Sometimes too much of a Good Thing...

...is just about right. We've been experiencing this in several areas of life lately. In particular, I have been realizing that we just need to get back to the basics. These are such fun years in life and I don't want to lament how I spent my time during them when I'm older. We need lots of Jesus (Bible studies, church, worship music, prayer, ...), lots of hugs and kisses, lots of family time and play time, ... Lots of other things, too, but those are the ones I've been slacking on lately. The boys have been enjoying lots of good things lately, too.

First off, they've been enjoying lots of time in their new double stroller! It's amazing and works wonderfully for strolling and jogging. Yesterday, it even magically put them both to sleep (much needed sleep, I might add)... Come to think of it, I think that all Will does is sleep in the stroller. :)


On a related note, Elliot has been enjoying swinging in our tree swing lately, too. One afternoon (when he thought he had successfully eluded a nap), he fell asleep from "too much of a good thing." :)
During his waking hours, Elliot has been enjoying lots of "bubbies." He likes them in every form...bubbles in the bathtub, soap suds from the kitchen sink, blowing bubbles in the yard, ... you name it. He even tried to get me to steal the bubble machine from the church nursery when I picked him up the other day...silly boy...here he is popping bubbles in the back yard...

And, from sweet Will, we've been enjoying lots of smiles lately. He loves to be talked to, have his face and head rubbed, and usually rewards you with one of these sweet things in return...

Did I mention the sweet smiles...

...ahh...praying that you're enjoying too much of a good thing in your life today, too!

I love...

...the look on their faces when they sleep...

Summer Days...

After our trip home to visit friends and family and our Bible study cookout (which I highlighted in the last two posts), we've settling into a more relaxing summer schedule. This past week has been pretty warm, so Elliot has been playing in the lawn sprinkler a lot. He likes to fill up his sand buckets with water and dump them on my plants (which are much obliged I'm sure since it's so hot and dry here). Recently he's also discovered how to turn the hose faucet to get more water to come out (and thus raise the pressure in the sprinkler zooming water over the fence into the neighbor's yard...sorry Jim and Ann!).

We also got a new sprayer head for our hose (since I broke the handle off of the last one). Of course, Elliot wanted to test it out right away (I only got a little wet in the process). :)

Here's Elliot in his new surfer shirt walking on the rocks lining my herb garden. We thought the surfer shirt would be a good purchase since it dries quickly and he kept drenching all of his other clothes playing in the sprinkler. I think he likes it too, when it arrived in the mail along with a few other clothes, it's the one he wanted to put on right away.

He's also been enjoying our tree swing lately. My arms are getting a workout because he likes to "wing, Mama, wing" a lot. Will obliges him most of the time by napping or laying quietly by the tree.

Being outside so much has also meant that we've been eating a lot of homemade popsicles lately! I've really enjoyed trying out some healthy recipes...so far we've had strawberry-orange mint, blueberry yogurt, mango-orange, and chocolate pudding...okay, so maybe the chocolate pudding weren't all that healthy, but they certainly were tasty. :) After all that, at the end of the day, I sometimes look like this...

Did I say that summer has been relaxing? Okay, so maybe not so relaxing, but certainly a lot of fun! Jeff wins the "Best Husband Ever Award" because he went into work late this morning for the sole purpose of letting me sleep in after a rough day yesterday. It's a good thing too because before 10 a.m. we found a cockroach in the bathroom, both kids were screaming simultaneously as they were getting out of their baths, Elliot pee'd on the floor, and they were both ready for naps. The extra sleep (and God's grace) propelled me through the drama until I got them to sleep then I played "Slow Ride" on Guitar Hero a few times to recover. :) Then Elliot woke up and asked to poop on the potty (which he did), God is good, isn't He?!?