Our Little Girl is Three!!!

As many of you know, we just returned from a week-long vacation to Florida (sigh). However, before we can fill you in on just how much fun we had there, I feel it is important to highlight the fact that our baby girl turned 3 on September 9th. We celebrated in a low-key manner with a few friends and family members--a "Dora tea party" at Kylee's request (tying those two themes together required a little more creativity than I had originally imagined it would).

Here's Kylee with our family...she's sporting her new Cinderella dress from Grandpa and Grandma Lori in some of these pics:

Kylee with her friends, enjoying her birthday lunch:

Kylee has been asking for Wysteria, a My Little Pony, for months. The Blakemores answered her prayers...

While Kylee is still insistent that she wants to be 4, or on some days, even 6, knowing that she is 3 means that we're entering a new chapter in life...gone is the baby stage, and now, in my mind, even the toddler stage...we now have a budding preschooler in our house. She runs the joint in fine style and continues to be passionate about laughter, snuggling, and occasionally, screaming. It is hard to believe that three years ago, she was about the size of one of the babies that she so regularly carts around the house now.

Favorites in Kylee's world include My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and all things Princess. I had briefly contemplated trying to ban all princess paraphenalia from our house, and quickly gave up when I realized that this was going to be an almost impossible goal. I triple dare you to walk through the aisles of Target without finding at least 20 princess accessories in any girls' toy section. Kylee is also into "make-up", which fortunately for us, means lip gloss. She can occupy herself for (literally) hours by putting on her make-up...dabbing her fingers in the Hello Kitty lip gloss she got in a McDonald's happy meal and rubbing it on her lips over and over again. It's quite precious.

We hope and pray that our little girl continues to grow healthy and strong...both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We thank God for all that she brings to our world and hope that her precious smile continues to light our world for years to come!

Happy Birthday, Kylee J!!

Can You Reach the Sky?

One of the sources of great joy for our children in these last few weeks has been the addition of a trampoline to our neighbors' yard. Our neighbors are very kind and willing to let us use it even when they are not home, for which we are grateful. We are blessed to be surrounded by people that buy all the cool outdoor toys so that we don't have to. :) It is a lot of fun to watch the kids smile and jump and have such a good time doing it. Here are some pictures:

Things have been going well around our house. Connor is in full swing with school, and I have started my clinicals for William Jewell, so the fall routine is in place. The beginnings of the week are busy for us, but the end of the week is fairly quiet, which is just perfect.

We have begun tackling the potty-training beast with our daughter...some days go really well and other days are an absolute disaster. She hasn't totally made up her mind that she wants to do it, so the process moves only as quickly as she allows it to (which is sometimes only in a backwards direction, mind you).

Speaking of Kylee, we will celebrate her 3rd birthday on Sunday. Can you believe it? Our BABY is turning three. I am so thankful for all the sparkle that she brings to our family.

Birthdays lead me into a great deal of reflection...my prayer for both of our children is that they will flourish and know Jesus in a personal way and then, in turn, share His love with others. We also pray for peace and happiness in their lives...when I watch them jump on the trampoline, it is somewhat symbolic for me to see the joy that they experience from being lifted (or bounced) to a new elevation--even if it means that their footing is a little uncertain at times. Their willingness to embrace that uncertainty as they seek to reach new heights is a weighty example for me. I pray that our children will seek higher ground and that family and faith will always be there for them to land on when they need to.

I hope they never stop reaching for the sky.