September catch up

So it has been quite a while since I've posted on here. I guess it's time... We've had a busy few weeks. At the beginning of the month we went on a vacation to NY to visit my brother and his family. Let me just say, Thank God I am a parent in a time where we have DVD players in our mini vans! A 9 hour road trip with 3 kids is rough, but I can't even imagine having to do it with no form of entertainment. Here's a picture of Lilah on the road trip with her head phones for the movie, her sunglasses, and travel pillow. I think I took this during the only 20 minutes of the trip when she actually slept. =) We had a great time! The kids had soooooo much fun playing with the Newman cousins. They miss them a lot. We enjoyed lots of fun time outside and beautiful weather. We went peach and raspberry picking, played at the beach, and celebrated Lilah's 3rd birthday. Aunt Sarah helped plan a special dress-up tea party for Lilah with the theme that Lilah requested of butterflies and flowers. The kids got all dressed up and we set up the picnic table outside for the party. Unfortunately, it was at the end of a super fun and exhausting week. So Lilah was pretty much spent and had gone into child demon/meltdown mode by that time. She fussed about everything and was nasty and the party ended with Lilah getting a time-out and then being sent to bed for the afternoon. I have included a picture for your viewing pleasure. =) But overall, we had a great time and miss the fam so much.

After NY we came home and enjoyed a couple of fun days with friends from ORU for Labor day weekend. Adam and Kim and Violet came into town and Aaron and Angie came as well. We had a second little "princess" birthday celebration for Lilah that went MUCH better and she behaved much more like a princess than at her first party. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed a cookout with friends and then the"sapphire girls" got to ditch the kids with the dads for drinks and a chance to catch up. Although we very much missed the 3 sapphires who were unable to join us. Liz and I get lots of time together now and we loved getting some time with Angie and Kim too.

The other big event this month was Seth starting preschool. He is LOVING it! I knew he would because he loves structure and people. Both are in abundance at school. He's having a blast and thinks he's being punished the 2 days a week that we don't get to go to school. He's learning about the body and has proudly displayed his macaroni/bones picture in the house for the past week. Lilah is really wanting to go to school too and misses Seth. She'll enjoy it next year when it's her turn. I just can't believe Seth is getting so big! The kids also started their first YMCA class last week where they get to do an hour of gym time (soccer, gymnastics, yoga, basketball, etc.) and then an hour of swimming. They LOVE that and Lilah feels very big to get to do that along with Seth. And I like it because I get to work out then while Isaac plays in the child watch program.

We also made a quick trip to Ohio for the kids to spend some time with Nina and Papa while Josh and I attended the memorial service for our friend's sweet baby, Eva Genelle. It was very important to us to be there with Dan and Jessica to celebrate Eva's powerful little life. We feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in Eva's life while Jessica was pregnant and then for a few weeks after Eva was born before we had to move to Michigan. I have posted a picture of one of the moments I got to cuddle Eva for myself when Jessica gave me the lucky job of holding Eva while she made a plate of food for herself. Jessica shared at the service about the significance of the butterfly symbol that she chose for Eva. It was very moving and I will, from this time on, forever think of precious Eva Genelle everytime I see the beauty of a butterfly. If you are not already on the site, I encourage everyone to check out the caringbridge site for the Clearfield family. It tells Eva's story and Jessica writes beautifully in a way that captures your heart. Please also continue to keep them in your prayers as the noise of everything is fading and life is settling in and they are needing an extra dose of strength and peace to handle the day to day right now.

That's all the big stuff this month for us. I will try to post a bit more regularly now. =)