and the beat goes on...

I am loving the summer whilst simultaneously having to readjust for all the schedule changes and new pick-ups and drop-offs to new activities...bittersweet...but the kids are having a blast! Last week the twinnies were off to Mimi and Poppy's, so we crammed in lots of fun things for the bigs kids...bowling, for example. They LOVED it! Ty insisted on using Todd's 15 lb ball, which was a riot to watch, but that kid's head was just as hard...
Lily, my dramatic artiste...every roll of the ball was delivered with flair...that's my girl! Go big or go home!

Ty enjoyed the bowling ramp...such a boy--aiming and shooting
Miss Thang at the splash park in Venice--it seems we're making a circuit of them around the state :) She informs me she wants to model...hmmmm...that's all I can say is hmmmm...
James seeking out the low-key action
Ty--full-throttle into the spray to get his bucket full...
Miss Bella following in her big brother's footsteps...
posing...
and again...
Mimi and her grand-ducklings...
Daddy-o and his boys
Happy 8 fantastic and blessed years of marriage to us! We celebrated with a dinner out (sans kids) to Roy's with my mom and dad and John and Leslee...a good time was had by all :)


Happy Father's Day to these two! (Gran I need a good shot of you to put on here!). I was blessed with a wonderful father and now have an amazing husband who is daddy to our children...thank you Jesus!!

post-swim lessons
pay absolutely NO attention to the nice mold and mildew creeping up the wall...

So the past three days have been off-the-charts insane...crying has reached and all time peak and my patience ran out two and a half days ago. My dad so graciously had my car window fixed (after I slammed the door too hard one too many times and broke the mechanism to raise and lower it)--I caught myself slamming it again this week!!! And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results! God is gracious and merciful because it didn't break again, but I realize that I am reaching my boiling point again! With four kids under the age of five, there is an incessant drone of crying, screaming, whining, and repetition that strikes the crazy key in my head! Mind you--this means four kids who cannot buckle their own seatbelts (or need major help accompanied by whining), pour their own milk, cannot bathe themselves adequately, two of them are still in diapers and ALL four of them take off their shoes every gosh darn time we get in the car...and LOSE them!! And with theatre camp and swim lessons and VBS, all of the unbuckling and buckling and shoe putting on and shoe losing...I am starting to lose my mind...I blog about this stuff because it offers perspective--reading my thoughts somehow takes the power out of the negative ones--plus, I hope some on you can relate?? Jamie likes to remind me that I am not that special (as in LOTS of people are getting to experience this sort of thing! ) :) My babes won't be babes forever..they will not, they will not, they will not...I pray that God sprinkles those words over me in the car--cheers!