newsy post

It's been awhile since I journaled what has been going on in our lives. Our summer has been so fun but it's been super hot the last few weeks. Troy had the oppourtunity to go backpacking with a friend from church a few weeks ago and they are planning one more trip before the end of the summer. We are planning a few small family trips of our own in the next few weeks too.

Charlotte is eight months old! She is such a funny, sweet baby. Although not crawling, she can can get up on all fours, rock back and forth and can even get back into sitting posistion. She loves her people food and has mastered the pincer grab to get those cheerios into her mouth. Being the youngest has it's advantages as she doesn't lack entertainment! The two older ones dote on her continually and Mama must intervene quite a bit! She still only has her two bottom teeth but her smile is so adorable with that little grin. Quite the social butterfly, she is the girl at the grocery store that will "talk" to you and smile at you until you return the favor...must have a friend everywhere she goes! She has been enjoying any puddles of water she can find, be it the bathtub, wading pool or puddles from a sprinkler at the library! The most funny thing in her life are her two older sisters whose dancing, funny talking and peek-a-book are just the best.

Ella has grown several inches the last few weeks! The dresses and shorts she was wearing at the beginning of the summer are now looking very short. She is so petite that we joke about her and Charlotte being the same size (they are seriously within 5 pounds of each other!). Still her very sweet-natured self, she is a joy to have around! We are starting to work hard on mastering some small facts like colors, letter recognition and anything else she is interested in doing. She follows Maddie around like a little sister should and when they get along, they play fabulously together!

Madelyn has shown herself to be super smart these past few days. Troy told her today that we were going to wait a few more minutes in the van. She responded with an incredulous, "for real???"...too smart for her own good, that girl. She sings all day long - different tunes and lyrics all mixed up. We are working very hard this week to learn how to control our mouth and she is hiding Eph. 4:29 in her heart and burning it into her soul! We have our preschool plans in place for this fall (we're going to start when it gets "cold" :)). We are doing one school day a week with her friend Alyssa. Then a couple other days a week we will continue learning to read, learn from her Rod and Staff preschool ciricculum and read a Proverb each day, repeating the entire book each month. I am also running a preschool field trip co-op with other moms from our church and community.

Troy and I are very busy with the increased involvement with our church. With plans to move into a new building by the New Year, there are many things being done now to help with later. I recently took over as Nursery Director and have since found it to be a huge responsibility. Thanks to my administrative/vision-seeing/awesome-at-excel husband, we have things arranged for new policies in the fall and the transition to the new building well under way. It's been a blessing to serve in this way and interesting working together in a new way in our marriage. :)

Hoping to have some more pictures to post soon.