Saturday, July 31, 2010

July Wrap Up

we've had such a fun-filled month! it's been one of those time where i just didn't want the days/weeks to pass & wanted to hold on to every wonderful moment. i have found myself thanking God so often this month for this time of relaxation and rejeuvenation and feeling how incredible blessed we are to have this time as a family. there are times i can actually feel myself being revived and restored.

this month matt finished teaching his ACT prep course & we actually have had some vacation time the past 2 weeks! hurray! after the spring we had, our family really needed some down time to just hang out and be together. we've been sleeping later & staying up later. matt and i have been able to watch some movies at night after the kids are in bed & have even had some naps in the afternoon. :) we've colored, played games, tickled, built pyramids, crafted.....all as a family affair. how i wish it could be like this all the time, but maybe, because it can't -- it makes this time all the more special.

the kids have so enjoyed having daddy home to play with them & having his full attention so much of the time. of course, we've also been tackling some of those little home improvement projects that we put off during the year. and by "we" of course i mean "matt." :)

so we're just soaking up time together. playing, laughing, relaxing. we opted to not vaction this year -- just too hard with 3 little ones and instead we bought the playgound. it was the best choice for us -- the kids loooove the playground & we've been able to have vacation time just around here.

so here are the random pictures that are lurking on my camera for this month.

i took this picture of miss charlotte during her afternoon nap one day. i love it when she sleeps with her little bootie up in the air!
we've done some arts & crafts this month as well. i haven't taken too many pictures of them, but these are some we did one morning just for fun. gotta love that dollar section at target!

the kids made their own little "house" one day using harrison's tool chest. they've had fun playing at home this summer & not having a schedule. and oh, the messes they've made! yikes!
harrison aka belle....this poor boy needs some boyish dress up clothes. he's getting pretty good at walking in heels. hahaha







one afternoon we looked outside in a storm and noticed that the kids old swingset was almost in the pond! matt made a beeline out there to rescue it -- in a torrential downpour. after 2 years in this house & some major storms where the swingset never moved, a summer rainshower did it in!
we've been letting charlotte stay up a bit later this summer as well. some nights we just relax with her after the kids are in bed. i think matt & i have both enjoyed having some special time with her....and she loooooves it as well! funny how they're sitting the same way in this picture.

we met our friends aj, drew & adam at the splash park one day. madeleine was so much braver than last year & ran through all the sprinklers.

harrison was a little less sure, but eventually he warmed up.
while matt was at a lunch meeting one day, the kids enjoyed a muffin tin lunch. always a fun treat -- and a great way to clean out the pantry. :) and, yep, they're lunching in their pjs. another great thing about summer!
charlotte had her first sink bath. she's gotten so big that she just makes a huge splashy mess in her baby tub. she seemed to really like her sink bath, although it was harder to get her all washed off. she splashed and splashed and grabbed at all my soaps stuff, too. i'm sure this isn't the last time she'll get a bath in there.
charlotte and madeleine before church wednesday night. my mammy got them these outfits -- aren't they so cute! i made madeleine a bow to match her outfit & charlotte seemed quite content in her hat. you can't really tell in this picture, but it looks like a little flower on her. adorable!

that pretty much wraps up july for us. what i don't have pictures of are the many, many braums trips we made! hahaha!

1 comment:

~aj~ said...

I loooove the pictures in this post...especially Harrison in the princess dress. You must hold on to that one for his dating years. :)

I'm glad you're having such a wonderful summer vacation!