summer fruit

Unfortunately it's been 3 months since I've last updated this blog! I literally have about 15 minutes all to myself each day these days with 3 needy kids at home all day long. This summer has been filled to the brim, it's hard to believe it's already August 24th! A truism about stay-at-home motherhood is that the years fly by but the days drag on... which is very much how this summer has felt. So much has happened this summer! In no particular order:

1. My little Elias just turned 4 months old!
I love this baby. He's so sweet and cuddly. He hates car rides (which is unfortunate as we're taking a loooong one on Friday) and cannot soothe himself (he wants either Chris or my finger in his mouth to suck on -- will not take a pacifier, or if he does, he will spit it out and then cry). He's still up 3x per night (boo) but will go right back to sleep once he nurses. He loves to give kisses, watch his older brother, and be scared.

2. We had a cataclysmic hail storm.


It totaled our car.


So, I joined the minivan set.


After all was said and done with insurance, we paid about $50 for our minivan. We totaled a 2008 Mazda5 with 45,000 miles on it and got a 2006 Toyota Sienna with 46,000 miles on it. I was feeling okay about keeping the Mazda, even though our family was outgrowing it. It's a fabulous car for 2 kids, pretty tight with three, particularly with car seats, and there is very little storage room. I am totally thrilled with our minivan!!

3. Death in the family
Our church is like family to us. Our family is 4-6 hours away, so having strong relationships at church is critical to us. One of the pillars of our church passed away at the end of June after a long battle with cancer. It was not unexpected, but the speed with which she declined was surprising to us all.

4. Vacation(s)
In July, my parents watched our older 2 kids while Chris, Elias & I went to the Washington DC area. We visited friends and enjoyed having a child that doesn't yet talk :) Chris stayed for a training conference while Elias and I flew back to Michigan.

A few weeks later, the 5 of us headed up to the Wisconsin Dells for our annual week vacation. Ben has proclaimed this the only vacation spot that he will accept. A few weeks after we went to Orlando in February, he asked me "When are we going on vacation?" and I told him we just went on a big vacation and he told me "No, I mean our REAL vacation!!" meaning the Dells! We have stayed at the exact same resort for the past 3 years. He looks forward to this week all year. We had a really nice time, though the theme of this summer for me has been sleep-deprivation and that did not change just because we were on vacation. It was nice to get out of the city though and the kids had so much fun.

5. Deck
Chris's brother and his family came up a few weeks ago and built us a deck!

It's going to be so nice to have usable space in our backyard -- our yard is really rocky and our deck was really small, so it's nice to have a space where we can eat outside and the kids can play! We also have plans to build a patio off of the deck for even more space.

Will try to update more once the kids are back in school. Ben starts Kindergarten in 2 weeks!!