Preston "reading" like the big kids...

Preston has enjoyed walking around since he was 6 months old. I guess he was always so busy walking aroung that he didn't really think to sit down much.

He has recently discovered how easy it is to climb up on chairs and couches. I guess it had to happen sometime, despite my worry that he could fall off the side or the back.

Thank goodness he has actually been quite careful about it.

He finds a book and climbs up and then looks at it. I guess he figured he should be like Jacob, WesLee and Faith who he saw reading books all summer long for the summer reading program. He always climbs up to sit and look at a book now. Its very cute!

Just trying these on for size...

MAYBE NOT...



Oh, hi Mom, I think I'll just cling to your legs instead~

First taste ever of a lollipop!

We went to a Dr appointment, and they offered the kids suckers before we left. I was so fortunate to have my camera with me in the car to catch the reactions Preston made when he tasted his first sucker ever:

He just put it in like it was a toy,
not knowing it was anything special..



But then he realized it WAS something special--











WesLee is pretty smart. As we were driving away and they were all sucking on their lollipops, he said "Mom I think I know why they give us suckers. They think if they can get people addicted to sugar there will be more sick people, and they will make more money."

I'd never thought of it that way!

Did you ever want to know how to catch a dragonfly?

I guess you'll have to ask Wes to try to teach you.
He hasn't succeeded in teaching me how he does this yet.



I guess he takes after his Dad who can catch flies in mid-air like Mr. Miyagi. (Seriously, not kidding)

First Day of School!

Today the boys went back to school, and Faith had her very first day of Kindergarten! She is so happy to join her brothers. I couldn't stop myself from tearing up after she walked into the school. They have all grown so fast. My kids have grown faster than I ever imagined they would.

Here (!) are my 2nd and 3rd graders:



And now, my Kindergartener...



She was so excited, she couldn't stop dancing around when I was snapping her picture!



With barely a wave, off she went to greet Mrs Quimby...



I know she's going to love it and she's going to do SO great!


When we took Faith to Kindergarten registration a few months ago, they gave her a sunflower seed with a poem directing her to "plant this seed and watch it grow" and "when it's as tall as you, off to Kindergarten you will go!"




It grew very fast and she kept asking anxiously about it... when it was almost as tall as her, she asked if she would go to Kindergarten soon. I said yes, soon.




Not much later it was taller than her, so she figured Kindergarten might start the next day. Well she had to wait longer than she wanted, because it grew tall VERY fast. I told her it was because she took such good care of it! (which she did!)




So now a couple weeks after it bloomed she finally got to go off to Kindergarten. Boy was she happy!

SCRAPED KNEES

Preston scraped his knee for the first time a couple days ago.

It didn't even really bleed but I had such strong feelings when I saw it...

a sort of reminder that I can't always control whether bad things happen to my children. I wish it was in my ability to prevent them from ever getting hurt, but I know it is an essential part of life for them to experience pain and sadness and that they may have major trials in their lives at times.

And then came the peaceful reminder that healing is possible... that even if we aren't always able to heal from physical ailments, God will always heal our hearts and spirits, if we stay close to Him.

Summer FUN~

The last day of swimming lessons:



Jacob and WesLee KNOW HOW TO SWIM. (All over, even in the deep end). Faith can too, she just doesn't know it yet. The way I see it, if she can swim with her feet off the ground in the shallow end she can do it in the deep end too, she just isn't comfortable yet. They all did an awesome job!


Preston got a little time of his own in the baby pool:







And everyone loved the sprinkler hung over the swingset:



And of course, mud is always nice option too...