august in review

Yes. I’m writing again. We’ve been so busy, tired, hot, but mostly just busy this last month. Honestly, I’m glad that August is over.  I need to be revived with the idea of fall, moreover, the hope of cooler weather. So, I thought rather than a series of posts dripping with the details of our August, I would give you a brief synopsis, some photos, and highlighted moments. 

We started the month with a trip to Beaumont for our good friends’ (Elijah and Stephanie) wedding. The entire family piled into a single hotel room, which, of course being a new experience, merited great squeals of delight from the kids: sleeping in a bed right next to mom and dad with a TV and a little fridge — who could imagine? Blythe took up her usual traveling residency in the bathroom (unfortunately, the lesser option to the closet). Which led to this scenario with Kristen and Tim the evening of the wedding:

Tim: Oooh. 

Kristen: Um, Bethany, Blythe’s chewing on a styrofoam cup. 

me: Oh, take it away from her. That’s the pee cup. (It was empty and rinsed out.)

Kristen and Tim: WHAT?

That’s right. Blythe needed her own space, which required her sleeping next to the toilet. Rather than dragging myself or Liam down three floors to the lobby bathroom a couple of times in the night, Liam and I opted to pee in the two Big Gulps (although never at the same time). It was like camping in a hotel. Later that evening at the wedding, Liam took his first communion. Mark went with him to receive the bread and wine, and it only took a moment after placing the Blood and Body in his mouth for Liam to dramatically grab his throat (as if he were dying) and exclaim in a loud, raspy whisper, “it’s the blood. it’s the blood! it’s so dis-gu-sting.” Meanwhile, Mark rushed Liam to the side of the yard (away from speculation) where he could promptly spit it out. 

The rest of the month entailed a week in Rockwall with the Douglass family, Michael O’s 60th surprise birthday party, saying goodbye to Scott and Diana, a visit from Kerry and Isaiah, a weekend helping Nina and Papa clean out and re-paint their garage, mourning the loss of our dear friend Caleb’s father, Chip Carruth, and celebrating the upcoming birth of our niece, Reese, with a shower for Joseph and Kayla. The few days intertwining those events comprised milestones of their own. Burke finally started peeing in the toilet consistently, and simultaneously inspired Blythe to start using her baby toilet a couple of times a day. And then there were the two  “dark days” where the kids were housebound due to the weather and managed to pull up half of our FLOR carpet tiles in the hallway (rearranging them in their own manner); I found the boys several times naked or in their Marvel briefs jumping on random pieces of furniture; Liam pooped (an adult-sized amount) in Blythe’s little potty; and Burke (playfully, but in full force) punched Mark in the face while Mark was reading to him.  On one of those evenings, when Kristen asked Burke what he had done that day, he responded plainly, “I got wots of spankings.”

Unfortunately, most of the month, I didn’t have my camera. Fortunately, Kristen and Tim took some wonderful shots in Rockwall. Here’s some pictures  to commemorate our August: