Sweet Summer Days

Can you feel it? The days are getting shorter. The nights are getting cooler. Summer is slowly but surely drawing to a close. As much as I love the lazy schedule, we are all ready for the transition that second grade and preschool will soon bring to our family. But there is still time to squeeze in more sweet memories in the sunshine. Noah is 12 weeks old now and beginning to move out of the spot I lay him down at and laughing at everything.  Hadassah is almost completely potty trained (with the back end ;) and turning three next month. Isaac just got rid of the training wheels on his bike. Malakai lost tooth #7 and is enjoying shoots hoops in the new basketball net and target practicing with his new bow.

Life is always changing and nothing ever stays the same. This is a good thing. But it makes me realize that life is fleeting and we won't get this time back with our young children. I got an email from a friend the other day who just told me she and her husband and expecting their first baby after many years of infertility. My eyes cried tears of joy for them and I was taken back to the memories of the days when Eric and I were struggling with this battle ourselves not that many years ago. How quickly we can forget all that the LORD has done for us when we are in the "overwhelm" of raising four kiddos ages 7 and under! What gifts! What treasures! Thank you, Jesus for the Martin party of six!

 

Corn Day

This crew did 17 dozen ears of corn without complaining. They are growing up and becoming more and more helpful and this momma is thankful. They even have their own designated tractor driver!

Jeremy: Senior

He was willing to meet me at 7am on a Saturday morning during his summer break when he could have been sleeping in, in order to beat the heat, for his senior portraits. That's true flexibility right there. And that's just the kind of young man he is. Jeremy enjoys playing basketball for his high school team as well as riding his motorcycle, hanging out with his friends and fixing things that need fixed. He's handsome. Kind. Willing to try new things.

The Wheels on the Bus...

Over the weekend we decided to surprise the kids and take an adventure to Lake Tobias. I have many fond childhood memories of going on the safari ride with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. The kids loved feeding the animals that came right up to the bus for a snack. Even little Noah enjoyed the day. I am thankful that we can enjoy simple pleasures like riding around on a cut off bus watching wild animals. eating a picnic lunch, and petting goats and alligators!

A Day At The Pool

We took a family day at a friend's pool yesterday. Oh what fun we had! All three kids went off the diving board for the first time and couldn't get enough! We have quite the little water bugs! Noah even got in the water and quietly enjoyed it. We were thankful to get two hours in before a big thunderstorm came up and dumped almost two inches of rain on us while driving home!

Weekend at Grandpa and Grandma's

Every summer we get together for family weekend. Sometimes we stay at my parents and sometimes we go on an adventure. This year, due to having a newborn we were at Grandpa and Grandma's for the weekend. Tractor rides, barrel rides, slip and slide shenanigans, doggie roast, mountain pies, bikes from yester years (my parents kept my brother and I's bikes from when we were kids and our boys ride them around!), petal tractor, farming indoors and good conversations were all part of the weekend fun. All 11 of us had a wonderful time and I know the cousins made lots of great memories together. My favorite was when we all got on the barrel train and took a nighttime ride around the pasture under the moon.