Thank you Babygarten!

Belen has found a new favorite pastime .... reading!

She loves to go in her room and pull every book that she can reach off of the bookshelf. Then she looks through them to find her favorites. "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?" is currently on top of the list.

Our little reader!

Love,

Dawn

Skin Issues

1 trip to the pediatrician. $90.00

2 tubes of Nistatin cream for rash. $8.00

1 bottle of Aveeno advanced care body wash. $6.00

1 bottle of Cutivate lotion prescribed by the dermatologist....

Practically priceless

or $384.00 (!!!!!!!) but who's counting.

At least the Cutivate worked and after about a month and a half the rash on Belen's neck is finally going away. I guess I will just lock the bottle in our safe until the next rash!

Love,

Dawn

Daddy's Girl

Belen and I have a favorite time of the day: When Daddy gets home! We always wait expectantly as soon as 5:00 comes for Gavin's car to pull in the driveway. Belen's biggest smile of the day is when the door opens and he comes inside. What can we say, we love Daddy!

Her shirt may say "I love my mom," but it is no secret that Belen is her Daddy's girl!

Daddy gets "stuck" following Belen through the door!

Gavin didn't want Belen to be the only cow at Chick-Fil-A's

Dress Like a Cow day! Luckily there were lots of cows running

around. But Belen was the only calf that we saw!

Love,

Dawn

New (To Her) Toys

We are so blessed to have family and friends that think of us when their kids outgrow toys! Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeremy passed on a few of Lauren and Jimmy's toys when we were visiting them, and Ken Levett, Belen's Chappy, gave her an outdoor playset his grandkids have outgrown. Belen loves them all! New toys are so fun!

We were able to fit the house toy inside.

Belen loves to play with it while I am fixing meals

(or cleaning after them. hahaha)

She is finally big enough to play outside on her playset!

It is our favorite thing to do in the afternoon when it is a tiny bit less sweltering.

Thanks again for the great toys!

Love,

Dawn

America, Sweet America!

This year I was reminded why the 4th of July was my favorite holiday as a little girl. It is a celebration not only of our blessings in this country, but of family and of summer. We worshipped well, ate well, played well, and them slept well!

Holidays are always better as seen through the eyes of children. Lauren and Jimmy, and Belen (even though she had no clue it was the 4th of July) all had the best time playing at the park, in the back yard, running under the sprinkler and lighting sparklers, the whole while with steaks sizzling on the grill! After putting the babies to bed, we set off fireworks (my favorite) and noone lost any fingers or blew up their faces (although some of Jimmy's toys were casualties).

Thank you God for such simple pleasures!

Love,

Dawn

Vacation Bible School Firsts

I just love writing about all of Belen's firsts!

While we were visiting our family, First Baptist Church of Thorndale, where Jeremy is pastoring, was having Vacation Bible School. We went both nights for a while, and so Belen attended her first VBS (of many I'm sure). We all had such a great time, especially the second night, which was family night. The night was filled with bounce houses, face painting, snowballs, and, the best of all, horse rides for everyone! It was wonderful! I always say, now that I have a child I can start having fun again, and that was definitely true at family night. I even got to ride Queso the horse with Belen. Here are some pics.

Bounce houses are so much fun!

Feeling tipsy in the best possible way!

Jimmy was bouncing around like crazy and making Belen laugh and laugh.

Riding Queso!

I was smiling this big, too!

Queso was so gentle and didn't even get mad a few seconds

later when Belen grabbed his nostril and pulled!

Belen's fist taste of snowballs (or really, shaved ice with almost no cherry syrup at all!)

Ducks really are soft Daddy!

After such a fun night, Belen had another first on Saturday morning. She threw up! My biggest nightmare had come true! I got through it, though. Thank goodness that Gavin was there to help me, and that my Mom and Julie were around, too. Praise God that Belen only felt bad that morning, and was better and ready to go by lunch time.

Love,

Dawn

Visiting the Shepherds

Belen and I were so happy to be able to visit with Aunt Julie, Uncle Jeremy, Lauren and Jimmy over the 4th of July weekend. They recently moved to Thorndale, Texas, just outside of Austin, and this was our first time visiting them at their new home. Gavin even surprised us by coming on Friday morning, even thought we though he had to work the whole while we were gone.

We had such a great time! It was so wonderful to see everyone and visit. The kids all played together and had a blast. Belen even liked Bilbo (their pet pug). We got to see some sights in the area, went to every park within a 45 mile radius, and even went to Vacation Bible School. True to Wilson vacations, we packed in as much action as possible into 4 days.

Love,

Dawn