my little budding artist

2nd grade, how can it be?

I can't believe my first baby is in second grade.

It is incomprehensible.
Everyone, everyone, EVERYONE says it -
and that's because it's true.
They grow up WAY too fast!

He had a great first day!
He was nervous that the work would be too hard,
but came home telling me it was easy. :-)
He was Jesus to one of his friends at school today.
That makes me prouder than the work that he does, honestly.

Here's some proof that he is growing up WAY too fast!

Kindergarten Aug 2009 vs. 2nd Grade Aug 2011

We as his family love him so much and are so proud of him!
Be warned that I look half asleep in these pictures (not a morning person).

His table (for about 10 minutes :).

I found out after school that he was moved to another table
to be with a friend who was having a hard time.

He is a good, sweet friend.

With his new teacher, Ms. Dowell.

Ready for the day!

And of course we had our traditional after-the-first-day-of-school ice cream!

What a silly second grader!

I'm glad this day is over. It makes me nervous as well! :-)

all of our last minute fun

I am so, so sad that today is our last day of summer vacation. I don't like change and so sending Elijah back to school for 8 hours every day is really hard for me to adjust to again. We just really enjoyed our fun summer. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a referral - other than that, it was perfect! We crammed as much fun as we could into this past week while my mom was in town and seeing how it was our last week before school starts. We did the water park on Monday, Legoland/Aquarium on Wednesday, swimming on Thursday and Putt-Putt on Saturday. We had a blast and I'm sad it's all over, but on to the routine I guess! Here are some pictures of our last minute fun:

Jason took off to go to Legoland with us on Weds,
and my mom brought my sister's kids as well so it was a full, fun day!

Special cousins Kristopher and Jonathan.

A completely Lego Dirk at his actual height I believe.

Cowboy's stadium and the city of Dallas made of Legos.

They of course did lots of building!

My sweet nieces, Katherine and Faith.

They did karaoke. Katherine has a beautiful voice!

Testing out the Lego cars they built on the car ramp.

And smiling before a ride!

I think this is his "To Infinity and Beyond" pose!

My nephew is very detail oriented with his building.

Then we decided while we were at Legoland to try out the aquarium right next door. I'm so glad we did - it was a lot of fun too. There was no flash allowed inside so some of the pictures are a little blurry.

And a couple of pictures from Putt-Putt yesterday.

And I guess that marks the end of our summer fun. :( Boo hoo. I will be crying tomorrow after we drop Elijah off at 2nd grade. But I will take pictures and post them. His teacher seemed to be very sweet, enthusiastic and on the ball at meet the teacher on Thursday night, and Elijah is excited to get started so those are all blessings to be thankful for.

livin' it up this week before school starts

longing and waiting...

As we are longing and waiting for our baby girl,
I never grow tired of watching these amazing adoption videos.
God sets the lonely in families,
and it is beautiful to watch.



*Millions of children just like this one are without food & water because of the worst drought in decades in the horn of Africa. I have added a button to the right if you would like to donate money to give them aid.

While I sit drinking my ice cold water and eating my lunch

Copied and pasted from this blog here:

"Many of you may not be aware because it has gotten little press over here, but Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are currently experiencing the worst drought and famine in decades - yes, even worse than Feed-the-world-let-them-know-it's-Christmas-time time.

A couple of weeks ago I read this article, and the images have haunted my motherheart ever since:


There are harrowing stories of people who have made the journey to Dadaab [a refugee camp in northern Kenya]. Some are raped and robbed along the way, others are chased by hyenas. One woman had six children, all of them too frail to walk. She was determined to get them to the camp, so she carried them two at a time, shuttling back and forth for the others she had left behind.


Another couple walked for 22 days with their sick baby daughter – no sooner had they arrived at the camp than the child died.

Africa is complicated. Foreign aid is complicated. But if I were feeding my children mud I wouldn't give a care about political theories.

Several adoptive families have banded together to help. Please visit their website and please donate to one of the organizations they have links to.

Adoptive Families for Famine Relief"

I am challenging everyone who reads this to go to that Famine Relief website and donate $10, just $10. That can add up very quickly.

another fun week at camp

We had another fantastic week at Camp of the Hills, this time with our special friends - the Burchfield's and Pittman's! The kids had a blast and the younger ones even had their own preschool camp every morning this past week with the camp assistants. No words this week for each picture - I'm just going to let them speak for themselves. :-)