural moment, when they were discussing what they wanted to do for their next pose. I love these girlies!

Stop...in the name of love! Or something. ;)

Such a wonderfully fun day, all the more welcome because it started out rough. I'm so glad I get to spend my days with these hilarious little people, who help me make life fun even when we're sick and tired!

Freezing a moment in time

Monday morning...

 

Peaches and rice cereal, yum! Her current favorite meal.

A moment before this she was singing "Angels We Have Heard On High" as she practiced her L's here in her handwriting book.

Curled up with a book, her most common pose lately.

She's been saving for a new lego set, and yesterday Daddy took her shopping and she chose a fire boat (that really floats!). She started working on it in her pajamas before her eyes were completely open this morning.

Watch your daddy

My precious daughters,

You are so little right now, so entirely captivated by the joys of childhood. It is hard for me to imagine you as young women, grown and lovely and looking eagerly toward romance and marriage! Yet I know that time is coming for each of you, more quickly than I can grasp at this moment. When it comes — when you are beginning relationships and evaluating young men and being swept away in the dizzy excitement of new love — I hope you will remember the things you are learning about men right now, during these years of watching your daddy....


I would love it if you'd click over to read the rest of this post over here at Kindred Grace!