Sunflowers

We planted a row of sunflowers along the back of our garden this year, it was just for fun as we have never grown them before. Apparently we bought the JUMBO size seeds...they are over 10ft tall and still don't have flowers yet! Here is Em checking them out today...
Princess went for her first swim today in the pool! She really isn't a big fan of the water, the kids were amazed how she instinctively knew how to swim. Emily said "that must be why they call it the doggie paddle!"

Fundraiser Idea #2...

Okay, so I think I am going to scratch the cookbook idea..the costs for printing and the fact that we would have to order a minimum quantity of 200 scares me. Plus, I really don't think I want to spend the rest of my summer behind this computer typing out more than 150 recipes!! Our wheels have been turning here and a friend gave me a great idea the other night, she suggested we do some sort of "walk-a-thon" or something like that and ask people to sponsor our family. We came up with the idea of a front porch "rock-a-thon", we could devote an entire Saturday to spending it as a family out on our front porch in our rocking chairs, "rocking for our baby" and ask friends and family to pledge a donation for each hour rocked. The kids were really excited about this idea and I love how involved they would get to be in it. What could be better than spending the day as a family rocking on the front porch, praying for, and thinking about this new life?!?! What do you think????

Help me make a decision!!!

Alright, my faithful blog readers... I need your input on making a decision. For a few weeks now we have been praying about and discussing some kind of neat fundraiser to help raise money for our adoption expenses. We have been considering lots of different ideas but the one that keeps sticking in my mind is publishing a "McClard Family Favorites" cookbook. I have a big wooden recipe box that sits in my kitchen that holds all of our favorite recipes and we thought it may be cool to compile them in a cookbook and sell them for our fundraiser. So, what I need from you is advice on whether you think it is a good idea or not??? If you have never left me a comment before, now is the time to do it!! Just click the "comment" button right under this post...it's really easy!! Let me know what you think of the idea and more importantly would you consider purchasing one for a small donation?? Goodness knows I don't want to spend the money to have these printed and then have the boxes sitting in the garage collecting dust!! Thanks for all your help!

Blueberries!

We made a great discovery today, a "u-pick" blueberry farm less than 5 miles from our house! How is it possible we have lived here 3 years and never knew this before??? It's really quite simple...we live a "little bit" out in the country and the berry patch is even further out in the country and not really in a direction we drive very often. You better believe now that we know it is there we will drive that way more often!!

Rows and rows of blueberry bushes... they have blackberries and raspberries too!

We picked almost 4 lbs for waaaay cheaper than they cost in the store! Now the important question... should we have blueberry pancakes or waffles for breakfast tomorrow??? :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there! After church, we had family over for lunch and feasted on chicken on the grill, broccoli salad, coleslaw, watermelon, homemade salsa & chips, crockpot macaroni, and orange ice cream freezer dessert. Yum! The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home, playing games, swimming, and watching a movie. My kids are so blessed to have such an amazing Dad! Dave hates when I take "posed" pics of him and the kids, so I caught this one of them doing one of his favorite things with them, reading books together.

On Saturday, Em got all dressed up to go to her friends "Fancy Nancy" birthday party. She looked beautiful!

Home Study Complete...

We officially completed our last home study visit and the "hard" part of our adoption process is over! Although, Dave and I were both discussing how easy and painless the "hard" part was! Now just comes the waiting part, we know that the Lord has already chosen the perfect child for our family and it will be in His perfect timing that be brings us together. The excitement of a new baby is brewing in all of us and we have been having fun our looking at clothes, strollers, car seats, swings, and all that fun stuff! Things have really changed alot in just the few years since we bought all this stuff for our two...

Visit from the Hyre's

We enjoyed a fun visit this weekend from my friend Michelle and her family. The weather has been incredibly hot this weekend...over 100 degrees each day. The kids had a great time keeping cool in the pool!


It's a funny story of how we became friends, I met Michelle at the bookstore in Arundel Mills mall (for all you MDers!!) a little over 4 years ago, we spent over an hour chatting around the Thomas the Train table, exchanged email addresses to get our girls together for a playdate in the future (we both have Emily's) and have been best friends ever since!

Keep us in prayer this week, we have our third and final home study this Wednesday!!!

2 Home Study Visits + 2 Pierced Ears = 1 GOOD Week!

We had our first two home study visits this week. They went very well and we have our last visit next week. After that we will be officially approved to adopt and will just wait for a baby that needs our home and love!

Emily has been asking about getting her ears pierced for a few months now, she finally worked up the courage today at Walmart... 5 minutes, 2 "diamond" earrings (her April birthstone), and $ 8.91 later and we have one happy little lady!