fantastic gymnastics

we've had a big week around here.....and its only wednesday!  gesh!

yesterday was the first day of school AND Peach's first day of gymnastics

 i don't know what i was thinking, signing her up for the Tuesday night class with Tuesday being J's and my first day back at work....

clearly I WASN'T thinking

however, we survived.

no, better than that.

i was a little nervous about signing her up for something...anything

the last thing we want is to push, overcommit or rush our littles away from childhood and into "organized activities"

however, the 2012 London Olympics put this girl's passion for gymnastics into FULL swing

she loves to pretend she is Gabby Douglas, winning the gold medal for team USA

and after grandma and grandpa bought her the Dora's Fantastic Gymnastics DVD, well....that pretty much sealed the deal

when we first got to class, i went to walk her in and she squeezed my hand, asking me to go with her.  i froze, thinking, 

"here it comes - clinging to my leg, crying, screaming..."

but when i whispered that i'd be right in the other room, she bravely let go and joined the other girls on the mats

i peeked in on her from time to time and my heart soared as i watched her jump on the trampoline, swing from a rope, walk the balance beam and hang from the bars

i had Tulip with me in the lobby, so I only got this one shot of Peach parading around the gym with her group.

when we left, she was all a dither in the back seat telling me every detail of her hour spent at gymnastics.

upon arriving home, we had to call BOTH sets of grandparents

and when she went to bed, she said, "Momma, my heart is glad that I get to go to gymnastics every day."

tricky chick doesn't quite get the "once a week" concept ;)

for all the times I question my decisions as a parent, this time, I think its safe to say that we did the right thing

and when I went to bed, my heart was glad, too :)

august extras

Thank you, August, for finally giving us the delicious summer weather we'd been waiting for

We had a blast!

Here are some of the highlights:

The Polly Love continues...they headed to the "movies" one day

and, of course, each got their own "popcorn" :)

Tulip is loving the little dolls as well

We have to take off the little shoes and put them up high when she's around, but she's happiest to be playing right along side big sister

while I excel at dressing dollies and playing pretend, J is the king of adventure around here

one day, he had the brilliant idea of taking the roof off our slide and making a water park on the deck

the girls could not get enough of sliding down into the pool

so grateful for that balance we've achieved as parents

i know we don't get it right every time, but i'm proud of the team we're becoming

anywhoo - back to August...where was I?
oh yes.....
time in the pool.
daddy was on pool duty the day i came home to find this:

;)

we've also had fun this month playing with J's childhood farm set

Peach loves to be the cowboys

while Tulip is good at fetching grass and rocks to feed the animals

don't you love the cage?  hand-drawn by momma :)

good-bye, summer.
hello, sweet september :)

last night of summer

here i sit on the last night of summer and i have to admit it:

i feel more than a little spoiled.

these days at home were so sweet

i know i said that last summer

and, true....last summer was so wonderful

but these past 10 weeks have been a different kind of lovely

is it possible that every day it keeps getting better?

in some ways harder.....but always, somehow, better?

that each day the sky is a deeper shade of blue?

with Tulip being mobile this summer, we were able to experience more together

and i cannot deny that this family of four thing is shaping up to be quite the picnic ;)

when people ask us what we did with our summer weeks, we tell them that there was no one big vacation or trip to mark our time together...just lots of little, intentional things that wove our bond tighter

like riding horses

and eating picking strawberries :)

and oodles of parks

learning

and laughing...

embarking on new adventures

but always returning to the comforts of home

and while we had our share of frustrations, eye rolls, tears and waking up on the wrong side of the bed, (or crib in some cases!) we thoroughly enjoyed these weeks of togetherness

tomorrow momma and daddy are back to our classrooms.

and i think that even though we were super-spoiled with an awesome summer, we're all ready to get back to the routine that school provides.

i'm so grateful for this profession that provides J and I an avenue for pursuing our passions, WHILE giving us heaps and heaps of time with our girls.

at the end of the day, we know that this is ALL by grace...

and what more can we do at the end of a beautiful summer, as the crickets chirp softly outside, but bow our heads low and thank Him once again for filling our cups to overflowing?

Amen.

number 19: pretend camp

we've got one week left of summer

and there are a few things left on our bucket list

the other night we decided to tackle #19...set up the tent on the deck and pretend camp

J and I are not much for campers ourselves

not that we wouldn't enjoy it...i guess we've just never really tried

but we know lots of friends who love it and we're all about providing experiences for our littles, so we thought we should give it a whirl.....sort of

with us not being too familiar with the ins and outs of camping, we didn't want to go hog wild right off the bat and find ourselves over-zealous and under-prepared

so, we started close to home

real close

like, 3 feet from the door to our house ;)

J set up the tent and air mattress and after the girls were fed and bathed, we "ventured" out to the deck

our silly little pickles were crazy excited about this little 2-person tent that took up most of our small deck

 we started with stories

and when that lost its appeal, Tulip was quick to ask for the "si-ya" (slide), which J had put on the roof of the garage since there was no space for it on the deck

but how can you say "no" to those blue eyes?

so, J heaved it back over the railing and squeezed it in

it was worth the effort

these little munchkins thought it was heaps of fun to slide from the outside of the tent to the inside....simple joys, i guess

when Tulip's bed time drew near, we snuggled her in to the comfort of her crib and then stole back outside for more stories by flashlight

we were all having so much fun, no one wanted to go to sleep

but, finally, we did quiet down and listen to the song of the crickets and the cars passing by

it wasn't too long before Peach had drifted off and i scampered back inside for more blankets and another pair of socks

i only made it until midnight before heading to the comfort of my own bed....i know, i know:  party pooper!

but Peach and J slept peacefully until the 7:30 wake-up call of the birds

check out that face...she can't articulate it, but I know that smile is the one that says: 

"thank you for doing this glamour-less job of making memories with me"