the latest.. and greatest.. and craziest... and laziest

At least once a week I hear the phrase, "It's only a season."

I hear it from friends, I hear it from family members,

I even hear it from strangers in the grocery store.

I had originally thought the phrase was used bearing in mind the noun usage, "a period of time marked by certain conditions" (ex: the Christmas season, or in my case, the your-house-will-never-stay-clean season, or you-will-never-sleep-through-the-night season)... but I've changed my mind and realized it's more properly used as the verb, "to mature, ripen, or condition by exposure to suitable conditions or treatment." (ex: to season with salt and pepper, or in my case, to season with whining, crying and screaming). Hopefully when this season is in the past, I will have emerged a wonderfully seasoned mother and wife

In any case, we are enjoying our summer season sprinkled with all sorts of adventures, challenges and discoveries. Here are few from the past few weeks:

It has been quite a summer for our sweet Elijah. We were in the ER 3 times in the past 2 months: once for a severe allergic reaction, once for pneumonia and once for having his arm out of socket (yes, it was me... I pulled him out of the way of a car and injured my son... major tears followed from both parties). He is doing fairly good right now, although currently we are nursing another allergic reaction that appeared after his nap (see sad picture below). This kid is such a trooper and his mother is learning a lot about trust through it all.

 Thanks to my moms on both sides, I had a rare day with just my older kids. You would have thought it was Christmas in July for me! I couldn't believe how much fun I had talking and laughing with Isaac and Zoey! We did things we never get to do with the babies, which made me keep a cheesy smile on my face all day long.... it was the most fun day I've had in a really long time.

 As of today, Isaac is officially a registered 1st grader in our new city. He gets to take the bus to and from school every morning and is very excited about meeting new friends. The kids on our block already told him how much they love the school! We headed out on the town today to pick up all his school supplies (one of our favorite days of the year). Isaac's theme was definitely STAR WARS and Zoey stuck to LaLaLoopsy for all her 4-yr-old Preschool needs. They have such cute stuff out there!

Jacob has also been hitting some more milestones. He currently says "mama" and "baba" and loves to laugh hysterically. He belly crawls all over the house and can even get up one stair.  He goes CrAzY in the pool and hates to get out and can even maneuver himself around by kicking his legs in the pool. This baby is growing fast and sometimes I find myself wanting to wake him up just to rock him back to sleep to slow down time.

All in all we are having a wonderful summer and God is so faithful to walk this journey with us. We are surrounded by incredible people of faith and purpose who are constantly bearing arms with us. We are blessed beyond measure.