Beach pictures

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My Baby

Going to the Beach!

Anna and I are leaving after church to join Rylie and my parents and nieces and nephews for a week at the beach. I am excited to spend some time with my nieces that flew in from Arizona. I haven't seen them much in the past two years. We're going to try to get a good cousin picture. I bought wooden picture frames for them to paint/glue shells on to put their cousin picture in, hoping that might be incentive to actually pose for a picture. We'll see! I will try to post from there.
My darling husband has to stay behind and work, but I do get to meet him Tuesday night for the Mariners game! We were given free tickets!
The pictures from the post before this were from our friends, Keren and Steve's baby's first birthday party that we went to last night. She had a cupcake theme and Keren went to a lot of work putting things all together. She even made the younger guests their own cupcake themed bib. Even if you don't know Norah, look at the pictures for fun Birthday party ideas!

Norah's First Birthday Party!

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Two Girls

I love that as Anna is getting older, her and Rylie are doing more things together. Lately, Anna has been randomly going up to Rylie and giving her big hugs. Rylie loves this because she is very affectionate and Anna isn't as much, so she appreciates it when Anna is. These pictures are of them having snacks together, watching Little Bear together and listening to Rylie's Princess "iPod" together (that I got for a quarter!) I can't wait to see how they grow even closer!

The Blog Frog

Join the Blog Frog and you can enter to win this adorable t shirt for your kids! They have a brand new website!

Phototog

I want to learn how to take awesome macro photos like these! I found a photography tutorial site that looks promising. I know there are several others (including the beloved Pioneer Woman). If anyone knows of any good photography sites will you pass them along?
My dream is to one day be able to take a class on photography. I would love to learn more about composition. There is a ton of stuff I need to learn about how to take advantage of all my new camera can do.
The next thing is to figure out how to make small children stop and smile at my will!

Sprinkler Fun

Sleeping Beauty

We are trying to transition Anna out of two naps down to one. How do you think that's going?!

Missionary Friends and Choclate

We had a great time this evening with the Coulters. They currently Missionaries on deputation. God has called them to Sweeden to spread the Gospel. We really enjoyed visiting with them and as you can tell, the girls all enjoyed their chocolate ice cream. Especially Anna, my chocoholic!

My Little Cruiser

Since Rylie started riding her bike, Anna has been wanting to ride one as well. Rylie had received this Dora trike/big wheel for her birthday when she turned two. Her little legs were never quite long enough to use it and she just never got the hang of it. We pulled it out of the basement for Anna to try. She loves it! She can't reach the pedals yet, but she can push it around with her feet on the floor. It also makes lots of cool noises, so she is happy with that.
She rode it around outside the other day and thought she was pretty big stuff!

Birthday Pool Party

Yesterday we went to our friend, Madelaine's third Birthday party. She is a beautiful little girl who is going to be a heart breaker one day!
Little Norah enjoyed the water, as did Rylie. Anna did not, she got a little scared, but we made up for it by giving her cake and ice cream.
The bottom picture is Hannah and Madelaine. Hannah is an older girl from our church, who my girls love to play with.

Potty Update

Anna has sat on the potty five times today and went potty four of those times! This morning she told me before she had to go. Each time she goes, she looks at me right before she goes and then laughs and gets excited afterwards. She was so cute this morning, after she went, she ran in and told Daddy, "Potty!!!" She has also been saying, "big girl". I think I'm going to go with it and see where it takes us!

Potty Training?

I started potty training Rylie when she turned two. She wasn't quite ready, it was too early for her and thus the training lasted for what seemed like forever. She wasn't completely independent until she was three. When I thought about potty training Anna, I thought I would wait until she really seemed really interested and really ready. I did not want it to drag on forever like it did with Rylie.
I figured we would wait until she was closer to three.
Well, recently, Anna has started telling me when she had a dirty diaper and when she was about to
go. She has also been interested in the potty and wants to go in whenever Rylie goes. I thought I would put her on it once just to see what her reaction would be. She immediately started trying to go potty! I was surprised that she really knew what it was for. Since then I have put her on the potty a couple of times. Tonight when I did, she went pee! She was so proud of herself and started laughing and clapping! I asked her if she wanted to call Grandma and Papa and tell them and she said "yes, Papa!" When she got on the phone with him she said "potty!" (and of course, "wuv you")
Now I'm not sure where to go. I'm not sure if I should go full force and start officially training her or wait until she's a little older. Any advice?

Please Pray For Your Pastors

"Pastoral ministry should never be romanticized. It is heavy labor. One hour in the pulpit is like eight hours with a jackhammer.…These men labor diligently and faithfully each day serving those in their care." --C.J. Mahaney

Pictures from amy

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Playing with my new camera!

My Birthday Party

Amy’s Birthday 09

Rylieism

"I don't want to be embearsteined!" (embarrassed)

Frustrated!

I have lots of pictures I want to share with you all. More pictures of the Fourth of July, pictures from my Birthday, pictures of our play date with the Millers, pictures of the girls being goofy, and pictures of them picking blueberries. Unfortunately, they are stuck on my camera and not coming off. I'm very frustrated! I have tried uploading them with the USB cable and also by putting my memory card directly into the computer and they are just not showing up on the computer at all. If anyone has any tips for me I would appreciate it!
Anna has also been giving me a run for my money lately. I need to be more consistent in my discipline, and to teach her to obey right away. She is wearing me out! I do love her very much though!
Rylie rode her bike all by herself last night for almost four blocks! She was so proud of herself! We were proud of her too! Anna wanted to ride a bike too so we got Rylie's old Dora big wheel out for her. She did better than Rylie ever did on it. While we were out riding we met some twelve year old neighbor girls and they tried to teach Rylie how to jump rope. I tried and actually did it! I don't think I have jumped rope since 6th grade and I am quite a bit heavier and out of shape than I was then, plus some might call me clumsy. I was thrilled that I could still do it without falling flat on my face!
Today the girls and I went to a blueberry park near our house and picked blueberries. I think the girls ate as many as they put in the bucket! The best part about it was that it was all free! There weren't very many that were ripe yet, so we only got about a third of a bucket full. We are definitely planning on going back and getting more.
We have a busy rest of the summer planned, I'm all ready feeling a bit overwhelmed. It should be fun though. Next week, I get to have lunch with one of my good friends from high school that I haven't seen since we were 18. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again! My nieces are going to be visiting from Arizona and we're going to the beach for a week with them, then we have VBS. I'm co-teaching the four year old class. Then we will be going to Idaho to stay at a ranch with my family for a week (a family Christmas present from my parents), then the church camp out. We might try to fit in a family vacation after that before Rylie starts school. And of course, celebrating my wonderful hubby's birthday.
Speaking of him, please pray for him as he is preaching on the character of Job tomorrow. I know it will be great!

Carrot Breath

Carrot Breath was Ryan's favorite stuffed animal when he was a kid. He loved that bunny. Now it has been passed on to Rylie and Anna. Rylie has been taking good care of it and loving it very much!
The blanket she's using was mine when I was a baby and it has my name sewn on it in ribbon. She has been loving that as well. So fun to be able to pass these things on!

Rylie's Sleepover

Rylie had her first sleepover with a non family member last Wednesday night. She and Becky have been planning on having a sleepover when Becky was done teaching school for the summer. The night before she went, she was crying because she only got to stay for one night at Becky's house and not five nights like she wanted! She told me, "I love Aunt Becky and I want to spend time with her." It was very sweet. Becky spoiled her with chocolate, whip cream waffles for breakfast, a special craft (she painted coasters for me!), and lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Becky even let her pick out a present for Anna and one for herself. Rylie had a blast! Thank you Becky (and Aaron)!
(sorry the pictures are so small, I couldn't get them bigger)

Zach's 4th of July Pictures

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4th of July Pictures

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Pictures from amy

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Anna's First Swing

Wednesday evening we went to the lake with Becky for a couple hours. The girls got to put their feet in the water and then play on the swings. This was Anna's first time on a swing and she wasn't too sure if she enjoyed it. She decided she liked it better when she was sitting on Daddy's lap on the swing. Rylie kept telling Becky to push her higher and higher.
Anna is seeming so big to me lately. She is walking all over the place and climbing stairs. She seems to understand quite a bit and is saying some two word combinations and has a pretty big vocabulary. Her favorite word is "Chocolate!" She is obsessed with it and would eat it all day long if I let her!
I am so blessed by both of girls!