Rebekah ' s Checkup

 With school getting ready to start back and Bekah 's birthday coming up, it was time for a checkup for her as well.

 I knew she seemed a lot taller to me recently, but she has really grown a lot. The PA was looking at her growth charts and she has gone from the 11th percentile in height when she was 2 to the 51st percentile at 5 years old. She and Bethany also also exactly 13 pounds apart to the ounce!
Weight: 40 pounds, 9.6 ounces
Height: 45 inches

Bekah also had her vision and hearing screen. She did well on both!

 She went first for her checkup and got a great report.

 She got her flu shot and one other shot at her checkup and I smiled when I looked closely at this picture. She is showing me her leg where she had to get the shot.

Bekah Faith, we are thankful for how well you are growing and what a beautiful young lady you are becoming, inside and out!

Allie's 4 Month Checkup

In mid August, we had Allie Grace's 4 month checkup. Here she is with her Daddy just before her checkup.

She was not thrilled about laying down to get her height and weight checked.

She was very happy when she could sit up and look around like a big girl again.
4 month stats:
Weight: 10 pounds, 15 ounces
Height: 23.25 inches long.

We love this happy girl and are so thankful for her!

Bethany's 3 Year Old Checkup

This past week, Bethany Joy had her 3 year old check up. With our move to NC, we have a new pediatric practice, and we were excited to see how she has grown recently.
3 year old stats:
Weight: 27 lbs, 9.6 ounces
Height: 36 inches

She was interested in the "arm hug" (getting her blood pressure taken)

She wasn't exactly a fan of her paper gown, but  it helped that big sister Bekah was wearing one too!

She also was able to hold the PA's light while she was getting checked so that was a favorite, along with more moral support from Bekah

We found out while we were at the doctors office that they already have flu shots in, so all the big 3 went ahead and got their flu shot. They were very much less than thrilled, but a popsicle at the end made things a little better.

We are thankful for a healthy 3 year old checkup for Bethany and that she is growing so well!

Tweetsie Railroad 2017

Earlier in July, our travels back from a photography show brought us near Boone, North Carolina and Tweetsie Railroad. Tweetsie Railroad is a small, very family friendly train themed amusement park near Boone and Blowing Rock, NC. Growing up in NC, Brent and I both went to Tweetsie as children with our parents and grandparents.

It was really fun to take our girls to Tweetsie now. They were great ages to really have a lot of fun here. One of the first stops of the day was to ride the train. They loved it!

They loved the horse statues throughout the park too! Somewhere way back in one of the family photo albums, there is a picture of me sitting on one of these horse statues too.

This was a first train ride at Tweetsie for Bekah, Bethany and Allie. Bekah and Bethany loved riding the train and Allie slept through the whole ride!

After the train ride, we rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain, which is where a lot of the kid's rides are. Here are Bekah and Bethany riding the airplane ride.

Not kidding, Rachel rode the Tweetsie Twister at least half a dozen times...and obviously, loved it! Bekah and Bethany were disappointed that they weren't quite tall enough to ride it with her yet!

All the big girls liked the Ferris Wheel, or as Bethany calls it "the roller coaster."

Oh, the mini-cars. It was an adventure watching these two and riding with them as they were driving the track...the time when they turn 16 is going to be a Real adventure!

While we were at Tweetsie, they brought out Number 12, which is the older steam engine and of course, we had to ride the train again.

Allie did finally wake up for part of the train ride.

We had a great time at Tweetsie Railroad. Thankful for the chance to make some good memories with our girls at this fun place.

Camp Living Water 2017

July 16, 2017

In mid-July, we took this young lady to the NC mountains for her second year of summer camp. Brent spent 2 summers in this area in college in ministry and he and I both volunteered as counselors for Camp Living Water 16 to 17 years ago. Now, our eldest is old enough to enjoy her second year of Junior Camp here at Camp Living Water. Time surely does fly!

Rachel was a little nervous last year with it being her first year of camp. This year she was just plain EXCITED! 

She would have honestly has her bag packed about 6 weeks before camp if I would have let her!

Here she is on her evening at camp at her cabin. Mom was allowed to go up and help get her luggage in. She did ask me to pack her suitcase for her again this year. All outfits were labeled for each day. She was organized and it made sure she actually changed clothes during the week - it was a win-win!

She also made it upstairs for her cabin assignment this year. Cabin 12- the first cabin at the top of the stairs. She was excited about this!

We did get to see her twice for just a few minutes during the week. She forgot her water shoes for tubing in the creek so we had to run those by to her.

Her sisters were very glad to see her even for a few minutes. Bethany's go-to phrase any time Rachel was mentioned during the week was "I miss Rachel."

We stopped by on Thursday to drop off a couple of packages for Rachel. If you get 3 letters or 1 package at mail call you have to stand up and sing for the group. So we dropped off two packages so she would have to sing. She was thrilled to tell me that with the letters she received from family too that she had to sing twice.

While we were there, Rebekah was able to ring the dinner bell to bring all the campers in for the meal. She was thrilled!

We didn't realize that mail call was actually right about the same time we dropped off Rachel's packages so we got to see her get her packages and sing. Here she is proudly showing off the space shuttle (she's our space girl) that her Daddy hand drew on her package.

This is the face that greeted us on Friday evening when we picked Rachel up...I think she may have missed us just a little.

This was a tough photo to track down but this was actually Rachel's first trip to Camp Living Water in 2009, when she was 6 months old! We brought our youth from Swift Creek Baptist to Teen Camp here at Camp Living Water and of course, Rachel came with us

That was a very happy face both then and now to be at Camp Living Water, but, Wow, what a difference 8 years makes!!! She loves being a camper for real now!

We got pictures of all the girls each on the swing because we will blink and these girls will be campers at CLW too.

Our Allie is now the youngest in the family to have been to Camp Living Water at 3 months old.

Oh my, these sisters were glad to be back together again!

We are so thankful for the blessing Camp Living Water has been to Brent and I and now to our kids as well!  We are so thankful for all who faithfully love and serve Jesus there and pour their hearts into His Church and His kids! Rachel had a wonderful week and is already planning her trip to camp next year!