My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

To my two-year-old Rebecca,

I love your appetite for life – for books (the larger the better), for outdoor exploration, for puppy dogs, for waffles and bananas and Fig Newtons, for big kids, for boating and hiking, for holding my hand, for making your sister laugh, for listening to music.  You are my little narrator, telling me everything you’re thinking and everything I’m doing.  You test my patience with your strong will, but I admire your strength and determination and independence.  Every day, I am more and more impressed with your intelligence (you absorb new words like a sponge), your sensitivity (you become very distressed when your sister is upset, soberly informing me “Sue cry.  Sue cry”), and your cleanliness (you love nothing more than making sure that everything is in its place, including the rocks in the yard).

Happy Birthday to my little punkin.  I’m so blessed to have you in my life.

Love,

Mommy

My Elmo-dified kitchen.

The girls thought the balloons were very exciting.

They loved watching the big kids in the pool – especially when the boys did cannonballs.

It was great to have the pool so people could cool off from the ninety-degree (at least) temperatures.

The pool also offered a convenient gathering place for us non-swimmers to enjoy the view of other people goofing off in the water.

A little background to the above picture where Susie is pointing to her right hand: I had been holding Susie near the pool when I was stung by a wasp.  I yelped and bit my lip, and quickly handed off Susie to my mother-in-law.  A few minutes later, we noticed a welt on Susie’s hand where evidently she had also been stung, but she never made a sound.  She’s a whole lot braver than her mom!    

Becky was very excited that her friends let her eat as many cheese puffs as she wanted.  I think her expression in this picture reflects her fear that I was going to put an end to the puffs consumption (I didn’t – it was her birthday, after all!)

Becky was so enamored with the party scene that she even let multiple people hold her, which was cause for a celebration (and photo documentation) in my book! 

Alli was so glad she could reconnect with Connecticut friends that she only sees once a year.

We were very thankful that so many of our dear friends drove a distance to enjoy the day with us.

Becky is displaying great self-control by refraining from diving into the cupcakes until I got my camera in place and gave the go-ahead.  Maura was nearby as my back-up in case her inner strength wavered.  Susie kept carrying her party hat around upside down and saying “cake cup, cake cup.” 

Susie with a mouthful of Elmo’s nose.

This picture of Landon typifies the joy of summer: swimming, grilling, and sweets.  Life is good! 

Speaking of sweets, here we are enjoying plenty of them (and now I finally know how Becky ended up with frosting on her back). 

It didn’t take much detective work to figure out how she ended up with a chocolate mustache.

Here are two of the world’s best party planners.  Thanks, Maria and Alli, for all your prep work!

Susie thought her new hat went perfectly with her half-naked birthday suit, as did plenty of kisses for her new Madeline. 

Becky was entranced by a singing birthday card.

Susie insisted on feeding a donut to Alli and cookie monster at the same time.

And lastly, here is Becky’s expression of sheer birthday bliss.  And most likely an overabundance of sugar.  All’s well that ends well. 

Cheers!  Here’s to a perfect summer evening!

Which of course involves copious amounts of ice cream.

Susie says, “Bottoms up!”

I just have to take a moment and publicly announce that our niece Alli is the most incredible 14-year-old girl on the planet (and that’s not just because I don’t know any other 14-year-old girls).  She’s spent the last month here in Connecticut with her grandparents, uncle and I, and I don’t ever want her to leave.  She only has a week left with us before returning home to Arizona and I’m already mourning her impending absence.  She has her eyes on the Lord, her head on straight, her feet on the ground, and her hands in the hands of my little girls.  I’m not simply amazed at how good she is with my kids; I’m amazed at how I can talk with her better than I talk with most any adult.  She listens, shares, and laughs with me, sits in silence with me, discusses Scripture with me, and goofs off with me, as if the only distance between 14 and 29 is cultural (the child didn’t know what stirrup pants were.  I LIVED in those!).  She seems to have skipped over that typical teenage self-centered stage when kids are convinced that their needs are the only ones that matter.  She truly cares about other people and works hard to show them that she cares.  She has a heart for the Gospel and longs to share it with others.  She seeks the wisdom of the Bible and her elders to help guide her footsteps in her Christian walk. 

And did I mention she’s gorgeous?         

So to Alli’s parents – keep doing what you’re doing.  And write it down so you can tell it to me step-by-step once my girls hit their teenage years.

And to Alli, my faithful blog reader who I know is going to be royally embarrassed by this post – thanks.  You’re the best.  And I mean it.

Remember those great kids that accompanied Alli and I to Six Flags a few days ago?  Well, we were blessed that their aunt Maria drove them out on Saturday to spend the day at the lake with us.  The boys were just as “responsible and well-behaved” as last time, with more healthy doses of horseplay thrown in. 

Alli kept the boys in line.  Mostly.     

Of course, she couldn’t help but join in some of the horseplay as well. 

And then her uncle would whisk her away from those young men.  But I don’t think Jim fully grasped that his role as an overprotective uncle wasn’t supposed to involve him whisking Alli at such high speeds that she would have been far safer on the tube with a few boys than she was with him on the jet ski!      

Without any restraining female influence, the boys plotted their testosterone-laden activities.  

Which of course involved a floating wrestling match.

Which of course involved excessive splashing. 

Susie thought the boys were very funny.

Becky was glad the boys let her join in the tube riding.

Jim was just happy that the girls are at least two to three decades away from dating boys.