Swimming

Today we went swimming for the first time as a family of four!  Mary Claire LOVED the water and we loved having her in the pool with us to enjoy our favorite summer pastime. 

Let the summer fun begin!

Family

We thank God for family who are our friends, too…

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Beauty

Mary Claire, you take our breath away!

I love dressing you up!  Having a daughter is so much fun!

Here come the smiles…

A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future.

Welcome to the world, Mary Claire Joy McGown!

We praise the Lord for Mary Claire’s sweet life.  She is a precious gift!

 

And her proud and wonderful big brother…

Whenever I held my newborn baby in my arms, I used to think that what I said and did to him could have an influence not only on him but on all whom he met, not only for a day or a month or a year, but for all eternity - a very challenging and exciting thought for a mom.  ~Rose Kennedy

Cowboy Joshua

Last night we had an amazing time taking Joshua and his buddy, Luke, to their first Houston Rodeo.  The boys loved it, and we have decided to make it an annual outing.  :) 

Unlike his city-girl mommy, Joshua loved all of the animals and was not scared one bit to pet and hug all of God’s creatures.

When Joshua was done in the petting zoo, he said “Bye, Animals!” and proceeded to walk out the gate on his own. 

Next, Josh and Luke had their first pony ride.  Josh yelled “hee-haw!” and was very excited.

Josh enjoyed all the other attractions as well, including Miss Moo.  He thought she was pretty funny and kept giving her high-fives.

The boys on the walk out after a very fun night…

The Rodeo makes me thankful we are raising our little boy in Texas.  :)

Tractor and Turkey

Well, this past weekend provided some fun times and cool surprises!  Our dear friends, the Penberthys, invited us to come hang out on their newly acquired 10 acres of land.  So we put our boots on and headed out to the country!  The boys had an awesome time riding in the tractor and the jeep (which they could both drive amazingly well for their age!)        Yes, we have an inflatable turkey in our front lawn.  The neighbor down the street saw how much Joshua loved it and gave it to us.  Pretty cool surprise since we would probably never spend the $ to buy one of these things.  Josh LOVES it!

Trick or Treat?

Joshua’s first “real” Halloween was this year and it was the most fun we have ever had going door to door looking for some candy!  Josh would run up to the door and yell “trick or treat” and then when the person would hand the candy to Josh he would say “thank you” and proceed to hand the candy back to them.  There were a couple homes that Josh refused…some included freaky midget skeleton talking man, one had a smoke machine and loud noises, and another had tons of zombies and severed heads….other than that it was all fun and games.

 

Josh pushing his friend Tori around the block!

After a TON of trick or treating….well deserved rest!