Summer 2013 in Pictures

Summer went W A Y too fast.  So here is a quick re-cap in pictures.  Like I said, I feel like I've been so busy with four kids, homeschool, and life that my life is a blur most days.  Therefore, I take as many pictures as I can to, hopefully, experience the craziness again with the beautiful light of hindsight and with uninterrupted joy.

 

 

A future in plumbing perhaps?  (giggle.)

 

 

Summer, sweaty trail run.

 

 

Golfing with my favorite three-year-old.  And his raisins.

 

 

This kid is so much cooler than I am.

 

 

And better at golf.

 

 

Even the butterflies want to hang out with him.

 

 

When golfing, I spend a lot of time like this and

Mathias entertains himself by capturing the moment(s).

 

 

And he gets worn out after the long afternoon in the sun.

 

 

But, oh my goodness, do I want to live in this moment forever.  My heart is with this sweet-cheeked, fun-loving, tender-hearted fire-ball.

 

 

Vacation Bible School kick-off night!!!

 

 

Belle and her spot by the pool.  This girl wants to be in control. 

The little boy is our friend, Henry.  (He's like family)

 

 

And he happens to be Mathias' best bud.  They are exactly 6 months apart in age.  I love their young little friendship.

 

 

This is where I wanted to be all summer.  Right. Here.

 

 

I L O V E this picture!

 

 

And this one totally cracks me up.

 

 

Quiet, restful, brother moments.

 

 

Bellie started rolling at about seven or eight months.  This girl wanted to move!

 

 

At my dad's.

 

 

On the tractor!

 

 

Setting up for the fireworks display!

 

 

Malachi playing with his cousin Everett. 

 

 

'Hat.' Officially, this is Belle's first intentional word.  Grandpa works wonders with his hands-on learning approach.

 

 

She does not like to have the hat taken away.

 

 

Aaaand she's happy again!

 

 

Fishing!

 

 

Sisters and their babies!

 

 

Power move.

 

 

We could spend hours out here.  And we do.

 

 

Swim class with friends!

 

 

Beautiful night walking back to the truck after the Rochester Honkers game.

 

 

Park extra!

A few extras

 

Micah has grand ideas.  He has LOTS of ideas.  He is a boy who is constantly thinking.  This is great and it has its downfalls.  We've had some awesome conversations with truths grasped beyond his years. 

 

Just yesterday we had the discussion about how all things were created 'good.' It's our perversion of such things that makes evil.  Food is good.  Gluttony is bad.  Standing up for yourself is good.  Being a bully is bad.  Rest is good.  Laziness is bad.  Passion is good.  An 'extremist' - bad. Etc.  I loved watching his little light bulb go on as he asked more questions and made connections. 

 

The times when his busy mind becomes a downfall is when he needs to focus on writing about something specific and he (easily) gets side-tracked into all kinds of topics and ideas.

 

All this is to say that Micah loves to try out his ideas.  This picture here is of Micah starting a go-cart.  Did I mention he has G R A N D ideas.  He never built his go-cart.  But he certainly hasn't given up on the idea -- just the approach. 

 

In other news, Micah would like a welder for Christmas.

 

 

Have I mentioned how much these boys LOVE their sister??  If not, expect a lot more of that to come.  They fight over who gets to sit next to her in the car, who gets to bathe with her, who gets to 'watch' her when mom has to run out to the car, who gets to run into her room first when she wakes up in the morning, and on and on.  Maybe it's just another thing for them to compete over, or maybe she really IS a princess.

 

 

John and I are committed to supporting a local ministry here in Rochester and in the Cities:  New Life (First Care Pregnancy Center).  Every year our family 'Walks for Life' with a handful of other supporters.  The funny thing is that there are hundreds of people who attend New Life's other fundraisers but this one is always sparse.  We are shocked.  See, it's popular to walk (in front of people) for an end to cancer, hunger and heart disease.  It's harder (politically and socially) to walk for an end to abortion.  It's not as popular - not even as glamorous.  There are plenty of haters.  But John and I feel passionate about it.

 

Science never defines matter according to one's feeling towards the organism.  Therefore, whether the baby is 'wanted' or not, they are that person's offspring. They are not a parasite.  Parasites, by definition, are of a different species.  Humans are always humans, even if they are the size of a pen tip.  We admit we could be wrong on many political fronts, but of this we are certain. 

 

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator (not their parents, not the state) with certain unalienable rights, that among these are LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'

 

Be believe in this as Americans.  But especially as Christians.

 



 

And we feel like it is our responsibility to teach our children to stand up for those who have no voice.



As a bonus, they had balloon animals.  :)

 

And, of course, prayer.

Food

There are some things that John and I have to let go of... a perfectly clean house, well groomed children, stylish clothes, etc.  But one thing we do spend a little extra attention on (lately, anyway) is the food we are consuming as a family.  We've switched to almond milk as a way to cut down on the sheer volume of animal products we consume daily... we started growing our own garden in our backyard, we try to offer vegies at every meal, we buy a lot our food in the organic form if possible, I try to make things from scratch to avoid unknown additives, and we drink A LOT of spinach and blueberry smoothies.  **superfoods**

 

Spinach from our garden.

 

 

Superfood smoothie

 

Picking fresh strawberries with our neighbors at a local berry farm

 

 

I got an ice cream maker for Mother's Day.  Because homemade ice cream makes me a better (and happier) mom.

*side note:  it is very difficult to find ice cream, these days, that doesn't have CORN SYRUP as an ingredient.  Just iced cream, please.