End of June--babies, slugs, and a drive-in

We made it home safe from the Outer Banks and finished off June just doing summer-y things.

The kids all think Valerie is the best thing ever and will fight over who gets to hold her.

This girl is gonna grow up tough, if she survives the "love" of 5 older siblings.

Lexi has discovered a love for being naked and in true Glass fashion spends the majority of her day in as little clothes as possible. Hey, if you can't run around topless as a two-year-old I don't know when you can.

I love watching her explore and discover little things that are perhaps commonplace for me but neat for her. Seeing the world through her eyes helps me appreciate the beauty and wonder I too often take for granted.

I love this phase. Lexi may have developed a few crazy tendencies lately, but her sweetness still shines through.

I love this sassy, crazy, sweet, snuggly girl of mine!

Jude is such a good big brother.

Lexi loves to "hold" Valerie. I think she means to snuggle, but often times her holding looks more like smothering.

Being "replaced" by a sister you adore produces complex feelings--all too often expressed by hugs that turn into headlocks, or caresses that become slaps and pinches. I think Lexi will work through her love/hate relationship and these girls will become good friends. I hope.

Cole started Occupational Therapy once or twice a week to help him focus at school and develop coping strategies for some of his "struggle areas". It's been going well and I can tell its helping a lot with things like coordination and also helping us put a name and description to some of the things George and I have noticed over the years. For example, we learned he's sensory seeking (which makes perfect sense since he's always wanting to touch and feel everything, even his food when he eats it) and that he has trouble tracking objects with his eyes. The therapist thinks this is one of the root causes of his acting out at school and misbehavior. Frustration that he can't focus properly, or that simple tasks like reading a line in a book requires more effort and patience than maybe that of your average 6-year-old. It's been insightful and helpful for us as we struggle to help him have success in school.

Anyway, he drew these pictures for the therapist during a session and I thought they were pretty neat:

(Ignore the grease stain, compliments of children)

That's the muffin from the song "Muffin Time" on YouTube, Cole's current favorite thing.

I love that Cole likes to draw.


Valerie continues to be more and more expressive. She is seriously the BEST baby.

She still feels so tiny.


We love having buddies over to play! I'm glad our kids have friends in the neighborhood! We love the Sawyers.

Every time we pass by Kohr's Brothers the kids beg to stop and get ice cream. We usually only go when it's 5 cent cone day, but we made a special exception one day. The kids were in heaven!

Lily decided I needed some sprucing up and decorated me with some stickers. Love this crazy girl! She's really growing up and I've been impressed with her attitude and willingness to be helpful on some days. Most days she's as crazy as ever, but I'm beginning to see a switch. It's exciting.

Lexi found this old, dried out slug one day and brought it to me, proudly exclaiming, "Poop!"

Not sure why she chose to pick it up if she thought it was poop, but if she's anything like Lily, the gross factor won't stop her doing what she wants.

Valerie is going to be a daddy's girl, I can already tell.

I think they like each other.


One day, George planned a fun trip to Mint Springs followed by a movie at the drive-in. We had such a good time! The only thing that would have made it better was having Lance around. He was spending most of the summer in California with his Dahlquist family. I know he was having a blast with his cousins, but we sure missed him!

The kids tried and tried to catch the little fish that kept swimming close to shore.

At the Goochland Drive-in to see Incredibles 2!

This was our first time trying out the drive-in. They had a couple movies playing on one screen where you parked your cars, but our movie was playing in the grass where we could spread out our blankets and camping chairs. It was really neat! The food was cheap and delicious and the movie was really good. All the kids enjoyed it.

Love my family!

Scott and Abbey did a great job sending me pictures of Lance from California. Here he is at the San Diego Temple with his family:

Lance and his cousin Clare: