22 days and counting

Hard to believe school starts in just 22 days. My baby is going to kindergarten. At least at BCCS, kindergarten is only a half day program. As much as I will miss Eric while he's at school, I'm looking forward to lots of other things about fall. First, the school supply shopping! I know this is lame, but I love the smell of new crayons and seeing that cute little backpack on his back!

Mother's Day Out and my bible study will start back up in September at church. Eric will start pee wee soccer, we can go to a Geneva football game, and I have a women's retreat to attend in November, as well as a Marriage conference to attend with Chad. Lots of fun things planned! I also want to enroll Anna and Caleb in the library's story hour once a week to give them something fun to do while EJ is at school.

And soon we will have our beloved Auntie Sara back at Geneva and back in our lives. We have missed her! She has many more fairy tales to make up for the kids, and TONS of "Giant" to play with them! And I look forward to some sister time with her too.

We also look forward to having our "college friends" back...several young ladies (you know who you are) who have become special friends to our family. We have missed you all this summer too! Can't wait to have a Sunday dinner for you all at our place! I am especially excited to welcome my discipleship group girls back for another semester together!

So summer is dwindling down... but it has been fun! God has good things planned!

Terrible Twos

How could this sweet boy have such Jekyll and Hyde mood swings? He seems so loving and cute, and playful and fun. Well he is all of those things, but can also be mean and nasty! His favorite word to use these days is STUPID. As in, "Stupid Mommy" or "Stupid Daddy". He routinely calls his brother and sister this as well. And when he is disciplined for using this word, he gets angry and then says "Bad Mommy". He also loves to hit everybody in sight! Couldn't we just go back to when he was about 9 months old??

Another favorite phrase of Caleb's, used to especially annoy his parents, is a variation on the song, 'Shake Your Booty". It was quite cute when he sang it that way. But now that he has learned certain lessons from his older brother, we are hearing "Shake Your {insert male body part here}". He especially loves to sing this while running around naked (getting a diaper changed, preparing for the bathtub, you name it). Sometimes it's quite funny and we try not to laugh. Other times it's really annoying, and I dread the day he starts singing this in church.

I have to tell myself that he will grow out of this. I sure hope he grows out of wanting to dump fistfuls of sand in his hair in the sandbox too. Or coloring on everything EXCEPT paper with markers. Or covering his body with sunscreen that he hijacked from the diaper bag. Or throwing a tantrum any time he does not get his way.

But I hope he never grows out of saying, "I wuv you, Mom". Or telling knock-knock jokes. Or smiling his sweet smile. Or even his independent spirit. As a friend once told me, she prays for her strong-willed daughter to be as stubborn about her faith as she is about everything else. When I think that my kids might grow to be strong Christian leaders in their churches, schools, homes and communities, I can be thankful God has given them determined spirits. And I can pray that this is how they will turn out!

2, 3 and 4

Well, for one month each year, we have kids with consecutive ages. Now that Caleb has turned 2, we have a 2, 3 and 4 year old in our house. Eric will soon be 5 of course, and Anna is really closer to 3 1/2, but any way you slice it, we have kids very close in age! Are we crazy? Sure much of the time it feels that way. But we are blessed beyond any of the craziness, frustrations, daily messes and laundry, and of course, the ongoing journey/battle it is to raise godly kids. There really is a lot of joy too! Here's the reason why:

Eric, nearly 5

Anna, just about 3 1/2

Happy 2nd Birthday, Caleb!

Mommy loves you all!

Vacation Part II

The Lake House on Apple Canyon Lake, IL

We couldn't get Eric to smile with us, so we all acted grumpy with him

Mommy and "K.K."

Daddy and Caleb try tubing

Anna and Eric practice their "casts" from the lake house deck

Having lunch on the pontoon boat

Cutest kid in the universe, if you ask me

Sun and riding in the boat made Caleb very tired


Anna and Eric taking in the sights on the lake

Anna giving the "faster" signal! She loved it!

Vacation Highlights-- Part 1!

One happy camper, er, uh, fisherman

Enjoying the toys in the lake house garage

The Club Car was as exciting to ride as it was to play in!

With amenities like Disney Channel, who needs a lake?

Caleb checking out the toybox, up close and personal

Our friends, the Perrines, who invited us on this special trip

The best family shot we could get, complete with one child having a tantrum

The beautiful rear deck of the lake house where we stayed

Did I mention the beautiful deck?

Decent shot... tantrum was almost over. We later learned he was sad to be leaving!

More pics will be posted soon... all the great water shots we got while boating, tubing, enjoying the beach, etc. Have to get them loaded onto the hard drive first!

Fireworks on the 5th!

Waiting for a sparkler at the neighbors' house (Eric in red to the left)

Eric taking in the show from a comfy blanket

Mommy, Anna and Caleb watching the sparks fly!

More pics from the famly picnic to come later!

My Brown Thumb is Turning Green

I'm pleased to report that my brown thumb appears to be turning green, at least where roses are concerned. No, I take that back. We also have some pumpkins, broccoli, carrots, corn, tomatoes, and sunflowers sprouting too! I guess anything is possible in a land where it has rained several times a week since March it seems! That and just a little time spent actually pulling weeds! We'll see what happens with the veggies though. The kids have been playing kickball and much to my dismay, the ball keeps landing in the garden, er, uh, outfield.