Kenny masters the ripstick!

We're loving summer already! It's so nice to not have a schedule to stick to. Sleeping in and reading books and playing - we love it. Our big family news is that Kenny is now the 4th family member to learn to ride the ripstick! We just have to teach Daron then we'll all 5 be able to do it together...

Stephen and Kassie are SO supportive and helpful - they have been cheering him on for months as Kenny's been trying to get this.

Children of the corn.

(We've watched this field go from weeds, to being tilled, to being planted, to growing these corn stalks - amazing!) You can see from Stephen's expression it was a bit hot today while riding bikes...

Playing with our good friends Sariah and Benjamin ~

 

This trampoline sits right under a HUGE cherry tree... our friends invited us to use it anytime -- jump on the tramp and eat the cherries.  I love nice people.

Tonight we watched 'Father of the Bride.' Wow - that movie sure gives you much to think about, particularly after becoming a parent. I remember just laughing at the funny jokes before I had kids - like my kids did tonight. But I was telling them about how they won't understand Steve Martin's emotions until they grow up and have kids that grow up and leave. It's that feeling that comes in the moments when we slow down and let ourselves see how quickly life is passing us by. These precious years when the kids are so small, and running and jumping and being silly. As my mom always used to say, when we're here right in the middle of the 'growing up' craziness, it seems like it will just keep going on and on - school projects, busy activities, etc. But then just like that, it'll be over and they'll be grown up and we'll long for all these days back again. I know I'll enjoy them as teenagers and grownups too - I like them so much already. But I find myself already missing them being littler.  See, here's Kenny drawing (with the markers Aunt Jenny gave us) - we've been practicing reading and writing our letters. I remember doing this with Kas and Stephen, and now we're doing it with our last baby. That Fiddler on the Roof song "Sunrise Sunset" - so true. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers - blossoming even as we gaze. When did she get to be a beauty - when did he grow to be so tall?  Growth and change is good, but sometimes I have to take a moment and just be sad that I can't freeze time.