THREE!

my dear sweet jilly...

i cannot believe you are three.  wow!  sweet girl, you are a treasure to your mommy and daddy.  you have the sweetest voice and personality...full of smiles and snuggles....curious and compassionate.  what a blessing you are to us.  you love to sing and chatter...you have a fabulous giggle.  you are tender with your brother, and you are quick to keep up with your big sisters.  you are communicating more and more clearly...you count to twenty and sing your ABCs endlessly....and you have been memorizing Scripture and catechism questions right along with Elizabeth and Kate.  you are delighted by life...and you delight all those you come in contact with.  today we went to Target and you picked out your very own backpack....and proudly wore it through the store...Monday you have your first day of preschool...whoa!  how did my baby get so big!?

jillian, i pray that you would keep this joyful spirit...that as you grow your life might be marked by a heart that delights in all of the little blessings life has to offer (and the big ones too!).  i pray that you would know Jesus...that you would learn to walk with Him and please Him.  oh jilly, i pray your heart and life would be hidden in Him...that you would learn from Him to live a life marked by love...a life marked by compassion and obedience...not begrudging obedience, but obedience that stems from knowing He has chosen you, adopted you, redeemed you...knowing that He has lavished His grace upon you.  jilly, we love you so incredibly much, but the truth is that in reality you are HIS...and He loves you even more than we could ever love you.

sweet girl, i pray that you would love and treasure His Word...that it would guide and guard you as you walk through life...as you grow and learn....as you become a young woman.  jilly, oh that you would make Him your guide....that you would embrace the beautiful hope of His calling.

sweet girl...we love you!

for your birthday, you asked for an elmo cake AND a zoe cake...mama speaks love through cakes, i guess...so i made you both ;)....elmo cupcakes and a zoe cake

on your birthday we had pancakes for breakfast...and after swim lessons we had dinner at applebee's....where you had french fries...the only request you made for your birthday dinner ;)

 you helped poke each little m&m nose onto elmo...

 then you opened your present....your own baby monkey...you named him elmo...and you rocked him and snuggled him and tucked him in his hammock...you were so incredibly sweet with him jilly...and your delight, oh sweet girl...it was so purely ecstatic...it made me cry to see you so pleased and joyful...

 you tucked monkey in right next to your big girl bed...precious

and then there was your party...you asked for a party with maureen and emmett...so we had them over with a few extras...and we ate hotdogs

...and we bounced... :)

 make a wish! :)

some of us even got so excited "we" fell over backwards in our chair ;)...lol!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the sweetest THREE year old i know!

back to school take two :)

 I know, I already did the back to school post with pics...but these were the pics from the actual camera...and I couldn't resist adding them. :) 

a date with daddy

Last Saturday Mike had the privilege of being escorted to a wedding by these two beauties...what a lucky guy! :)

summer in pictures...with a few words ;)

zooing it up with the lews

greta and luke chatting

loon lake for poppy's birthday party and the fishing derby...not even 70 degrees (in June...hard to believe what would follow in July!)

happy birthday poppy!

fishing derby :)

 smiley gator...must admit, the girls had little patience for the fishing this year...not much was biting with the weird weather, and when we finally did catch a few...well, they didn't so much want to touch or get near them...but kate seems to be very proud of her fish catching skills...lol!

 daddy and his girls

 caught one...notice how far away elizabeth is staying ;)

 water time!  splish splash!

 hangin' with miss Jill

 popsicle time

 

 

more summer lake fun....Fourth of July...HOT, HOT weekend...burn ban prevented fireworks, but we still had the 5.5K run (for me), pancake breakfast, and LOTS of time in the water!

fearless little buddy

libberlou

he loved being independent and wanted NOTHING to do with having anyone hold him in the water

me and my boy

annual boat-in pancakes

kater pie

jilly love

poppy sailing away to the sailboat races

libbers taking a turn on the slide poppy "fashioned" for them

rub a dub dub, my not-so-little babies in a "tub"

cutest (and goofiest/most dramatic) pier sweeper ever!

redneck air conditioning

one sign of the summer was luke's independence...whether swimming or eating, he wanted to do it by himself (and do anything and everything his sisters did!)

shaved ice...our Sunday night routine included a trip to the park and the Ice Barn :)

skinned nose...yep, little man tried to walk down the slide at the Y instead of sliding on his bottom....I am happy to say that he learned his lesson....sliding is still one of his favorite pastimes...but he does it on his bottom these days!

libbers reading bedtime Bible stories

 

 kate's 5th birthday--a My Little Pony party...complete with LOTS of 4 and 5 year old friends...pinning the tail on the pony, shrinky dink pony necklaces, presents, cake and ice cream, butterfly bookmarks...and on and on

(guests...Gracie, Olivia, Adyson, Elizabeth, Kate, Aubree, Breanna, Megan, Nellie, Hannah, and Jilly)

 watching the pony charms shrink

 backwards photo order...here they are coloring their pony charms

pinning the tail on pinkie pie

pony cake

present opening (or as kate called it...the "wrapping my presents part"

garden bounty

see...fearless buddy loves the slide...want to know how I discovered he could climb to the top by myself?  yep, you guessed it, I found out when I turned my back for ten seconds!

way out of order....fourth of july parade in Bburg...it was sweltering outside, but we had fun!

also way out of order...a family trip to the museum!

and finally...splash parks!  this is three different trips...with different people

and i leave you with a precious luke smile :)