Another one bites the dust!

Katelyn lost her third tooth!  It was one of her front teeth, and it had been pretty loose.  When I went to pick her up from Vacation Bible School, she flashed her smile (minus one tooth) and said with much excitement, "Look mom!  My friend accidentally knocked my tooth out at snack time!"  She was holding her tooth and a quarter in a ziploc bag (the quarter was from her teacher!).   Her teacher said there was lots of blood, but no tears!  Way to be brave, Katelyn! 

Family Summer Vacation!

We went on a week-long family vacation in Canyon Lake, TX at the end of June and had such a great time!  Thanks to the generosity of one of Dave's colleagues, we had a free place to stay in a condo at a resort overlooking the lake.  Katelyn and Anna stayed with Mamaw and Peepaw in Austin the first night while mommy and daddy went on down to "scope everything out" and have a date night to themselves!  We all met up the following evening in New Braunfels for dinner and took the girls to the resort from there.  We spent the first day hanging out at the resort which included a walk down to the lake, playing mini golf and shuffleboard, swimming at the pool, enjoying the playground, playing games at the arcade (Katelyn hit the "jackpot" on one of the kids games and won 125 tickets!), eating a special ice cream treat, and topping it all off with a family movie night watching Curious George and cuddling up on the couch munching popcorn and M&Ms!  

  View from our balcony

Deer at the bottom of our building

 

 Who loves Blue Bell?

Jackpot!

 Playing shuffleboard

 Playing mini golf.  Note: Anna figured out that you can get a hole-in-one every time if you just walk up and drop the ball in the hole.  Genius!!

 Katelyn and Anna enjoying the pool

 Daddy and Anna walking back from the lake

 Collecting shells at the lake

  Katelyn and Anna enjoying the playground

The next day we went to SeaWorld and made the most of our time there by playing at the water park (Katelyn even went down some "big girl" slides with Daddy while Anna and Mommy enjoyed some of the smaller slides) and seeing a few shows, including the famous Shamu and a new show called Elmo Rocks! The girls were amazing, and we all had so much fun together! 

 Katelyn going down the slide by herself!

 Daddy and Anna going down the slide!

 Shamu Show

 Elmo Rocks Show

  

What a day!

We drove into New Braunfels on our last day and swam in the Comal River.  It was so refreshing and cool on a hot summer day.
 

Our First Lemon"aid" Stand!

...and definitely not our last!  

Katelyn informed me before the summer began that there were two things (among many others) she wanted to do this summer: 1) Have a lemonade stand, 2) Give backpacks to kids at an orphanage in China. We are all about efficiency in our household, so we combined the two and raised money to buy the backpacks by doing a lemon"aid" stand!  

Sidenote: Katelyn and I recently ran across a  TV show where a family visited an orphanage in China and donated backpacks.  The particular orphanage to which we are donating the backpacks cares for special needs children and is the one at which I volunteered on a weekly basis when Dave and I lived in China. 

So we set up our lemonade stand on Saturday, June 15 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. in front of her soon-to-be elementary school, McAuliffe Elementary, and we sold a cup of lemonade and two cookies for $1 (like a combo deal!).  We borrowed the lemonade stand from some neighbors down the street (who we found out go to our church!), and all the homeade cookies were donated by friends (close to 11 dozen total!).  Katelyn and I arrived in the front of the school a little before 10 a.m. and set up our lemonade stand.  At first, as she waved to people driving by, she became frustrated when they didn't stop or wave back.  We had a quick talk about how our job was to spread the joy of the Lord, and that as long as we were doing our part, God was in charge of who stopped and who drove by....and sure enough, our first customer stopped shortly after that.  I was almost brought to tears just seeing her excitement.  Among other noteworthy visitors we had were a policeman, a mailman, and a young woman who is leaving on July 4 to serve in China long-term.  Katelyn also received plenty of support and encouragement from her friends who stopped by.  There were people we had never met who just stopped by to donate money.  One family in particular from our church (who are preparing to serve as long-term missionaries in India) made a special $20 donation.  You'll have to read the story of where it came from.  The Lord gave us a beautiful day with cloud coverage, a big shade tree to stand under, a nice breeze, and plenty of traffic flow!  After all was said and done, we were able to collect $150 in donations to go toward buying backpacks for the children at the orphanage...which, wouldn't you know, is the exact amount that Katelyn estimated when I asked her, "How much money do you think we made today?" as we were packing up all our stuff to head back home.  God is good!  Our next step is to actually purchase the backpacks before sending them off with Dave on one of his two trips to China this summer (one in late-July and one in late-August) where he will connect with the orphanage's volunteer coordinator.  We are very much looking forward to that!

Another sidenote: In an effort to multiply the effects of the lemon"aid" stand fundraiser, and even more importantly, to give other kids an opportunity to participate in a meaningful service project “just their size,” we sent out an e-mail to Katelyn's friends and invited any children (and their parents!) who wanted to be a part of this cause to set up a lemonade stand in their own neighborhood to raise money for the backpacks.  We had one other family join our effort, and they had their lemonade stand at a park not far from where they live a few days before we had ours. They made $50 in an hour and a half!  Another family was inspired by the idea and used their lemonade stand to raise money for the wife's sister and her family who were affected by the tornadoes in Granbury, TX not long ago.  I love it when the Lord's plans come together...as they always do!

 

   Since one of our friends wasn't in town on the "cookie donation day," she made some cookie dough ahead of time and gave it to Katelyn to make, along with a really sweet note.

This picture series of Katelyn writing the lemonade signs is one of my favorites!  I wrote in pencil and she traced over it.

 

  All of the cookie donations! What a blessing!

  Katelyn and Anna working together to bag up the cookies (and not eat them...at least in this picture!)

We enjoyed seeing and visiting with friends who stopped by!

 

Daddy and Anna came to encourage us too (and get some lemonade and cookies, of course)!

Who better to do the final tabulation than Daddy? :)  At the end of our three hours at the lemonade stand, the Lord blessed us with $150 in donations!

Trip to Great Granny's in Houston!

During one of Dave's recent business trips, I decided to take the girls to see my Granny (their Great Granny) in Pearland (just south of Houston) for a couple of days.  It was such a fun time!  We got to see my Uncle Todd and Aunt Toni too!  We went swimming, shopping at Super Target (the girls each got to pick out a toy from Great Granny), playing at the park, eating lunch at a cute tea room, and just hanging out at the house.  Thanks for a great visit Granny!  We love you and appreciate your hospitality!

 Granny bought the girls these matching dresses a couple months ago.  I can't believe this is the first matching outfit they have ever owned!  They look so cute together!

 Thank you for lunch at the Charleston Tea Room Uncle Todd and Aunt Toni (AKA Great Todd and Great Toni)!

 Great Granny and Katelyn spent time making their own crossword puzzle.  What a creative thing to do with a bucketful of foam letters!

 Great Granny treated us to TCBY frozen yogurt!  The girls got to pick out their own yogurt flavor and toppings (and I did too!)...no sharing or anything!  What a treat!

Super shopping spree to Super Target (courtesy of Great Granny)!  Katelyn=princess cash register; Anna=baby doll with pacifier attached. CHA CHING!

 Anna enjoying both her and Katelyn's purchases!

Sister's Day

Over a year ago (shortly following Mother's Day and Father's Day) Katelyn decided that there should be a Sister's Day, and she announced that it would be May 28.  So we marked the calendar for the following year, and last month we celebrated our first annual sister's day.  I wasn't quite sure what it would look like, but it turned out to be a day of being considerate of the things your sister liked, enjoyed, or wanted....a beautiful day, indeed!  We topped the day off by watching a movie they have both been wanting to watch--Bambi.  I think they liked the music more than the movie itself!  So here's to sister's day...the first of many more to come.

Sweet picture taken one week after Anna was born...and the cuddling hasn't stopped since (although the "cuddling" has appeared a little more harsh at times)

Happy Graduation!

Katelyn graduated from preschool last month.  She is officially a kindergartener as of this Fall!  We are so proud of her.  At the class graduation ceremony, each student received an award from the teacher specific to his/her "giftings."  Katelyn received the "always joyful heart" award (see video below).  We also learned that her favorite thing about Pre-K was numbers and counting (she must get that from Daddy!), and that when she grows up she wants to be an artist!  As a special treat, I took Katelyn and her friend Reese to Sonic on our way home from school.  We love you Katelyn, and we look forward to seeing how the Lord continues to grow you (and are so thankful for the ways in which He already has!).

 Walking "the stage" with her class graduation gifts (a Bible and a cute T-shirt pictured below)

 Katelyn and her teacher, Ms. Tiffany

 Katelyn and one of her favorite friends, Rowan, from class

 Sonic celebration!

Katelyn's teacher presenting her award