Greatness

We are soooo thankful for wonderful great-grandparents who set an excellent example of commitment and caring for us and for our children. Plus, all three of them are just really cute.

too much cuteness

 Like many of you, I sure can't wait for summer weather to arrive and stay for a while. We got a delightful taste of summer on Mother's Day weekend, while we were up in Washington with Adam's family. On Sunday after church, we pulled out the sprinkler and let the kids go wild while still dressed in their Sunday clothes. As I repeatedly tell Michaela when something spills on her clothes, "It's just water; it will dry." You may notice from the photos, though, she doesn't seem too shy around intentional wetness... she's been asking about the swimming pool for weeks.

New Nephew!

Just over a month ago, Adam and I got a new nephew, and Michaela and Josiah got a new little cousin. Welcome little Liam to the fun! Congratulations Abbey and David on your new addition! It feels a little bit crazy to get together with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and their two little ones, our two little ones, and the grandparents all at the same time. Restful is not a word that comes to mind. However, we know that these are the years that will fly by so quickly and we will think of fondly very often. I feel so blessed that our kids will grow up with cousins close in age and geographically near, as well. 

I love being an aunt! All the pressure is off!

Cutie pie Liam David

Greyson was excited to play with cousin Josiah

Giving him a little loving

Seven

Josiah has been seven months old for about two weeks now, and I have yet to do the monthly post. We are seeing changes in him by the day right now. He is very close to crawling. He army crawls everywhere he wants to go with little hindrance (unless he gets stuck under a piece of furniture). We had the pleasure of my cousins visiting this week with their 5-month-old, and Josiah got so excited about his cousin that he got up on his hands and knees and rocked back and forth. Although these times culminated in a faceplant, a true crawl is near at hand. He's also cut two teeth, with what I believe to be two or three more on the way. Also, he's started saying my name!  "Mamamama" while looking directly at the table leg, or some other inanimate object. It still warms my mother's heart. We are really enjoying this youngest member of our family. And even though Michaela is looking forward to the time when "Josiah is bigger to play with" I can't help but hope to keep him at this age a little longer. If he would only sleep through the night.

Josiah's first time sitting as a big boy in the double stroller.
Affectionately labeled "the bus."

I love swinging! Oh, the wind in my hair!

Nurturing the inner musician

Yum!

Driver's education

Much has happened, and I've not kept up with blogging. The catch-up post will come, but not tonight. Tonight, suffice it to say that I am typing this in the dining room so I can keep an eye on Michaela with Josiah. I'm not sure how dinner is going to get prepped. We went to the library today and got a book about going to the dentist. Seemingly innocuous and random. However, that book, coupled with me mentioning to my mom on the phone that Josiah seems to be close to teething, has led Michaela to do "teeth checks" on Josiah when I am not looking. In fact, she smiled with mischief when I peeked in here a few minutes ago and said, "Go back to cooking!" Not a good sign. I may not be a super-experienced mom, but my daughter shoving things in my baby's mouth for him to teethe on, or to stick her fingers in and tell him to "bite" does not seem to fall in the category of "safety." If Michaela has a future in dental medicine, I'd prefer that her first patient not be her 7-month-old brother. Just another day in the life.