Snapshots of summer

Wow, as summer winds down {and a new school year is soon to begin} I am reflecting on how full and wonderful it truly was. We didn't do anything spectacular but we sure did have a lot of fun. And the kids grew before my very eyes! I've posted about some specific things we did, so this is a fill in the gaps sort of post. :)Sporting a beautiful dress and snow boots, haha! She knows what she wants to wear, and there is no talking her out of it now. It can be... interesting.

We played at a LOT of different park, we went park exploring. We are lucky to have some amazing parks in our area. Picnics at a park are a favorite in this family.

We also went on some amazing walks/hikes. Explored new places and old favorites. Add in a picnic with this as well, and you have a full day of fun!

Visited different spots at local rivers. Lots of great river spots around here too!

More fun at a river, most of the river banks around here are rocky, but our favorite spot which happens to be really close by is a sandy river bank, and we love it! We like the rocky spots too though, fun to throw rocks into the water and grab some for our collections. :)

This girl learned how to climb ALL OVER the play equipment this year, wow is she quick. She also wants to do it on her own and is quite amazing {and a bit scary}! I let her do most of it on her own{still ready to jump in when needed} and she has become very capable this year... and very proud of herself.

Our ladies have GROWN! They are laying 6-8 eggs a day now, and last week I stopped buying eggs at the store... We go through a crazy amount of eggs a week, so I'm really excited about this! Can't beat fresh eggs. Makes me want to figure out ways to be even more self reliant.

We went to a lot of really fun birthday parties. This one was their cousin's second birthday, and it was so much fun... Lala didn't go into the pool when she had her swimsuit on though, she waited until I dressed her and then went in, crazy girl!

Another fun party we went too, I asked Bubu to keep an eye on his sister for a moment {it was safe enough for him to do that} and when I turned back around he was holding her like this... adorable! He takes his job, as big brother, seriously. :)

Awesome rope swing, the boys all took turn, after turn, after turn... Wish we had a tree big enough to have one!

All the kids enjoyed this fun tire swing at the same house, Lala even enjoyed spinning on it with her brothers!

We want one of these, so relaxing...

Found this frog while gardening... there's been a lot of gardening this summer, always fun. The kids love helping me too, I'm lucky if I get a moment to sneak out there for quiet reflection alone because usually they beg to come with me.
{I love both, but sometimes I really do crave those quiet reflection moments in the garden alone.}

Lots of silly moments this summer, mostly from this kid... Don't ask, I have no idea why he is dressed up this way.

We went to a really great park with friends that has a water park and a petting zoo and just happened to have a fire truck to tour there too! The kids were sooooooo excited!!!

Little firefighters. ;)

Summer fun with my dear friend.

We had a few sleep overs with her and her girls and that is always a blast! Our kids play so well together and we have been friends for so long that it's just relaxing, we don't feel like we have to entertain each other, it's like hanging out with my little sister {which is also really fun}.

The kids loved the petting zoo, almost as fun as the real zoo... and not nearly as exhausting, plus this petting zoo is free, bonus! Of course there weren't any tigers and such but for now they seem to get just as excited about bunnies and pigs, so go figure.

More fun at a park... told you we went to a lot of parks, and I didn't even take pictures of all the park outings and hiking adventures. Parks are free and my goal this summer was lots of fun free {or really cheap} out door or educational activities. I really feel like I reached that goal {which doesn't happen often enough} and I'm excited to add on even more stuff next year. As well as some new favorites we discovered this year.

We found really fun water parks, free water play, so exciting! I guess I'm just lucky that my kids are easily entertained...

They were finding it a little cold, but that didn't stop them. They are Washingtonians after all, on the rainy side no less!

And then there were summer time haircuts, right at the end of summer, silly boys. Ryder got his hair cut my the local hair stylist {that would be me} and then all the boys decided they wanted to look like daddy. It was a bit harsh for me, cutting Atty's hair.

No summer time post would be complete with out some pictures of our favorite sandy river spot! Lala was jumping in puddles, so cute... Splashing like a big girl.

Then there was this little drama. I left her in my bedroom for a quick moment to take the sheets to the laundry room and she managed to smear a favorite lipstick of mine all over her face. Uggggggg, at least it wasn't poop painting {I screamed when I first saw her, fearing the worst}. Speaking of thinks potty related this girl is wearing big girl undies all day long now and having hardly any accidents. She's even napping in undies now, and waking up in the morning dry... So pretty soon here she won't be wearing a diaper to bed either! She is just growing up way too fast my girl.

I've been promising myself a new play room carpet as soon as she is fully potty trained {as an incentive to keep going on those really hard days...} so I'm getting pretty excited! :)

Building towers, so proud of herself...

More fun with daddy at our favorite spot, building sand people.

Daddy snuggles, no summer is complete with out that!

Crazy dirty fun in the back yard, and silly tiny pigtails. :)

Bubu spent a morning drawing all of us, so cute! Lots of art projects this summer as well...

Then there was Bubu's sixth birthday this last weekend. I can't believe I'm the proud parent of a six year old! Got to have those birthday pancakes!!!

We went to our favorite house, to visit some of our favorite people on Bubu's birthday. We stayed over and had a camp out style dinner for him. He went on a treasure hunt for his presents in an amazing garden, it was so much fun. We have such an awesome extended family!

He got a bigger bike for his birthday, and was so excited! I wouldn't normally let him ride with out a helmet or shoes, but he just wanted to try it out real quick. :) Now to work on getting those training wheels off { I have a feeling that Spike with be doing that before Bubu though...}

Cheese cake with raspberries, around a camp fire, doesn't get much better then that!

Happy birthday to a wonderful boy.

And the biggest news of the summer... My husband decided to try out fishing and caught himself his first fish! So awesome. We are some big fish eaters in this family, and it is so expensive, so I am looking forward to some more fresh caught fish! He did all the work too, even cooked it on the BBQ, he knows how to make a lady happy... ;) He also knows there is no way on God's green earth I am cleaning a fish. He jumped right in and figured it all out on his own, I love how he isn't afraid to learn new things.

Love this picture and really loved being there to share in his excitement!

We have one last adventure coming up before we start our school year. We are going to eastern Washington for the first time. We have friends that moved over there and we are going to go visit them. It's quite the drive {about 5 hours if you drive non-stop} so I'm a bit nervous about that. We are going to split up the driving on the way there by camping one of the nights so that we aren't driving such a long stretch all at once. Plus we want to take our time and do some sight seeing. :) Then we are staying two nights at our friends house and then leaving really, really early {as in 3 or 4 am} in the morning and driving straight back with no stops. Well except some potty breaks I do believe... The only thing that makes me a bit sad is that my husband can't come now because he finally got called back into work, after being laid off for about three months {the going back to work part is a good thing though}. My birthday falls on a day that I will be gone and I haven't celebrated a birthday with out my husband in about 15 years I believe...

:( Lucky for me my sister took time off work to come with me, she's awesome like that. The idea of going alone with the kids was a bit overwhelming in all honesty.

So wish me luck and keep us in your prayers for a safe trip and I'll tell you all about it when we get back. Oh and soon I can't wait to post all about the beginning of a new and exciting school year, the homeschooling way!

Do I seriously have a six year old?

My first born beautiful little baby boy has turned six today!You are an amazing little man now Banden, so loving and friendly. One of the best big brothers anyone could ask for. I remember gazing at you in the hospital the night after you were born, I couldn't sleep I was so filled to overflowing with love. A love I had never felt before, the love of a mother for her child. I cried, and laughed and dreamed of what you would become. Of everything that we would do together. You though are more wonderful then I could ever have dreamed up. You make me want to be a better person each and every day. Every year that passes I love you more and more and I don't even know how that is possible.

Happy birthday to one of the sweetest boys I know!

the gift of memories

A few weeks ago we go some family photos taken by Kristin Harris Photography. She was such sweet lady and I love how the photos turned out! We've never had family photos done before and I really didn't want studio photos, they always look so stiff to me. Kristin met us at a local park and she was so relaxed and fun that it was easy and comfortable to do a photo shoot with her. Normally we are a shy family and I was afraid she wouldn't be able to capture the "real" us. I was so excited when I received the disk and realized that indeed she did, and wonderfully. {I have permission to print the pictures, so I'm assuming posting is okay too, I hope.} Seventeen years and counting. And I'm still madly in love, with extra stress on the madly part. :)

I wasn't sure if I liked this one or not, but when my husband saw it he really liked it. He said, "it's my beautiful girls". So now I think of that every time I see this picture and it warms my heart.

This is one of my favorites. Sometimes I can hardly believe we have four beautiful little kids. We were together for so long before kids and then it seems like we blinked and there they all were. We are still amazed and often shake our head in wonder as our eyes met, often over the chaos of our children. If we do nothing else big with our lives, except raise these wonderful children, I will still feel truly blessed. I look forward to the day we are old together and are surrounded by our grown children, and their children. Ryder has told me many times that from the beginning he envisioned us old together sitting on a porch swing holding hands, and that's how he knew I was the one. When I think about our future I see that very thing as well.

Beautiful, this girl of mine.

This is another favorite of mine, just because of the reality of it. Not a single one of us is looking straight at the camera, we are all caught up in each other, love that.

I never feel like we are a big family, but looking at the pictures I realize that we are definitely not a small one either, so I'll go with some where in the middle. :)

I LOVE this one.

So sweet, all of them holding hands. Team Rivers!

Love Atty's smile in this one. Another great shot of the family as well.

A daddy and his boys.

... and a mommy and her girl... :)

A great shot of my littlest boy, isn't he so handsome and couldn't you just fall into those big blue eyes!

That smile just takes over his face and lights up his eyes! And those curls, and red hair... oh my!

The sweetness of this boy just shines though this picture. My oldest, wise little man.

Love the smiles on every ones face {except Lala, she was woken from a nap and didn't warm to picture taking readily} but frankly she's cute smiling or not.

Brothers.

Absolutely love.

Atticus brought his favorite birds as a distraction. He doesn't always do well in these sorts of situations, but he ended up surprising us all. At first I was wishing that he didn't have his birds in all the photos, but when I got the pictures I changed my mind. I love this photo, it shows his love of birds and his personality and it will be a favorite of mine for all time.

So there you go, amazing photos from an amazing photographer. And the whole thing was a gift from a wonderfully sweet daycare mom. An absolutely thoughtful gift, that I will treasure forever.

Four on a log

Some times I can't believe I have four happy, healthy, and adorable kids.I've been trying to up load these amazing photos we had taken of our family but they won't upload. The photographer sent the disk to me with a release form to print them so I thought I would also be able to put some on here, not sure why it's not working. I'll have to trouble shoot later. For now you get one silly picture of my kids down at the river, one of their favorite places to play. :)

Birthday party melt down, no not my child... me.

I had a total melt down on Saturday.

Let me rewind.

So Spike didn't get a birthday party in June, around his birthday, because Atty had his Seizure Free celebration and there were a million other things going on. I promised him one this month as it seemed really important to him this year. It seems he often feels skipped over and in reality he often is in some way or another. At least it feels that way to me, my husband thinks I'm a bit over sensitive on the topic. But he has been overshadowed many times by Atty and Atty's health issues, and I think that the fact that they're only four months apart makes it even more complicated. I could got further into the many different reasons I feel the way I do about this but this post isn't really about that. It was part of my melt down though, those feelings. By the day of the party I was feeling pretty frustrated because almost every single one of the friends he had invited couldn't come for one reason or another. I wasn't frustrated with them, but frustrated things were turning out that way. I really wanted the day to be extra special for him. He doesn't really have many friends, as most of the kids gravitate towards Bubu because he's so out going and friendly were Spike is shy and quiet and has a tendency to pester when he feels left out {which is often}. We were having a melon party, and had worked together to make the decorations and clean up before the party. My kids were very excited because we were going to have a watermelon eating contest. I continued to act upbeat even though it started to seem pointless as hardly any kids were going to come. I kept hanging on to the fact that surely my dearest friend would show up with her two girls. Even if it wasn't his choice in friends {just because they are girls and well he's very into boy things right now, plus the oldest is Bubu's dearest friend and the youngest is a baby}, it was better then no kids. Then she called to cancel. And I fell apart. It left a baby cousin and a baby I watch in my daycare, plus adult family members for guests. Which I was excited about, but wasn't much for Spikes birthday party, friend wise. My heart just broke thinking about how it must make him feel that not a single friend would be showing up to his party. He had diligently helped with the decorations and planning, chosen the guest list and talked non stop about this party for the last month. And not a single friend was coming. There wasn't a thing I could do about that and I felt hopelessly frustrated. I sobbed in my husbands arms {in private of course} because I had wanted so desperately for Spike to have his special day. We've made such a fuss about Atty lately with celebrations for this that and the other and I wanted Spike to feel some of that too. While I was in the middle of falling apart my dear friend called back an told me that she rearranged her schedule and was coming after all. She knows my feeling about Spike and she has seen how he sometimes gets skipped over and didn't want to leave us hanging. I love her dearly.
So I dried up my tears, pulled myself back together and continued on. I had a gentle talk with Spike about why most of his friends weren't coming and he took it in his normally reserved manner. I reassured him that he could still get together with those friends at a different time. I told him that there were still people who loved him dearly coming that wouldn't miss it for the world and that was what mattered most. He asked is we could still have the watermelon contest, which made me smile. I hugged my littlest boy close and breathed in his sweetness. In the end love is all that matters and I love him so much it hurts.

We had a fabulous party, which included some awesome snakes as presents {not real thank goodness!} he could not have been happier. Well yes he probably could have if one of them had been real, ha ha! We played games, blew bubbles and colored with chalk. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves entirely and it all worked out. As it usually does when I give up trying to control every little thing and focus on making the best of the situation.

And we most definitely had the watermelon eating contest. :)

My camera ended up dying on me though, of course. Seems to always happen at the worst times. I didn't get any pictures of him and his birthday cupcakes, but he was cute and glowing when we all sang happy birthday to him.

I wish I didn't have a guilt button with him as big as a mountain, but I do. You are probably thinking what in the world is this women's problem? I'll admit it seems as if I'm totally over reacting. But I just can't explain the feelings I have when it comes to Spike. To see one of your children struggle so much more then the others, and to have things never seem to end up even or fair drives me crazy. I feel like he hurts inside and it's not one big thing, it's a million little things that I can't change. I constantly feel like I do everything wrong with him, while I'm trying so hard to do it right. He is a hard one to understand, so bright beyond his years, so complicated. I don't worry so much about my other kids, but I constantly worry about him. Constantly. And I'm so sensitive to everything concerning him. I wish I understood better why I feel this way about him and I really wish I didn't feel like there is a reason why I need to worry so much about him. My husband says maybe it will end up that Bubu is the one we have to worry about, he has a way of changing my perspective like that. If only I could give up worrying in general, but it is what I do best...