Summer Recap

So- I'm kind of behind on keeping up this blog, but I'm not a quitter, so here are the highlights of our summer in (mostly) pictures!  Enjoy :)

 

 

We started out the summer by heading down to Sumter, SC to visit my old roomie from grad school, Heidi.  We always have a good time, but somehow we didn't end up getting a picture of ourselves together...I guess having a sum total of six kids all together caused a distraction in my picture taking plans!

            Caleb & Kate- two little fish!                          Just lounging at the pool :)                  

Popsicles after lots of swimming!

 

 

Back at home, hanging with the Dukester!

Noah is getting some doggie kisses...lovely. 

 

 

The week of July 4th we went on vacation with the Putnam family to Lake Joccassee :)

This was our view from the back deck...Beautiful!!!

  

Pawpaw with the littles, Asher, Ruby & Noah :)

 

 

The whole fam!

 

Happy boys!

 

 

 My BRAVE girl, riding on "Big Bertha!"

 

...and jumping off at the Rock Quarry :)

 

 

                                Kate & Ruby!                                         Pawpaw & Asher!

 

Double float, double fun?!

 

At the end of July, my sister, mom, Kate & I went on a "Girls-weekend" to Charleston to visit my brother, sister-in-law & neice.  Which meant that I left Asher & Noah for the FIRST time!!!  It was hard for me to leave them of course, but it was a special weekend with my big girl :)

 

Here are the cousins at the beach...

 

Cole is King of the Sand!!!

 

Building a sand castle
(I'm sure if daddy had been with us, the castle would have been much grander!)

Me, my adorable little niece, and Kate 

 

 

 Next came MY birthday...Woot!!! 

In July we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary but didn't get a chance to do anything other than go out to dinner, and of course last year I spent our anniversary and both of our birthdays on bedrest...so...we decided it was time to get away for a weekend to celebrate and rest! 

We went to Chateau Elan in Georgia for a relaxing, no agenda weekend!  It was SOOO nice!

 

Here's a pic of me & my honey :)

 

 

Amidst all our trips, my dad came by a few times on his day off to take Kate swimming or out to Chic-fil-A for a lunch date...or both!!!  Here he is...a super proud grandad :)

 

 

Later in August, we went back to the beach- this time to North Myrtle because Jason's Aunt had a conference down there and graciously invited us along!  On the way down we visited & spent the night with my Grandmama on the farm.

 

Overalls & a John Deere tractor...my little country boys!

 

I have such wonderful memories of playing out in this yard with all my cousins- I really hope Kate & my boys will get the same opportunity.

 

Happy morning

 

 

Kate loved the ocean 

 

...so did the Asher & Noah!

 

 

Attempting to keep all the kids in their inner tubes while braving the lazy river!

 

The "boys" relaxing by the pool ;-)

 

Kate ran in a fun run race and came in second in her age group! 

 

Mawmaw & Noah watching the race :)

 

Post-race piggyback ride!

 

We fed the ducks a few times, and Noah thought they were hilarious!!!

 

 

 

...And since our baby girl was about to start kindergarten (*sniff, sniff*) we decided to take her on a day trip to Carowinds

 

 

Kate is surprisingly fearless when it comes to riding roller coasters...(that's us in the 3rd car!) 

 

 

 

 

I spent last summer primarily on the couch as big as a house full of anxiety about the health of my babies.......SO needless to say this summer wins out!!!  We had a great one. 

 

"The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy."

-Psalm 126:3-

 

 

 

"Fat souls are better than clean floors"

I am currently reading the book "Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches" by Rachel Jankovic.  I LOVE IT!  I can really relate to her stories, they make me laugh and sometimes even tear up.  She is real and encouraging in the way she writes.
Because I had Kate for 4 years as an only child, I had gotten used to feeling in control of my life and was able to accomplish most of the things I desired to do, such as keeping the house (fairly) clean, getting a healthy dinner cooked on a semi regular basis, keeping us all dressed in clean clothes, taking regular outings to the library, park, etc. (yes, there were days back then that I felt tired and overwhelmed, of course) But...Ha!  I had NO idea the amount of energy and patience that would be required to just survive the day with three little people, two of whom have no ability to do anything for themselves!  (I'm sure all you moms with multiple kids are laughing at me right now) But I am slowly learning to give up my idealistic view of motherhood and live by grace in the reality of what life really is! 
The saying goes that God will not give you more than you can handle...and while that is true, there have been many days where I think He has almost filled my plate to the tipping point.  We've had a few bouts of sickness in our household recently, nothing super serious, but I tell you what- when you have three kids who are all in some phase of the same illness, and the daddy and the mama aren't feeling up to par and they are both getting up at all hours of the night patting backs and giving medicine to whomever is crying at that moment...well, it is TOUGH!
My point in saying all this is that God is using all of these overwhelming moments and physical exhaustion to grow me and mold me to be more like Him. Not that I am even CLOSE to where I need to be, but today I am a little bit stronger in displaying the fruit of the spirit (patience, gentleness, self-control...these are specifically the ones that don't come easy to me!) in my daily life than I was yesterday.  I can truly say that I am thankful for the challenges of motherhood.
I may not be the mom of my own dreams...(super creative, organized, healthy, ha!)...but I am learning and growing and I hope that looking back my kiddos & I will have happy memories of these crazy times! 
I certainly have plently of (at least) laughable memories from the past several months...here are some pics to recap what's been going on lately with this Party of Five:

Dying Easter eggs

My two sweet grandmother's enjoying their great-grands on Easter!

Easter Afternoon...finally after about 20 takes, we got a shot where everyone is looking.  I don't expect this to happen again anytime soon. ;-)

Playtime before bed (Noah- left, Asher- right)

Noah loves to swing!

Asher playing with "boy" toys...a new thing for this household!

Daddy pulling double duty! 

We went to Aunt Janny's lake house for Memorial Day...

Kate wanted to swim ALL.DAY.LONG.....she was a wrinkly prune when she finally got out! 

Love, love, love this sweet fella!

Asher wasn't so sure about being in the water ;-)

The boys checking out cousin Ruby :)

Two cute little tigers getting ready for Clemson football season!!! 

And finally...

Father's Day...Oh how we all love daddy!!!

Yes-I know that was a random montage of pictures...but I am a bit behind on updating the blog!

In the past 3 months the boys have started sitting up, crawling, cutting teeth (boo!), eating finger foods, making funny new sounds, babbling, and have just gotten cuter and even more fun (in my opinion!)

And Kate has graduated preschool!!!  She will officially be a kindergartener after the summer is over...so I am holding on tight to these summer months...I could seriously cry if I thought about it too hard, so I won't! 

Now I will leave you with a quote from the wonderful book I mentioned earlier.  These moments with our little ones are brief.  And while some days are just plain hard and all I really want to do is take a break and get away,  I am trying to remember that soon I will look back on these days and wish they hadn't passed so quickly.

"So while your children are little, cultivate an attitude of sacrifice.  Sacrifice your peace for their fun, your clean kitchen for their help cracking eggs, your quiet moment for their long retelling of a dream that a friend of theirs allegedly had.  PRIORITIZE YOUR CHILDREN far and above the other work you need to get done.  They are the only part of your work that really matters."

AMEN!