Happy Birthday Mommy!

It was fun making your cake.  If we are wild and crazy it is because the frosting also decorated the inside of our tummies!

Emma Starts Kindergarten

 Today I went to Kindergarten for the first time.  I am so excited.  I like my teacher Mrs. Pashky so far and my friend Aubryn is in my class too. 

 

Reflecting on Foster Parenting

We were foster parents for one month for two little siblings, a three year old boy and a one year old girl.  Our home was full of energy and noise as we had five kids five years old and under.  These sweet children arrived at our home on July 4th at three in the morning and left our home August 1st.   I was quite impressed how our own children embraced two more kids and showed them love, shared their toys, and played well together.  Emma was such a great help with the one year old.  She enjoyed feeding her with the bottle and putting her pajamas on. 

It was amazing to see how God orchestrated everything for these two beautiful children.  Here they had no family of their own and at the same time a pastor and his wife who so much wanted children of their own were preparing for adoption in a process that usually takes several months to match the perfect family together.  Within one month God prepared this couple to be certified, able to drive down from Northern California to be introduced and be able to take home two precious children to be theirs.  I feel so blessed that we got to see first hand how God cares so much for us, even two little orphans who were too young to express in words their fears, hurts, and anxiety; and also a couple who so longed for children of their own. 

Uncle Eric and Aunt Beccy Visit

This is our Uncle Eric and Aunt Beccy.  We miss them a lot.  They live in Tennessee now.  We were very happy to have them come and visit.  They play with us and chase us around the house.  We hope they come again soon.

Playdate with the Stone Kids

This is the only way to play on hot summer days.

 

These two boys are 5 weeks apart.

These two girls were in preschool together and now they will be in the same kindergarten class.

 

Brandon Turns Two

Brandon is 30 pounds and is 34 inches tall.  He is only four pounds lighter than his brother.  He really likes tractors right now.  He gets very excited when he sees one on the road.  His favorite color is green, but his siblings insist it is red. He is starting to talk more, his only sentence is thank you though unless he is copying everyone else.  He likes to use one word or grunt because it takes less effort.  He already is almost potty trained!  I am quite surprised by that.  He has caught on by observing his siblings.  He wants to be a big boy just like them. 

 

 

Camping in the Sequoias

We camped at the Lodgepole campground for 4 days.  The first day we decided to hike along the river from the campground. 

 

The second day we decided to hike along the same trail that Daddy often hikes.  We thought it was quite special to pretend we were just like Daddy the real backpacker.

 

 

 Here Daddy is showing us where the trail continues and how he hiked all the way to the mountains in the distance.

 We even got to see Tharp's Cabin made from hollowing out a log.

...and a tunnel log that our car fits through just fine.

On Day 3 we decided to go to  see the biggest living tree General Sherman and some other huge fallen trees.

 

On our forth day we saw deer in our campground and later a bear as we were driving around sightseeing.