Summer, good to the last drop.

We've had the most fun celebrating Schaeffer's third birthday. Early on in the summer she decided (very emphatically) that she would like to celebrate her birthday with a 'friends' pool party.

So, a pool party we had. God blessed us with a gorgeous day-it was one of those totally magical blue sky with big sun perfect summer days, and everyone who came had a great time.

In keeping with tradition, we also celebrated SJ's birthday with birthday breakfast--it was a sweet time of celelbrating the gift that God has given us in Schaeffer. There was much to eat, much conversation, and much laughter.

There are so many mental images I have from this summer, but there are some that I feel as though if I don't write them down, someday far from now, they will escape my memory and be all but forgotten.

Early in the summer, we had the luxury of spending a few weeks together at the Lake with Sara and Eli. There are so many sweet memories of the two kids together, playing on the slides, eating fig newtons on the dock in the sunshine, giggling in the back bunk bed.

Later in the summer, when Sara was more pregnant, we spent a magical day in the city together. Schaeffer and I took Eli to the zoo, we had a picnic & the kids ran barefoot through the most beautiful wildflower field. Everything about it was perfect. Sara and I swore to memorize everything about it--and that's just what I've done. I can still hear them giggling as they tickled the trees with sticks & threw grass up into the wind.

There have been many days spent with G.G. this summer, days spent making pickles, perusing though the shops in ludington, riding tricycles in her front yard. We've done life together at the lake, Grandma has cried with us and laughed with us--a true member of our family.

The week we spent at 'MeMaw Laurie's fun place' we just didn't want to end! We lived by the pool--making new friends in Elise & Cooper, and laughing as Schaeffer had her first smore went on her first midnight star gazing trip, to watch the 'twinklers'.

We've played in the fountain, rode the carousel, swam in the pool, even had a few beach days. I broke my arm, had three different casts, and survived P.T.

We've squeezed every drop out of this summer, it's one for the books. We've made memories for a lifetime, and can't wait for next year.