Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Last Days of Summer Break

Friday, August 3rd~
My mom's best friend Terri came down to spend the day with us.  She brought lots of rocks for the girls to decorate and hide around our community. We took a trip out to our favorite Amish bakery to pick up a bunch of goodies. But mostly, we just took the opportunity to have a quiet day and talk about all of Terri's fun adventures traveling through the south. 
That's Terri helping Bria. She's the cutest grandma you will ever meet. ☺
Terri brought new headbands for Juan and one happened to match her shirt!

Saturday, August 4th~
Brielle & Beilyn went with me to Bridgette's bridal shower. Bridgette is Alex's cousin and was our miniature bride back in 2002. ♥  She was the same age as Brielle is now, which means in another blink of our eyes, Brielle will be the one getting married!
A big difference from 14 years ago! ~ This was the night we told Alex's family we were expecting a baby for the 1st time! I had been wearing a "prayer bracelet" for months and Bridgette always wanted to know what was inside the little charm box. So on this night, I told her she could peek inside. When she pulled out the tiny piece of paper, she read "baby?!!" ♥ 


Sunday, August 5th~
Guilty (but oh so cute!) of sneaking a drink of mommy's pop!
Sleeping in mommy's arms through church. (If only she would every Sunday...☺)
Our Little Lady Leila. She's almost 15 and much slower than her younger days.
That evening, we made new friends! When I learned a new family in town had a daughter from China who was only 2 months younger than Brynna, we invited them for dinner! They recently moved here from Wisconsin.


Monday, August 6th~
"Last days of summer" is another good excuse for an ice cream stop. We have all kinds of excuses. 😉🍦
Then we went to the library to grab some books about going to Kindergarten.
Meet the Teacher Night! Beilyn was fired up!
All 3 of these girlies live on our street and are in the same class!
Her teacher is Mrs. Knepp! Brielle loved her and I know Beilyn will too!
Her cousin Brock is in another Kindergarten class, but he told his mommy that he will keep an eye on Beilyn and help her if she needs anything. ♥
And how cool is this? Beilyn's friend Brennan lived with a foster family right across the hall from her foster family and now they are starting Kindergarten together, along with his sister Sadie. Only God! 
Brielle is in 2nd grade!
She was thrilled to see they have binders this year! ha! Somehow, a binder makes her feel older.
Her teacher is Mrs. Wade. She was Braylee's 5th grade teacher but moved down to 2nd this year. We are excited to have her again!


Tuesday, August 7th~
After Beilyn's spinal cord surgery last winter, her neurosurgeon said she could try gymnastics. It makes me a little nervous but our girl needs some heavy exercise to help with her ADHD and sensory needs. She was more timid at first than I expected but loved it!
All 4 of the older girls have now worn this leotard for their 1st gymnastics class. The difference is the older 3 were only 2.5 years old! Beilyn is almost 6 but she's tiny!
She took some convincing to jump in that big foam pit the first time, but then we could barely get her out of it!

I spent the first half of summer break in a jet-lagged fog and now it's suddenly time to go back to school! Time passes a little faster every day!

Sunday, August 5, 2018

3 months a daughter ♥

Three months a daughter looks good on her! ♥

One of my favorite pictures of her to date. ♥

Friday, August 3, 2018

Bible Memory Camp 2018

Despite the rain, we had a great week at Bible Memory Camp! Brynna was a camper, I was the nurse, Braylee babysat and helped Gramma in the kitchen, and the little girls tried winning over all the counselors with their cuteness. We took the RV up to stay in again.
Sunday after church before we left for camp. 
Last week, I was painting the upstairs bathroom and *might* have fallen on the side of the bathtub. My klutziness resulted in a pretty sore foot for a few days. We decided at the last minute to take our golf cart along to camp since my foot hurt, but because of the rainy weather, we were even more thankful to have it. 
It was fun having Gramma there in the kitchen all week.
Everybody is smitten with baby Juan.
Sweet Beilyn. She loves to be extra close to mommy, even if it means resting on my back while I'm working on the computer.
People often comment on how different their hair is. Brielle's is very thin and brown with blonde highlights in the summer. Beilyn has thick, shiny black hair. We tell her all the time that she has the best hair in the family! 
THREE months she has been ours!
I loved watching her walk barefoot on the concrete that she wouldn't have done just a few weeks ago and how she interacted with all of the kids but would grunt and reach for mommy if she felt apprehensive about someone getting too close. ♥ And that cute little nose under those long eyelashes... So pretty!
Just a little excited about some screen time.
She made herself a recliner. ☺
Maybe a little too much lip gloss. 
Sack lunch picnic on the last day of camp.
Headed home after a fun week!