We Have a Lot of Catching Up to Do!

Between the busy summer schedule, sickness, and running out of memory on my computer, I have taken way too long to write a new post! We have been having a great summer, with tons of traveling, friends, family, and swimming! So, here is our past month...

A Pattycake Praise Day...

Anna Lee loves Miss Pattycake. For those of you who don't know who she is, let me fill you in. I know her too well. Miss Pattycake is a lady who makes praise videos for kids. She wears a bright colored dress and hat, and sings very happy songs about praising Jesus. I really do love her music, and I think her songs are fantastic...but it is now burned in my brain. Because Anna Lee loves Miss Pattycake so much, we decided to take her to a live concert when she was in Dallas.

On our way to the concert, we told Anna Lee we were going to see Miss Pattycake. She really had no way of understanding what that meant, so she was very disappointed when we didn't "see Miss Pattycake" in the car on the dvd player. So here she is watching Miss Pattycake on the way to see the "real" Miss Pattycake.

Once the concert started, Anna Lee didn't know what to think. She spent the first half or so just like this, in Jim's arms. She couldn't seem to figure out why Miss Pattycake wasn't singing to her from a "ddd". (dvd) .

Halfway through the concert, she got it....and she LOVED it! She said "Pattycake" so many times and jumped right in with all the other kids. She was dancing in the aisles with complete strangers like they were her best friends.

It was so much fun to see her enjoy it so much!

Fun with Friends:

We have had so much fun playing with friends this summer! We have been swimming so many times, and Anna Lee has loved every minute she has gotten to be in the water with friends! Here are a few pictures from a swim party we had with friends from church.

Anna Lee has several kids at church who truly dote over her. She eats it up. MacKenzie is one of those sweet ones who loves on Anna Lee every minute she gets, and Anna Lee loves her right back! In the pool that day, they were taking turns wearing a pair of goggles. It was so sweet.

Several of my sister's good friends live in Dallas and have kids Anna Lee's age. We had a day of fun playing together earlier this month, letting Anna Lee and Ava get to know each other, and getting to love on Mr. Kanyon.

One of the biggest blessings to me of living in Dallas are that some of my closest friends from college live here too. I love the times that we get to spend together and when our kids get to play together...and then when they all take naps and we get to chat! My friend, Hayley, in the next picture, is truly Super Mom. She has a 2 year old and twin 6 month olds. And she handles it all with such grace. Ryan, on the left (who is for some reason very sad in the picture), belongs to my good friend, Julie, who lives very close to us. She and her husband are planting a church and I am so amazed at all they do to share Jesus with others. I have been so thankful to have a friend like Julie living so close to me. Here is a picture of our kids together one day that we all got together to swim. It was the best picture out of the 6 or 7 we took. I loved all the swim babies all lined up together!

Fun with Family:

Each year around the 4th of July, my grandmother's side of the family has their reunion in Abilene. Here is a picture of our line of the family at the reunion. It was so good to all be together, and especially to get to be with my grandmother.

Anna Lee fell in love with my cousin, Catherine, while we were there.Anna Lee later loved getting to be with Catherine's son, Clay. He is so sweet to Anna Lee, and even brought her this new orange hat and a new purse (that she carries everywhere now). Clay was the ring bearer in our wedding, and has gotten so old so fast!

Happy Late 4th of July!

We spent 4th of July weekend in Waco with Jim's parents. It was such a wonderful, relaxing day of swimming and even a movie at the theater for Jim and me... and an evening at Cracker Barrell to end it just right!

My sister, Kara has been living in Spain for a year, as I have written about before. She came home for a week from Spain, and moved the next week to Central America! She is now working for a non-profit organization called Samaritan's Purse, and is getting to do some great things in Honduras. We got some great visiting time in with Kara while she was home, and Anna Lee loved getting to be with her. Anna Lee and Kara have spent most of their time together talking over Skype on the computer, so it is always fun when they get to spend time in person!

Making music together...

All the girls together

Aunt Kasey has been a constant favorite this summer. We love when Kasey is out of school! We play, shop, eat, swim, watch movies, the list can go on and on! We have had so much fun this summer with her! We will miss her when school starts again!

So that's our past month in a nutshell...and to top it off, we are now almost potty trained!

There's Nothing Like a Mommy Party!

Jim's mom had the most wonderful "Mommies Birthday Party" for Lacy (Jim's sister) and me this week. It could not have been more fun! The party was a gift from GranDee and the kids to each of us. We had a lovely lunch, presents, cards, swimming, and ice cream cake to top it off.

GranDee, thank you so much for making the day so special for us!

The ice cream cake was a hit!

Anna Lee and her cousin Kasen are about 9 months apart. They had so much fun together while we were in Waco! Kasen worked so hard to make Anna Lee laugh, and she thought he was the funniest person alive. They were one funny pair!

Jim's mom painted this rocking chair for Jim when he was a little boy. This week was the first time that Anna Lee has been able to ride it on her own. She didn't quite get it at first, but quickly caught on. If you look carefully, you can see Jim's name painted on the side of the horse. What a special toy!

Thank you again, GranDee, for making our birthdays so fun and special!

Timeout

Just a funny Anna Lee story...

We have started using a corner in our hallway as a "timeout" spot when Anna Lee disobeys, throws a fit, etc. It has worked very well apparently. This morning, Anna Lee was throwing a fit because I wouldn't let her play with the camera. Jim said, "Do you need to go and finish your fit in timeout?" She stopped crying, walked over to her timeout spot, sat down, started crying again, stopped crying, stood back up, and walked away. She is too much.

What a great daddy!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Jim on Sunday. Talk about a great daddy! He is the best! We had grand plans of having a nice lunch at home as a family, but Anna Lee left church in the worst mood ever, and cried all the way home...so she was asleep during our Father's Day lunch. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Jim and Anna Lee over the past year and a half. It has been the most wonderful year and a half of our lives. I wouldn't want to be a parent with any other person in the whole world.

Jim and Anna Lee opened his Father's Day gifts together. In the picture below, they are looking at the "Daddy and Me" book that he has received the past two years. Each Father's Day, I have made him a continuing scrapbook of pictures of the two of them from the year. Anna Lee was much more interested in the pictures this year. Hopefully someday it can be a really special gift we give to her.
Jim also got a basketball goal as a gift so that he can teach Anna Lee to play basketball. It was Anna Lee's favorite gift! This picture didn't turn out as an "action shot" like I had hoped...but you can see the basket they are scoring together!
Hope you had a Happy Father's Day Jim! Anna Lee and I love you more than words can tell you. You are the most wonderful daddy...I think so, and so does Anna Lee!

Happy Father's Day on Sunday to our own dads. Without them, we wouldn't be the people (and the parents) who we are today.

Growing up so fast...

Anna Lee is learning so many new things so quickly! It is amazing how many words she is using and repeating. She is the most talkative little thing ever, and expects you to understand what she says. It is fun to slowly begin to understand the words that she has been using all along. This video clip is being posted in honor of my mom, who after 12 years as a Children's Minister, retired a couple of months ago. She taught so many children songs by Jana Alayra, and now Anna Lee is learning them too! The words of the song are : "Jump into the light, Run away from what's not right, Jump out of the dark, Run to Jesus and give Him your heart. He is the Light." There are motions that go with each of Jana's songs, and Anna Lee is apparently beginning to pick up on them. They aren't perfect, but you can see her being silly as she tries to jump, shake her finger at "what's not right," cover her eyes for "dark", raise her arms for giving Jesus her heart, and point and raise her arms for "He is the Light." What a joy it was to watch her dance along to the music tonight on her "stage."

Summer is Here!!!

Bring on the swimming....and the ice cream!!!

The Whirlwind of a Week- Beware...it's a lot of pictures!

We had the most wonderful, busy week. It started last weekend, when we went to East Bernard, Texas for Jim's family reunion. We look so forward each year to this weekend, where we get to spend time playing, swimming, eating, worshipping, etc. with friends who also happen to be family! This year was no exception! We had such a fun time with all of the cousins, aunts and uncles,and grandparents. Here is a shot of the third (out of 4) generation (with spouses).

Getting in some good swinging time with GranDee and Pops

Anna Lee loved getting to be with Jim's grandmother

I couldn't resist the swimsuit shot.

Getting a fast stroller ride from her cousin, Matthew

Girly cousins
Matthew and Uncle Jim

Getting some hugs from Jonathan and Jennifer.

Anna Lee fell in love with Jonathan over the weekend. They spent a lot of time together, and Anna Lee even shared her cake with him (one little handful at a time) at the end of the weekend. Jonathan was such a great sport!

Grandmother with Anna Lee and her first cousins

One of the most fun parts of the weekend was our "Field Day" games. Jennifer did such a great job of planning such fun events for us. Here is a shot of one of the teams during the human knot race. The water balloon fight was to follow.

So...from East Bernard, we drove to San Antonio and dropped Anna Lee off with my parents for the rest of the week. As much as we missed her, we had a great time as we headed off to Colorado Springs for the Air Force Academy graduation. Jim lived with a family the first year we lived in Nashville, and their son was in high school at the time. Hard to believe he is now in the Air Force! It was so special to get to be a part of the festivities during the week. We could not be more proud of him!!!

A picture of the chapel at the Academy...gorgeous!

President Bush spoke at the graduation ceremony on Wednesday. It was so neat to be there! We were very impressed that he saluted and shook the hands of all 1000 graduates. It was an extremely cold morning...especially sitting on bleachers in a stadium. But what an amazing event to be a part of!

President Bush on the big-screen
The Thunderbirds
We love you guys like family! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!


At the end of the trip, I got to go and see my friend Ginny. I was so excited to get to see her--and to get to see her new house...it was beautiful! On our way to her house, we stopped on the side of the road to take this picture...it was breathtaking!

So, as we headed back home, I spent a few days in San Antonio with my parents and Anna Lee. My mom and I took Anna Lee to the zoo for the first time, and had a hot, fun time.



What a week!!!