baby andrew

We started the first leg of a 9-day June/July trip by heading to Richmond Hill for the new Link baby's birth!  We actually had been home most of June, so it was nice to pack up and head out for a few.  Looked back as we were leaving to this :)

Night before pic...cutest 9mo baby belly ever!

They are so hysterical together...this was their last night being the "babies."

And some quick playtime for the bigs...

The big day!  We were so excited to find out the gender and meet him/her.  Mae Mae and Grandma were awesome fun for the kids while we waited...

The rest of the crew...we loved catching up with all of them during the wait.

GG is so much fun :)

And these two didn't leave each other's sides.  Sam would keep his hand on her back as they walked...so adorable!

Yay!  Matt came out with the big news :)

He shared with Madi first and then she announced "It's a boy!"

Heading back to meet him :)

Meanwhile, Jenn sent me a sneak peek.  I started crying :).  Love her so much and so thankful that everybody was healthy and happy.  Hard to beat those first moments...

Sweet sweet face...looking so much like his big brother and sister.

So thankful to be there and share it with them!  Too bad I couldn't take him home with me :)

We are going to have so much fun spoiling him...

Gehrig couldn't wait to hold him...the biggest and littlest boys.

Garner copied :)

We were sad to leave but headed out that day around lunch to let them rest and head to our next stop.  Love these kiddos!

I know that we will blink and Andrew will be standing with them too.  So thankful for this family and their friendships.  One of the biggest blessings of our lives :).  Love you all and so happy and excited for you!!

bebe, birthday parties, braids, baseball

We so loved having Bebe here for a visit one weekend in June.  She joined right in to the birthday party tour that happened to fall then too (2 for Greer and 1 for Gehr).  Love having her live life with us for a little bit :)

At Greer's first party, they had a professional hair dresser fix them up.  Never seen such a perfect job of french braiding.  It withstood two times swimming (even with a cap on to protect Greer's recovering swimmer's ear) and sleeping on it without budging!

On to swim practice...

And then Greer's second birthday party...super cute and sweeeeeet girls!

It was in the country with the Millers...we all love it :)

Back at home and snuggling...love this pic!

The next day, we took Gehr to his party and then went to the minor league game.  So beautiful for most of it until a storm came up at the end...

Daddy joined us from work later :)

When we got home...Greer was so proud of the kinks the braids left :)

We so wish we had Bebe time more often, but are thankful for weekends like these when they come along.  Especially to do normal life instead of the busyness and distraction that sometimes comes with holiday/special event visiting.  We love you!  Thanks for making the trip :)

little slice of heaven

Our girls love to dance for us.  They dress up, fix their hair and makeup, bring in their CD player and have us sit on the couch while they do performances to music.  All the time :).  Out of all the stacks of CDs Greer has, she chose this one one night and had me in tears.  It's so hard to capture the full beauty of these moments on video.  So thankful though, to have it to watch and remind myself of what it was like.  These really are the days...

Heaven is the face of a little girl with dark brown eyes that disappear when she smiles...

Heaven is a sweet maple syrup kiss and a thousand other little things miss with her gone...

God, I know it's all of this and so much more...

Goodness knows, we are so tired a lot of the time with 3 littles and so much going on.  If not for stories and words and music and Holy Spirit reminding, it would be easy to take this time for granted.  So thankful for the heart nudge and moments to pause.  Blessed beyond understanding.

fwoggy

Man, this girl loves to read and she has especially loved the series of Froggy books.  The best one to hear her read is "Froggy Goes to Bed," but of course, everytime I try to video, she stops.  Finally, one morning, I was able to secretly film her reading "Froggy Goes to the Doctor."  (She changes Dr. Mugwort's name to our doc, Dr. Miller (or "Dr. Mi-yah"))...

I so love that this is literally constant in our house...it's music to my ears :)

daddy day

The kids loved giving B their cards and daddy questionnaires on Father's Day morning.

Heading out in the afternoon to eat and run errands and hit the park.  Such a beautiful day!

Love him so much!

Just felt right to celebrate FD with a stop here :)

We waited in Daddy's truck while he went in for a few things...silly billies :)

Park time

And finishing out the evening with pool time.

We are so blessed with a husband and father who loves the Lord and his family with amazing selflessness every day.  Thank You Father for a great example for our kids of what You are to us.