Summer at a Glance

Summer is long over. We have turned our heat on and on Saturday we almost froze to death at the kids soccer games. I believe that, "We should not even be outside in weather like this," were some of the words that came out of Myla's mouth. I totally agree! And although I love the fall, jumping in the leaves, burning candles, exploring the pumpkin patch, I can't help but look back at these pictures longingly.

This summer was one of the best. It seems like every moment gets sweeter and every year there are many more things to experience. And even though I have no desire for time to go any faster, every stage seems to be a beautiful one. With only the little Jett man napping on a regular basis I didn't feel like we were completely tied to nap time. We could stay at the pool a little longer, play at the park for a few more minutes, pull one more person on the tube.

We enjoyed an amazing trip to Arkansas, a fabulous Rude family vacation in Branson, countless hours at the pool, park, lake, lots of play dates with friends, and five crazy kids that refused to stay still for more than a brief moment.

My parents neighbors shared their water trampoline with us while we were in Arkansas and we spent every waking minute either swimming or tubing off the boat or swimming and jumping off the water trampoline. I'm fairly certain I'm raising fish.

These boys keep me on my toes as they are constantly coming up with new ways to jump, flip, and soar off of things and the water trampoline provided the perfect place to try out all their crazy ideas.

Our four big kids all tried tubing this year and we had to pry them off when their turn was done. Growing up my dad used to love dragging us on the tubes and doing his best to knock us off. I think that these kids will give their Papa a run for his money someday!

      

      

And everyone needs a little sand in their pants.

  

And summer would not be complete without soaking their clothes. I have a hard time saying no to playing in the water even if they don't have swimming suits. There is something so innocent about children running through the sprinkler in their clothes. They don't care and I love that!

Myla's my little dancer.

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles.
I absolutely love the looks on Myla's face and Quinn's face as they laugh at Rex with bubbles in his hair. Oh, they make my heart melt.

       

We started school the end of August and have a good routine going. I love watching their little minds soak in all that is put in front of them.

Celebrated with 4th with some fabulous friends.

 

Summer is our favorite. I can't get enough of my sweet family! 

How many days until the pool opens again?

Arkansas

With insanely cold temperatures it seems only appropriate to post pictures from our fabulous Christmas week in Arkansas where the temperatures were mid 60s for several days, we were hot while going on a hike, and my kids wore tank tops and basketball shorts. That sounds just heavenly right now. 

Despite not growing up in Arkansas, walking into my parents house just feels like home, especially at Christmas. They have the most beautiful, HUGE Christmas tree, the people, the decorations, the food, just being together and talking for hours next to the Christmas tree make it one of my favorite places to be. We all love the people, the weather, the fun outdoor activities and all the extra attention.

We had everyone practicing basketball. Quinn starts his first ever basketball season this week so we brought along a ball and the hoop was to make it to the front door. There were some pretty intense basketball games that went on.

My sister Kelly's boyfriend Jeff is 6'5 so everyone wanted to be on Jeff's team. We all really enjoyed getting to know him and he was such a good sport and played hard every day with our kids. They can easily overwhelm someone new but he seemed unfazed by our chaos! Thanks Jeff!

We are hoping that Nana and Papa will be able to make it to a game or two of Quinn's this winter. It's a good thing they have such cute grandchildren or I'm pretty sure we would never see them the entire winter.

Nana getting into basketball.

 We enjoyed lunch outside one day and snacks many days. It was, "hot," according to my children.

I even managed to bask in the sun for a few brief minutes.

We took a hike to the dam at their lake and found shells and threw rocks. Titan and I brought up the rear of the group. He is one pokey walker, not much can make this boy move fast if he doesn't want to.

Rex still has his handful of shells hiding in his coat pocket.

The wind by the lake made it a little cooler.

Papa and Dan took the big kids fishing, although I'm pretty sure we should just call it casting, they rarely catch anything. We are starting to wonder if there are any fish in the lake at all! Good thing they are happy just being on the water.  We also enjoyed a perfect boat ride. The kids love to drive the boat with Papa.

Jett loved looking over the front of the boat.

Oh Rexy.

On one of our MANY walks/hikes.

We loved spending a week there. We are anxious for my sister Dana and brother in law Ryan to have their baby so that Nana and Papa are forced to come and visit us on their way North, maybe they will bring some warm weather with them!