July and August

 Hello again! You probably don't remember the 4th of July pictures from my mom's blog by now, so you'll get to enjoy mine :) Anna and Esther had a great time during our 9 days in MN - new people to meet everyday and so much to do and so many fun aunties to spoil them! This is them at Grandpa and Grandma O.'s 4th of July picnic.

 As is this -

 Anna's normally a little shy - but for some reason she just loved this cow costume!

 Aunty Hosanna with the girls at the park.

 Aaron spoke at a 4th of July service while we were there.

 This is the 4th of July picnic at Grandpa and Grandma K.'s house - Aaron, Isaac, Mr. Nance, Amos, and Daniel

 Esther and some of the other cousins are getting ready to collect candy during the parade. Esther didn't care for all the loud noises, but it didn't take her long to get the hang of grabbing candy...Anna hadn't had her nap earlier and ended up sleeping through the whole thing!

 We spent most of Aaron's 34th birthday traveling, but I remembered to take a picture in honor of the special occasion when we got home :)

 It may look like a relaxing day-off activity, but trust me, moving bricks is a lot of work! Aaron's parents were having some work done at the place we're living and in order to lay a new cement patio, all of the old bricks had to go. I even helped out...and like I said, it was hard work.

 Esther and Anna found the construction work to be the best backyard entertainment they'd had in a long time! We were all awakened most mornings for about 2 weeks at like 6 by loud trucks or stomping on the roof :) Thankfully, we sort of knew the people doing the work and they did a great job! Here is the morning they laid the cement.

 As you can see, the Lord blessed us with summer squash. Oh, and I forgot one thing on the list I posted the other day - another thing I did this week with the squash was make "zucchini" bread - a batch of pineapple raisin, and a batch of lemon flavored.

 Me in MN - several pounds ago I might add :) I've recently been pulling out my maternity clothes again...We've had a couple Dr. visits and they've gone well. I felt a little not-wonderful during the first trimester, but am feeling much better now. We're so excited and the girls are too...just so you know, Esther wants us to name the baby "Moses" and wrap it in "swaddling clothes" -

 The girls in some cute matching dresses from Grandma V -

 They've been having a lot of fun playing in this little car thing!

 Anna is still learning new words and making a few short sentences (like "Esther awake" and "Daddy home").

I took the first picture, and Aaron took the second one another day, then Esther got the idea that when she played with the car, she needed a picture taken:)

Reading List

You all know the saying that you will be the same a year from now as you are now except for the people you meet and the books you read....whether that's true or not we won't discuss here, but I decided this spring to raid Aaron's library for some good books to read that will hopefully help me grow over this next year. Or however long it takes to finish the list - in fact, I don't promise to actually read them all, but at least it's a start :)

COMPLETED

Radical by David Platt
Follow Me by David Platt - I didn't care for the way the first half of this book was written, although understand the point he was trying to make. Both books were challenging and I really liked how he gave you practical steps to put into practice what you'd just read.
Me, Obey Him? by Elizabeth Rice Hanford - very basic, short and very Biblical.
I Am a Church Member by Thom Rainer - also short and basic, and being a pastor's wife, I would recommend it to everyone :)
The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirir - Even though this wasn't written the way I would do it, I was happily surprised at how good it was. Trust me, she covers enough ground to convict every lady somewhere!
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon - this wasn't on my original list, but a church member borrowed it to me and as it's been a while since I read any modern fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed it :)
A Chosen Love
A Daughter's Love
A Brother's Love all by Carolyn Ann Aish - as the Frencolian Choronicles were some of my favorite books ever growing up, I borrowed the prequels from Priscilla - and I hope Mrs. Aish comes out with the sequels soon!

TO READ

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss - also borrowed from Priscilla
Streams of Civilization II from Christian Liberty Press - since it's been 10 years since 10th grade, I thought a refresher couldn't hurt.
50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe
The Power of Motherhood by Nancy Campbell - I've read this before, but it's encouraging enough to read again.
Survive! by Terry Ahern
Desiring God by John Piper
Why I Believe by D. James Kennedy - I've never read a lot of apologetics, so this should be good for me.
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell
Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie
Mercy Streets by Taylor Fields
Sacred Marriage
Portable Seminary - The good thing about Aaron being a pastor is his line of work is actually interesting :)
I haven't put the Bible on this list because I don't plan to quit that once I've finished.
There are a couple devotional books I enjoy sometimes -
Daily Strength for Daily Needs compiled by Mary Tilleston
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon 
I also plan to brush up in any pregnancy and childbirth books I happen to get my hands on...Since I haven't posted it on the blog, you may not know that we're expecting again :) - December 30 is the due date and coming quickly!
Then I have a few more books in the mail I have to read for school...

So now you know what I have planned for free minutes here and there - sometimes I go a couple weeks without picking up a book and sometimes I read every day, but the idea is to stretch my mind (and soul) a little bit this year!

Lists

For those of you that know my liking for lists - well, it hasn't changed :) In fact, they've been elevated to the status of survival! - to-do lists and menu lists and shopping lists...I have some pictures that I plan to post soon, but I thought as I have a chance, I'll share a few of my favorite lists with you all.

Our gardening this year was pretty minimum, but some of the things we did get were a bunch of summer squash and enough tomatoes to do a lot of fresh eating, although not a ton of canning. So while they were just getting started, I made a list of all the things I like to do or wanted to try with the afore said produce (it's scary how many of my lists revolve around food...) so I didn't forget something - after all, boughten tomatoes are not the same!

SUMMER SQUASH
(Our zucchini didn't survive, so I substituted summer squash for zucchini in recipes)

Summer Squash Casserole (a favorite of Aaron's family)
stir fry
scrambled eggs
Zucchini bars with cinnamon frosting
Zucchini boats
Summer Squash Patties (new recipe - smells like fair food)
pasta salad
vegetable soup
Texas Two-step Corn
Pasta with Summer squash and Lemon Cream Sauce (new - probably a once-a-year recipe)
zucchini pancakes
dill pickles (haven't tasted them yet)
Savory Stuffed Zucchini (from Mom's family cookbook)

TOMATOES

Savory Stuffed Zucchini (also calls for tomatoes)
Fresh Tomato and Spinach Pasta
fresh salsa
hamburgers
Tomato sandwiches (I like mine with butter and salt and pepper, Aaron eats his with mayo and Cajun seasoning or Tabasco - both on toast, of course!)
Bruschetta
Hot Brown Sandwiches (both this and the bruschetta were new tomato-type sandwich things I tried, ok, but took some time)
Mexican food
lettuce salads
Best of Show Tomato Quiche (new - pretty good, but I think I'll try it w/out the crust)
Southwestern Tomato Soup (still haven't gotten to this one yet)
Tomato Dip for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Roasted Veggie Pizza (with pesto, only I'm still not sure if the herb I used to make it was really basil - but whatever it was it didn't kill us!)
tabbouleh (after complaining about this food my whole life, now I make it...)

If you have any other great ideas, let me know :)

Catching Up - 4 of 4

 The rest of these are just pictures from different times over the last couple months - This is my 26th birthday - the roses are a gift from Aaron...

 We had revival meetings at our church this spring and the evangelist's wife did a few things for the children - Esther loved the ventriloquist doll :)

 Anna and Esther in Uncle Josh's truck -

 Allow me to explain - due to lack of time to build the kind of fence that will keep out deer and rabbits, we're taking a risk on some things over in the garden, but our peppers, tomatoes, and cabbages are getting special treatment by being "fenced in" next to the house. Hope it works!

 I'm having trouble rotating pictures today! But I'm in a hurry, so you'll have to excuse them, as well as the lack of journaling...

 Anna trying out the scale -

 The girls in some matching dresses -

 We had a jungle theme VBS and a church member let Aaron borrow this shirt- since he didn't have anything with flowers in his entire wardrobe! I was so busy during the week that I didn't get a chance to take hardly any pictures, but everything went well.

Most of the helpers at "Family Night" -

Reunion

 We went to a family reunion in Eastern KY - on the way we stopped for a picnic in a Lowe's parking lot :)

 Up this hill are several family graveyards - apparently you can't drive up the hill without a truck, so thankfully, we just took a picture from the road!

 We ate in the evening at Jenny Wiley state park - very beautiful with the lake and mountains and trees.

 At the reunion - everyone starting to gather for a group picture -

 The kids had a piñata - Esther couldn't quite figure out that she was supposed to leave the blindfold on!

I really did rotate this picture, but oh well!

Sightseeing

 We went with Aaron's parents to tour Belle Meade Plantation - a pre-civil war place. After a picnic, we went on the guided tour of the home, then had a little time to look around the grounds.

 Esther in front of a little play house -

 We didn't bother to take Anna out of the stroller for the picture...

 The irises here are beautiful in the spring! They're the state flower and you see them all over.

 In front of an old wagon or something -

 This is inside of the smokehouse. I forget the exact number of hogs per year, but they did a lot of butchering.

 Esther :)

 Then we went downtown Nashville and went for a real carriage ride - it was a beautiful evening to be outside!

 The girls enjoyed the clip-clop sound the horses feet made on the pavement -

However, Esther does not like loud noises and put her hands over her head whenever we went by a place playing loud music :)

Easter

 I know it's been 2 months or so since Easter, but I'm trying to catch up :) Anna in her little yellow dress and sucking on her favorite fingers - she can be a lot of fun, but sometimes is pretty quiet around groups of people.

 Esther and Dawson eating cake on the floor -

 Aaron, Chris, and John joining in the dining room conversation -

 The older cousins set up an Easter egg hunt for the younger ones - Esther loved it! - she wanted us to hide eggs for her to find for days afterwards (without candy of course!)....

 They spent half the afternoon hiding and finding the same eggs over and over :)

 Anna caught on to the idea too!

 This is at home - Anna has just recently started to really enjoy looking at books and having us read to her.

 Aaron and Anna -

I guess I forgot to rotate this one - Esther and Anna sitting together by the patio doors - they love to sit by the doors and watch whatever is going on outside - This week we've been seeing lizards (I didn't realize TN was that tropical!) and one day had a turtle out there. They're also starting to sometimes enjoy doing things together - which is great!