Summertime, and the livin' is easy....

Our matching Esther shirts from our church VBS. Next year they are doing Elijah...won't somebody think it's cool that everyone is wearing a shirt with HIS name on it??? :-)


Elijah received his baseball trophy last Saturday night.




The other day while Elijah was napping (shocker, he hardly ever does that), I took Judah out under a big shade tree in our front yard and let him play in a tub of water.






Elijah pushing Judah around in the dump truck. Judah looks thrilled, right?




We are having some fun times around here. The past few Thursdays, Jason has been running in a 5k with a friend and taking Elijah with him. Last time Elijah ran almost a mile before he got in the stroller. We are headed to eat dinner and then another 5k for the boys.

You may not hear from me for a little while after this...the boys and I are headed to Camp of the Hills this weekend to stay the week with my mom, and then Jason is going to join us for the 4th of July weekend. This may be my last June post but I'll be back with lots of camp pictures. Happy 4th everyone! And Happy 14 months to Judah today!

Today, I am Thankful For...

1. My mom, who met me in Waco to take Elijah to Camp of the Hills with her for two days. He comes back tonight and he is not happy....he LOVES camp and says he wants to stay there FOREVER!

2. Almost free trips to the zoo - thanks Lori!

3. My husband, who is working so hard to graduate in about 6 WEEKS!!! WAHOOOOO!!!

4. The cruise that Jason and I are going to take in October to celebrate his graduation - our first major trip alone since our honeymoon. We are so excited!!!

5. The alone time that I got to spend with Judah the past two days. He is just precious!

6. Kindergarten. Even though I'm an emotional wreck about it, I acknowledge that we are fortunate for Elijah to have such a wonderful school to attend. I know that a lot of children in the world walk miles and miles just to GET to go to school. Only 2 more months left!

7. Swimming pools and spray parks...my boys have had so much fun with water lately!

8. Our church, who put on the most wonderful VBS about Esther earlier this week. It was complete with a Broadway-style musical production and it was great!

9. Fun acitivites coming up this summer...the boys and I are spending the week at Camp in a couple of weeks, Jason is joining us down there for July 4th weekend, Stephanie is due with her sweet baby boy in 1 week, possible weekend mini-vacation with the boys in mid-August, my birthday, Jason's graduation party...fun, fun, fun!

10. Feeling God's call very strongly for our family right now. It is so nice when you feel certain that God is telling you to do something...it is a result of being very close with Him right now, which I love. Lots of things brewing around in our heads...if they unfold in the future, we will share them with you.

Big Stuff

You can see who thought he was big stuff after he climbed up in Elijah's chair all by himself and sat at the table like a big boy!


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Some Random Suggestions:
1. Read "Sacred Marriage" - it will change the way you look at your spouse and the marriage relationship. I just finished it and it was really life-changing for me.

2. Want some great, new music to listen to? Check out Mat Kearney - he is a Jesus-follower but his music isn't praise & worship or "preachy". He is one of my favorites.

Just a Little Comparison

Elijah & Judah at the same age in the same wagon.
I still can't get over how different they are - wow!

Happy Birthday, Jason!

You are a wonderful Christian husband and father. We are blessed to have you and love you very much! Hope you had a great birthday!



Love, Summer, Elijah and Judah

End of Another Season

Obviously these pictures are about a month old (his hair). It was a frustrating baseball season this year. Elijah had fun playing on a team with Jonathan, but I think he was a little young to be on coach pitch this year. Oh well, you live and learn, right?


We weren't that pleased with the coach either. You know, when you hear the coach telling her nephew that's on the team, "There's no crying in baseball." (no, she's not quoting A League of Their Own, she was dead serious) and then says, "Are you a girl? Do I need to get you a little pink bicycle?" Wow. You can bet she never talked to my child that way or she would have been punched in the face by me.


It's also not good that about midway through the season, she herself was hitting balls at the boys in practice, and I guess she doesn't have very good aim because she nailed Elijah in the shoulder with a line drive. It was lucky it wasn't a few inches higher or it would have knocked out teeth. It knocked him down, left a big bruise and he shed many tears. The season kind of went downhill for him after that and he was a little scared of the ball. I'm just praying that didn't ruin baseball for him. Ugh.


Bless his heart, he hit the ball really well in practice but didn't get ONE SINGLE HIT in a game. He tried so hard. On Tuesday night, the last night of the season, he was the last strike out of the whole game and my heart was just breaking for him. I think it had been hurting my feelings more than his the whole season.




However, the coach somewhat redeemed herself when she called him back onto the field and told him that he was going to get a hit this season. After about 5 pitches, he hit a really good foul ball that she pretended was fair and told him to RUN! He didn't know the difference and just ran his little heart out around all of the bases with everyone cheering for him! He thought he got a homerun and it was priceless...he was so proud. I had tears in my eyes when it was all over. I just wish I'd had my camera. Afterwards, we took him out for ice cream to celebrate.




Now he says that he's ready to play soccer. So we'll be giving that a try this fall.

It's Beginning to Look A lot like Summertime

Spray Park






Duck Pond




Nana & Grangoat's pool