July 2011

July is a very special month to me. It's the month my sweet little Micalee was born & the month that we became a family two years later! I think about her birthmother alot in July. If she only knew how much this little girl was loved & how much she meant to this family, maybe it would help her come to peace with the most difficult decision I'm sure she ever had to make. Each day I thank her for her courage & love she showed my little girl in her early days, but even more so this month. As we've done the last couple of years, on the evening before Micalee's birthday, we released a single red balloon to honor her birthmother & thank her for the wonderful gift she has given us....


Micalee & Jace with their Swimming Lessons Certificate on the last day of class.
Forth of July celebration at First Baptist Blanchard. Micalee ate three, yes, three hotdogs!!!

Giving Mommy a good luck kiss before we got in the hot air balloon for a very short ride up & down. We still couldn't convince Daddy to join us!

Checking out the Life Air Rescue helicopter. How cool!!!

Holding hands with Jace during the fireworks display. So sweet!!!

Celebrating her birthday at Build-a-Bear Workshop! This is her new friend, Panda! Now to get her all dressed up!

They are so cute dressed alike!

Getting ready for her birthday party at home! She helped blow up most of the balloons with that cool little gadget!!!

End of July fun at Brownlee Park with Isabella & Lillianne!!! This spray park is so much fun!!!

June 2011

June was just pure fun! Micalee got to see the ocean for the very first time! She started swimming lessons (along with her cousins). She started gymnastics at a new location (and loves it!). Here are a few shots of the month:

Every Wednesday at SciPort (during the summer months), they have a "Itty Bitty Scientists" program for 2-5 year-olds. They start with a story & then have some type of craft for the kids to do (usually related to the story). Micalee loves the program and just hanging out at SciPort. There is just so much to do! Here she is coloring a full sized tracing of herself (after hearing a story about shadows).

And posing with some of the creatures they have at SciPort.

My little brave girl! We actually started swimming lessons AFTER our beach trip. During the trip, Micalee was swimming with floaties in the pool, jumping in, and putting her face in the water! I think she forgot she didn't have her floaties on and jumped right in the pool the first day. Luckily, her instructor was close by & pulled her out immediately! It didn't seem to bother her too much, because she stuck with the lessons! She will definitely need to take more lessons (just too many kids for one instructor, so not alot of one-on-one time), but at least it got her started...

It's so hard to get a good shot of her at gymnastics because we are on the other side of window with just too much glare! She is loving it, though! She laughs & smiles the entire time! I have really noticed improvement in her balance, too!

The beach trip was just so relaxing & so much fun! I wasn't sure how she would like the open water. I knew she's like the sand (she loves to play in dirt/sand)! I loved the look on her face when she took off running to the surf! She never looked back! I believe we may just have to move to the coast!!!

This is the face I was talking about.....I took this the moment she ran into the surf!

I have to comment on this one! We had a board in the pool with us & Micalee took it upon herself to climb up & stand! It's like she was a natural born surfer! So we started pulling her around....

May 2011

Images from May:

Micalee's new Earth sprinkler! She has been fascinated with Earth & the moon. I found this on Ebay & she loves it! It's also good for watering the grass!

Micalee had her Preschool graduation in May. Here she is on stage singing with her classmates!

And here she is with her "diploma"!!! I can't believe how far she's come since those first tearful days (or weeks) of preschool!

Micalee finally got to experience her first parade at the Poke Salad Festival. It is such a nice small town festival & it just perfect for her first experience! And boy, did she rack up! So much candy, toys, beads, etc! Just plain 'ole fun!

Followed by good 'ole carnival fun! Even better because she got to share it with her cousins, Jacob & Jace!

Cooling down at Brownlee Park.

So proud of herself for climbing to the top of the rock in the sand pit!!!

And most importantly, May marked the 2nd anniversary of our referral day. And here's a look at the how much this beautiful, amazing little girl has changed in just two years!

April 2011

April was a busy month.....here are some highlights:

Our annual fishing/camping trip at Lake Murval (courtesy of Tracy & Mike!). Micalee learning some fishing tips from Papaw.

We found this little critter under the tent when we were packing up after the weekend. Micalee named him Tuck (after the Wonder Pet's Turtle Tuck), and we brought him home to live in our small pond. Five months later (because it's taking me this long to post), he's still there & growing!

April was also the last month of soccer! Micalee would still play, but seemed less interested at each game, but I really believe it was because she had such a small team, she never really got a break during the games like the other teams' kids did!

Micalee's preschool held a Trike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. She had so much fun riding around the parking lot with all the other kiddos!

Mid-April, we went to Brayden & Pressley's 2nd birthday party! Micalee loved the Mickey Mouse jumpy house!

And of course, dying Easter eggs is always fun!

And so is finding your filled Easter basket on Easter morning!!!

Getting ready to head out to the Easter egg hunt at First Baptist Blanchard (such a diva)....

Last year, Micalee only found a few eggs. This year? She filled that basket up!!!

Posing for a picture Downtown at the Asian Festival.

And the month wouldn't be complete without a trip to ArtBreak! This is the best place to take any child you loves crafts (and Micalee is one of those kids!)! There is SO much to do, that even with two trips there, we still didn't see it all. Best of all, it's FREE!!!

And I had to post a few of these! We finally decided to get some "professional" pictures done of Micalee! I had such a hard time narrowing down the seventy plus shots to about thirteen! Here are just a few of my favorites! For those of you who are on Facebook, you can see even more of them there!

March 2011

Spring is back......Here are some pictures of some of how we spent our time....

Back to the Alligator Park to feed the animals & enjoy the nice weather!
Micalee loves this place! And I love watching her with the animals.

I love her profile....

That's right! She is holding that baby alligator all by herself!

Digging for treasure at our favorite park...

Most Saturday mornings (and Wed afternoons) were spent playing soccer. And many times, Micalee was the only kid on her team willing to play, so it was all up to her. Eventually, she got tired of that & decided she could just sit out some, too!

Spending time at the park with friends, Isabella & Lillianne......