Flower Girl Lydia

I am beginning to wonder if I should put an ad in the paper for Lydia. Something like, "Need A Flower Girl? Here she is." Ok, so maybe that was kinda boring, but I got nothing right now. Anyhow, near the end of June, Lydia was pleased to participate in her third wedding. She was the junior bridesmaid in my sister's wedding in November 09'. Then in January, she got her first go at throwing petals as the flower girl in my cousin, Deana's wedding. She was more than thrilled when Ms. Lisa asked her if she would do the honor of being her flower girl in June (when these pictures were taken). And she has one more wedding with flower girl-girly moments to come on August 6th, when our friends and former youth group students, Forest and Susie, get married. Four weddings in one year...I guess you could say she is in high demand. And she L-O-V-E-S it...pretty dresses, fancy hair do's, nails done up; what more could a 7 year old, fashionista girl ask for?

This picture makes me smile. I do believe she is up there checking out her fingernail polish.

It's so nice when you know the ringbearer you have to walk down with.
Lydia with the bride and groom (can't figure out why these won't go the right direction).

Had to throw this one in. Of course, Joshua caught the garter and the look on his face is priceless.

Still Alive

Why did the boy throw the clock out of the window?

He wanted to see time fly.

Why, you may ask, did I start out my much neglected blog with a joke? Well, not only was this the first real joke my two older kids ever told (real meaning making any sense whatsoever), this riddle came to mind when I thought about how to sum up my excuses for the recent zero blog posts. While I cannot claim to have actually seen time fly, I can attest to you that it has. I remember as a teenager, pining away for more privileges and responsibilities. (This happened quite frequently with an older brother). Much to my disgust, I usually heard something like this. "Your only a child once. Enjoy it while you can." Of course, me being the all-knowing, eye-rolling, "you just don't understand," kind of girl, I would dismiss this notion and continue in my little pity party.

Now, just a week following my 33rd birthday, I find myself grinning and rolling my tired, "grown up" eyes at that kid. I get it now, I really do! The older I get, the faster time seems to go. I know everybody says that as a cliche, but I think some research is in order. In my mind's eye, I can go right back to the moment I first held my newborn son in my arms. What a sweet and precious moment that was. I thank the Lord for the gift of memory; for that moment was 8 1/2 years ago! Or lately, I've been reminiscing over some of the most fun days of my childhood. One such memory was when I would get to go to my friend, Beth's, grandparents farm. We'd spend hours upon hours in the creek, catching critters, wading in the water, etc... It's hard to wrap my brain around the fact that now Beth and I have 6 kids between us. And we trek those 6 kids down to the creek near her house for their own adventures.

So, what have I been up to in the last couple of months? Well, ever since school let out, I started watching the neighbor boy down the street, Malcolm. He comes over to our house at 8am and usually goes home around 5:30pm. I also found an ad on CraigsList that I responded to. So, starting the second week of summer break, I also started watching Ashleigh. Her mom is working on her Master's degree to become a nurse practitioner and needed some extra study time and wanted Ashleigh to have a "fun summer." I watch her 3 days a week from about 8am to 3:30pm. Life with 5 kids is definitely different than life with 3, especially when they are not your own, but each week seems to get easier. The girls get along great for the most part, but the boys have quite a few squabbles throughout the day. When this occurs, I try and separate them for a while. There are moments that I reach my max (or so I think), but I am reminded that God has a purpose in allowing me to watch these kids. Already, some pretty cool conversations have occurred (especially post VBS week) and we may start picking up Ashleigh for church on Sundays. If you think of me, please pray that I would a.) keep my sanity in tack and b.) continue to be a light for Christ to these kids.

The kids have been enjoying the pool a lot this summer. With 5 kids, I was not about to go to the public pool about a mile away. It is always soo crowded and I am never at ease when we have gone in the past. It is so big and swarming with people. This equals a mom constantly having to locate her kids. Not fun. Jake's teacher was trying to recruit us for the pool right around the corner from our house. We've always known it was there but always figured it was too much money. Apparently, they have a deal for first time families. So, a big thank you to my mom and dad who treated us to this deal. While Crestwood does not have a water slide, water fall, huge kids area, separate deep end, or an alluring kiddy area, it does offer something much, much better! It is not crowded. Finding my kids at the public pool would involve me walking around and around and around some more, until finally I located that third child. Now, I can do a quick head count in about 10 seconds, all within the comforts of my chair or side of the pool. And the absolute best thing...my kids are actually learning to swim!!! Woohoo!!! I was told Crestwood doesn't have swim lessons, but if you put them on swim team, they will learn to swim. And that is what has happened! We aren't doing the meets...just the practices, but they have helped tremendously.

Let's see, what else. I survived my single-parenting experience for the week plus Dan was gone on the missions trip to NYC. I always end my weeks of going it alone with the utmost respect for the single moms I know. Dan is such a good father and help to me with the kids and I appreciate that about him! They surely missed him very much and kept asking to call or text him. They were very happy for him to be home as well. Even better that he brought them NYC Silly Bandz.

Seeing as at least my time seems to fly, I need to end this and head to bed as morning will be here all too quickly. Hope I did not bore you too much. I will do better about keeping up. Thanks for taking the time to read this!