Painted Toes, Picnic Time, Picking Blackberries & Pushing Jeffrey

Whew!! This past week has flown by!

Last weekend we had a "craft day" at the local park. Our Church is gearing up for a 2nd "contemporary" service and they decided that we would rent a booth at the park and pass out information & talk to people about our new service. Mike and I decided that we would volunteer to man the booth for 2 hours last Sunday. We all had T-shirts that were made especially to promote our new service. A friend that attends our Church created the logo for the new service that were put onto t-shirts made by another friend of mine that attends our Church, she even made Anne Marie a special shirt since she would be with us at the booth. (Such awesome creative friends we have!) We had a nice time, the day was beautiful, and we are so excited to see what God has in store for our Church with this new service.



Anne Marie in her "Awakening" t-shirt & Mommy & Anne Marie "working" the booth at the park.



I also gave Anne Maire her 1st pedicure. TOO CUTE!! I did it while she was eating in her high-chair. That way, there was no possibility of her getting the nail polish anywhere and it gave her toes time to dry.


How cute are those toes??



We've been trying to get outdoors as much as possible right now while we have good weather. Almost once a day there is a thunderstorm that makes us come indoors, but Anne Marie just loves being outside, so when ever possible, we try to have dinner outside. Not too long ago we bought Anne Marie her very own picnic table so that we wouldn't have to drag her high chair outside. She loves it -- she thinks she's such a "big-girl". I just had to include this picture of her getting ready for dinner at her table, the smile just makes me laugh!


What a smile! :o)


This past week we went blackberry picking. There is a farm that is close to my moms house that you can go pick blackberries. They are beautiful, big and sweet! Last year we went 2 times and got 4 quarts each time. I made blackberry freezer jam, blackberry ice-cream, blackberry cobbler, and I think we each ate our weight in them too! We took Anne Marie and cousin Naomi this year. The girls had a great time -- picking -- eating -- eating-- and eating blackberries. I just can't wait for the ice cream!!



Anne Marie in the blackberry bushes & cousin Naomi feeding Anne Marie a berry.


This weekend we bought Anne Marie a new toy. Mike's motto is in w/a new then out w/ an old. I have not decided which one we're getting rid of, but we were over at a friends house not too long ago and Anne Marie fell in LOVE with her baby doll stroller. She walked all over her house with her giraffe Jeffery in the seat. She was so cute, so I had to get one of our own. This is the first toy we've bought for her since her birthday, so I didn't figure it hurt too much to get a toy for "no reason" right now. We took it out in the back yard with Jeffery yesterday -- we had a hard time getting her to come back inside!







Very happy with her stroller & pushing Jeffery in the back yard.


We hope you all are having a great summer!!
Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie

NEVER say NEVER -- What a Great 4th of July Week!

"Never say Never" -- how many times have we said that? I will tell you that there was a time that Mike and I said "we're NEVER going to buy one of those" & "we'll never need on of those" & "we'll never be that un-cool" -- Well we now are MINI-VAN owning parents!! How funny!!?? I have to tell you that we were not looking for one, it just happened that a family member had one they were selling, and after our last weekend trip, we realized that it might be something we needed to think about when they told us they were selling! I have to say, it's great for space (bad for gas) but a small 4 door car gets VERY full VERY fast!! So...... never say never!


Anne Marie & cousin Naomi ready to go & a family shot @ the 4th picnic.


Daddy & Anne Marie "chillin" @ the cabin & Aunt Wendy, "Nana" & Anne Marie visiting.

Well, the week of the 4th Mike was able to take a couple of days off, and we packed in quite a few things since we finally had daddy to ourselves for a while! My family had a 4th of July picnic at their cabin. Anne Marie was able to meet a few family members she'd not met before and all the kids enjoyed running around the woods, finding snakes (ugh), and eating & playing with each other. We enjoyed visiting everyone & who doesn't like a "potluck" picnic! We left in time to get home to watch the other families in our neighborhood light fireworks, so we sat on our front porch and watched -- she just laughed and gasped the whole time.

The next day we had a get-to-gether with local families that have adopted from China. It was great to visit with everyone and have everyone meet Anne Marie. The last time we were able to get together with this group was about a week after we got our referral. We feel so blessed that we are in an area that has other families that have adoption in common.

Our friends from our local adoption group.

We also spent a day at the pool where Mike works. Mike's place of business has a gym, playground, sports field, and pool that is available to their employees. It's GREAT in the summer. She has been to the pool a few times, but this is the first time I actually took pictures. How cute is this child in her little bikini!! She LOVES the pool, she through a fit when we had to leave.

Pool time fun - what a cutie!!

This past weekend was also Anne Marie's first time on a bike. Friends of ours bought us a bike seat and helmet for our baby shower. Two of our friends came over and we all went for a bike ride w/ the kids. She seemed to really enjoy the ride -- she even fell asleep in the seat before we got home!! I think all the kids really enjoyed it!!

Anne Marie & friend Elsie ready for a ride -- and Anne Marie asleep during the ride.

Mike said to me after the long weekend was over "what happened to my time off" -- I have a bad habit of planning every minute of every day that we have off together. It's just such a blessing to have this child in our family I want to make as many memories as possible.

I just had to include these shots -- This is our child eating her own corn on the cob -- She begged me for a bite of my corn & then took over!!

I hope that everyone had a fun & safe 4th of July!!

Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie