Wednesday, August 16, 2017

June

Stephen is home from Africa (!!!) and brought the computer back with him, so now I can finally get around to updating the blog! What seems like forever ago now... JUNE!

 ^^ The month started out with this cutie cutting her forehead out in our courtyard! She has horrible balance and can never seem to run without tripping, so really, we shouldn't be surprised that our first hospital worthy owie came from her. She was running, turned to look at Uriah without slowing down, and ran right into the corner of a post. The cut was jagged and deep and while probably a stitch or two worthy, we didn't want to traumatize her, so daddy glued it up with some Dermabond and we called it good! Tough little chick just kept right on going! ^^ 
 ^^ Best friends, these two! I just found them out on the couch like that, Uriah reading to her, and on our bike ride (Ezra's first time on the big balance bike!) Uriah kept circling back to encourage her and cheer her on. ^^
 ^^ Bringing out the baby things! ^^
 ^^ Happy face, kissy face, silly face and excited face! Going through the emotions! Gosh isn't she the CUTEST?! ^^
 ^^ Uriah's first day of soccer camp! He's painfully (awkwardly!) shy and we weren't sure how this was going to go, but wanted to try a week long camp before signing him up for a whole season. To my surprise, he did great! I think having his best friend, Paxton, do it with him was a major help. And I liked the girl time I got with Nicki watching from the sidelines! I drove to soccer in my minivan and sat and watched from the beach chairs... I felt like I'm living the dream! "I have arrived!" ^^
 ^^ Days 2, 3 and the finale! (Somehow I missed a picture for day 4!) He loved it and I loved that it completely wore him out in time for naps! ;) Oh, and that one of him and Shiloh?! Ahh I can't wait to see him as a big brother! (again!) ^^
 ^^ This girl... She is a real hoot! Always keeping us on our toes and smiling! ^^
 ^^ We accidentally ended up at a splash pad park, completely unprepared! But the kids were more than willing to made due and it was so fun to watch them run around together! We seldom venture out to parks just the three of us anymore, and while I love that we have the community to constantly join us now, it reminded me of all the adventures we had after first moving here, before we made friends while Stephen was super busy with his intern year. We spent almost the first 6 months here just the three of us, and while I wouldn't change what we have now, it was a nice little reminder and treat to get to play at the park just as siblings. ^^
 ^^ My friend Allison insisted on letting us have a date night before Stephen left for Africa - an offer I'm still grateful for (and would have turned down had she not insisted!) We walked to downtown for Scoop ice cream (our usual!), sat and talked by the fountain and wandered through the shops before walking back home. I never thought much about "letting" Stephen go to Africa, but as time approached and I had to actually write it out on the calendar and plan for 7 weeks without him... The reality got harder and harder to deal with! So happy I am writing this now with him back in town! ^^

 ^^ Beach trip on daddy's day off - hanging out in a drift wood fort - four days before he left! ^^
 ^^ Evening walk to "the little park" with my people! ^^
 ^^ She insists that she is "daddy's girl" and I couldn't love their love more! ^^
 ^^ And he left! That was easily the hardest goodbye we've ever had to make, and we dated long distance in college. Africa is really far away, and he wasn't going to the safest of places, so that had my nerves going all on it's own. But 7 weeks without my husband... That was hard. And 7 weeks alone with the kids...?! 7 weeks without the kids?! There were a lot of emotions going on that day and it was a hard and tearful goodbye at the airport that night. Something we're all hoping we never have to do again! ^^
 ^^ Stephen left but we had our first ripe tomatoes waiting for us the next morning! ^^
 ^^ New art supplies to entertain them for a few days before their cousins showed up! We made bracelets and painted lots of pictures. I love setting them up with things like this out on the porch - makes for happy babes and a happy mom! ^^
 ^^ My sister and her girls were flying into Oakland at dinner time, so to beat the traffic across the bridge we drove up early to go to the zoo! Come 4 o'clock we had the place to ourselves and were loving it! Uriah still talks about it! ^^
 ^^ They're here! I'm still so happy and thankful that my sister came to visit us while Stephen was gone - I know it's not necessarily easy or convenient or cheap to travel with kids, but gosh we were happy to see them! ^^
^^ They flew in on a Thursday and we spent the next day at the beach! It was unusually chilly but we made the most of it - crabs, starfish, tide pools, sandcastles, lunch and lots of snuggles under blankets! We ended the day (and the month!) with our usual Friday Pizza Movie Night! ^^

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