At the end of the summer.

At the end of the summer, I would like to admit that these three kids are my favorite.

That they make me smile every day.

That they make me crazy some days.

That they melt my heart with their spontaneous moments of kindness and gentleness.

That I love watching them grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man.

That they drive my to my knees more than anything else in my life.

That they may just be teaching me more than I am teaching them.

That I am humbled to be their mom.

That I wonder if I am doing it right.

That in my weakness He is strong.

That I not only love them, but I really like them too.

That I never could have dreamed up three more different and yet more perfectly suited children for our family.

That I am proud of them.

That I wonder with anticipation what God's plans are for them.

That I hope they are best friends forever.

That I think they are beautiful.

That I think they are cool and fun.

That I think they are hilarious.

That I love them no matter what they do or say.

That time is going fast and I can't slow it down.

That I want to savor every moment.

At the end of the summer, I would like to say that I am grateful for these three precious gifts.

Happy August

Well, August rolled back around and here's what we've been up to so far...

Back to school!

Reading their "first day of school" notes from the teacher ;)

Owen was pumped about starting back to school!

AK eating her first day of school treat...

AK helping Owen practice his colors...

Claire practicing violin...

And reading!

Since school started back, my kitchen is constantly filled with art projects...

And science projects! This was one where we were comparing different types of preservatives to "mummify" apple slices. We are studying human anatomy this year so this experiment stemmed from historical understanding and study of anatomy, all the way back to the Egyptians and their mummies!

Of course we also have weightlifting as an elective.

And bike riding.

For a fun Saturday break, we had the uncles and aunts and cousins here for a little birthday celebration for Justice. Owen and Kaylee enjoyed filling up the kiddie pool. (Before their moms remembered to put their swimsuits on, of course.)

Lots of waterslide fun...

And hanging out fun.

 The big kids all crowded on the four wheeler...

...while Kaylee enjoyed almost an entire watermelon by herself.

Also, Jen and I wore the exact same outfit without any kind of planning. We must be sisters.

After the fun was over, we had even more fun by making a candy cell to learn about all the parts of human cells.

It looked very appetizing...

And tasted even better than it looked.