Why I love... JULIA!

I have decided to spend one blog entry each day on why I love each child. I want them to know just a little of why they are so special. I decided to start with Julia because I already had this cute video to post. (Please note: she does need some type of hair intervention!).

Why I love Julia: (just 10 of the millions of reasons)

1. She can howl like a wolf (was the second animal noise she learned after chickens).
2. In the morning, she comes to my bed and gently says, "up." If I don't respond immediately, she says it with a bit more passion. Then, if I still don't pick her up, she yells it loud, "UUUUUPPPP!"
3. She has learned many baby signs and uses them very efficiently (more, please, thank you, juice, etc).
4. She LOVES her daddy! It is so neat to see the special bond between them.
5. She loves to play with baby dolls, kitchen toys, etc. She is already so girly!
6. She tries to dunk herself in the pool (quite amusing, really).
7. She will remind us if we forget to pray before a meal.
8. She was a "surprise" to us, but really the best blessing!
9. At naptime, she will INSIST we sing her many songs... don't know if she likes our singing or is just delaying the sleep!
10. She LOVES to be outside (even in this heat). Last night, she "helped" her daddy in the garden. She gets so excited when you just mention going to see the chickens!

A little of this and a little of that....

Yep, it is me again... WAY behind in blogging. So, this is catch up. I won't write too much (or try not to), so you can just look at what has been going on. Much more interesting that way!

In late March and early April, we took a trip to North Carolina. Part of the reason was to celebrate A.J.'s 9th birthday and the other part was to visit Allan's family and surprise them with this news....

We made a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte. Although I don't have pictures of every part of it, here are a few. We enjoyed the HUGE indoor water park, arcades, story time, wizard wand scavenger hunts, and much more.

While we were in Raleigh, Allan, A.J, Papa, and Uncle Michael took a day trip to see USS North Carolina. A.J. is obsessed with history, especially wars. He had a great time!


In May, we took Julia on her first overnight camping trip. Allan takes the "big" kids more frequently, and Julia and I will come for a little while, but this is the first time she spent the night. She didn't like the sleeping part too much! Sorry camping neighbors!


A few other things... yes... we still have chickens, and we are FINALLY getting eggs! Have plenty now!

We also enjoyed some strawberry picking with our friends, the Germains.... who are the ones that got us into this chicken mess in the first place! =)

Of course, we also celebrated the most important holiday to us as Christians, Easter! The Germain family joined us for our worship service that morning. (And, by the way... impossible to get a good picture of three kids at this age!)

In May, just last weekend, we took the kids to the beach. It was Julia's first time to see the ocean, and she loved EVERY part of it. She had sand from head to toe, and a smile to match!

While in Panama City, we went to WonderWorks science museum. It was fabulous. The kids said it was their favorite part of the beach. All of these final pictures are from the museum.


And, to conclude... how many of you have a picture of your husband laying on a bed of nails???