Big Rocks

So when it's been nearly two months since you've had a reasonable blog post, and words fail you every time you attempt to describe your "summer," it's probably best to just get on with the pictures.

 

If you didn't figure it out by the lack of posts, it's been a rather busy spell for us. We spent a lot of time working on the house. As in ... if Daddy wasn't at work (and he was at work a lot), he was cutting, building, wiring, mudding, sanding, or painting something.

 

And it rained. A lot. I could have taken a picture like this at some point nearly every day of July.

 

:: rain ::

 

Thankfully we were trying to make progress on indoor projects. It would not have been the summer for outdoor projects. Anyway. In the midst of what seemed to be often little more than a blur of days, here are some of the fun blessings that defined our weeks ...

 

:: Hannah's first night in her new bedroom ::

:: Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day ::

:: The Blueberry Festival ::

 

:: VBS ::

:: friend joining us for VBS ::

:: Cedar Falls Park ::

In between rain storms we participated in a county-wide "Park Hop." Cedar Falls was a gem of a park we discovered through that program.

:: the zoo ::

Matthew totally fell in love with the zoo on this visit. For the big kids, it was all about their friends. For Matthew, it was ALL about the animals. Hurry on to the next one? "No, thanks." I'll just enjoy the one I'm looking at right now. The next one will be there when I get there.

 

:: fellowship with friends ::

Definitely a highlight of our summer! :) Thirty people made for a loud and crazy evening, but the fellowship was such a blessing!

 

It was a huge blessing to be able to have the kids playing downstairs while (most of) the adults fellowshipped upstairs.

 

:: swimming with friends ::

:: Matthew's last night in his crib ::

I once again underestimated this little boy's nearly angelic temperament. I totally expected a difficult transition from crib + milk to bed and NO milk. It wasn't. At all.

:: park hopping ::

The weather didn't particularly cooperate with our Park Hopping endeavors. And with the deadline approaching we had visited only four parks. We needed five to get "swag bags" and ten to get t-shirts. Guess who wanted t-shirts? Yep, my crew. :) So. We mapped it out, we packed our lunch, and we park hopped ... literally! We visited six parks in one day and had an absolute blast doing it! :) And even better, the Lord held off the rain--it began sprinkling as we were getting our LAST CLUE at our LAST PARK. And then it POURED!!!



And thus was our summer. :)