Sarah loves her birthday suit. I'm having a hard time keeping clothes on this little girl. She is such a little wild woman! Here she is in her birthday suit + a diaper (which she takes off regularly).
If you know anything about my potty woes with Jolie you know that she waited until she was almost 38 months before she used the potty for the very first time! So needless to say, when Sarah started taking off her own clothes & diaper & sitting on the potty & actually tee teeing last week I could NOT believe my eyes! She has used the pottty at least once (usually more) all by herself with little to no assistance from me for an entire week. Sometimes I don't even know it is happening until she's finished & runs in saying, "I tee tee, Mommy, I tee tee!" Did I mention she hasn't even had her 2nd birthday yet? I'm not pushing her since she seems to have herself on a pretty good potty plan. Who knows what will happen, but I'm in total denial that she could possibly be potty training herself! She uses both the big & little potty, but here she is in action on the little potty:
Such a big girl!
One of Jolie's favorite things to do right now is draw. All the random paper around the house is driving Todd crazy :) I think she is actually pretty good. It's hard for me to throw her creations in the trash, but if I don't the paper might start pushing us out of the house SO I decided to start photographing some my favorites. Here are a couple recent drawings. She helped me label them so you know what everything is:
I thought this picture was too cute not to share. I love my girls. The big one & the little one.
I promise not to bore you with any more hula hooping videos after this one, but I just had to share that Jolie has found her rhythm and is dominating with her hula hoop. Here she is in action in her swim suit & in the sprinkler!
Sarah accomplished all of the following before noon today!
We love the Spence family! I'm keeping Hannah & Chloe tonight while their parents host an event for girls in our youth group. Hannah was demonstrating that she can pick up Jolie & I caught a really cute pic. Can you tell they are good friends?
There was a hula hoop contest at Callaway Gardens & Jolie was desperate to participate, but was unable because she cannot hula hoop. So a week or so ago we purchased a hula hoop & she has been practicing her heart out. She has improved SO much. Here she is showing off her new skill:
We did some painting earlier this week during one our rainy afternoons. Sarah LOVED painting & painted herself as well as the paper :)
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!):
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."
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! 
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...
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.
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!
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 are thankful for a fun backyard -
