A few August and early September shots

8 months old.  I LOVE this kid!

Melts my heart.

Michael took the kids to Lowes' Build and Grow one Saturday morning to construct airplanes and they ended up at the Waynesboro airport.  Matthew was fed in the hanger by someone else's adoring grandmother and Andrew found himself in the cockpit of a generous gentlemen's plane. 

Holding hands in the back seat.  And this, folks, is what it's all about.

6ish months.  Maybe 7?  Could have been 5!

Making Key Lime Pie was a BIG hit.

Mommy's little helper---8 months.

Best part of this series is Margaret taking Andrew's lead.

Margaret decked out for her off-season lessons in the bubble. 
Many thanks to JJ for the wetsuit!

Peas have been undeniably rejected. 

Pre-K Reunion at Greenleaf spray park.  We knew Mrs. Balcell's was a fantastic teacher, but to show up at the park during the summer???? 
Now THAT is something special.

CLEARLY he is my child:)

Matthew's first game at Lane Stadium.  As soon as we got to our seats, the lovely lady in front of us gave us this hat since it no longer fit her son. 
It was perfect!

"Selfies" in the tunnel as we seek shade for a while. 

King Family Polo Match with Church friends---and a parakeet,

just to add to the fun that beautiful afternoon.

Bumped into Rebekah at Fridays after Five, but missed Tom and Mary:(

Big ole hole with 3 gone - losing teeth left and right (or top and bottom, as it were). 

 

Playing with Margaret's birthday flowers (thanks to precious Felix and Xavier!) in my new arranger (thanks to Mom!).

 

Hanging out at Fairview during Margaret's lesson before getting in with Mommy.  You'd never know from this shot that we were under the bubble!

Woodbrook all school morning meeting. So fortunate we were able to make it for Andrew. 

 

One heck of a morning nap for a kid of whose morning nap is optional - out cold after nearly 2 hours....

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!

Kindergarten, Here I Come...and other late August Happenings.

Our neighbor's daughter brought over her two 4-day-old pigs.  They were about the size of a baked potato.  They were perfectly content roaming the yard until someone would try to pick them up.  At that point, you understood the phrase, "squealing like a pig!". 

I don't think anyone that hasn't experienced it can possibly understand the feeling of sending your first child off to Kindergarten.  After spending most of the last 5 1/2 years with Andrew, there are certainly moments when I can't stand to be away from him, but there have been so many when I couldn't wait for school to start.  And then it was here.  The first day of Kindergarten.  And I dreaded it.  But I mustered up all of the positive energy I could to get him excited and minimize his anxiety.  With no trouble at all, he hopped right on the bus with the neighbors.  The report that afternoon on the walk home?  "Kindergarten is awesome!  But on the way to Kindergarten, there were some parts, I was really, really worried." The honesty we receive now.  I already understand to cherish it. 

Enjoying the playground at church

Pretty big catch at Grandma's!

 

Swinging through Vienna to see Kate and Chris' new house, Margaret was much more delighted with the purple lute Abby passed down than with the new digs!

 

Mommy's little helpers in Target.

Football practice!