Rainy Day Fun

We did some painting earlier this week during one our rainy afternoons. Sarah LOVED painting & painted herself as well as the paper :)

CHEESE!

Painted from head-to-toe.

Mmmm...

Isn't she the custest?

Sweet friends

We had a very special treat the day after we returned from vacation - Josie & Caleb came to visit! They came & spent 24 whole hours at our house. It was so fun to see them! The girls had a great time together & Todd & Caleb enjoyed watching baseball together. I loved hanging out with Rachel! We wish we could kidnap them & bring them back to town, but I guess we'll let them continue to follow the call of God & let their daddy finish seminary. Here are the girls are snuggled in bed (notice Jolie's new room!):

Callaway Gardens

We've had a super fun week with my side of the family. Both Jolie & Sarah took part in day camp each day from 9am-3pm so it's been the ultimate vacation for me & Todd. We are headed back home in the morning. Here is a little glimpse of the fun we've had. They had a bbq & live music on Saturday night & Jolie put on quite the performance...enjoy!

We had met some little girls in the pool earlier in the day & their mom said, "Jolie, I saw you dancing. Do you take lessons?" To which she responded, "No, I made it up all by myself."

Happy 4th of July!

We are headed out early in the morning to vacation with my side of the family. My parents, sister, brother & their spouses will all be there! We are looking so forward to spending a whole week away with family. The girls will be traveling in their "American" dresses as Jolie calls them :) I'll post pics when we return!

She swims!

Jolie had a successful week of swimming lessons last week. I'm excited to report she is swimming! We went swimming today with some friends & she practiced her new skills. She refused to wear her goggles today & therefore refused to put her face in the water. She does even better when she puts her face down. She is doing great & her confidence in the water is growing! I was SO much more comfortable with her in the pool than I have ever been which is good since Sarah demands 100% of my attention in the water :)

Sarah tried out floaties for the first time. She is NOT scared of the water! She was running off the side into my arms. Fun, but frightening :) Here is her new look...

Classic

We went to a wedding tonight & I wanted to take a picture of the girls together in their super cute watermelon dresses & ended up with this:Uncooperative Jolie & Smiling Sarah. Classic.

It's so hot!

The girls & I are doing our best to beat the heat! We wait & wait for summer & then it gets too hot to play outside. We filled up the baby pool & cooled off this evening. Here are some pictures I took of my sweet girls. Excuse Jolie's bangs that need to be trimmed :)

BCM Director & Family Retreat

One of the highlights of our summer is always our annual BCM Director & Family Retreat. We went to a state park & spent a couple of nights with some really fun folks! When we are all together we have 17 kids age 7 & under! There were kiddos EVERYWHERE! Being with families that have the same, unique calling on their life is very special. We are so thankful God has called us to love & care for college students!

Jolie caught her first fish (actually her first 4 fish!):

Sarah trying out a lifejacket:

VBS Report

We had a wonderful time at VBS this week. I helped in the Kindergarten class & the girls each had a good time in their classes. All of the kiddos from 3 & up performed during the closing ceremony. Here is Jolie in action:

We love our backyard

We are thankful for a fun backyard -

Where we can eat our own yummy treats...

And swing high in the swing...

And grow yummy veggies!

Snow cones at Gran's house

We've been enjoying some R&R at Gran's house the past few days. We left Jolie behind to spend a few days at Gran's all by herself. She is looking forward to VBS & being spoiled :) It is already too quiet at our house! Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying snowcones on Friday afternoon. Yummy!

Photo shoot

Jolie was in the mood for a photo shoot last Sunday. Isn't she beautiful?

Too cute

I found this picture of Jolie on my camera & thought it was too cute not to share!

Garden update

I thought you'd all like to see how well our garden is growing! We discovered our first fruits growing today - very exciting!

The big picture (compare to day 1):

Zucchini:

Bell Pepper (one of many tiny little peppers!):

Cucumber (very tiny!):

Squash:

We love ice cream!

Jolie has been asking to go & get ice cream all week so we went for a cold treat tonight. Here are a couple of pictures from my phone.

Here is what a 20 month old looks like when she independently eats a kiddie cup of ice cream (there are too many cute ones to choose so I'm posting several):

The beautiful, big sis wearing less ice creamthan her sister:

Surprise! An Update!

I know you can't believe I am actually updating this blog! I can't believe what a slacker I've been. Todd & I were out of town for a week celebrating our 10th anniversary & we returned home only to leave town again. I'm finally getting back into a routine so hopefully more pictures will be coming your way. I haven't taken any new pictures recently so a couple from the beginning of this month will have to do.

Eating lunch outside. A fun treat.

Isn't she the cutest?

A dream come true

Jolie has been talking for weeks about going to "the BCM fountain." (aka: the fountain in the middle of the ULM campus) We went to eat with some college friends on campus today & the fabulous Mr. Parker took Jolie out to the fountain. Before we knew it they were both wet from head to toe. Jolie LOVED it! Thank you, Parker, we love you!

Our garden

We've been busy planting a garden (primarly veggies) this week. We are hopeful we are going to produce a crop this year.

Todd mixing up our soil.

Jolie posing in between helping us with the soil.

DIRTY Sarah.

Jolie using her watering can.

Our growing squarefoot garden.