Aunt Julie Turns 26

Bites for Belle

Annabelle found a bowl on the table with peanut butter still in it. She went and got her play fork and knife and went to town. This is how I found her.

I had an entire day of spring cleaning scheduled one Saturday, but decided the night before that I would not be motivated if I didn't have some motivator to keep me going throughout the day. I can keep a house tidy, most of the time with no problem, but cleaning it is a completely different story. So, in light of my long day ahead, I caved and made some donuts. It had been a long time since I had made them. So long, that Annabelle hadn't ever had any. She was quite thrilled her time had come.

She even shared with Daddy. Now that's true love!

I'm so glad I've always got some cuteness around here to practice my photography skills.

A Living Hope

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

Babbling Betsy

This little girl has blown us away with her vocabulary. She is consistently saying 7 and 8 word sentences now. I never realized how awesome it is to be able to have a toddler be able to communicate so well. Instead of screaming her head off when needing help, she can simply say "Mama, please help me..." or "Annabelle have wet diaper."

Hearing her say "I yuv you so much, Mommy." or "I yuv you so much, Daddy!" sure has a way of melting our hearts over and over again. But, our favorite is hearing her sing songs. She's got the most adorable little voice and to hear her sing is just precious. We basically think she's pretty special no matter what she does or doesn't do!

Old Friends

Some dear old friends from our Marine Corps days were in town for 2 weeks while the husband was taking a course at UVA. When we parted ways in NC in 2006, I had a 5 month old, and they had a 2 day old. Now we've got 5 between us. God is so good! We packed in as many play dates as we could in those 2 weeks. It was such a huge blessing to spend such precious time with these friends. What a special gift.