Hello friends! These first few pictures made me realize that waiting to post about June when it will shortly be November (in 10 minutes) might not be a good idea.
With Micah being homeschooled for the time being, his successful (citizenship and art-award winning) Spotswood career seems like a long-lost friend.
With a little snow on the ground, shirtless watermelon eating and
swim team seem like distant memories. Swim team was such a great thing for Micah and Paul this summer! They were both allowed to be on the team, since they can swim 25 meters.
The biggest reason these pictures seem ancient is that our boy who got to enjoy live theater (The Diary of a Worm) doesn't look anything like this photo anymore!
Somethings have remained since June; Paul still loves motorcycles, wants to ride one when he grows up, and thinks our friend Mike is exciting.
On Sam's 2nd birthday, he got to go with his two best friends (Micah and Paul) to a butterfly exhibit at a fun farm
including a carousel,
a 60 foot slide (which the birthday boy also loved),
and, of course butterflies galore! Have I ever mentioned that Paul and his insect friends have an uncanny mutual affection?
We got out Paul's old scoot bike, which was new to Samuel and he was obviously pleased,
mostly because he could seem like one of the big boys.
Samuel's love for building (hence Duplos as his birthday gift) has sky-rocketed -- or shall I say "sky-scrapered"?
It seems like it has already been too long since we have gotten to see our far-away friends the Nolls and Charlie has grown up a lot since this picture.
Samuel's brothers chose to throw him a "clapping" birthday party, which actually ended up working out beautifully with many hands. Samuel was a sweet birthday party host for his friends.
We don't even have this swing set anymore! I guess enough friends called it a "tetanus shot waiting to happen."
I hope Sam at least remembers his friends Gloria and Charlie.
Another day in June, we said "goodbye" to our friends the Martins.
We got to have great fun with our friends Joshua, Emily, Miriam and Silas at Creationfest!
We had fun with these incredible friends at the concerts hearing great bands like Tenth Avenue North, Newsboys, Chris Tomlin, Skillet, and Third Day.
There were more than 70,000 people there!
Do you see why I titled this post "friends?"
We even got to worship late into each evening with our accommodating children. Our incredible friends said that Anthony knew nearly every word to every song sung on the main stage. (Thanks to his ability to listen to http://www.air1.com/ while working.)
We had a great hike with our incredible friends, including many comments about the dads' toughness, pushing strollers up the mountain.
We had an entire city of people camping with us.
We also had great times with our incredible friends at the campsite:
goofing off with our incredible friends,
realizing that triple size marshmallows are too big for s'mores,
and eating them anyway,
while enjoying s'more time with my best friend!
While our incredible friend worked on the fire, Anthony and the boys got "cleaned up" for Nancy's wedding.
Don't they clean up "real-nice?"
Paul can barely contain his excitement about the Lego couple on top of the wedding cake!
We were so happy to get to celebrate Nancy and Doug's marriage with our Pennsylvania friends.
Happy Fourth of July!
Grandma and Grandpa know how to host great cook-outs!
I'm so thankful that Doug and Anthony became friends many years ago.
My friend Susie and I took our oldests to see Cinderella.
The shoemaker was the most popular character for these boys. The funniest part of the show for me was when this character was spreading glitter around the stage for the entrance of the fairy godmother and sweet Paul got choked up, whispering to me "Oh no, now there will be more work for Cinderella to do!"
Our littlest ones had moments of quality time together to build a friendship, too.
I'll bet that Daria doesn't have as many rolls now, since so much time has passed since we have seen our adorable friend. Right, Susie?
Can all six friends clamor onto Susie's lap at once?
These two chemists can figure it out. Every time we get together with these friends, I am struck by how each member of their family brings out the best in their Tongen friend. For example, Lucas and Micah can play together for days without needing a break or even a conflict mediator!
The fantastic conclusion of our friendship-filled June and July was Pandamania Vacation Bible School at our church.
While I got to teach the Bible lesson to elementary school kids, Samuel was sick, so he rode on my back for the entire week. Regardless, the boys and I had an amazing time with friends learning that God loves us no matter what.
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