hello summer

Hello summer. And hello hot weather. We've used our "new" yard sale trampoline twice in a month thanks to this weather. Jumping around in 95 degrees is quite a sweaty activity. Buxton has learned to jump with his knees tucked pretty well. Elin prefers to lay on her tummy and get bounced...no getting sweaty for her. 

We've had a very eventful July so far and started it off with a long trip to Blowing Rock. Elin and Buxton sat on Mom's horse, Secret and while Buxton wasn't too sure, Elin loved every second. She cried so much when I took her off. 

This was the 1st year we didn't attend the picnic Hound Ears does on the golf course. Instead we attending the Blowing Rock Country Club picnic.  

Ben's good friend Brandon Viebrock, and his girlfriend, Emily, were also in BR for the weekend and joined us for the festivities. 

This is the view from Mom and Bill's deck, and yes Elin is too close to the rail even with that plexi-glass wall. Good thing she is more interested in picking Mimi's flowers than climbing.

Right after our mountain trip we had a wonderful surprise party for Ed to welcome him home from Afghanistan. And it doubled as Cooper's 2nd bday party. It was great to spend time with Carla, Ed, Cooper and Grace. The cousins had a BLAST together and of course we loved being with Ed after having not seen him for so long.

Another big event was the first "real", and by real I mean not at Kristin's Home Salon, hair cut for Buxton and Elin. They both did awesome!

Elin enjoyed the reading material Aunt Bridget had available. 

We only cut a little off her ends but now I'm thinking a few more inches would be better so her hair can start to thicken up. This baby fine stuff is torture to brush in the morning. 

We spent a lot of time in the pool with Grace (who is an awesome swimmer) and Aunt Carla. Carla has done an amazing job teaching Grace to swim and it was Carla that got Buxton to finally jump off the diving board. First with his swimmy float, then without! He's not scared at all now and the week before he was just about terrified. Carla also helped us with some swimming techniques and since Buxton had just completed 2 weeks of lessons with the famous "Mrs. Betsy States" of Gastonia, it was perfect timing.

just plain beautiful

i want everyone to see this video, which is true perfection by jen hunt. it captures the beauty in amy's heart, within her relationship with her daughter, and the love that so many people have for the patwa family. putting a video like this out there gives us all a chance to "see" amy a little, follow Jesus closer, and be thankful for our time with loved ones. there are so many little things happening everyday, in all the lives that amy's story has touched, that bring us all closer to God. as i beg God to heal amy's body from this cancer, i also thank Him for all He is doing in this story that none of us ever imagined being part of.

amy you are SO loved. my heart was so full while i watched this video. buxton sat on my lap and watched in pure silence and just held me. God was with us in that moment. and He is with you every step of the way through this battle. your incredible faith in His presence is what gives the rest of us the courage to walk through this with you, and what an honor that is.

http://www.jenpluschris.com/amy-charis-give-me-jesus/

had to add in these pics of our high school girls crew. wish i had one where i wasn't 8+ months preggers...should have gotten the one jessamy took a few months ago. oh well, these 2 show a couple of very happy times that we are very thankful for.

Beach to Mountains

Time moves so fast and writing about our awesome beach trip over Memorial Day seems like such old news, but I want it documented, so here goes.

We rented a 2 bedroom beach condo at Isle of Palms and the location couldn't have been better. It was also a huge improvement over the 1 bedroom we rented at Kiawah last year. The kids did great sharing a room...of course the sun and beach had a lot to do with that. 

The kids were in absolute heaven on the beach. Buxton dug his little heart out in the sand, while Elin was determined to tackle the ocean on her own, run as far away as fast as she could from her mom and dad, and wave to every person she passed along the way. 

I think we each ran a marathon trying to keep up with her!

Food kept her still, for a few minutes:

This is our Memorial Day tribute which we dedicate to our Uncle/Bro In Law, Ed, who recently returned home from a 1 yr deployment in Afghanistan. We get to see him in 2 weeks!!

 

Burying Elin also kept her still, for a bit.

Naps came easy.

 Who knew you could take a 1.5 yr old on a go-kart, but you can...and we did! Although her face doesn't show it, she loved it.

Sweet snuggles before dinner out:

 We got to see Harper twice...nice!, and although it's blurry, I love this pic of my babes and Harp.

Haynes, Harp and I. Love these girls.

On to random pics from the last month. 

The yard and my phone:

 Pine Island pool...our first trip there. The slide they have is awesome...and it's salt water, yay.

 Babes and watermelon (Vivian and Elin)

Buxton and Wynnie

Our pool hasn't gotten much use until this week since the weather has been so nice (and the pool too cold), but we've loved spending time on the deck looking at the pretty water.

 2 weeks ago we spent the weekend in the mountains with Mimi and Bill. Our first adventure was a trip to the Blowing Rock Stables to visit Mimi's horse, Secret. Check out Buxton's Dan Post cowboy boots...they are for real cowboy boots (thanks Mimi), with a heel and all. We are hoping he will ride get on a horse this summer.

 Tanner, my nephew, whom Elin adores.

 And lastly, Elin learning to jump with 2 feet, from stone to stone. Quite a fun game for her...oh the little things.

End of April to Mother's Day

I've been wanting to post these pics for awhile but just now got around to it. One Sunday before church, in all the craziness in trying to get there before it's half over, I got some great shots of these 2. These are just a few, and I love each one due to the candidness and "in the moment" they capture. The expressions shown below capture these little blessings so perfectly. 

Ben usually comes home about bed time and loves to get the kids all crazy after I just got them settled (well Dora or Diego got them settled), so one night he decided to take advantage of Elin's dare devil nature and let her get on TOP of the headboard.

 

Of course Buxton had to join in.

I let Ben handle bedtime for both of them this night. 

Next are some outdoor playtime pics from the first day Elin had pigtails, yay!

We have a Produce/Ice Cream Barn right up the street that is a favorite of the kids. It's only open when fresh produce is available/Spring Summer and some of it is even grown right there at the barn. These pics are from our first family ice cream date there this year.

And lastly, Mothers Day. The pouring rain should could have been a wonderful reason for me to get a mani/pedi, massage, go shopping alone, etc. But we went hiking in the rain instead. Ben had planned a surprise trip to South Mtn. So after church (the original plan was to leave for the hike in the AM but the rain put us at church, and what a divine intervention that was because that particular service spoke to my heart so much regarding my sweet friend Amy and her most recent struggles with cancer) we headed on our way. In the rain. It did not stop, and pretty much rained harder as we drove. 

Luckily most of the trail was covered pretty well by the trees, so we didn't get that wet. The millions hundreds of stairs we had to go up to get to the top waterfall were a liiiitle sketchy, considering they were wet and slimy. But Buxton was so determined to see the "big water fountain" and his will power and excitement kept me going. He was my little buddy going up while Ben had Elin in the pack. On the way down I carried the pack (and yes I felt like I got hit by a bus the next day since Elin plus the pack is probably 1/2 my weight), cause Ben had to pretty much carry Buxton down all the stairs. Steep wet slimy stairs did not seem like a good idea for Buxton to tackle. 

When we got back on the wide, flat (ish) path towards the bottom we let Elin walk. It was really her first hike since she started walking. And boy did she LOVE IT. I tried to get a pic of her prancing along the path but she was moving too fast. But I did get this one of her and her Daddy, which truly swells my heart. 

It was a great day because I got to enjoy my family in nature and we conquered a hike and some weather that made us proud. God's gift of nature is pretty amazing, and even more amazing is watching the little ones you brought in to this world enjoy it.