County Fairs, Birthdays, & (more) Summer Camps...Oh, my!

Where did the month of July and August go? If we didn't have so many pictures to memorialize our summer, we might be convinced that it never happened! The summer days just pass too fast.

Paul and I both celebrated another birthday in July. For my birthday, Paul brought home the most beautiful bouquet of flowers that one of his landscape customers cut and personally arranged for me that day. One of the flowers (a Dahlia) was 10 inches in diameter. It was absolutely gorgeous...and oh so sweet smelling! He also got a very large ice cream cake that we ate for nearly one month. The best part? Finally getting cute pictures of mommy with the kids! It seems that I'm the one always taking the pictures.

The end of July, Ryleigh attended her second gymnastics/dance camp. It was a "Think Pink" Barbie Camp. There were only four girls in the class...well, eight, if you count their Barbie dolls. Ryleigh really enjoyed it. She said she liked it more than the Dora & Diego camp she attended just two weeks prior. Why not? She was an 'ol pro now!

The same week, Ryleigh also attended our Vacation Bible School for the first time...and loved it! She really gravitates toward the older children and was quite proud to sport her very own VBS T-shirt during their closing program.

The beginning of August, we went up to visit Grama Susan, Papa Gene, Grampa Tye and Grama Geri. During our visit, we spent a day at the county fair in Traverse City. Ryleigh and her cousin Emilee had a ball together. Dylan, of course, was too small to ride anything, but spent some quality time with Papa and Grampa Tye.

It was at the fair that we caught the first glimpse of Dylan's funny face! He was very amusing and was loving the laughs from all of us!

The kids also spent some time playing at Torch Lake. Dylan wasn't sure at first about getting into the water, but Grama Susan quickly changed his mind....and then he didn't want to get out!

And just some miscellaneous notes:

Dylan enjoyed his first ear of corn this summer.


Dylan can now open nearly every interior door in the house. Check out the tippy toes!

Ryleigh had her second visit to the emergency room after crashing (hard!) into our bedpost when coming into our room during the middle of the night. She split her bottom lip wide open and pushed two top teeth in. It was a horrific sight! But praise the Lord, it has almost completely healed in just two short weeks.

Summer Happenings...

What a great time of the year...and a busy one too! The summer months go by so fast. We've been enjoying the unseasonably mild temps here in Michigan. We've had low humidity and average temps in the high 70s, low 80s. Paul has been over-joyed! It makes his outside work much more bearable.

Here's a little re-cap of our summer so far: In late June, we attended our church campmeeting. It was a hot, humid week (the only one this summer), but the kids loved their classes and time with their cousins. We had company over the 4th...my brother Matt, his wife Shelly, and their two little ones made a last-minute trip up from Florida! Last week, Ryleigh attended her first gymnastic day-camp. It was a "Dora & Diego" Dance, Gymnastics, and Music camp for 3 to 5-year-olds. She took it very seriously and thoroughly enjoyed it! Seeing her excitement, Mommy signed her up for another camp next week..."Think Pink." She's been "practicing." And we went for our first family outing last weekend to the Warren Dunes in southwest Michigan. It was a beautiful day and we got lots of great photos. We climbed a very large sand dune and the kids loved it. Dylan took a special interest in sliding back down, head-first, on his tummy. Needless to say, he was full of sand! We went from the Dunes to the Lake Michigan shoreline. It was Dylan's first time on the beach. The waves were crashing hard onto the shore and the water was quite cold. He wasn't so sure of it all. He finally conceded to let go and wade in the water with Daddy and Ryleigh. Fun, fun, fun...and there's more to come! I love summer. :)

Celebrating Life, Celebrating Love, and Celebrating YOU! Happy Gotcha Day, Dylan!

That was THEN...

This is NOW!

It's hard to believe that one year has already passed since that hot June day in Vinh Long, Vietnam when Dylan was placed in our arms for the first time. He was just a day over seven months old and weighed only 10 pounds. He's now 19 months old, just under 29 inches tall, weighs approximately 20 pounds, has 6 teeth (four on the top and two on the bottom), is walking all over the place, says a few words (i.e., hot, hi, eye, dog, and mama), plays hard, and giggles even harder. He is the most precious boy! We praise God for him and pray for many, many more years together!

Happy Gotcha Day!

We love you, Dylan.

My, What Big Teeth You Have!

Who, me?










Yes, you!













Oh, you mean these?

Dylan has not only popped through some huge teeth for such a little guy, he now also has the appetite to go with them! In the past few weeks, it seems that he's never quite full. Whenever he sees food he starts begging...i.e., he opens his mouth wide and sounds out "aaah, aaah" or his other long-time universal word...."aaaab, aaaab." More recently, to let us know he means business, he has started to sign "more"....and my personal favorite...he'll put his hands together to pray. We're happy to comply and hope all this eating will pull him out of the "less than 3 percentile" for weight his next visit to the doctor. Dylan is now 15 months old and weighs a whoppin' 18 pounds. Three to six-month pants fit him great around the waist, but he needs the 9-month size for the length.

Some other new developments: He started standing on his own the second week of February and has become quite the hot-shot! He will often look around to see who's watching, shake his boodie, get a huge smile on his face, and then start clapping....just before he plops back to the floor. We're not sure how long it will be before steps follow, but we know he's getting adventurous. Paul just lowered his crib mattress to the lowest position because he witnessed Dylan trying to get his leg up and over the top of the rail. Yikes! He's definitely a boy...Ryleigh never tried that.

He also "gives 5," plays "peek-a-boo" and "patty-cake." And he's saying "hot" and "mama." I'm convinced, though, that he is calling himself "mama." When I point to a picture of him and ask, "who's this?," he'll answer, "mama." So, we have some work to do. :)


Dylan is also quite the kisser! He kisses on command....and I take all that I can get! He hasn't mastered the skill yet, but we accept them nonetheless.



Kisses from Daddy

Kisses from Dylan

Finally, he loves to play...and plays HARD! He will entertain himself far longer than Ryleigh ever did. His personal favorite is still Ryleigh's kitchen. He completely empties it nearly every time. And when he's not playing with toys, he's easily entertained by Ryleigh's funny faces. That girl can get him laughing so hard he squeals and fights to catch his breath. I love it!

Our Cutie-Patootie!