Boy in a Basket

After quiet time today, Nathan climbed right into a basket of clean clothes. He said he was in there with "cuddle socks and a piece of yarn." I thought the comparison photos were amusing.


I think he was about 3 months old here - I remember putting him in the basket one cold, rainy winter night and laughing at how relaxed he looked. I love that it's a basket of his baby clothes. My, oh my, how my laundry load has grown!


He was about 1 year old in this photo, and climbed in all by himself - not sure why he wasn't happy.


And now, here we are at almost 4 years old, when he makes this strange face when asked to smile. Oh, my Nathan.

Silly faces

We've had a pleasant week here...

discovered Reedy Creek Nature Preserve, which has the most amazing, creative play area and Nature Center for children...
started back to Bible study and both children enjoyed their classes...
played at a friend's house on a lazy afternoon...
had a Lowe's light bulb and garden center adventure...
changed bedsheets about 4 times...
finished reading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers and started The Help...
witnessed God's angels protecting Mark on a couple of occasions...
baked some crusty bread and shared dinner with a friend and her children...
read a letter from a missionary friend in the Philippines...
opened a package from a college friend...

it has been good.

The sun is still sunny, the air is still warm, and the boys and I are still wearing shorts and sandals every day. I love an extended summer, because it means even more carefree days when the kids are healthy and it doesn't matter what time we play outside.

Labor Day

The last days of summer...we spent them swimming at the pool, eating pizza, visiting with Nanny and Pop Pop and Aunt Melanie and Uncle Rick, playing at the park, eating ice cream, eating burgers. It was all good fun.

Nathan climbing at the park


Mark playing in the tree roots

Picnic at the park



Sunglasses


The weather has been lovely this week, so we've been outside a lot. The backyard mosquitoes have finally taken leave of our property, so I was actually able to sit on the deck and watch the boys play today. It was great!

Odds and ends

Greg started teaching a night class at CPCC a few weeks ago, so we are all adjusting to the new schedule. He seems to be a natural in the classroom (I knew it was in his blood!) If that wasn't enough of a change, Mark climbed out of his crib last week! He is now sleeping in a twin bed and is doing really well with it. Who knew I'd be rocking him one night and tucking him in a big-boy bed the next?

We're still having a lot of hot days, so we play outside when we can, but when we can't, we are finding fun things to do indoors. One morning we painted. Mark actually got quite a bit of paint on the paper, believe it or not.

By the time we were finished, he had paint in his hair, of course.


Nathan woke up one morning and wanted to make a track with scissors and tape.


He stuck with it until the job was finished.

The Mark Show

The Nathan Show

Night on the Beach

Thursday night was beautiful on the beach. There was a cool breeze blowing. The tide was low and there was a lot of room for running around. The waves were gentle so we weren't worried about anyone getting swept away.


We just stood back and watched the boys play.