Wow. We had an amazing week at VBS!! The talent at our church is phenomenal...the staff and volunteers wrote their own curriculum and music...everything...for what they called, "Armor Up!" They taught the children the gospel from Paul's description of the armor of God in Ephesians 6. We did it each night of the week, and thankfully they served dinner to all the helpers before it started. There were so many people involved from our church body which made it really fun. There were lots of visiting children from the community. I helped teach the Kindergarten group and had a great time playing around with them and seeing them learn new truths.
It was even more encouraging for me to see how much Vivian loved participating. She was crazy about her class and all the music! Starting on Tuesday night, she would cry when it was time to leave, until I told her we were going to come back the next night. Her joy was evident! This video shows just how much fun she was having.
We had late nights, and lazy mornings. It was a memorable week! We thank God for bringing us to this church that believes in the importance of training the next generation in the Truth.

The Salem library has a great summer reading program for us to do this year! They have something scheduled about once or twice a week, and you show up when you can. We are also working on reading the required amount at home so she can get a prize at the end.

Last week there was a woman there doing face painting.

Reading books in the floor while waiting their turn.

Beautiful butterfly!

They've also done a petting zoo, and this week they'll have a magic show...so thankful for free summer fun :)

We do not take these lunches for granted! We love to see Aaron during the day.I can't explain this Vivian expression, but it's a common one and it cracks me up.
And if you haven't tried the new Cuban restaurant down the street from Andrew Lewis MS, you're missing out...it's really awesome!

We've had some big changes happening around here when it comes to sleep. Two weeks ago we moved Kate to a bed. No more cribs in our house!!! We rearranged her nursery: took the crib apart and stored it in the basement, and put up a queen size bed to serve as a guest room (we had the bed in storage at my parent's house since we moved). Kate did so well with the transition. She got out of the bed twice, once on the first night within the first 5 minutes of bedtime, and once on the second night. But after receiving very firm correction about it, she hasn't tried to get out since. In fact, almost every time I go to get her up in the morning or after nap, she says, "I no get out of bed, Mommy." She's proud of herself :)Vivian has done well with it, too. She likes having a room partner, I think. She takes her naps in the new guest room bed. The first week we had some issues with them staying up too late talking and playing, but it has settled down considerably since then. The other problem the first week was that Kate was waking up too early in the morning and with her new environment, she wasn't going back to sleep and waking Vivian up. Hopefully she will start to sleep a little later so that her sister can sleep in a little.

In case you're wondering about the sleeping arrangements in their room, since it's a small room: we kept the daybed. We simply bought a trundle that rolls under the daybed. When it's time for bed, we roll it out for Vivian. It is able to raise up like a cot to be the same level as the daybed, but for simplicity's sake we just leave it closer to the ground. In the morning we slide it back under so that it stays out of the way. It's a very easy solution for a small space! We put Vivian on the lower bed because we knew she would have more self-control to not get out.
The other big change was something that I dreaded for a loonnngg time but Aaron made me go through with it finally: taking Vivian's pacifier away. We warned her weeks in advance that once she turned 3, she had to give it up. I thought for sure we would have weeks of sleepless nights, with her waking up not being able to find it and crying, etc. But no! She didn't give us a hard time at all! It has been so much easier than I thought, that in fact I am considering doing the same thing for Kate. What a pleasant surprise. I can tell she definitely has a harder time falling asleep for naptime (and she wasn't napping a lot before anyway), but other than that it hasn't been a struggle.

Sorry for all the long paragraphs...I just wanted to share all that has been changing. We are very excited to have them in the same room now. They are so sweet together. I'm very thankful for their sisterhood and fun memories ahead.

Vivian's Backyard Splash Bash was so much fun! The Lord gave us a dry day so that these kids could play outside with all kinds of water games and toys. There are lots of pictures, thanks to Carissa! I am indebted to her for capturing the entire party. She also showed up early to help me set up last-minute things. There are several shots of the decorations, but they are mostly of the children and their play, so ENJOY! It will take a few minutes to go through them all, but don't be too intimidated when you see how many there are, because I just went through them all and it didn't take long. #361 to 364 are priceless...can't miss those.

Our friends have been so gracious to bless our 3-year-old with some new toys, craft supplies, and outfits!

She opened presents in shifts, spreading out over the weekend, so as to avoid being overwhelmed or indifferent to the things she was opening.

She opened 2 or 3 right after everyone left on Saturday, before she took a nap.

And then again when she woke up later that afternoon:

Grandma and Papi (Mike and Peggy) got her this new bike! Kate thinks she can do anything :)

We had a great celebration for Father's Day on Sunday! We headed over to Mom and Dad's house after everyone napped and started up the grill. Aaron cooked steaks while I got some potatoes ready (if you don't have the Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker or something like it, you're missing out!). Thankfully Joey and Sierra were there to play and swim with the girls so that we could get the meal ready.

We all ate dinner together, opened presents, and had DQ ice cream cake. It was a nice evening by the pool!

Very, very thankful for my dad.

He is the best Papa in the world, too. These little ones adore him.

Check out how serious Vivian is about her song! She had just opened up a birthday gift from Joey and Sierra...that's why she's dressed like a princess.

V and K gave a card and some gifts to their daddy, too. God has seen fit to give us a great leader and loving, fun dad!

Thanks to everyone for making the effort to get together! And special thanks to Aaron for cooking his own Father's Day dinner :)

Vivian had her first dentist appointment this morning! We prepared this morning by "playing dentist" at home. She did so well...didn't make a peep they said. Unfortunately, the scheduling was messed up a little, so I didn't even get to stay in the room with her (the hygienist was waiting to clean my teeth). I was a little worried about it, but she didn't even notice that I wasn't there!
They set her up well for success: sunglasses and a TV hooked up right in front of her so that she could watch while they were in her mouth! Thankfully, her teeth are healthy and there aren't any problems.

On Saturday, Aaron's sister Brooke graduated high school. We drove from the beach to Mike and Peggy's on Friday night so we could be there for the big day. She did realllllyyyy well in school...incredible GPA! She is going into Education at UNC Wilmington to hopefully pursue teaching ESL.Mike and Peggy threw a graduation party for her at the house afterwards. It was a very special afternoon for her.

Last Tuesday morning the girls and I packed up and left the house around 9:30 a.m. for our beach trip. Normally we go with my mom, and it definitely wasn't the same without her, but we had a GREAT time with our friends that came to join us. Jonathan and Joy brought their two little boys on Wednesday morning. Jonathan had to be at work on Thursday, so he left for the day, but he came back and brought Aaron with him on Thursday night. Friday we had everyone there and it was a wonderful day! The weather was perfect the whole time we were there.
Vivian and Kate did so well on our drive down there, even though we had to add 2 more hours to the trip because I left my phone at our lunch spot and didn't realize it until I was almost an hour past it and had to go back (for the whole long story, ask me sometime!).
They loved everything about the beach, and I did, too. The whole time we were there I kept trying to think of other dates this summer that we can go back! Here are some pictures of the kids: