AHHHHH, summer

Andy playing with Quinn in the pool this evening

Fabulous 4th of July!

So far this summer, we haven't had lazy, hazy days, but we have had crazy-fun days! For the 4th of July weekend, we went up to the South Bend area to enjoy a very traditionally hot and sunny summer weekend. We haven't had a 4th like this for years, so it was great. We went out on the boat with Papa Bruce, Aunt Amy, and cousin Kamryn, and the next day we visited Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis and Gigi and went to the county fair. Then we watched fireworks, with Quinn sitting out the sunroof of our vehicle to try to avoid getting chewed up by mosquitoes. I really loved the pictures I got of him enjoying the fireworks against the night sky.

Grandma Mary and Quinn on the Dizzy Dragon

Andy and I loved being back in Culver! We used to go there every summer when we were dating.

Quinn and Andy waving from the very top of the Ferris Wheel

Enjoying the fireworks

On the tube with Papa Bruce

Being silly wearing fun glasses with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis at Grandma's store

Visiting the Thumb

We have done SO MUCH in the last month that it would take me forever to update everything completely, but I'll post a few pics while I have a couple minutes. We were invited up to the "thumb" of Michigan for a long weekend at my sister's boyfriend's family's lake house on Lake Huron. We had a fantastic time! Quinn is so very easy to travel with these days, and he loves the adventure in exploring new places. With the beach just yards in front of our house, he was fully satistfied.

Quite a ways off shore was a sand bar. Andy and Quinn could walk out there and wrestle, play, etc.

Carolyn, Mike, Andy, and Quinn enjoyed "The Big Slide" in the nearby town of Caseville.

I can't get enough of sunsets over water.

June Is Bustin' Out All Over!

We have had a GREAT and very busy summer so far. We've already been to 3 different festivals, to the pool many times, to the spray park, and on countless play dates. Somehow, every year I forget just how great summer is until we are in this mode of "funness". :) This summer especially we are footloose and fancy free--no diapers, no strollers, flexible naps, boundless energy (Quinn, not necessarily me!)--and ready each day for adventure. I love my little guy!

Last weekend we went to PBS Kids Day downtown. Andy and I commented afterwards how blessed we feel to live here. We are so close to so many amazing resources, and we have our pick every weekend of tons of different activities. This was our first PBS Kids Day, and though it was SUPER hot and humid, we loved it. We only waited in line to see one character, Dog from WordWorld, but we still walked by many others. And the real Gordon from Sesame Street was there too! Andy and I grew up watching him!

If your kids watch PBS in the mornings, you might know Steve from Steve Songs (the filler show in between other longer shows). We caught his concert right at the end of our time there, and it was a blast. He then took the time to sing Quinn a song Q requested. Quinn was in awe. It was adorable!

Balloon Ride

For some reason, Conner Prairie sent us free tickets to ride their helium balloon. I don't know if they were trying to entice us to renew our membership, which we were going to do anyway, but we were so excited because we've wanted to ride it since it opened last year. Friday was a gorgeous day, and Andy took the day off to enjoy it with us. The balloon goes about 350 feet in the air, and we were able to see the hazy outline of downtown's skyline on the horizon. It was so neat to survey the towns around us from that height, and I really wish we could have stayed up longer than the allotted 5 minutes!

Preschool Rocks!

Quinn's last day of school was this week. The kids sang several songs, and it was, of course, adorable. I can't believe his first year of school is over! We had such a great experience.

Singing "My God Is So Big"

Singing "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Choosing Joy

I haven't blogged for awhile. Life has gotten a bit in the way. Last week we lost our third pregnancy, and the last 3 weeks were consumed by it all. This time, we had a molar pregnancy, an uncommon occurrence and something that appears to be completely unrelated to our previous losses. Without giving a biology lesson on what a molar pregnancy is, it does not allow us to try to get pregnant again for many months, and it creates the possibility of issues with a very treatable cancer. God apparently wants us to take a break from all the fertility stuff and focus on the blessings we have. It is not easy to defer my dreams, but I fully realize that His ways are not our ways and hold the promise of a much better way of life if we submit to Him. We are beyond thankful for all the prayers and support we've received through this time!

So my motto for now is Choose Joy. It is easy to default to feeling sorry for myself or feeling consumed by fear and worry. It takes discipline to choose to find joy in every day and allow God to take control of all the other stuff. Thankfully, I have a 3-year-old bundle of joy in my home (and an equally joyful husband!) who provides millions of opportunities every day to smile, give love, and feel blessed.

These pics are from Easter. Quinn has wanted a real baseball helmet for a long time, so this helmet was his Easter gift.

Checking out other Easter goodies

Looking for eggs

Florida Fun

Playing on the beach

This picture is SO Quinn!! Always singing, talking, or laughing!!

The lovely couple

I actually got some cute pictures with my little guy this trip! Usually I'm the one taking all the pictures, so I'm not in them! :)

Quinn adores his Uncle Johnny!

I love this beautiful picture of the bride and groom. It shows what a lovely day and night it was.

Johnny and Nikki's Wedding

We spent the last 2 weeks of March in Florida for Andy's brother Johnny's wedding to Nikki. Andy was the best man, I was a bridesmaid, and Quinn was the "ring bear", as he called it. The day of the wedding couldn't have been more beautiful, both in weather and setting. We stayed more than a week after the wedding to enjoy time with all the family who was down in Florida for the wedding and were able to spend lots of time at the beach and in the pool. It was an incredible trip, full of memory-making moments. I have million, trillion pictures, but I'll just post some now and possibly more later. :)

Quinn and Haven, the flower girl, Nikki's niece. Quinn informed me that Haven is now his wife, since they walked down the aisle together. :)

Aren't they so adorable?!

This picture was not staged! The two saw their aunt and uncle out on the dance floor and decided to join them. So precious!

Snow, snow, snow

So sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I actually figured not many were even checking this anymore, but then Andy said some people just commented this week (Hi, readers!:) ) so I will finally post. If I could only figure out how to post more than 4 pics at a time from Picasa, I really would stay up-to-date easier!

January was a very fun month, which is not something I often say about January. We've had a pleasantly snowy winter, one that is beautifully white but doesn't annoyingly trap us at home. I have fallen in love with winter this year, largely due to the lovely snow, the fact that I finally bought snow pants and I'm not cold and wet when we're in the snow, and because my darling 3 year old is a super playmate!! February has continued to be as enjoyable. We've settled into a great routine of visiting the Children's Museum weekly, playing outside in the snow, going to preschool and church group, and having various playdates. Spring doesn't seem too far away now!

I do love taking snow pictures, so forgive me for how many I post!