The Summer That Was...

Just dropped Little Miss Margaret off at preschool.  Sniff, sniff as we both realized what a great summer it had turned out to be.  When I knew Matthew was on the way, I never worried about the early months of infancy and sleep deprivation---I immediately wondered how on earth I would get through the first summer with 3 kids barely 5 and under.  Alas, we are on the other side of it...and somehow that saddens me:( 

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

As evidenced of my blog posts shifting from weekly to once/season, summer was even busier than I had anticipated...and there are specific reasons for that.  But I've promised myself to get back to prompt updates as these precious ones are growing up SOOO fast and I know that I am missing documentation of some of their best moments.  So I will try my best to catch up and move forward more diligently.  Quarterly updates are simply unacceptable.

This was the summer of....

• Fun!  Easy to say on the other side of it, right?!?
• Chaos!  Just being honest:)
• Fairview!  The pool was definitely the family highlight.
• JJ!  While JJ IS Fairview, he certainly deserves his own bullet point:)
• VBS! Three, anyone??  I think we'll trim back to two next summer.
• Trips!  I spent no fewer than 72 hours in the car with my kids this summer (but who's counting??)...and that was just the SIX road trips!  We'll tally a final 6 this weekend as we road trip to Blacksburg for our annual family football game, but at least that is just a day trip.
• Rain!  But I will take rain over 100 degrees or 95% humidity ANY day.
• Matthew! He truly became a Little Man...95% in weight, 97% height, and crawling by 6.5 months.  Oh, my!  He has taken to heart my revelation that #3 is growing up 3 times faster than Andrew and Margaret.

The summer can only be summed up by admitting that God provided.  He provided me just enough patience not to kill anyone (except endless flies, a few baby birds, again...opps!, and some lovely purple petunias), just enough sleep to keep functioning, and just enough reminders of how blessed I am to have three kids that love life and love each other. 

That's the short version... More details to come, along with 1500 pictures I hope to whittle to 15!