eight months

a week ago julia turned eight months old.
guess it's time to start planning her first birthday party...

 love this one...

last week

was a busy one, but packed with fun!
ben attended vacation bible school...

his favorite thing was snack time - that's ben!
each day they were suppose to wear a specific color,
but i didn't realize this until tuesday morning when i dropped ben off and he was wearing blue on red day.
oh well, we got it right wed, thurs and friday.
and then it was pretty funny when he told me he needed to wear yellow to their program friday evening -
i hadn't heard this from anyone else,
but i found a yellow shirt for him to wear.
however, i was not surprised when we arrived and there were kids in many different colors of clothing!  :)
i was a bit concerned at the beginning of the week because he kept telling me he was nervous and didn't like me leaving him.
but by friday he said "mom, i had fun today!".
that made me super happy.

we also had friends over on wednesday for lunch and playtime while they were in town to get their pictures taken.
it was a lot of fun!

did i mention our dishwasher decided to retire?
yep, that means it's all on us now.
which is really okay - jake and i didn't have a dishwasher for a long time, so i've just gotten spoiled.
much rather have the dishwasher gone than my washing machine!  :)
it retired when ben was a little guy and sick with the stomach flu - talk about bad timing!
we've decided we have enough projects going on and we'll wait and shop around before replacing it.
and i entered the diy network ugly kitchen contest and feel like i have a good chance of winning the makeover - have you seen our kitchen???
it's functional, but not efficient or attractive.
but considering i don't remember winning anything - ever.
i doubt it will happen, but a girl can dream.

i am also excited that my dad will be returning back to kansas from three years of commuting out-of-state.
first he was on the west coast and then on the east coast.
either way - we've missed having him close by
safe travels dad!

and i'm sure you probably saw my previous post,
but my brother turned 30 this weekend!
that's a big deal in my book.
happy birthday again paul!

and while i was searching for a photo of paul,
i found these...

made me smile. 
i remember that trip to kansas city,
and that old camera.
who knew i would be taking pictures like crazy and blogging back then???

we've also had a good weekend and pretty productive.
jake finished some projects (my dishwasher might be broken, but the garage door works again!)
around the house and we enjoyed some good family time.
it was nice but HOT!

this week should be a bit quieter.
thank goodness - we've been going pretty fast around here lately.
hopefully we can spend some more time outside with the pool,
and a little time working on tidying up this house.
oh, and if i was close to one - i'd be eating at chick-fil-a on august 1!

happy 30th birthday little brother

today is my little brother's birthday -
his 30th!

 me and paul - 1987 vacation in denver, co

we fought all the time when we were kids, but have grown super close as we've gotten older,
and i am so thankful for our friendship.
he may not know it, but i think a lot of him.
even as a little kid he was always true to himself and never one to follow the crowd.
he wasn't worried about being popular or having the most friends,
and honestly as a big sister i can remember being concerned about the way he was styling his hair
or what he was wearing. 
(and obviously i was not as cool as i thought!)
but you know, he was the one who had it right.
he's worked super hard to become the man he is today,
and i am one proud sister.
i may still be a bit bossy or opinionated at times,
but that's just because i'm older and i know best.  ;)

happy birthday paul!
we're sending you lots of love from kansas

waiting for fall

fall has got to be my favorite season,
and this year i am ready for it NOW.
until then i guess we'll keep going outside later in the day,
listen to the a/c run, run, run,
and continue giving ben a bath almost every night because he is covered in dust!

i took these pictures wednesday evening before we were blessed with thunderstorms.
thank goodness we got some rain!
it was wonderful to go to sleep listening to the drip-dropping and thunder rumbling last night -
but not tonight.

look who managed to take the swing when someone wasn't looking!
and look at that hair!  :)
so glad tomorrow is friday!
it's been a busy week.

ben's vacation

we are so happy to have ben back home,

but very happy he had a great vacation with grandma and grandpa.
he was only gone for one week,
but he seems like he's done some serious growing - in many ways.

 we are so proud to be your parents benjamin!

and a big thanks to grandma and grandpa for the wonderful time you spent with him -
and these great pictures!

one short

this week there's just been three of us around the house...

 it's quiet.  really quiet.

and though i often find myself just wanting five seconds of silence to think straight on most days,
i am missing my favorite three year old.
he's having a BLAST with grandma and grandpa,
and we are so glad that he is having a wonderful time and making great memories...
but i know jake and i (and julia too!) are looking forward to seeing ben on saturday.

sending lots of love to you ben - and grandma and grandpa too!

baby food

i kind of forgot to blog about this until i was scrolling through photos...
these pictures melt my heart.
he loves being a big brother (most of the time).
and she thinks he is just WONDERFUL (all of the time).

it was totally random one evening when we were just about done with dinner,
and ben grabbed her spoon and started to feed her.
i was trying to get the dishes cleared from the table,
and I believe jake was refilling a drink for ben.
once we realized how much she loved him feeding her,
and how proud ben was to help take care of her,
we thought "why didn't we try this sooner!"

and then ben took a few shots...

so glad i grabbed the camera!

cousin abel

the last two weeks we spent visiting with this "little" guy, my sister-in-law and brother.
they live in georgia, so we don't get to see them too often.
it was lots of fun!

abel is just a month younger than julia, and they both seemed to enjoy having another baby to look at, pull on, and share chew on toys with while they played.
ben enjoyed some great time with aunt lindsey and some serious "wrestle" time with uncle paul.

jake and i were able to spend some time with them after the kiddos were all asleep.
adult conversation + an adult beverage + a nice summer evening = relaxing & refreshing

we were sad to see them go home... but at some point the vacation has to end, right?
i did take the kids by to say goodbye once more yesterday morning, and click a few last pictures.

can't wait to see you guys again!  

seven months

julia is actually getting closer to being eight months old,
but i did take these more than a week ago - so i am still calling these her seven month pictures.

it was a tough photo shoot.
we started outside first...

her eyes got red and watery - allergies? heat?
back in we went...
then it was rolling -

chewing on her headband -

rolling and chewing -

and thinking it's funny the whole time!