Tough times and some pictures.

Our family has been through a deep trial since I posted last and I was just not finding the words to write. My dear sister-in-law, Katie, (Jacob's sister) and her husband lost their first baby boy. She was 21 weeks along and had had a normal, perfect pregnancy. It was so unexpected, but to see the grace of God in their lives has been incredible. He has given so much strength and joy to them as they walk through this valley. Please keep them in your prayers.

I feel like I'm finally starting to get back in the groove of Jacob's ridiculously insane school year schedule. It's been hard going back to "single-parenting" much of the time. Thankfully this week has been a thousand times better than the last month was.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks:

Ava's first guitar lesson with Uncle Judah. 

Fun at the park! We were the only people there on a beautiful morning.

Ava loves books just like her siblings.

The boys just playing. 

Lily in a new dress from our cousin.

Ummm, yes...we love books.

Reading with Aunt Audrey.

Family time at Grammie's when Uncle Joseph and Aunt Audrey came for a visit.

Aunt Katie teaching Lily how to cross stitch.

9 months

Our sweet little Ava is 9 months old! How is that even possible?! She is such a JOY in our home. 

She was scooting for a long time and now she is crawling and pulling up. 

She is exploring all over the house and getting into whatever she can find.

She sleeps super well at night and takes 2 naps each day.

She takes 4 bottles each day and eats three meals a day. She's not a huge fan of food, but she's working on it. Ha.

She has 4 teeth and 2 more coming in.

She loves to be in the middle of whatever we are doing.

She has the biggest smile and sweetest belly laugh.

She is pretty easygoing and adapts to whatever we are doing.

We are so thankful for our precious girl!

P.S. Thank you, Shannon, for the adorable outfit! It's my favorite for her to wear!

While Daddy was gone...again

Last weekend Jacob traveled to a conference at the Creation Museum. It was a family conference...and yes, he went without his family. Ha! The idea of taking 4 small children on a 6.5 hour trip for just two nights was not my idea of fun. Not to mention the money we would've had to spend on gas and hotel (Jacob rode with his parents and shared a hotel room with them). So anyway...it turned out to be the best decision for us for many reasons. We did some fun things to pass the time while Jacob was gone. 

It was the last weekend of a Kiddie Carnival and I'd been wanting to take the kids all summer. So I braved it and took them by myself. The kids did so well and we had a great time! They all liked the cars and the train ride.

We got a bag of cotton candy. Lily and Levi loved it, but Asher wasn't too much of a fan.

We stood in a long line for the ferris wheel and the whole time all three kids said they wanted to do it. When we got up to the gate, I asked Asher if he was going to do it and he said, "nope!" and handed his ticket back to me. Ha! I was really proud of Levi especially - last year, he hardly rode any rides because he was scared. This year, he rode everything! 

They all enjoyed the swings.

Asher climbed into these rockets and climbed right back out and said he wasn't riding. Maybe next year. :)

Miss Ava was a sweetie all evening! We were there for 2.5 hours and she did great the whole time! I was so very thankful!

Asher is obsessed with Jacob's motorized bike. He's not allowed to touch it (because he's knocked it over several times and messed up the gas tank), but one morning he was awfully quiet in the room with the bike and when I checked on him, he said, "mama, I'm just looking at Daddy's bike." Had to take a picture of his little hands behind his back. :) 

We tried out a different splash park one day. It was SO nice! We were the only people there for a long time. There is a really nice playground beside the splash park so we took a picnic and ate and played. There is also a long walking trail that was fun to explore. We will definitely be going back to that park again!

Sweet little girly.

There were only two riding toys, so Lily and Levi "made do" while Asher was on the other one. :)

I'm thankful for sweet times with my babes!

Our weekend.

On Thursday evening we hosted a get together with friends. It was a really fun evening! Everyone brought a finger food and we ate, talked, played corn-hole, and played at the park near our house. No other little kids ended up coming, but my kids had fun playing with the teenagers. I'm so thankful for these "older" kids who don't think it's childish to play with the younger ones. I'm also thankful for the good examples they are to my kids - my kids look up to them so much!

Beautiful sunset. 

On Friday we met Jacob at the park for a picnic lunch. A few minutes after we started eating, he remembered he had a meeting 30 minutes later...in a city 30 minutes away. We had waited to go to that specific park until Jacob could go with us, because it's so easy for {3} little ones to get lost in all the cubby holes. Lily was such a good help though - she stayed with the boys and if one of them got "lost" she would "find" them and make sure they were altogether. 

All the kids had a great time swinging! I pushed them for about 20 minutes - quite a workout! :) Lily almost has "pumping" figured out, but her legs still get tired. 

My great uncle passed away last week. He was the last remaining brother of my Granddaddy. The viewing was Friday evening - I went with some of my family and Jacob stayed home with the kids. Later in the evening, Luke and Hannah played with the kids so Jacob and I could go to a sacred concert that some of his students were playing in. It was so fun to sit together at a concert - it's been literally years since we've done that since Jacob is normally playing or conducting! :)

I love these marigolds in our garden. They are so vibrant. 

On Saturday, Jacob's mom kept the three youngest kiddos while Jacob, Lily, and I went to my uncle's funeral. It was good to visit with family that we don't normally get to see.

Saturday evening we played in the backyard and just had the best time. Our summer is nearly gone and soon Jacob will be back to teaching full time again. I'm doing my best to treasure up the fun times spent as a family before things get super busy again. 

After we got the kids to bed, Jacob and I sat outside in the dark and had a coffee date - this has been my "dream date" all summer long and it finally happened {actually, I had hoped that this date would happen while the sun was setting, but it always seems to take longer to get the kids settled than we think and it ended up being pitch black before we made it outside. HA}! :) 

While Daddy was gone...

Jacob and his dad had the amazing opportunity to go to Northern Ireland for 11 days - they got back a couple Tuesday's ago (haha, this post has been in the works for awhile as usual). Although we missed them tons, we had lots of fun here too. :)

Friday: Grammie drove them to the airport in Nashville. About 30 minutes after they left, Lily got a small tack stuck in the bottom of her foot. Thankfully I was able to get it out and "doctor" her foot with essential oils so we avoided an ER visit. Within 10 minutes she was running around and didn't mention it anymore. So thankful! Yaya and Papaw met us in the evening and went with us to Aldi and Walmart.

Saturday: We played and painted. Lily got stung on her chin by a red wasp. :( We got some oils on it quickly and there was no pain (or swelling) after a couple minutes and then she was back outside playing. I was almost scared to get out of bed the next day after Lily getting hurt the first two days Jacob was gone. Thankfully we didn't have anymore crazy accidents!

Sunday: The day actually went very smoothly. I had lots of help at church - Grammie kept Ava during the service, Uncle Judah carried Ava (and her carseat) to the van, Hannah helped buckling the kids, etc. Lily commented, "Everyone sure is helpful today!" lol

Monday: We met some extended family at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was a super hot day so we spent lots of time doing puzzles.

Tuesday: Papaw came over and played with the kids, cleaned up junk in our back yard, killed a wasp nest in our garbage can, read books, and ate lunch with us. So fun! We ran some errands in the afternoon.

Wednesday: My mom and my youngest brother watched three kiddos while I took Levi to get new lenses in his glasses. It was a pretty afternoon, so we spent lots of time outside playing.

Thursday: Everyone napped (typically Lily and Levi just rest/read) then we had supper with friends and family. It was so fun!

Friday: Levi and Asher were having some issues being kind to one another, so we had some "holding hands time outs" which seemed to help. Then we went to play at the park and took a nature walk. Friday night we had a sleepover at Grammie's. 

Saturday: My view when I woke up. Asher had some trouble sleeping so he ended up in bed with me and Ava. :) Mom came in the afternoon while the kids were napping so I could run get a few groceries. In the evening, we went for a long walk. 

Sunday: Church, dinner at church, home for naps, back to church, supper with my family...a fun, full day!

Monday: We spent time cleaning, ran some errands, made welcome home signs to hold at the airport,  Aunt Elizabeth came to play, and we went to the park with my sister and her family in the evening. 

Tuesday: DADDY'S HOME!!!!!!!! We went to the library in the morning and ran a couple other errands, then we followed Grammie to Nashville to pick up Jacob and Grandpa. Unfortunately, there was a wreck and we got stuck in tons of traffic. We finally made it to the airport after the plane landed and just picked them up outside the baggage claim area. It was disappointing not to not get there in time to welcome them off the plane, but we were just thrilled to have them home! 

We ate supper in Franklin, TN at Chipotle {yum!} and took the kids to the mall play area to burn off a little energy before the drive home.