The "Big Jumper Thing at the Mall"

For months, Mary Joyce has been telling us she wanted to do the "big jumper thing at the mall." We told her that we would take her when school was out, and we finally had a chance to go this past Monday. (June was a month of pure chaos in our house, and we finally slowed down long enough to get over there.) She had a ball!

Malcom Signs "All Done"

Malcom has never signed as much as the girls did...in fact, he doesn't really sign at all. So, the other day, he took me by surprise at the end of a meal and signed "all done." Then, it took 4 tries to get him doing it on video.

July 4 Weekend

Our July 4 weekend started with the local parade on Saturday morning. The parade route actually runs close enough to our house that we usually have entries lined up in the street in front of our house. This year, we were thankful to have a corvette club instead of a marching band. (We love marching bands, but the noise...) So, we loaded up the stroller and walked a couple of blocks to the parade route. Then we sent Chet back for chairs. :-) (Thanks, honey.) The parade got underway, and the kids were soon loaded down with ridiculous amounts of candy, along with other goodies like mini American flags, leis, and a small beach ball. It was fun, until the sky started looking very gray. Yes, it started raining, and we had to make a run for it back to the house. We actually did see most of the parade, though. We skipped the fireworks Saturday night because it was still raining. Not exactly fun with 3 little children.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then Sunday evening, we had a very yummy low country boil. All-in-all, a fun, relaxing weekend.

Mary Joyce modeling the leis from the parade, plus every other one she could find in her closet...


Patriotic Girls Ready for Church (I couldn't manage to get a picture of all 3)


Low Country Boil

No Bangs!

The last time I made an appointment for the girls to get their hair cut, Mary Joyce told me that she didn't want to have bangs anymore. I convinced her to go on and have them cut that time, as we were getting ready to have professional pictures made, and I didn't want her hair to be in a shaggy, growing-out state for the pictures, but that she could start growing them out after that. Fast forward a couple of months, and her bangs are long enough that I can now pull them back out of her face. So, here is Miss Mary Joyce on her first day with no bangs...



(Hopefully I've fixed the problem and this is a normal-sized photo now.)

VBS 2010

We had a great time at Vacation Bible School this year. Mary Joyce was in the preschool class for the second year, and really enjoyed herself. Several of her school friends came to our VBS this year, so that was fun for all of them. Katherine and Malcom were in the nursery, but Katherine will be old enough to join her big sister next summer. These pictures and videos are from the Family Night Worship Service on Sunday night.

VBS 2010-Yes to VBS

VBS 2010-Who He Says I Am

VBS 2010

VBS 2010

Katherine Plays and Sings

Memorial Day

(Yes, I'm out of order. This was before the end of preschool program. Oops...)

On Memorial Day, we had some church friends over for a cookout. Here are some pictures from the fun...

Kids Playing Outside




Your standard "guys around the grill" shot...


Malcom thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate chip cookie.


Robert and Mary Joyce built a race track with blocks.

Preschool End-of-Year Program

These pictures, and the videos in the previous posts are from the end of the year program at Mary Joyce's preschool. It was graduation day for the pre-K and kindergarten students, and the 3 year old class (Mary Joyce's class) participated as well. They all really learned a lot this year.

Saying a special prayer they had learned...


Close-up of the prayer...


Mary Joyce, of course, had to play with her dress. A couple of times, I was really glad I had her put shorts on under it. (And I think things were a little loud for her friend Eric right here.)


The 3 Year Old Class in their part of the program...


Getting Her Certificate


They had cake for all of the kids afterwards. Mary Joyce is all about the cake.




Mary Joyce and her Teacher

Preschool Luau

One of the end of school events at Mary Joyce's preschool was a luau. Here she is at home at the end of the luau day.

Pretend Picnicking

One of the girls' favorite things to pretend is having a picnic. On this particular day, they had quite an elaborate set-up, definitely photo-op worthy...

Swimming Lessons

Mary Joyce took swimming lessons for the first time this summer. She isn't swimming yet, but she did do well for a beginner.

Ready to go on the first day...


At the pool...

Fun with Old Friends

Our friends and China travel buddies, the Duncans came through St. Augustine on their way to visit the Mouse, so we were able to meet them for supper one evening. (We had hoped to see them again the next day, but I, unfortunately, was under the weather.) Mary Joyce and Aidyn are both from Tonggu. At the time we adopted, all of us lived in Georgia, but they moved to TN about the same time we moved to FL, so we don't see each other nearly as often as we used to. Also, when we first met, they had one child, and we had none. Now, between us, we have 6 kids, and the oldest one is 5 1/2.

A Random Photo Thread...

Malcom's birthday gift from Aunt Lynda and family came in this box. Mary Joyce squeezed inside and closed the box. We joked we were going to mail her to Aunt Lynda, and for a minute, Mary Joyce thought we were being serious. Silly girl!


Katherine mugging for the camera and showing her cute hair on a Sunday morning.


Malcom loves playing on the pillows in the girls' room.


Cruisin'


Close-Up of Malcom


Katherine playing with her Sesame Street book and CD player


Watching her daddy make French toast


Brother and Sister playtime while Big Sister was at preschool...


All Dressed Up!


Katherine's First Ponytail

Church Picnic

I'm trying to catch up with pictures on this blog, so bear with me as I post some things that are pretty out of date. I think this picnic happened back in May. It was the same day as the beach trip in the last post.