Breakfast with Dad

Chloe and I went on a special breakfast date this morning. She had french toast sticks which she ordered off of "that food thing"...also known as a menu!

Martinson Cousin Pics

Yesterday we decided that instead of trying to take 11 kids to a studio for our annual cousin pics, we would go to a park and do it ourselves. We took over 130 pictures and came up with a few good ones. :-) The kids were troopers and it is fun to have some updated pics with all 11 cousins.

"Oh Tom the Toad" . . . .

For those of you who know Chloe pretty well, this will not come as a surprise to you. For those of you who know Jeremy pretty well, you will also know that this "side of her" definitely doesn't come from her daddy. :-)

Anyway, yesterday I was sitting in the house holding Lydia when Chloe hollers from the door to the garage saying she has something to show me. This is a fairly common occurrence and usually involves her bringing me some cute little flowers that she has gotten from the tops of weeds. So when I saw her hand behind her back I knew that must be what it was. To my SURPRISE--she was holding this VERY CRISP dead toad and was proudly showing me. I remained calm and asked her politely not to bring dead animals into the house again.

Which brings me to another story about her....when she woke up this morning the first thing she said to me was, "Mom, Sam says that I'm not very LADYLIKEISH when we are outside". Do you wonder why he would say such a thing?!

"But who do you say that I am?"

Quote from: "From the Rock to the Gates of Hell" by Andrew W. Blackwood JR.

~commenting on Matthew 16:13-19

The easy question led to the hard one. "But who do you say that I am?" The bewildering abundance of contradictory answers shows that the question is important. Sincere people have been asking it for twenty centuries. We simply do not ask this about other great historical figures from the Hellensitic age. Who do you say was Alexander the Great? Who do you say was Julius Caesar? Who do you say was Cicero or Ovid? It sounds silly. You don't need to make a decision about any of these men. If you can't answer from memory, you can look it up. Who do you say is Jesus? The encyclopedia can give valuable information, but the answer you live with is found by searching your heart, not in a reference book.

Swimming--and LOTS OF IT

Pool Parties @ Grandmas





Swimming has become a big part of our summers. Samuel absolutely loves the water and acts like a fish. Chloe doesn't show much fear of it either. Chloe enjoyed taking swimming lessons this year for the first time along with Sam. We spent lots of time at Grandpa and Grandma's house swimming in their pool. They even got an inflatable water slide which the grand kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Lunch date with Dad

Lois, Sam, and Chloe had an outing yesterday afternoon. So...Lydia and I had a little date at the McDonalds in the mall. Afterwards we did a quick Wal-Mart run. Not really a date...but hey, she's only 1...so she doesn't know better!

Summer Highlights Continued

On July 3rd, we welcomed Elealah Joy Rockhold into the family. What a precious blessing from the Lord. We are excited to have another niece and another GIRL cousin. :-)