But somehow during the craziness I managed to chisel out a little bit of time to sew Emma this little summer dress. I found this pattern on sale for a $1 and had fun sewing something frilly and pink for my little princess.Isn’t she adorable…

I could hardly get her to stand still while I took this picture. She is little girl on the move!

We put on our red, white and blue clothes

Sunbathed, fished, swam, and generally enjoyed the beauty of Trinity Lake

Barbequed hotdogs and hamburgers and ate juicy, red slices of watermelon

We are so thankful for the freedom we enjoy and the men and women who fight to protect it!

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

Spencer helped Mommy inflate and fill up the kiddie pool.

After that we brought out the bubbles, water balloons, and squirt guns and we were set!

Emma was a little fish – she LOVED the water!

Time for ice cream…

The kids had such a fun time I’m planning on turning this into an annual tradition! I think it will be a fun way to create memories and special for them to look back on when they’re older.

What are your favorite Summer memories? When I think of summer as a kid I remember…

• Ice cream cones from Thrifty’s
• Swimming in our pool (we lived in our bathing suits!)
• Eating Otter-Pops
• Reading book after book while sitting out on the back porch
• Going camping with my family
• Working in the garden
• Barbequing
• More ice cream (did I mention that I LOVE ice cream!)
• Playing on the Slip and Slide at our friends
• Sunflower Seeds
• Helping mom set up a yard sale
• Blackberry picking and making jam

A few months back I did a post about how you can enjoy yummy Ethiopian coffee and help families bring home their waiting children. Now you have the opportunity to look really cool in one of these adoption tees or ball caps while helping the Dixon family raise the money they need to bring home their children from Ethiopia!

The Lord may not call all of us to adopt a child into our home but He does call all of us to support the cause of orphans. Let’s take advantage of opportunities like this one. Even if you can’t support the Dixon family financially, drop them a note or leave a comment on their blog – the adoption journey is so much easier when you are surrounded and encouraged by others along the way!

They have a wonderful selection of 5 different t-shirts and 3 baseball caps in a variety of fun colors.

>> Order Now!

Thankfully it was a clear day because the museum was laid out a bit different then I expected. It’s spread out into about five different buildings, each with a different theme. Tot Spot (for really little ones), Wave Workshop, Treasure Cove, Art Studios etc.

Spencer ran around like a wild man and absolutely LOVED it! There wasn’t quite as much for Emma to do but she still had fun.

Emma’s favorite part – sneaking bites of sand and bark when mom wasn’t looking…

Spencer creating and enjoying splashing paint everywhere!

We look forward to going back but next time we hope to get a group of cousins and friends to come along with us! By the way the first Wednesday of the month is free so if you live in the area I would recommend checking it out!

A few months ago we took Spencer to the doctor when he was coming down with a nasty cold. Our regular doctor wasn’t available so the one who ended up looking at Spencer discovered that his ears were so full of wax they needed cleaning before he could finish the check-up. This of course traumatized our poor sick little boy and he never wanted to visit the doctor again! Upon any mention of the doctor, Spencer would grab his ears and declare “ears, hurt, no doctor!”

But no more doctor visits isn’t really realistic at only three years of age, so during our next trip, this time with our regular doctor (Dr. Russell Tweet – who has been the Klein family doctor for over 20 years!), Aaron mentioned that the previous visit had left Spencer rather scared. Dr. Tweet left the room for a few minutes and then reappeared with a little bear dressed in doctor scrubs. He gave this as a gift to Spencer and then continued to show him how cool doctors really are! First he looked in my ear and then Spencer took a turn, continuing on with daddy until all the ears in the room had been fully checked.

I think this must have won Spencer over because now instead of “ears, hurt, no doctor!”, every time he gets the littlest scrape or owie he begs me to take him to the doctor! And during our latest visit for Emma’s one year check-up I could barely get a word in edgewise – Spencer talked Dr. Tweet’s ear off the entire time!

Who knows maybe Spence will grow up to become a doctor someday – for now I’m just grateful he’s no longer scared of going to the doctor. We’ll have to start working on a creative way to make the dentist appealing!

The numbers are staggering… 500,000 children in America’s foster care system…127,000 of those children waiting for adoptive homes.

Join with me and thousands across the nation as we set aside this week to specifically remember and pray for these precious children in foster care.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… ~Proverbs 31:8a

Visit FosterCarePrayerVigil.org to:

• Download a prayer guide
• Register a foster care prayer vigil
• See a map of vigils already scheduled in your area
• Learn about becoming a foster parent or about adopting a child from foster care
• Learn how to start a foster care and orphans ministry at your church
• Discover other ways God might use you in the lives of hurting children

A chilly morning walk…

Happy to be outside…

Making peanut butter bird feeders. Notice the peanut butter on the corner of his mouth – he was sneaking licks when mom wasn’t looking!

Being exceedingly cute…

Adopting is quite the roller coaster ride. You start off with the paperwork part, mountains and mountains of it, then you move on to the waiting part – which when you’re in it seems to go on for eternity and it’s hard to believe that it will ever come to an end. And on top of all of that you have the financial part – families somehow need to scrimp and save and come up with upwards of $20,000 to $30,000.

So when I see a way I can help a family in the thick of adopting, even in a small way, I jump at the chance! Having been through it twice myself I can say first hand that it’s not only a blessing financially it’s also a great encouragement to have others come alongside you and support you.

Please consider checking out these three friends who have come up with creative ways to raise money (it just so happens they are all adopting from Ethiopia!). These gifts would be perfect for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or any birthdays you have coming up.

Just Love Coffee: The DeVries Family

Just Love Coffee: The Dixon Family

Orphan t-shirts: The Picker Family

The Birthday Girl

Her party included a visit from Penney the Clown (who was supposed to come as a green fairy but somehow we got our wires crossed – oops!). She is a very cute clown who did a magic show for the kids (kept their attention for a good 30 minutes!) and made some very cool balloon creations.

We had lots of cute little fairy’s floating around…

Surrounded by presents – we have one spoiled (well loved!) princess…

Time for cake…