ten smile tuesday....

well, we've been back since sunday night, but i haven't found time to sit down and blog until now. plus i figured i'd give everyone a chance to read the lovely post grandmommy wrote while we were there. (if you haven't checked that one out yet you really should go there before reading my ten smiles!). we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend of sun and fun...though we definitely missed aunt shell and uncle richard, who won't be able to make the trip up until the end of the month. anyway...onto the smiles.

1. an evening with the gals...dessert, iced coffee, and brainstorming for next years MOPS. so fun to get to know a few moms i didn't know too well..and my hospitality co-chair and i are absolutely thrilled to have a team of five other women who are eager to help us plan and create. makes me even more excited for the upcoming year of MOPS (and the upcoming steering retreat this saturday...an entire day of planning, regrouping, and getting the vision of what this year has in store!

2. taking refuge from the rain at "aunt" jill's house when the rain thwarted our plans of a morning at the park while we waited for daddy to get off work and be ready to head to the lake.

3. picking fresh cherries from the trees in grandmommy and poppy's back-yard...and then making a tasty cherry cobbler with those fresh tart cherries! i must admit, i also enjoyed standing at the sink with my hubby, pitting those cherries. you see...this was what mike and i were doing on the evening we both started to realize God might have something more in store for us than being remotely casual acquaintances. (but that is another story for another day....)

4. chilly, juicy watermelon on a warm summer afternoon. i don't have a picture, but you can envision the sticky juice dripping off of elizabeth's hands and face....and the adults as well! silly elizabeth...i think she would eat the whole slice, rine, peel and all if we didn't stop her!

5. watching elizabeth play along the shore...and seeing her gradually build up her confidence to do more and more in the water. she LOVED digging her toesies in the sand, playing with her little boat, building castles, and floating in her hippo.

6. my sweet little "mama"...elizabeth isn't super into doll babies...in fact, she would much prefer to snuggle with, feed, and diaper her stuffed animals. see what a good mama she is to kate's sock monkey. the funniest was watching and listening as she pretend to change his diaper. "ohh...you got a poopy...yucko sock monkey...lay still...good monkey." all the while her little hands are going through all the motions of wiping his bottom, pulling the tabs up on the diaper...even to taking the pretend diaper over and throwing it in the trash. have i mentioned lately how precious this sweet little girl is...oh there are so many moments (even in the midst of the frustrating ones) when my heart just bursts with love and pride and awe...God's gifts are so amazing.

7. our little waterbug...kate was so happy to simply sit in the shallow water...splashing, squishing the sand...and then to swim in her float and do some dunking under the water. i'm telling you...this one is definitely our little "firecracker"....

8. teeth...glorious teeth. yes, the four (yep...all at once) teeth kate has been working on for at least two months are filling popping through the gums. with the emergence of the teeth our happy go lucky, giggly, smily girl is returning in full force.

9. this...iced coffee with sugar-free cinnamon dulce syrup and a bit of skim milk....even better that it is free (and will continue to be free for another whole week!). thank you starbucks! i haven't been partaking in one of these everyday...just a freebie treat on those days we venture out to run errands, etc.

10. fireworks...a boat parade...the annual boat-in pancake breakfast...canasta-ing...reading...floating...chatting with my parents...boat rides...watching elizabeth water the flower and try to ride her hot wheels...relaxing...simply savoring the time away. there are far too many smiles to list...so i will simply share some more photos...