sos/9

this was one of the most amazing skies i have ever seen. one evening in mid-july, the sun was setting at the same time that billowing storm clouds were rolling through, yet you could still see the hint of blue sky behind the clouds. the camera really could not even capture it.

sos/8

there have been many happy moments this summer, but some sad ones as well. a few months ago, matt's grandpa vander woude was diagnosed with cancer, and just six weeks later he died. he had been quite a healthy man in his upper 80's who was still reupholstering furniture and making jewelry in his final year of life (all my cool dangly earrings come handmade from him :) ). before retiring, he spent his life as a reformed church pastor. matt travelled with the rest of his family to minnesota for the funeral, and came home with a stack of his old, hand-written or typed sermons dating back to the early 40's. he will be missed.

(this photo was taken about nine years ago.)

sos/7

this is miriam's wildflower notebook that she has been keeping throughout the summer. it has actually been more of a joint effort between her and i, since i get into it just as much if not more than she does. i take the pictures, we look them up in our field guide to identify them, and then miriam sticks the picture into her notebook and copies the name underneath. i believe we have identified 21 wildflowers so far, and though we could keep going, we are wrapping it up for the time being. the book has also grown to contain a handful of insects, butterflies, and one green frog. :)

sos/6

last fall we got a digital camera, so this is the first summer i have been able to use it. it is amazing how digital can expand your horizons in the area of photography. as i have said before on this blog, i have really been enjoying getting out more to try my hand at nature photography over these past months. imagine my delight the day flopsy and mopsy decided to stop for a pose!

sos/5

stopped by grand haven beach yesterday evening on the way home from a family reunion.

sos/4

i just have to chuckle at my attempts at "container gardening" this year. check out this pot next to our front stoop. looks plentiful, right? the funny part is that most of what's growing i did not plant -- and the unplanted and untended plants are doing better than the ones i have been nurturing since their tiny beginnings. this pot was supposed to hold basil, which we started from seeds this spring and have been able to harvest a small crop from. (garden fresh pesto is SO good -- thanks for the recipe, charity!) when i repotted the basil seedlings into this pot, i added some soil from our compost bin. before i had a chance to weed it, our neighbors pointed out to us that we had pumpkins growing! i also noticed what looked to be a couple tomato plants sprouting up. i decided to just let them all grow, and this is how it looks today. (i hesitate to point out how this compares to the two tomato plants behind the pot that i actually planted...) we'll see if the untended pumpkins and tomatoes have a chance to bear much fruit, since they were started late in the season, but it's been fun to watch.

so, anybody have any advice on using composted soil in the future??

sos/3

miriam is officially 6 1/2 today. exciting for her, a bit scary for me, as 7 just sounds so much older than 6. yikes, do they grow up fast.

although a bit out of focus, this is one of my favorite pics of miriam from this summer on one of our nature walks. this one was taken at vanraalte farm. our sunday morning nature walks as a family became somewhat of a tradition this spring/summer.

sos/2

this one is actually from today. the kids and i went swimming at a campground were my parents regularly stay, and sawyer was completely content for at least half of the time in his floatie... that is, as long as he had basketballs in BOTH hands. i swear the kid has basketball radar -- he spotted them not two seconds after we entered the pool area.

his other favorite activity of the afternoon was launching himself from the edge of the pool into my or grandma's arms (i.e., walking/running off the edge) over and over. there was only one time when no one was there to catch him... (oops). he didn't seem to mind, though, because he went right back to do it again!

snapshots of summer (sos/1)

with summer slowly waning, i was thinking it might be fun to re-live some of our memories from the past few months of warm here in west michigan. so, for this last month before fall officially arrives, i am going to try to post a photo a day (or so) from those we have been snapping throughout the summer. it will be a way for me to recall favorite moments and/or photos for our own family, and hopefully you will enjoy them, as well.

to kick things off, here's a favorite shot of levi from when the kids where helping to wash the van one afternoon.

lots of little ones

seems we have been with lots of babes (age 3 and under--sorry, i'm not referring to you, scott & ty) recently, and i just had to share some pics of the little cuties. last weekend we went camping with my parents and sisters and their families, and this weekend we made a quick trip over to the other side of the state to see college friends. both of these get-togethers continue to grow in numbers! meet the littlest of both clans below:

ella (scott & jen's)

ella, with scott

nolan, with ty (ty & charity's)

caleb (ty & charity's)

trey (nephew)

elyse (neice)

sawyer (how could i leave out our own?)

and though we have not met him in person yet, i cannot neglect to include the newest addition to the family, brady alexander, born to matt's sister two weeks ago!

idiot instructions

last night matt brought home two new replacement windows for our bedroom. each of these windows, wrapped completely in plastic, came with the following gracious reminder posted not once, not twice, but THREE times:

REMOVE PLASTIC STRETCH WRAP MATERIAL PRIOR TO INSTALLING THIS PRODUCT.

not sure if we would have figured that out, thanks for clarifying.

tv fast

we've decided to fast from tv and movies for the month of august. anybody want to join us? we may be needing someone to play cards with by candlelight... oh wait, we're just giving up tv, not electricity. we're hoping to get a lot more reading done, and hopefully go to bed earlier.

here was my humbling moment for the day: at breakfast the kids and i were talking about it, and miriam said, "maybe next month it should be the computer!" ok, so some days i am on the computer a little too much. man, why do they have to be so smart already??