Summertime, and the livin's easy...

Tricia came for a visit back in June. My kids love her. Well, they love all their aunts and uncles, but it's a special treat when Aunt Tricia comes because they can weasel her into all sorts of fun and games. For the week she was here she was their Kung-fu master, tag-chaser, swing-pusher, and fairy-house-maker. We love for her to come and we hate for her to go. That's it, we need to find a way for her and Koby to move to Washington.

Happy 4th of July!

Stella, Ava and Jonah wearing their cute, red, white and blue outfits from Uncle Koby and Aunt Tricia.

The 4th of July wouldn't be complete without the annual 4th of July parade in Friday Harbor. Stella and Jonah waved to every float, person, or truck that passed by (secretly in hopes of some candy). It was a hot day and the parade was extra long because of the Friday Harbor Centennial Anniversary but, they loved it. Ava conked out the minute we got in the car which was surprising considering the amount of candy she consumed.

After the parade it was out to the pond for a bbq, a little swim, a little siesta... Kelli, Steve and their family came up the Thursday before the 4th and stayed for a long weekend. Have I mentioned I love my family? Well, I do. I wish we all lived next to each other. I miss them when their gone. Stella, Jonah and Ava had tons of fun playing with their big cousins.

This is my first attempt ever at taking pictures of fireworks, so you might need to cut me a little slack ;). Not having a tripod and having my shutter speed set to super slow...let's just say it was hard to keep still. They're fun though. I love how the ferry looks with the tree, and then with the reflection off the water...I think they look cool, especially since I didn't really see much of them because I had my eye glued to the camera.

Sunday, at Grandpa and Grandma's

Here is a picture of all the cousins. 7 of them have names that start with A, 6 of them call me Aunt Sara, 3 of them call me mom. I love them all.

Mother and daughters

I love summer.

Just because...

he's cute...

...and just because I kinda like him.

Question and answer time...

Some of you may recall THIS POST where I shared about the bible story book we are going through as a family. We are still chugging along and Stella and Jonah are still enjoying it and, I might add, Jonah is getting much better at his answers! :) The first question is still; were you listening? Recently, Ava has caught on to the excitement and joins her brother and sister and raises her hand too. It's cute. Why do they have to grow up again?? I mean, really, why? Anyway, Ava's enthusiasm lasts for the first question and then well, it starts to fade...

A taste of summer...

Mmmmmmm....Strawberries, one of the better things about summer. I had my turn at the strawberry patch last week and was able pick enough berries to make 4 batches of jam. This makes my family happy. We've been out of homemade jam for way too long and according to Stella, store bought jam is not her favorite. We've done a few other things with the strawberries too, like...ate a few bowls of them with a little ice cream, had a few mornings with them topped on our waffles, and maybe even had a cake or two. If you haven't made The Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Shortcake Cake, you must. It's good, if you're in to that sort of thing. I heart summer.

World's Greatest Dad!

Happy Father's Day, Sean!

I couldn't ask for a better father for my children. Thank you, Sean, for being the world's greatest dad. We love you!

In sticking along the lines of the world's greatest parent, I might be a runner up for World's Coolest Mom...or... maybe not(??) Take a second and look at the picture below of Ava.

Notice anything missing? If you answered no, then you and I have a few things in common. However, there is something missing, a lens for the sunglasses. Yesterday, Ava came up to me wearing these glasses. I laughed because it brought back a memory and I thought I'd share it with you all today.

Last summer, while in California, we had to make a quick stop at Walmart. I told Sean to just drop me off and I'll run in and get the stuff we need. So I quickly grabbed my purse, put my sunglasses on the top of my head and ran in to the store. I purchased what we needed, all the while the sunglasses are still on top of my head. Then, after I got all of my stuff, I stepped outside to find Sean. I noticed it was bright so I lowered the sunglasses from my head to my eyes. Something seemed different, but I carried on in search of Sean. I saw our car parked a ways away and decided to walk to him rather then wait for him to see me. Walmart was busy that day, cars and people were everywhere. Thankfully, someone was nice enough to let me cross in front of him. I passed a few people walking, noticed a few stares, and finally got to the car. What I remember, and what makes me laugh out loud every time I think about it, is Sean's face. He had the funniest look on his face like - what in the world are you doing!??- kind of face. I get in the car and am like, "what?" He then said, "why are you wearing those sunglasses?" Still not understanding what he was talking about, I pulled down the viser to look in the mirror and I laughed so hard tears started rolling down my face. Yep, my sunglasses were missing a lens and the funniest thing is I didn't even notice!!?!?!!! I'm sure people were like - yep, there goes your typical Walmart shopper. Oh man, it was funny. I'm cool right?! World's Cooooolest Mom. It's OK, I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore.

Schools. Out. For. Summer.

Stella had her last day of Kindergarten on Monday. It was definitely bitter-sweet. I'm excited for a few months of lazy mornings and not husseling 3 kids out the door, but I'm definitely sad to think she'll be starting 1st grade this Fall. Stella's Kindergarten year proved to be a good one. She had a wonderful teacher and I can only think of one day when she didn't want to go to school. We got to the door of her classroom, where I give her a hug goodbye, and she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. It took everything in me not to turn around and take her home (who needs to go to school anyway, I mean it's just kindergarten...right?). Thankfully her teacher opened the door right then and swooped Stella up and took over loving her for me. I think I may have left crying that day. Come to think of it, I know I did. Have I mentioned I'm not crazy about my kids growing up?? I think I might have. Have I mentioned Stella inherited a tender-heart like her mama? No? Well, she did.

We had a few friend issues to work through, and a few days coming home with a sad, sad heart. Mean kids, it's bound to happen. I'll never forget when Stella said to me, "I just don't understand why they would say that to me?" Good question, Stella, good question. Considering the preciousness of others is not something you see much of these days. We worked through it though. We tried to turn each instance into a lesson of how we should treat others and ultimately, to remember who our best friend is, and that is Jesus.





I'm thankful for the year and I'm thankful for Stella. I love her. She's got a good heart, whether it's a little too tender or not, it's a good one. I pray with each year she grows closer and closer to Jesus.

ps...I have to point out Ms. Minke is wearing the necklace Stella and I made for her. Stella was so proud ;)

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Last Friday Stella had a class field trip to 4th of July beach. The weather was perfect, the tide was out, and they had yummy snacks. It was a fun day. Here she is with her "best friend" Rachel.



Did I mention we have the greatest neighbors? Well we do. My dad spent some more time the other day smoothing things out. If I had a penny for every rock that is on our property, I'd be the richest girl in the world. I told Sean we need to get a machine that picks up rocks and leaves the dirt. He looked at me and said, "then we'd have nothing left." I think he's right.



Ava, watching her Grandpa, brother and sister on the tractor. Don't worry, she didn't feel left out. What you don't see in the picture is the bowl of snacks she has sitting on her lap. She was perfectly content right where she was at.



We got ourselves some future bike riders. They're not there yet, but they are getting close. We've been practicing at Grandma and Grandpa's because they have nice, smooth roads. I'm pretty sure you can imagine what our road is like...it's rough, you're right. Rough and dusty. The kids come in from outside with brown feet and brown faces and no, it's not from the sun.



Jonah dressed himself. These are the shorts of choice. They're size 24 months. I try to tell him they are too small, but he'll have none of that. They're his favorite soccer shorts. I guess he's got a good point, soccer players do wear short shorts.







Ava couldn't ride the bikes, so she ran behind them instead.



She cheered Stella and Jonah on with Grandma too.



Then she talked Grandma in to taking her to the pond to feed the fish.



Then she worked her magic and got Grandpa to let her drive the tractor.



Monday night we had a night out on the town as a family. Sean, being the greatest Sunday school teacher that he is, earned a gift card to a local restaurant for all his hard work. We had a yummy dinner at Downriggers and then walked down the street to get some ice cream. The flavors chosen included, bubble gum, birthday cake and my personal favorite, mint chip.



Stella had bubble gum. She was saving each piece on her napkin to chew after she was done with her cone. Unfortunately the gum fell off the napkin before she had the chance to enjoy it. She didn't care, she still had one piece left in the cone.





Ava likes ice cream. She shared with all of us.







Some tourist was nice enough to take our picture. It was a fun evening.



I gave my baby a bath in the sink the other night. I took all of her clothes off while I was getting the sink ready. Then I saw her splashing around in some "water" that was on the floor. I quickly figured out it wasn't water, it was pee. Before I could stop her, she was doing a little splash-splash on the floor and then a little rub-rub all over her face. And here I thought she needed a bath because of her brown feet. Babies, if only they knew that splashing in pee and toilets isn't a good thing.



I was taking these pictures in manual mode. I'm a wanna-be photographer. These black and whites have a lot of noise (as I have learned to call it). I could blame it on the lighting and the fact that I was staying away from using a flash...but I'll be honest, it's my fault, I have no idea what I'm doing. Don't worry friends, I'll be keeping my day job.

Looking back...

It's been awhile since I've blogged (for me at least). Honestly, I just haven't taken many photos lately. We've been busy outside enjoying this major heat wave that has come through. 80 degrees, that's what we call heat wave :)

I was looking back at old posts on my blog and came across last June. A year ago today, Ava was one sick little girl. CLICK HERE and scroll down to the bottom to read about that journey of ours. I look at my girl now and I am overcome with thankfulness to our Lord for His healing in her little body.

She's funny
Sometimes we call her crazy
When I ask her if she wants a snack she gets so excited she starts jibber-jabbering like it was the greatest thing I said in the whole world...sometimes we call her snacks :)
She hugs your legs a lot
She's got wild hair
Before she goes to bed she has to give everyone a hug
She loves shoes and putting them on...the other night she tried to put one of Stella's Barbie shoes on my big toes. Stella laughed.
She likes to swing and will look out the window at the play-set and say "weeee"
She's got a thing for sweets...not sure where she gets that from ;)
She loves to "run" which is still more of a fast walk, with a major waddle

I love this sweet girl. I can't imagine life without her.