Highlights of the Summer So Far

We have already had such a great summer already and we are only a month into it. I have already mentioned some of them on the blog, but here are some more of the highlights from June:

1. A just because trip up to see my family the first week of June.

2. Vacation Bible School- Bailey and I joined Ali and Owen at Austin Bible Fellowship for VBS! I signed up as a crew leader in charge of traveling with a group from station to station and Bailey got to go with the youngest preschool group. I had forgotten how much I loved working with 4th and 5th graders. Bailey did well considering her age, and I think it helped that Owen was in her group. We are still singing her favorite songs from the week.

3. This may seem silly, but I am loving the Half Price Books Summer Reading Program. Basically you keep a reading log for the week, and earn a $3 coupon. If your interested in doing it or want all the details, then you can get more info here: www.halfpricebook.com/feed_your_brain.html. So far this summer we have added 11 new books to our collection.

4. Last week Grandpa Robert (Luke's dad) came down for a visit. It had been about a year since we had last seen him and we fit in as much as possible, including fishing, long range shooting, and lots of family time. Sadly, I realized after the weekend was over that I took a total of 6 pictures the entire weekend. Even sadder was the fact that none of them were of the kids with Grandpa. Not sure what I was thinking, but I am so glad Kyle and Ali took pictures and shared them with us. Here are a few of our favorites:

Bailey fishing at Uncle Doug's dock. Owen caught a fish pretty quickly, and I think Bailey thought the secret was in his pole so she wanted to give it a try, however she just didn't have the patience. Does that really surprise anyone?

Cousin Time


Later that day we headed out to the Ranch where Luke, Kyle and their dad shot guns. This was some serious business!

A trip around the ranch to look for deer. Bailey of course had to take her gun which is really a lighter just in case she saw something.

Grandpa with sons and the oldest grandkids

Me with the sweet little ones- Blake and Becca

Later in the trip, Luke and his dad headed off for two days to Lake Livingston for some real fishing. None of this catching 2 fish business like at Uncle Doug's dock. They came back with 10 quarts of fillets!

5. We spent last weekend in Port Aransas. Franny had rented a condo and invited us and the other Mezger family to come for the weekend. The time went by way too quickly and could have stayed there alot longer.

The night we got there Franny stayed with Blake while we went and watched the sunset

Blake spent most of his morning naps beachside

Bailey playing with Luke and Kyle's dump truck that they used to play with at Port A. Very nostalgic for Franny.

Some new favorite pictures of Blake

Pretty much every beach trip I have ever taken with Luke we have buried him in the sand, except this one. That's okay- Bailey and Owen let us bury them.

Bailey did alot more playing in the sand as oppossed to the trip back in May. Owen's new Bob the Builder toys might have helped with that.

Gettin' dirty with Nana. I think Owen told me they were doing mud baths.

I am not sure if the rest of the summer can top the first part. These are the days...

Diego

We think Bailey might have the beginnings of an imaginary friend. This friend is a tiger and his name is Diego. Here's what I know: This is not your usual tiger because Diego changes colors. He is usually green and blue, but you never know what other color he might be. He is also not always a nice tiger because he scares Bailey alot. Out of no where Bailey will just run and jump on Luke or I and say that the tiger's goin' get me. This usually leads to us asking where the tiger is, and what color he is today. The only other thing we know is that he lives in our backyard and spends most of his time by Luke's shed and the big tree that overhangs our back yard. This has been going on now for a couple of months, so we'll see where this goes...

"Store Story" (meaning Toy Story)

We have waited a long time for the new Toy Story movie. Toy Story 1 & 2 would probably rank just below Cars for Bailey. Last night we went with our good friends Kaite and Emmy to see Toy Story 3 and it did not disappoint. It definately kept us on our seats, and even scared us a little, but ended well. I can't believe how well Bailey and Emmy did for their first movie in a theatre. They both sat so still that Katie and I were moving them around because we had sweat spots where they were sitting. So my only question is when did movie tickets go to $10? I know this will make me sound old, but don't you remember the good old days of $4 and $5 movie tickets?

Anyways, to start the party off Bailey got Emmy a new t-shirt to wear, and Emmy got Bailey a new Buzz sippy cup. Bailey picked out her own shirt, which was royal blue so she did accidently get called a boy at the theatre. Oh well, it had "Hoody" aka Woody on it and that's what mattered. Here are the girls all ready to go in!

We were all so excited, and I had forgotten how long previews can be. I can't tell you how many times Bailey asked "store story coming?"

To end the evening we had Alien cupcakes. I got inspired by a picture of these in a parenting magazine and decided it would make the evening fun.

Thank you Disney Pixar! We are eternally grateful!

Time For A Little Blake

Blake is now 3 1/2 months old and such a sweet little boy, although my biceps and a scale will tell you that he is not so little anymore. Not sure his exact weight I just know that we are already in some 6 month old clothing. The only time we really hear him cry is when he is hungry or tired, which if you remember he was not like this a couple of months ago. Around our house he is known as either baby Blake, Bwake or Bwakey all given to him by his big sister.

Here are some things that he is doing right now:

* still loves the Bumbo chair

* still likes be held where he can see what's going on around him and likes to keep an eye on mommy and daddy

* has just recently starting grabbing at things, which means he can now pull the animals off the velcro in his bouncy chair, but that also means that he has found my hair and daddy's chest hair

* we just found out that he is ticklish under his chin and we love to make him laugh

* loves to suck on his fingers

* tolerates tummy time, but doesn't love it

* bathtime is still a favorite activity

* usual sleep schedule is 9:30- 6ish with 2 long naps in the day

* and our favorite is that he LOVES to smile. his face seems to light up the second he spots one of us, even Bailey

Okay, now for pictures

Bailey + Paint = A LOT OF FUN

So I thought it would be fun to paint the house




and when I came back in from a quick trip inside the house, I found this

Sunday's Best

I got ask recently if Bailey ever wears dresses. Bailey- our outdoor lovin', go hard or go home, loves to get dirty, whose favorite toys are cars, kinda a little tomboy. That Bailey? Wear a dress? Of course! Later I was thinking about that and realized that we do only put her in dresses for church and that only lasts until naptime. So I can see where some people would think that. Anyways, thought I would share a picture of Bailey from this morning.

Songtime with Bailey

Bailey is not one to really show off so I totally took advantage of her letting me catch her singing on camera. I also got Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but for some reason blogger isn't wanting to upload it. Anyways, enjoy ABC's and Jesus Loves Me.

Introducing...

Mwaramutse! Good morning in Kinyarwanda (the official language of Rwanda).

A couple of months ago, I felt compelled to look into child sponsorship. I didn't have a specific reason other than that it would provide alot of opportunities for discussion with Bailey and Blake about what's going on in other countries around the world and compassion for others. I thought that each of our kids could kinda of adopt another kid from another country by sending letters, packages, and praying for them. Interestingly that same week Alison (my sister-in-law) had also just had a conversation with Kyle about that same thing. Then it was 2 Sundays later that we were at church with them and sure enough a group called African New Life Ministries was there offering child sponsorships to children in Rwanda. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyways, we decided to sponsor two children. One in honor of Bailey and one in honor of Blake. When the kids get older we want to let them pick out a kid themself, but for now since they are so young we did this for them. So, introducing...

Jane

AND

Emmanuel

"You can't change the world, but you can change the world for one." -Charles Buregeya