dirt

my kids play in the dirt. i sit on the steps and get eaten alive by mosquitos while they cover themselves in a fine powdery layer of dirt. its pretty funny actually and i don't mind that they get so dirty. there aren't alot of things to play with at our house so when they find something simple yet enjoyable to play with i find it creative.
our neighbor boy thinks its pretty great too.
even beebs gets in on the dirty action.
in fact she is usually the dirtiest one of all of them.

case and point!

Mm & Bb at the park

looking for sea creatures

dan teaches with matt at trinity and is the science teacher there. because micah rides in with matt every day and spends the mornings before school starts in his room, dan has been able to get to know him this year. it is very apparent to dan that micah loves science so we made plans to meet north of us at a place called jupiter inlet so that we could go netting for sea creatures. it was a fun morning of finding things like sea urchins, lots of little fish and even a feisty crab. micah really had a great time though he is such an ocean kind of guy that it was a bit tough for him getting used to the slimy bottom feeling of mud.

getting to know you

dear beatrix,
i thought i knew you so well. in fact when micah started kindergarten i have to be honest, i was thinking about losing my time with him. what i didn't realize was that by him going to school it has given us time together that we had never had before. i have loved the days where we drop daddy and micah off at school, give them both a hug and a kiss and then we set out on our errands. even though sometimes those errands include boring things like sitting in the carmax dealership waiting for two hours for them to look over the car. it also includes really great errands, like target. you love target! and you know why that is so great? cause your my little girl. and you will understand things that micah and daddy never will. like why it is important to look at pretty clothes even if you aren't going to buy them and the importance of walking through the craft isle just to look and get ideas and how important it is to go in there with a list or you end up finding a million other things that you "need". little things like that i never thought about before micah went to school. i love the way you like to do things with me. i love learning more about you. i love you and me time. i love your smiling face in my cart. and i LOVE that you can take something micah wore when he was little and make it look so feminine and cute in a totally different way. i love you beatrix. and i am so thankful for this time to get to know YOU!
love,
mommy

burnin' a hole

micah's money was burning a hole in his pocket. he got quite a fair amount for his birthday and a toys r' us gift card, but we put off getting anything until he had enjoyed all of the gifts that he received. he choose a remote contolled boat and was so excited to run it! it has provided loads of entertainment...for a certain adult in the family too. matt tries to "catch" micah with the boat or they play a game where micah tries to grab the boat before it can get to the deep end. he ends up giggling hysterically and nearly drowning. good times!

two in a row

Sunday morning I woke up early too, but on purpose this time. I met a girl who works with me and her daughter at the beach to take a couple of pics of them together. I was so thankful I did! The sun came up glowing fire red and the sky was flooded with pink which bounced off the clouds and hugged us in a blush. It was breathtaking....

Later it changed to a sunny yellow that filtered out behind the clouds. It started my whole day perfectly. What better way to get into the spirit of worship on a Sunday morning then to watch the sun come up, listen to the waves, take breath after breath of salty air and think about how amazing these moments are? I may have to start doing this every Sunday morning.

sunrise

Saturday morning the kids woke up way too early. The result of school. Bah! So when you get handed lemons what do you do? You throw the kids in the car, rush to the beach with your camera and get amazing pictures of the sunrise. I did the same thing with Micah when he was right around the age Beatrix is now. My plan is to frame both of their beach pictures side by side so I can forever freeze them in this amazing age of pudgy cheeks, adorable baby shoulders and carefree spirits. I LOVE how these turned out. My only problem will be deciding which ones to frame. I could make wallpaper out of their beach pictures I love them so. I can not believe she will be two next month. Have I mentioned how thankful I am to be home with her this year? Well, I am!

surrogates

"A person appointed to act for another"...That is what these two special ladies did for Micah. September 15th was Grandparent's Day and our Pastor, Shirley and our special friend Cindy helped make this day special for Micah. Trinity had a special assembly and I asked Micah if he would like to invite anyone. First he mentioned his grandparents in Iowa and then he asked about Daddy's Mommy and Daddy and when I told him that they couldn't come he mentioned these two wonderful ladies. It was a fun and special morning.

new to us

Three weeks ago we got a new to us car. It is a 2008!!!! Dodge Caliber. (the cute silver hatchback in the center of the photo. Don't tell Matt I called it cute though, hahaha!) I have never owned a car that was this new in my life. I think all the vehicles I have ever owned were over 200,000 mileage! :) We knew that our station wagon was on its last leg and sure enough exactly one week after we got the Dodge the wagon died a slow and painful death on the interstate following Matt to school...in the morning....on the highway...with the kids in the car. Yeah, it was not fun! But we are thankful that the timing was just right with getting the new one. Even though we are down to one car again we are enjoying the air conditioning and the new car smell.

This is our friend and banker Paul. It was very intimidating to the car dealers that we brought our own banker! HA!

little fish

We spent a lot of time in the pool this summer and because of this Micah has become an amazing swimmer! He can jump in the deep end and swim down to the bottom to retrieve things. Beatrix loves the water too which I am so thankful for. The two lovely ladies in the pictures are our neighbors. The kids adore them! I was so thankful we had this all summer long to help us stay cool.