Sweet Summertime

I am thoroughly enjoying my summer.  Since school got out the first week in June life just seems to be getting better and better.  For one thing, Jonah and Adah are my favorite little people in the world to hang out with, really I believe God hand picked the coolest children he had available and gave them to me.  And for another (more important?) thing, they are great helpers!  How did I do things without them?  It also helps that the newborn phase is officially over.  Whew! Joshua is so blessed that they love him more than anything else in the world (if Jonah is willing to tell his friends he can't play because he has to babysit and still be smiling while he says it - this is big love).

I am thinking back to the days when Adah was a baby and Jonah was going on 3.. and I am very impressed with myself because I survived that, and I think I actually did a good job.  Without my Jonah and Adah to help me with the baby and the household chores now I'd just be lost!  I am able to keep up with an online class this summer, with the help of a weekly babysitting stint from Nana, and the house is actually pretty clean (as much as a house with 3 resident children can be) ...WOW.

Jonah and Adah help me with:  cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, babysitting while I do other things like cook, remembering my to do list sometimes better than me, yardwork, taking out trash, washing vegetables, fetching things for me and Joshua, ... the list goes on!  I love them so so much, and I am proud of the amazing kids they continue to be as they get older.  In addition to all the "work" they've done this summer, we have also had lots of fun at 2 different VBS's, 2 triathlons, 5 friends' birthday parties, ballet classes, library trips, and tons of other great things.

Here are some pictures from the last month.  When it started, Joshua was 5 months old, and now he is 6 months.  It was really the perfect timing for the older kids to get out of school because at 5 months he was just starting to really play with them, and he was now sturdy enough for me to be comfortable with them holding him without my help.  Adah just gets to sit with him for now. Jonah can stand up and walk with him - its a matter of strength and wise/intuitive decision making, which I'm sure Adah will develop soon enough.

Adah feeding Joshua while I supervise

Adah made this birthday card for her friend
Jael and I love it. She did this all on her own.
It's an owl with big pink feet.

Joshua in his crib at 5 months, he finally
caught his feet.

Another, prettier, one of Joshua at 5 months. The
photoshop app makes me a little less bitter about
only having my phone for a camera right now.

Best big brother!

Why they love this game is beyond me.

Joshua's first swim. He wasn't thrilled.

cool kids

Joshua loves his Adah.