As a reward to the kids for being such great sports all day, we finished the afternoon at the splash park down the street.  Michele is posing with the kids on the left, and I’m giving Drew a kiss on the right. 

Drew & Noelle were having so much fun, and I couldn’t stop taking their pictures!

Drew is such a big boy now!  ‘The journey through the next tunnel of your life will be so much fun, and we’ll see you as soon as we can, sweet boy!’

We came home and let the kids take a quick nap while we were making bows and jewelry.  We took the Eberts to Mijo’s to finish celebrating the day and send them off on their journey.  We love you, Ebert family, and Godspeed to you! 

The time has come for Andy, Michele, & Drew to move to Japan!  Andy is an orthopedic surgeon, and he is serving for 8 years in the Air Force.  They will be living on Yokota Air Force Base right outside of Tokyo, Japan.  We are so excited for them, and the adventure they are about to have.  Most importantly, we are so very proud of our family for making this sacrifice to serve our country!

The Eberts came through A-town on their way to Jacksonville on Tuesday.  We had an action-packed day for the cousin’s last day together!

After going to get their picture taken together (which turned out super cute), we went to story time at the library.  Of course, Drew found a choo-choo book!

Mrs. Jacobs had a 4th of July unit for the kids – it was so cute, and they all got to make flags afterward.  She even had flag socks on – the kids love her so much!

Our next stop for the day was Chick-fil-A.  Michele was super-impressed with the service there – they have a wonderful little lady named Edith who takes care of the dining room… they even gave us free ice cream!

I love these pictures of the kids standing side-by-side.  They are pretty much the same size now.

Noelle has really taken to Aunt Michele, and she is now saying "Michele" instead of "Chele."  Michele is 23 weeks pregnant with a little girl.  We spent the afternoon shopping for baby girl clothes for her to take to Japan. 

A funny memory for me from today is when Rosie called to say hey and Michele told her we were about to shop for hair "adornments."  I busted out laughing at her version of  hair "accessories."  Michele is going to be a great girl mom – she has no idea how much fun she’s in for!

               We celebrated the 4th of July with the Banks family this weekend!  

The dessert table!  Uncle Jon & Aunt Mary always have such wonderful, delicious food.  My annual cupcakes were firecrackers this year!  🙂

                                  Noelle, Brighton, Blanche, & Berekley!

I never thought we would have a blonde hair blue-eyed daughter!  She is just so sweet and beautiful, and our hearts overflow with love for our little Noelle!  She’s singing "Amazing Grace" in our bed right now as I write this… 

                                                  "Say cheese!"

John & sweet Nancy!

Kim & Melissa with Berkeley & Noelle!

Thanks to Uncle Jon & Aunt Mary for hosting such a special time of reuniting & sharing life together!  We love you all!

We had so much fun at the Science Museum with Brook & Jamie this afternoon!

One of the girls’ favorite stations was the grocery store!

Jamie was taking everything in and looking precious in her summer dress.

Aren’t they so cute talking on the phone!?!

Noelle and Mommy posing in front of the dinosaur!

Jamie discovers Noelle on T.V.

Noelle saying "Hi" to herself.

I love this picture of Jamie watching Noelle on the T.V. as she walks back to the store.

Big Tyrannosaurus Rex teeth! 

Noelle and Jamie hanging out inside a dinosaur footprint. 

Crazy lady at the wheel!

The girls had a blast in the footprint!  Heather painted Noelle’s toes red for the 4th – she keeps talking about how pretty her toes are!

Pressing buttons on the big screen!

Noelle became quite the dinosaur expert reading to us about the footprint.

Noelle read about Zacchaeus in her little Bible with Daddy on Monday.  All week long she has been saying, "Zacchaeus (Zi-Kiuss) Daddy" when she wants a kiss… then she starts cracking up because she knows she’s totally silly.

I’ve been filling orders this week for Tulip Sparkles, and Noelle will walk up and say, "Make it pretty, Mommy."  I say, "Okay, Noelle. Thank you!"  She’ll say, "Thank you, Mommy" and go on about her little business.

Emily & Tiffany saw this doll cupcake and couldn’t resist bringing it as a treat for Noelle last night.  We were all cracking up and thought the doll cupcake was so funny (and a little creepy).  Noelle had a blast singing "Happy Birthday, dear Noelle" while she was eating her cupcake… 🙂

Excerpt from this week’s journal entry:  You love to play this game where you say, “Ba-doom, Daddy” and he says back to you, “Ba-doom Noelle.” Then you say, “Ba-doom, Mommy” and I say back to you, “Ba-doom Noelle.” If we have friends over, you go around the room saying “Ba-doom” to each person. Everyone cracks up at how funny you are. You also made up a song for when we walk up the stairs. You sing, “Up and down, up and down” every time we step up one of the steps. Daddy and I always get your silly little song in our heads and giggle because you’re so creative and cute.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jillian!  We have so much fun playing with you all the time, and you are such a sweet friend!

I love this picture of Jillian!

Lindsay made all the little girls’ tutus (with a little help from her friends – wink wink) and there were pink poofs everywhere – all the girls looked so so cute!

Enjoying some birthday cake!

As many of you know, I’ve started a custom girls’ bracelet line called Tulip Sparkles, and I’ll have to find a spot for this picture on the website once it’s up.  My goal is to have the website open for business by the end of the summer, but of course, I’m always taking individual orders, so let me know if you’re interested.

Noelle was so happy to show off her tutu & wand to her daddy!

Jamie and Noelle having some girl time.

Sam is the sweetest big brother figure – he’s always taking care of Jillian and Noelle and checking on them to make sure they are okay.  We love Sam!

We had so much fun today!  Happy birthday, Jillian!

Noelle’s new favorite word is polka dot!  We love it when she scrunches up her nose when she smiles.  She is so cute and funny all the time and is such a joy!

The excitement of spotting an ant (second picture)!

Discovery! 

Noelle and I got ready early for Bible study and were goofing off outside until everyone got here.  It was a lot of FUN!

Noelle’s two pieces of art work this afternoon looked so complementary together.  We’ve painted with a brush with our paint with numbers books, but today was the first day she used a brush with paint and even chose her own colors.  She’s into circles these days and did a great job painting them today!  Noelle loves art!

Noelle’s hair is kind of crazy right now.  We are growing her bangs out, although she’s never had bangs cut, that’s just the way her hair grew in… so, hopefully they’ll grow out soon!  She’s such a cutie!

Sam really wanted a posed picture – it was so funny watching him round up the girls!

There was water splashing and coming out everywhere – this pool was over the top and right down the street from our house – we can’t wait to go back!

Lunch time! 

The big girls kissing and loving on their little buddy Jamie!

We had so much fun at the pool today!