Summer Fun

July 22, 2012 - The busyness of summer continues. We have our good days and some overwhelming days.  Here is just a taste of some fun we have had over the past couple weeks.



Holding one of 6 baby kittens born to our cat. Sadly, all 6 have gone missing for a few days now. No where to be found. : (

Izzy and "her" kitty

Mommy and her girls dressed up for church.

First trim. She did pretty well and earned a sucker for sitting so nicely. : )

This is what happens when my boys discover that if you get sidewalk chalk wet you can paint yourself and they discovered that blue stains their skin. : )

The next member of the blue man group

Making our own paint. 1 cup cold water, 1 cup flour and food coloring. Thanks to the idea from my sis in law.

A few Izzy originals. : ) She says these are for Daddy to take to Minn Tex. : )

1st visit to Fairmont Water Park

She loved it and evidence that she has no fear of water anymore!

Izzy going down the slide

My big boy!

And this came in the mail yesterday.....official certificate of citizenship

 Tomorrow morning, Ian leaves for his first summer camp experience. He is very excited and has been packing for 3 days now. : ) My little boy isn't so little anymore. Aiden is looking forward to having a friend spend the night while Ian is gone and he has to pick up the slack of Ian and do all the chicken chores. (They are raising broiler chickens this summer for their summer job.) These two boys have taken me out of my comfort zone this summer. They both wanted to find other summer jobs, I think because they want to earn extra money. Ian decided he wanted to ask the librarian if she needed any extra help at the library. I told Ian that he could ask, but to know that this is not a job that he will get paid. He informed me he just wanted to work on building his resume....."WHAT!?", I said, "where did you ever hear about a resume and what do you even know about a resume?" Ian said he has heard about in his Adventures in Odyssey CDs. ha,ha! O.k., well Ian asked and now has a little job at the library helping sort DVDs that are rented out at the library as they come in. He just glows when I take him. I would have never had enough nerve to ask a librarian for a job when I was his age. Well, Aiden decided he wanted a job too. His idea.....to set up a table outside the library and sell baked goods to those patrons using the library. O.k., well he asked the librarian about this possibility and she said he would need to talk to the city of Butterfield to get the o.k. This was a thought that crossed my mind and a fear I had because once Aiden gets an idea he does not let it go until he gets a yes or no answer. So, we went to city hall and asked about his bake sale. The substitute working at city hall that day (THANKFULLY, I knew the lady filling in this day) took Aiden's information down and she said she would relay the message to the proper people. We have not heard back from them yet and yes, Aiden does keep asking. Like I said, this is all way out of my comfort zone, but I do not want to squelch this desire to work and earn money, or build their resumes in Ian's case. Gotta love small towns for these very reasons.

These are the stories I want to return to when I have those overwhelming days and wonder if I was really cut out to be a mom of 4. I am thankful for God's grace and mercy in my insufficiency as a mom. I am thankful for friends and family that continue to encourage me through texts, emails, and chats. I cannot imagine going through this life without such encouragement. I didn't mean for this to end on such a downer, but I want to be real. These pictures I have posted show that life is just wonderful and fun, which it is at times, and other times it is exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, and tear filled. That is when God's grace and mercy shines through the most. I am working on relying on that more and more.

Oh......and Lucy is doing just fabulous these days. : )