I have been very busy lately!! I have started making personalized hand sanitizer. I am very excited about them, and they seem to be going over well. I have done first names, last names, teacher names and school mascots. I have done some personalized buckets also. One is being used for a treasure chest in her classroom. I think they will make great teacher gifts for back to school or Christmas.
It is not very often that you will find the Beavers’ family at the zoo in July! But thanks to some very mild weather and a high of only 81 degrees on Saturday we decided to take advantage of it! It was the perfect day! The animals seemed very active and the zoo keepers had some pretty neat things for everyone to look at.
John-Isaac didn’t know quite what to think about this snake, but he did look at it for a long time! Which is more than I can say for myself!
Layne got a very up close and personal look at what a real lion’s head looks like.
Linley looking at the cougar. She is so funny. If you ask her what an animal says, no matter what it is, she says, “meow”.
The polar bears are our family’s favorite!!
Wow, how a little girl changes in 6 months!!! Linley is walking running everywhere, eating almost anything, into everything and even developing her independence, (aka a little attitude)! Her favorite things right now are…trying to sing along with the radio, trying on everyone’s shoes, and the word NO! She has that one down, trust me!! She is a mess, but such and angel at the same time!! I wouldn’t trade her for anything!! I can’t imagine how much she will change in the next 6 months!!
Linley’s new thing is dressing herself. She uses whatever she can find, as you can see in the picture above! We call this one her diaper bikini:) The top is a pull up she found and thought would make a cute top!
Now this ensemble is a little more complex! She started with one pajama top and her diaper. She added a pair of pants and then another pajama top, (I did help her get her arms in the other top). Then she added Layne’s cape and picked up the baseball bat, (all on her own). I am a little worried about the teenage years!
Layne LOVES anything to do with “The Wizard of Oz”, so I knew that he would love “Wicked”. I also thought it would be a good opportunity for Brian and I to do something with just him. Bless his heart, he is so good and such a big help to me. But with the demands of having an autistic child and a pretty dependent baby, sometimes I think Layne doesn’t get as much time with us as he needs.
He was so excited when we told him that Mommy and Daddy were taking him to do something special. And he knew something was up when he had to put on “church clothes”. We ask him after we got in the car where he thought we were going, and he said,”Umm….To go see Wicked?” He is too smart for his own good:)
It was a wonderful show (if you have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it!). Layne was on the edge of his seat the whole time. The talent was amazing and the costumes were….well…..just, WOW is all I can say! After the show as we walked down the sidewalk to where our car was parked, there was a small group of people standing around a door. I realized quickly that the cast was coming out of the theater. Layne was able to get pictures and autographs with most of the cast. He was on cloud nine!! The funny thing was that he had gotten the big program with all of the pictures. I asked him if he wanted them to sign it, and he looked at me and said, “No way is anyone writing on this. They will have to write on my little one.”
Us with “Fiyero”
Layne getting “Boq’s” autograph
”Madame Morrible”
Layne getting Tom McGowan’s autograph “The Wizard”.
Us with Tom McGowan “The Wizard”.
Layne with “Glinda”
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| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
This year for the 4thof July, it didn’t rain and we actually got to have our neighborhood parade! Yeah!! My mom borrowed my brother’s trailer and four wheeler and we a made a float for all of the little kids to ride on. My dad got out his convertible and Layne rode in it with him. We had bicycles, unicycles, wagons, golf carts, you name it! Brian’s family was here and came out to help us celebrate. We had a great time celebrating our nation’s birthday. We topped off the day with a cookout and watching fireworks.
On Tuesdays in the summer our church has Kid’s Days. This week we went to The Children’s Museum of Memphis. The kids got to play in the museum for a couple of hours and then we had a picnic lunch on the grounds before going home. The kids all had so much fun and were good and tired when we got home!!
I had to throw this one in of my friend Amy! The adults had a lot of fun too:)
Layne and Payton flying the airplane.
We had a wonderful Father’s Day this year. We were able to go to Brian’s Mom and Dad’s house and had a huge cookout. And when I say huge I mean HUGE! There are six kids in Brian’s family. All are married and have children of their own, and everyone was able to attend except for one, I think! It was so much fun getting to visit with everyone. The kids all got to play and get rides on the four wheeler. It was a wonderful time of food and fellowship!!
Brian and Layne
Linley and her cousin Allie. Linley LOVES her so much!!
My niece Madilyn.
The whole gang!!
We (Highland Drive Baptist Church) had our second Sports and More Camp this year at Mt. Zion Baptist Camp. This year the speaker was Steve Winger. He is the “Juggler for Jesus”. If you have not ever seen him, you need to look him up!! He is amazing. He uses juggling to tell bible stories and present the gospel, and the kids never forget it!! All the kids got to sign up for different things they were interested in from basketball, football, and swimming to juggling, yard games, and cookie decorating. This was Layne’s second year to go and John-Isaac’s first year. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about John-Isaac going, but our church is so wonderful and had someone assigned to him at all times! He had a blast and I never had to worry about where he was! Brian helped with some of the games and I helped out with the cookie decorating class. I think we had as much fun as the kids did!
Steve Winger aka Juggler for Jesus. Singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.
John-Isaac with Mrs. April. Can I tell you HOW much we LOVE OUR MRS. APRIL!!!
Layne learning how to spin a plate.
Steve Winger with our friend Ella on his shoulders.
This year for teacher’s gifts I wanted to do something that they could keep, especially since John-Isaac had had all of his teachers for 2 years and they have all kind of become like part of our family. I decided that flower pots would be somewhat easy and fun to do. I think they turned out well and they were a lot of fun to do.
The finished product.
