Happy 1st Birthday Chloe!

Happy birthday sweet Chloe! A year ago today you entered our family and have been such a blessing and a treasure to us. We just love your sweet spirit, your beautiful smile and infectious laugh. We have enjoyed seeing that little bit of "spunk" in your personality come through and how much you really love playing with your sister and Baracus. It is amazing to watch as you learned how to roll over and hold your head up, seeing you smile for the first time, learning how to sit up on your own, how to crawl, your first words, eating food for the first time, your first laugh, and just yesterday learning how to stand up on your own.

We thank God for you precious one and look forward to how God is going to use you and the talents he has given you. Happy birthday Chloe! Love always from Dada, Mama, KK and Baracus.

Little Miss Talker

Our little Miss is getting quite the cute personality as she nears the one year mark and one of the things that is coming through this past week is her interacting with the stuffed animals and dolls that we have around the house. This particular doll in the video is one that talks and she has found it very interesting! She started "talking" back to it and we got it on video. Very cute!

And our other little Miss is just bursting with personality as well! Just this morning she was watching Mary Poppins while I was making breakfast and the scene came on when Mary Poppins was measuring the kids and herself. I asked Kaley after the scene ended if Mommy was "practically perfect in every way" like Mary Poppins is and she was quick to say "No mommy!" much to my dismay. But then afterwards she followed up with "Only Mary Poppins is perfect". True enough! She is quite the character!

Old MacDonald and the Bible

What do these two have in common you ask? Well, let's Kaley instead. She was singing to herself the other day and this is what she sang:

"E-I-E-I-O
Yes that's the book for me,
I stand alone on the Word of God,
E-I-E-I-O"

Yep, that's our girl!

The Orange Experiment

Kaley is always thinking, watching, observing and taking everything in around her. Tonight was no exception! We always know that something is happening when it is quiet for a few moments. I walked into the kitchen and this is what I saw. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

And the inspiration of all of this:

Like I said, always thinking, watching, observing and taking everything in around her!

Our Almost New Backyard

When we first purchased our house almost four years ago, there was a "creek" running through the back of the property which we thought would be fun to have and we'd build a bridge across it and plant a garden on the other side. Well, we quickly found that that wasn't going to be the case because of some limitations that the city put on the land. Along with that, we found out that our "creek" was quite unsafe during a rain storm and it was a popular place for kids to play in when it was dry. To make a long story short, the city and the developer decided to make some changes to the creek and we would be able to fence in our yard and be done with it!

The work started mid June and went quite quickly. It was great entertainment for us and Kaley would sit out on the deck and chat with the workers as they walked by. What we didn't count on was gaining and much bigger backyard than what we had. They were a couple of days away from being done and were going to sod our new backyards when we had a HUGE rain storm that dumped a TON of water all at once. The force of the water moving through the creek shifted the cement tiles they had used to line the creek and thus creating a BIG problem.

So, right now everything is at a stand still until they can figure out how to move forward and we are left with a vision of what our yard will be, but have to wait a little more to see it finished. We keep telling ourselves that we have already waited three years for this to be done- so what is a couple more weeks of waiting?

Here are a few photos of the progress!

Our old back yard with the creek

Kaley keeping a watchful eye on everything!

Our "new" back yard:

The Ministry of Motherhood"

For Mother's Day this year, I received a book titled "The Ministry of Motherhood" and it has quickly become one of my favorite books to read. Here is an excerpt from today that really hits close to home:

"As mothers, we have the hearts and the trust of our children from the earliest moments of their lives, and they need us for so many reasons. They naturally look to us for physical sustenance, protection, affection. Deep in their hearts, however, they also long for a special place to belong, a place to feel their worth, and they need us to help them find it. These precious children were designed to fulfill a purpose for God by bringing his glory to bear through their lives. They were designed to be his hands, his voice, his heart and mind through the various kinds of work they undertake in his world."

LOVE IT! I can't think of a better reason for being parents. Even though this book is primarily focused on moms, this particular quote is equally important for dads as well.

For my mom friends out there, if you are looking for a good read this summer, I encourage you to try this book!

The Ministry of MOtherhood