Summer Is Here!!!

It is Memorial Day Weekend and our neighborhood pool opened! Summer is officially here! Mackenzie was very timid in the water and would have been happier sitting on the side with her feet in. I think she will get used to it the further into summer we get! Madison, on the other hand, loved it! I'm not sure you can tell that by the pictures of her on here, but she really did like the water! She just wanted me to hold her...imagine that! There were a lot of people at the pool...I am hoping that it was just because it was the day it opened. The past few summers have been so great because there was hardly anyone there! Going to the pool is fun, but trying to find a bathing suit that I actually like is not!


In the past, we have gone to the lake on Memorial Day weekend, but this year we just stayed home! It was so nice and relaxing...we are trying to soak it up before being gone so much this summer! Brian leaves in the morning for the Youth Choir Tour, and then Super Summer. So we are headed to Newcastle! I am really excited and thankful that we can spend time with my parents when Brian is gone. I don't know what we would do without them! By the way, I am proud of myself for keeping up with this blog thing! I don't know that I can update the blog while we're in Newcastle, but I may try!

Madison has a fever tonight...she is running a little over 102. I sure hope she's not coming down with something. I hate it when my babies are sick!

This is our mode of transportation to the swimming pool! It was really hot outside, so the girls drank juice on the way over! Loved their cute little hats! Mackenzie told me she wanted a "coat" like Madison to wear to the pool!Not too sure about this! She didn't like the deep end AT ALL! I wanted her to take swimming lessons before summer got here, but we ran out of time.

Somebody help her! I tried to keep a hat on Madison, but she kept throwing it in the water!Don't know what we would do without apple juice! We are going through 2 big bottles a WEEK these days...oh my!There's a new cook in the kitchen!

Daddy & Mackenzie did a VERY good job cleaning the sand & water table! The second we got clean sand in one side and clean water in the other side, Mackenzie took a big handful of sand and dumped it in the water....I knew it wouldn't last long!

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few...

Brian decided to hang Gospel tracts on every house in our neighborhood, and he took a little helper along. (Well, she lasted for about 30 minutes anyway!) Madison and I trailed along in the stroller too. I love that Mackenzie is learning to share Jesus with others, even at the age of 3 years old. Our greatest desire and prayer for our girls is that they would know and love God above all else. A few scriptures that come to mind as I look at these pictures are:

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Luke 10:2-3

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! Romans 10:15

A Big Day For Us!

A lot happened today! First, Madison started WALKING!!! We weren't sure this day would ever come! I was so happy that I got to see it happen...I was working in the nursery this morning during Sunday School when she did it! I was holding another baby and Madison was crying about it...very jealous! So she decided to walk right to me! It was SO cute & sweet! She wanted her momma! Does it get any better than that? She took several steps while we were in there, and then when all of our family got to our house for Mackenzie's dance recital, she showed off for them too! She wasn't going to let Mackenzie get ALL of the attention today! So proud of this little girl!

The next VERY exciting thing about our dance was Mackenzie's first dance recital! She looked like a beautiful little ballerina princess! Mom, Dad, Grandma Shaw, Poppa Jim & Louise, and Uncle Clint all came over to the house beforehand and watched us get Mackenzie ready. She made quite a grand entrance for them! Then, Grandma & Grandpa Baldwin and Aunt Barbara met us over at Grace Church, where the recital was held. Mackenzie had to be there 50 minutes early...it felt like it too FOREVER for the recital to start, I was so anxious! When Mackenzie's class came out onto the stage for their first song, I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...so I think I did both! It was SO fun to watch her perform...she is a little ham for sure! I think she is the shortest, littlest girl in her class (and of course I think she's the cutest!) Did I put that in my last post?! She did a wonderful job...she kind of did her own thing, but she kept up with the other girls pretty well. It was so cute when they finished their songs, she blew lots of kisses! Then as she was running off stage, she told the lady who was announcing the show that she was a butterfly. Everyone heard her and laughed! Oh, my! When it was time for their tap dance, once again she did great! She had a little problem with her glove in the beginning, so she got kind of a late start, but that was okay! She snapped out of it! I don't know what was more enjoyable...watching Mackenzie dance, or watching our family watch Mackenzie dance...they loved every second of it! I thought Poppa was going to bust! When it was over, we went outside to take pictures...lots and lots of pictures! (I can't help it!) Mackenzie got 2 bouquets of flowers (one from us and one from Grandma and Grandpa) and a little bunny and a bracelet from Grandma Shaw. (It was her FIRST dance recital, after all!) Pa & G-Ma bought the DVD for us...I can't wait to watch it over and over again! We finally got loaded up and went to eat dinner at Tin Star, when we realized that we didn't have Mackenzie's dance bag, with her ballet shoes in it. Daddy went back to the church to look for it, but couldn't find it. I sure hope it turns up...I want to keep those precious little shoes forever. It was all in all, a wonderful day with family. The best day we've had in a long time!

G-Ma did the hair...I did the make-up!

Love the lips!

We got Mackenzie ready in the bedroom & then G-Ma introduced her and she made her grand entrance for everyone! It was so much fun, that we had to do it twice!

So Pretty!

Daddy Loves His Little Ballerina!

We couldn't take pictures during the actual recital, but here are the pictures afterwards...Mackenzie with her flowers!

Blowing Kisses again!

Grandma Shaw got Mackenzie this pretty little bracelet with a little ballerina on it...she loved it!

Smelling the "bland" flowers...Mackenzie told us the purple ones were bland! Ha,ha!

She was pretty sure she needed some of Aunt Barbara's lipstick. I told her I had some, but she insisted on using Aunt Barbara's!

The proud parents! (You would have thought this was her High School Graduation or something!) People were probably laughing at all the pictures we were taking!

I am so thankful that Mackenzie and Madison are so loved by so many family members! During the recital today, I couldn't help but think how badly I wished Grandma Jean and G.G. could have seen this! I could almost hear Grandma's laugh...she would have adored the girls so much! These are special times for sure!

Our Little Dancer

Mackenzie had her last dance class today, and the parents got to watch their performances that they will do at the recital on Sunday. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen...I was almost in tears! I am so thankful to have found a christian dance studio...to think that she is learning to dance to music that is praising Jesus is wonderful! I think Mackenzie truly has natural talent...just look at these pictures! She does not have a shy bone in her body and is completely comfortable performing front of people! I hope and pray she stays like that! When they finished their songs, one of the moms said to me, "She is a little Shirley Temple!" She is one of the youngest in the class and I think the shortest. (and the cutest!) This has been a wonderful experience and I am so glad that I went ahead and put her in dance this year, even though we got started late. We had a few little issues with listening and paying attention, but I think some of that is just to be expected with such a strong-willed, independent little girl! We are working on it though! I asked her teacher today if things were better than last week and she said, "Well, yes...but Mackenzie did stand up after I had everyone settled down and ready to begin and try to organize a game of "Duck-Duck-Goose!" She then told her to get on her "dotty-spotty" and Mackenzie looked at her for a second and thought about it...and then went and got in her spot! I think she remembered that spankin' and having her princess castle taken away right at that moment! I can't wait for her recital on Sunday! All of our family is coming & I know they will love it! I feel extremely blessed to be the momma of this beautiful little girl! God is good!

The cutest picture of all time! Truly captures her personality! When daddy saw this picture he said, "Look at her arms...she's buff!" She does have pretty little arms!

All of the little girls are standing so nice & tall...well, almost! Mackenzie can't help but pose! Where does she get that?

Of course, she is going to be sitting on the teachers lap! Love that!

Love the leg pose! I hope she is this dramatic at the actual recital on Sunday! It was so fun

for me today to imagine how much my family will love seeing this!

This is the little Shirley Temple pose right here!

That little short one sure is cute! And she has a (cute) little attitude I think!

Mackenzie with her friends Grace and Joy! She ran up to them and said, "Um, excuse me girls...will you take a picture with me?" It was the funniest thing! They were all eating cookies, so this is the best picture we got! They are twins, can you tell?!

Digital Scrapbooking

So I have made the transition from traditional scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking. That is something I never thought I would do! However, I really love it...I am completely caught up with Madison's whole life and close to having all of Mackenzie's done. That is incredible, considering how far behind I was when I was doing it the "old-fashioned" way. I have to say though, that I went to Hobby Lobby today and I got really sad when I was looking at all of the stickers and paper! I can't give up "real" scrapbooking forever! But for now, in order to keep up, this is how it is going to have to be! It is pretty cost effective too...I pay $5.99 a month for Smilebox, where I can download hundreds of pages! Then I just save them to a jump drive and print them at Staples for .49! Then I get 8x8 scrapbooks at Hobby Lobby and slide the pages right in! There are also numerous websites that have free digital downloads and also quick pages that you can buy and use a program like Photoshop to slide your pictures in. I feel like I have spent a lot of time working on this lately, but now that I am caught up all I will have to do is a few pages every week or two! I think I am a bit obsessive when it comes to taking pictures & recording everything about my girls lives. Maybe it is just my way of dealing with them growing up! Here are a few examples of recent pages!