Summmerland!

Yes, I intentionally misspelled Summerland. But that is because I unintentionally misspelled it on our back yard fence. I'll get to that in a minute.

I wanted to do something fun for our kids that would keep them outside a lot this summer. I did not want a summer of TV, iphones, and computers. And yes, my kids are only 3 and 5. It starts that young if you let it. And it's sad today that parents have to fight so hard to win the battle against electronics, but we really do.

So Rob and I set up a surprise for the kids on their last day of pre-school. They had gymnastics right after school so Rob came home for lunch then and set up our surprise. We bought them an inflatable pool and a slip and slide and then we set up our bouncy house that had been in storage all winter. We set out sidewalk chalk and bubbles and then told them we had a surprise for them in the back yard.

You can hear for yourself that Bennett promptly named it Summerland.


And folks, Summerland has been awesome. We have a lovely screened in back porch so I can sit on it with Lainey and watch them. They go out there nearly every single day and play and play. A fun surprise and a huge hit to say the least.

 Running outside (still in her gymnastics gear to see what the big surprise was)

Less than 5 minutes later they were in the pool ready for summer to begin!

 

 How can you go wrong with a slip and slide? You can't.

 We got this bouncy house years ago on Craig's List and it remains one of our best purchases ever.

 And this is where I sit in the afternoons. In my cool little corner where I can listen to Lainey's monitor while she naps, drink a glass of lemonade, and enjoy the fact that my kids are out in the sunshine rather in front of a screen.

 Oh, and I added our plastic slide to the pool just to give it an extra rednecky flair. Why not?

 We added blankets to the bounce house and it became Bennett's library where she could read books and cool down.

Now can you see where I misspelled Summerland on the fence? Look at the bottom picture. I don't know. I'm just glad I make it through most days with my sanity mainly in tact. Everything else is just bonus. Plus Rob has a lot of fun calling it, "Summmmmerland." Whatevs.

 Bennett taking a break from the pool and reading a book. Look at her pointing out every word as she reads. Love this little thing.

 Will has no interest in reading or breaks. He is all boy and just wants to PLAY!

 But this is what he looks like post Summerland. Pretty much every day.

I know Summerland is going to make the summer of 2013 a fun and memorable one. I am already dreading Labor Day when it gets packed away for the other 3 boring seasons.

8 Months Old

Y'all, my baby is 8 months old!! WHAT?

 And you know what's even crazier than that? The fact that when Bennett was 8 months old, I was a month pregnant with Will. And I was preparing to move 14 hours away from home. To a city where I did not know one person.

Deep breaths.

I don't know how I did it. I really don't.

But Lainey is happy and healthy and growing in beauty every day. She can crawl, get to a sitting position from laying down, babble, and find her paci and put it in her mouth. She is eating more and more solids and is loving trying new finger foods. She loves cheese, crackers, apples, bananas, squash, and carrots.

She adores her siblings and is generally just a very laid back baby. She rarely gets fussy and just kind of observes everything going on around her. She has to sleep with her paci, pink pillow, and blankie. She loves to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear and she loves when we all sing to her.

She has her bottom two teeth and then her upper eye teeth. It looks so funny. I don't know why her eye teeth came in on the top before her middle teeth, but she looks like a vampire. They have bothered her a whole lot though. She has had the hardest time with teething pain and now her front two upper teeth are coming in. Looks like we are in for some more sleepless nights. She also has major separation anxiety. I don't remember either Bennett or Will having it this young. But Lainey bursts into tears every time I leave her in the church nursery and then starts bawling when she sees me when I go back to get her. Melts my heart.

 Here is a video of Bennett making Lainey laugh. I didn't get the best part. By the time I grabbed my phone and started taking video, I had missed the best part. Isn't that always the way it happens?


And here is what I hear most mornings. Non stop squealing. Otherwise known as music to my ears. I love hearing this every day.


And here is a video of my Lainey bug crawling down the hall. We are so proud of her.

But can we just all agree that the next 8 months need to slow way down? Yup. We're all in agreement.

Camping, Graduating, and Swimming, Oh My!

Whew! So so much to catch up on. My oldest is reading, my middle is swimming, and my youngest is crawling. Between the books, pools, and baby gates we have had a lot of fun adventures. I'll try to capture as much as I can before they move on to the next milestones. I feel like they all just hit hyperdrive and I am desperately trying to keep up and savor each moment.Whew. Deep breaths.

 Rob took Bennett and Will camping at a local park here in Dothan. They had a great event where families were allowed into the park after hours to camp. They provided dinner and breakfast and the families got to go on wagon rides, pet animals, and go on a nature walk by moonlight. Very cool.

My beautiful Bennett graduated from pre-school. When did this happen? Anyone remember this little girl on her first day of pre-school?

And here she is on her last. I must say that watching her in her pre-school years has been a joy. I cherish all of the art projects, pancake days, Christmas programs, dress like a character day, water days, and much more. Seeing her discover shapes, colors, numbers, scriptures, and words has been a delight and I couldn't be prouder of the young lady she is turning into. I love this little one with every ounce of my heart and I pray she keeps her curiosity and love for learning and I pray God shows me how to encourage and guide her in the years to come.

 My parents drove down for her big day. Bennett was so happy they came to see her graduate.

Speaking of my parents, their pool officially opened for the summer. Hooray! Okay, so it is a 2 hour drive, but what is that when it comes to summer fun? Lainey absolutely loved her first time in the pool. 

 And finally, here are just some random shots from life these days that I love. Here is Will dancing with his best friend, Macy. These two are just adorable together.

Bennett has taken over the bedtime reading. She wants to read to Will now and so she does. She reads texts on commercials, signs on restaurants, and pretty much everything in sight. I am so proud of her!

Her own creation on a summer morning. This kid does not need toys. Just her imagination.

Speaking of which, Bennett threw a tea party and Lainey was her honored guest.

 Rob got to film a video for a zip line company so the kids and I tagged along. It was the perfect way to spend a summer evening. Lainey and I hung out and watched people go down a zip line and the kids ran all around the beautiful property for hours. It was a gorgeous evening in the deep South and I loved being outdoors and enjoying it with these awesome people.

We've been working on teaching Bennett to ride a bike without training wheels. Let's just say that she isn't a very willing student. Reading may be her thing, but balancing on two wheels is not. Hopefully by the end of the summer.

And this is how I spend a lot of afternoons. I love my front porch so much and one of the main reasons is this right here. I am sitting in a rocking chair with some lemonade watching Will ride by. Kind of perfect.

There's a great water park in Dothan called Water World. I grew up in Montgomery and the children's group from my church would come to Dothan in the summer to go there. We went there for the first time yesterday and immediately bought season passes. The kids were having so much fun...

....until Will discovered that he wasn't tall enough to ride the big slides. He was absolutely devastated.

It didn't help that Bennett was tall enough and had an absolute blast.

 Sorry about that, buddy. Maybe by the end of the summer you'll be tall enough. And if not, I'll go get you some swim shoes with heels. But to end on a positive note,  here's a video of my buddy swimming!

Here's to a fun filled summer!

My Loves

Remembering

Today is May 28th, 2013. It was one year ago today that one of the most amazing women I have ever known entered the presence of our Heavenly Father. A year ago today my cousin, Elliot Patterson Williams went home after an extremely brief fight with ovarian cancer.

I woke up today knowing it would be a hard day. I began my day in prayer. I begged for the Holy Spirit to comfort Elliot's husband, children, parents, sister, grandparents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and everyone else I could think of. I texted my cousin Erin to let her know how much I loved her. I didn't know what else to do. So I went about my day.

Will started swim lessons this morning. The irony of that didn't hit me at the time, but it did while I was watching him. Our Grandmother had a pool in her backyard and it was the cornerstone of all of our childhoods. We all grew up within a few miles of each other, so I spent nearly every morning of my summers swimming with my cousins there. I remember the games we would play. Colored Eggs, Spider, and Diving for Pennies. Elliot and I would poof up our wet hair and pretend we were George and Martha Washington. Don't ask. We would come in and watch soap operas and eat junk food with our Grandmother. Again, don't ask. And then we would be back in the pool. All of those memories hit me lot a ton of bricks this morning completely unexpected.

 I held it together until we got home and then I went in my backyard and sobbed. I miss her. I can't help but be angry. I am angry that her beautiful children won't get to grow up with their unbelievable mother. I get so incredibly sad when I see her family hurting. I want to do something! I want to fix it.

As I was crying, Bennett came outside. Completely on her own without any prompting she decided that she wanted to send a yellow balloon to heaven. We had done that at Elliot's celebration service last year and it made a huge impact on Bennett. That hadn't even occured to me, but I thought it was a great idea.

So we went and bought balloons. Bennett wanted to tie pictures of our family to the balloons so Elliot would remember us. That was hard. But I decided we could do it. And then the kids dictated what they wanted to say on the back of the pictures.

Bennett's note

 Will's note

 Bennett wrote one from Lainey. She told Elliot that she was her BFF.

 We wrote them on the back of these pictures so Elliot "would know who we are."

 Getting Ready

 Bennett reading her note to Elliot.

 Letting go.

I miss Elliot. My Grandfather once said accidentally, "I have four granddaughters. And they're all girls." Obviously he meant to say "grandchildren" but that became our family joke. There were four granddaughters and we were all girls. I loved being one of those 4. I felt like we were this tight knit secret group that nobody could penetrate. I loved our pink pong games, tennis matches, and dances to 80's music. I loved Christmas mornings and dance recitals. We did everything together and I loved that feeling of unity and belonging.

I know we will never have another Elliot. How could you? She was so beautiful inside and out. She was good at everything but she would be the last one to tell you that. She was athletic but she would never describe herself as that. She was a truly gifted artist, but you wouldn't hear that from her. Instead she would listen. When Elliot and I would meet for coffee or catch up at a family get together, she just wanted to listen to how you were doing. Whenever I tried to ask her a question, she would deflect back to you. She loved getting to know people and that's why so many people are now left with a hole in their hearts without her. How do you replace someone like that? You don't. They're one in a million.

I wish my kids could have really known her. She was so incredibly maternal and children flocked to her. Watching Elliot with her children inspired me. I hope they always know that they had a Mom who adored them. She wanted to be a Mom so badly and watching her fulfill that dream with her oldest son, Wyatt, is something I will always treasure. Her two beautiful children were brought into this world by a woman who wanted nothing more than to be their mother. And she was a wonderful one. The way she mothered her children with patience and understanding is something I am always trying to emulate.

This is the last picture I have of Elliot with Will. He was trying to kiss away her boo boos. I wish more than anything that he could have.

And I love this picture so much, even though I am in mid-sentence, because it is so typical Elliot. She barely noticed the camera. She had such a connection with kids. You can see the love in the eyes as she is talking to Bennett. And look at B's face. Kids know when they are talking to an adult who "gets them."

 On this anniversary of Elliot's death, I remember the most selfless person I have ever known. Someone who pointed others to Christ even in the middle of incredible pain and suffering. Someone who wanted people to know about Jesus more than anything in this world and who used her terrible disease as an opportunity to praise Him.

Thank you, Elliot for your witness, your example, and your love. You will always be missed and you will never be forgotten.

2 Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."