Marbles!

This just takes me right back to my childhood.  The kids learned how to play marbles this summer and they are both great at it.  I love the concentration that comes across their little faces when they have the shooter marble in their hands.  Have I mentioned how much I love our patio?  The kids play and play out there.  We just draw a circle and we are good to go.  Just more summertime fun...

Do you remember playing marbles?!  Just draw a circle and put all the marbles in the middle.  Use the big marble..the shooter to aim at the little marbles and knock them out of the circle.  The player that knocks them out gets to keep them.  The one with the most marbles at the end is the winner.  Easy peasy and super fun!  

Hannah's First Date

...and it was with her Daddy!  

They are all dressed up for a Daddy/Daughter date at Chic-Fil-A

She is blessed to have a wonderful Daddy who loves Jesus and his family.  The daddy/daughter relationship is special for sure..I'm glad that they have such a strong bond already and pray that it will only grow over the years.  This was the first of many more dates together.  :)

Potty Training

...another big part of our summer.  I was unsure about if I wanted to start this during the summer of once Sissy went to school in the fall.  As it usually ends up working with potty training, Isaac decided for me.  He had no interest one day...and the next week he was in underwear (he picked Mickey Mouse).  We still aren't there, but I think some of that has to do with the busy schedule of summer time.  He sure is becoming a big boy fast, though!  

zoo day!

These are pics from one of our many trips to the zoo this summer.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy God's creation with Nana, Aunt Beth, Ethan and Abby  

 Nana treated us to the wild animal show.  

 cousin love

Backyard Campfire

As summer draws to a close, it is fun to go back through pictures and re-live the many fun times.  Here are pics from another wonderful summer evening  

concert in the park

I love summer evenings!  We love summer evenings in the park, especially when there is music.  It's great for the kids to enjoy music and to hear different genres of music.  We loved the Brick Road Ramblers.  After the played (and the kids danced) we roasted marshmallows and ran up and down the big hill at the park.  

We went to several other concerts this summer too...as I get to those pictures, I'll post them here.  If I can ever figure out how to post videos from my new camera, I've got some fun dancing videos too.  Yeah for summertime!  

Celebrating 10 years of marriage.

We had the blessing of being able to take an anniversary trip to Mexico.  We had been planning and saving for a nice vacation...just the two of us.  It's hard to believe that we were actually able to do it...God is so good to us.  We had a wonderful time together.  I am thankful for my husband of 10 years...we are growing closer each year and I look forward to many more years with my best friend.  

Our view pool-side

We both enjoyed some un-interrupted reading time

Down by the beach  

ahhh....

Going out to dinner.  Every night was a date night :)

We were in Mexico for 4 nights and spent 2 night at the front and back of our vacation with dear friends near the airport.  We had a wonderful time...but after 6 nights...I couldn't get back to my babies fast enough.  This is us just a few minutes after being back together.  I LOVE my family...what a blessing!  

The kids were able to have a vacation of their own with these two special people who they call Papa and Grandma :)  They went to a children's museum, the fair, and swam almost every day.  It was great to know that they were in good/loving hands and having a ball themselves!  

When we got back we were able to go out to dinner and see Papa off on his annual trip to go fishing in Canada.