Happy birthday clara anne! she's here!

A lot of firsts yesterday despite being our 5th baby! My water broke at home, she was very early, very tiny and a cute little peanut with dark hair. We are so thankful for our fast acting friends who took kids ASAP. Praising God for a healthy baby. I'm having a slower recovery but relaxed.

Happy Birthday Sam (early)!

It is hard when your birthday is on the baby's due date.  So we made up for it by having a birthday pool party very spontaneously for Sammy.  My mom is still with my grandma in Cape Cod after my grandpa's passing so we just kept it simple and had it at my dad's pool.  Sam didn't care at ALL how simple it was and just loved every second.  He said, "I loved the candles the most."

June Summer Fun...

Despite the heat, the storms, and pregnancy, the kids and I have stayed busy with a full calendar!  Here are some highlights.

Free Smoothie Day before the pool!

 Hula Day at the Library... although she didn't hula too much 

 Nature program at the Nature Center... they didn't feed the animals all week so they were starving to eat when the kids came in.  This was really fun because we saw snakes eat mice and turtles eat worms.  The kids could get really close up to the animals.  

 Neighborhood party with face painting... 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Vol 31

See a theme...

A new turquoise couch.

New turquoise bowls from my sister in law.

Antique toy gun for Sam.

New baby??

Birthday at the Hampton Inn

Nate's parents took the older three for a week to Michigan.  I am so thankful for them and this week so far!  I know the kids are having a fun time.  Ellen and I are reading a lot of books, taking naps, little errands, and Nate and I are eating really simple dinners.  Such a restful week so far for the both of us.  We did have a gross sewer backup yesterday in our outside basement drain but we were able to get Roto-Rooter over ASAP to clear up the mess.  I am thankful that it wasn't as big of a problem as we anticipated.

We dropped the kids off in between here and there and stayed overnight in a hotel.  It was a really fun getaway since we aren't traveling this summer at all.  My mother in law had a birthday party for me in the hotel room and gave some beautiful accessories for the house like a tablecloth and some bowls.  My sister in law got me a TURQUOISE! bubble vase.  Wonderful gifts, I am so blessed!!

Baylor Party!!

One of our favorite babysitters from school is graduating and going to Baylor.  They had a really fun graduation party for her that we went to...  I didn't get any photos of Ashley, I can't believe it, but I got some great photos of the food.  It was adorable - green and yellow Jell-O for Baylor - Go Bears!

 We just love this family.  We used to carpool with them (they have three teenagers) but when we moved, we didn't carpool anymore.  Ashley would come down to Grace and Rita's class for lunch duty and always say hi.  My girls think that they are the best - as you can see!

Grandpa Palmer

My grandpa passed away this morning very early on Cape Cod - his home.

I have many wonderful memories of him that we have been talking about all morning.

I will miss him so much.

 My grandma and him have been married 65 years!

Hot FOURTH!

We have a great fourth of July parade in our city.  Here are some highlights.

The Redskins Marching Band...

 The king and queen of the retirement home...

 Macy's Day parade caterpillar...

 Here is a photo of the kids watching the parade. 

Pool Party!

The day before my birthday, my brother and his family came over to my parents pool and we had a little party.  I didn't get photos of the kids in the pool but we had a really nice time eating together afterwards at the cookout.  The kids love their cousins.  

Storm Recovery

Last Friday night, Nate and I were watching the Olympic Trials and saw a storm warning come across the screen.  It didn't mention our county so we didn't think much and headed to bed around 10 PM.  A little while later, we heard a lot of wind and looked out the window.  There was a bad storm coming and tons of lightening.  The power flickered a lot and then went out.

We gathered the sleeping kids and went to the basement floor on sleeping bags until about midnight.  Our land line and cell phones, internet, and electricity all went out.  Other than talk radio, we had no way to know what was going on outside.  It was a fun adventure, we have never had to do anything like that!

We put the kids to bed and then we went to bed.  I kept seeing red sirens in our cul-de-sac and heard our neighbors outside yelling.  We couldn't figure out what was going on but stayed put.  We later saw that a house on our street with four children had a tree uprooted and fall on the roof.  It literally sliced the house in half - everyone was safe - and when we went to look at the house the next day, I kept telling the kids that God really protected that family.

We spent the entire weekend without power, phones and it was HOT.  Around 105 degrees.  It was a nice time for us just to be together talking with neighbors, being without any TV or plans but wow, I was HOT.  Here are some of our memories.

 The baby pool and bathing suits were WONDERFUL.

Nate helping our neighbor cut down a limb.

 My parents were without electricity a lot longer than us, about 2 1/2 days.  So they had to empty the meat in their freezer and we had a big barbecue.  

Our church is still without power.  

When that AC came back on, we were one happy family!