Family Pictures

These were taken back in June by my very talented friend Jessica Bateman. I love the pictures of my girls, each of their personalities shines in their pictures, and I just love looking at them. They were taken at Happy Hollow Park.

Crown Braid

A few weeks ago, I did a crown braid in Adelynne's hair, and it turned out beautifully. I've done it before, but it has never turned out this well. I love doing her hair.

The perfect accessory for her hair:

She's Fabulous

Amy

Adelynne's 1st day of 1st Grade!

Adelynne started 1st grade on August 16th. Her teacher is Tammy Younts, and Adelynne really likes her, and is loving her classroom. I feel really blessed that Adelynne got the teacher that she did. I don't know any of the teachers at her school, and I wasn't really worried about who she would get. Her kindergarten teacher felt that Adelynne would do well with any of the teachers, but still gave us names of several teachers that she thought to recommend. But I didn't make any requests, and from what I have heard from others, Adelynne has found the treasure of first grade teachers! There are only two or three kids in her class that Adelynne had in her K class, but she is making friends with those around her. The first two weeks were a little difficult for her. When I asked her about her day she told me that no one would play with her and when she asked if she could play with other kids they told her to go away. My heart just broke for her tender spirit. (And yes I cried). I just couldn't believe that other kids wouldn't want to be her friend. After our prayers and prayers from many friends (thank you!), Adelynne found a friend. And then she found another and another friend. And now she talks about all of the kids she plays with. Actually this week, a new girl joined her class, and Adelynne just couldn't stop talking about having a new girl coming to her class. She was so excited for another new friend. Her challenges have been a great opportunity to teach her how important it is to treat other's kindly no matter how you are treated. Adelynne is really enjoying 1st grade. She loves to read, and she has been proudly telling anyone that is interested, or even if they are not, that she reads chapter books. She received two chapter books for her 6th birthday, and has been collecting more of them since. When she walks home from the bus, she is always reading one of her chapter books. I love seeing her enthusiasm for reading. She really does read very well, but we are working on better comprehension and retention. But I know it will come over time. All of her quizzes and tests she has done so far, she has received 100%s on. I realized the other day that she wrote her full name on her quizzes. I had not noticed right the first time looking at them because her middle name was not written correctly. But when I was showing my parents (via ichat), I laughed out loud at what she had written. This is what I saw she had written: "Adelynne I-ring Belt" Adelynne's middle name is "Irene." I love how she thought it was spelled by what it sounded like!

So grown up, so smart, so beautiful!

Waiting for Adelynne to catch the bus. She is the minority at her stop of 7-8 kids. Almost all of them are from Asian countries, and 1 or 2 of them from the middle east. I love the diversity we are surrounded by, but I do wish I could talk with the moms more.

Getting on the bus! Adelynne mostly loves riding the bus. Socializing is one of her favorite parts of her day.

We went to France....

France Park, Indiana that is! Get ready for this.... the Dustin Belt family went, wait for it, wait for it.... CAMPING!! (Back in mid-August). This is not a voluntary activity for our family to seek out, but I made the decision and convinced Dustin, and we went. We dragged our fabulous friends, the Aagards, along with us, and I am SO glad they came with us. We had a great time in beautiful Indiana nature, and I hope we get to do it again, soon!

On a little "hike"

The group (minus me) at the waterfall/creek

The Aagards! Our wonderful "Indiana Family" I love this family!

Thanks to another friend, we had a tent to sleep in! Here is our happy camping family!

The camp site:

The Musketeers...

Barbie style! Adelynne had friends over one morning, and while I was gone, the girls watched Barbie and the three musketeers. After the movie, the girls wanted to play "musketeers. They all dressed up, and Adelynne drew feathers and colored them all, and each girl was a musketeer. I returned home from my event and took them out to the playground. Dustin returned to the apartment to get dressed for the day, and I thought he would stay in the house and clean up or check his emails. But after about 15 minutes, he came out to join the play.

All for one, and one for all!

Amy, Adelynne, Minnie, and Charity:

The musketeers chasing after "the bad guy." Isn't he the best dad? My heart just fills with love for him when I see him do this with the kids.

And he was defeated.

The End.

But not really, the story goes on....

Aurora 11 months

Here she is, sniff, sniff, at 11 months old (which was over 1 month ago)! She is just a happy, sweet baby, and I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!! When I point the camera at her she knows that she is supposed to smile, I love it!!!

sucking on the cheerio

she crawls!!! And very well too.

that tongue, though its not sticking out as far as usual in this shot.

LOVE this shot! Just makes me smile.

Amy as "Shirley Temple"

Amy finally let me put sponge curlers in her hair and kept them in all night!!

Isn't she adorable!!!

LOVE this face:

Amy has such beautiful natural highlights, mostly blond, with a slight touch of red.

She wore her curly hair like this to church, and of course had lots of compliments. And all the grandma's had to tell her their "story": that they used to put curlers in their daughters' hair every Saturday night so that their daughters' hair would be curly for church on Sunday. I just smiled and reminisced about my own mother doing the same to me and my sister.

Adelynne's 6th Birthday

July 8th, 2011

Good Morning Birthday Girl!!! This might be turning into a birthday tradition at our house-- making an age number pancake for each girl. The girls get a big kick out of this. I just love Adelynne's big smile, she was so excited for her birthday.

Amy got one too.

For Adelynne's birthday, we let her have a sleepover with her best friends, Minnie and Aubree and Aubree's little sister Sabrina (who happens to be Amy's best friend). The guests arrived and we began the night with dinner, (Adelynne's choice was chicken chili). And then we let Adelynne open her gifts.

Here is a hug from Minnie

A hug from Aubree:

The trio, reading a birthday card:

And just what Adelynne wanted for her birthday (well, almost). Adelynne had been asking for an "oopsie dog" since just after Christmas. She wanted a toy dog that walked and pooped because she had seen one in the store. Dustin and I had been telling her that she would have to wait until her birthday, so for 6+ months she waited, and talked about the "oopsie dog" that she wanted so badly. Well, her birthday was coming up and Dustin and I could not find the "oopsie dog" so we started asking Adelynne if another one would be okay, and she pointed out different options that she was okay with. So this is the one Dustin and I settled with. And now if you bring up the "oopsie dog" she is actually a little embarrassed about having wanted a toy that pooped. So she is happy with her little walking, yapping dog.

After presents the girls went outside and did a little slip n' slide and running around. Then our friends the Anderson's came by for a visit and we got out sparklers and fire crackers left over from the 4th. We actually had a lot leftover, and the kids were bored with them after a while and went firefly catching.

The crew: Aubree, Minnie, Adelynne, Sabrina, Amy, Luke, Kate, and Jessica holding Aurora. I don't think that I need to point out Dustin.

After firecrackers and fireflies, we went inside for some birthday cake! This year I let Adelynne pick out her cake from Walmart. It was very yummy!

After cake and ice-cream the girls settled down for a movie and popcorn. The girls watched Tangled which they have all seen before, nevertheless, they all laughed through the movie.

And just as they were all ready to settle down to go to sleep I got them all up for a crazy dance to the credit music. It was fun to see all of their happy faces. They eventually fell asleep sometime after midnight.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Adelynne's birthday, and I'm so glad she got to do it with her wonderful, sweet friends because sadly this will likely be her last year celebrating with them. Aubree and Minnie have been in Adelynne's life since we moved here, she has been so blessed to have them as her friends!

Once upon a time...

We went to a far off place called Fairytale Land. Fairytale Land is right across the street from the Sacramento Zoo. In my opinion if you happen to be in Sac with the kiddos, take them to Fairytale Land (or maybe its called Fairytale Town, now that I think about it). It is much cheaper, and its like a giant playground! It really isn't a huge place, but big enough to keep you and the kids busy. There are not any rides, just things to climb on, slides to go down, and tunnels to go through, more use of the imagination. Plus lots of fairytale stuff! My girls LOVED going, and we will go back again when we are back visiting the grandparents.

Three princesses in the pumpkin coach:

Amy driving the coach:

My pretty princess! (Just in the wrong fairytale)

There are mice in the cheese! I was super bummed that Amy wouldn't participate in this series of pictures, but Adelynne and Aurora were adorable.

I LOVE THIS ONE!

This is such a cute picture of Adelynne, I just love her so much!

And P.S., it was a hot day, can you tell? But the Sacramento heat is much more bearable than Indiana heat!