Faithful friends of "Little Morties,"
We will be out-of-pocket for the next two weeks, and so we will not be posting any blogs until at least Wednesday, July 11th. We apologize for the interruption in our service but trust you will return when we are back online! Thank you for understanding and also for your faithful comments! We feel very loved.
Friends, first I'd like to issue an apology. I have not updated our blog in over a week, and frankly it's because I haven't taken any pictures. Eek!! (I can hear my mom's gentle but firm words as she correctly reproves me for not taking more pics.)
But today, I have rectified the situation, especially because we spent time with a long lost friend from E's early days of life. Today we spent time with our old buddy Davis Beier. If I had been blogging in the first year and a half, you would have seen as many pics of Davis as you currently see of Maxwell. Davis was definitely our best bud from those days. However, he and his parents now live across the Pacific Ocean from us, and it can be quite difficult to get together. But we were so thankful that we were able to meet up today at the pool and play for a bit before the storms approached. Here are the results:
Davis obediently posing for the picture; E delighting in the pool noodle.
"Hey, watcha got there Elizabeth?"
Works well as a telephone. :)
Yea! We got a great shot of these two buddies!! Cute smiles, I think.
Being a student of the English language and an English major, it has been fun to listen to Elizabeth's growing speaking skills. On Wednesday, she made a huge jump, linguistically speaking, in the English language.
The "th" sound is unique in our language and is also a challenging sound to make. Throughout her entire life, Elizabeth has substituted "f" for "th" in words, for example "fee" for "three" and "teef" for "teeth." But yesterday for the first time, she actually said "think" not "fink." We were sitting at the breakfast table, and I couldn't help but clap for her. Then we both giggled as we practiced saying "think" over and over again just for fun. (Don't worry though I'm not wanting to push her too fast in giving up these precious pronunciations.)
In other news, I thought I would write a quick list of some of E's advanced vocabulary. Being a girl, she is quite articulate, and being a reader, she picks up and practices new words all the time. The fascinating thing is that she uses these words in context correctly. Here is a brief list of some recent noteworthy words:
actually
however
similar
matches (especially relating to clothes and shoes)
fist pump
notice
awesome
"pop out" as in go somewhere
proboscis (tongue on a butterfly)
We love this little girl!!
One of our absolute favorite places to go is the public library, and in the summer, they offer great events designed around their summer reading program. Today, they invited different "big rigs" to come and open their doors to all who were interested. So our playgroup went and explored a fire truck, ambulance, motorcycle (not sure how this is a big rig), and an ice cream truck.
Of course, we got a picture with Maxwell. 
E is always asking if she can drive the minivan, so she REALLY liked driving the fire truck!!
She wasn't quite sure about the motorcycle, but I thought it was neat!!
The ice cream man was a serious hit because he actually gave away some of what he brought.
Thanks to our dear brother Dave and his camera phone, I can show you a couple of pics from last Sunday's birthday celebration. The first is Matt with his "volcano." Elizabeth was sitting next to him. In the background, you can see the waitress looking down at E.
Thankfully, she was quickly comforted and then excited to learn that all that fuss came with chocolate cake and ice cream! Yum!! (The smiling lady in pink is her beloved Siti.)
For the past two weeks, Elizabeth and I have been learning about ladybugs. She now knows that they have two "ears" called antennae. They have have wings underneath their red shells, they have spots on their backs, and they eat aphids, which she pronounces "afuns." So this week we made a ladybug snack: half a gala apple for the body, peanut butter to help the spots stick, chocolate chips for the spots, and two pretzels for the antennae. It was fun for me, too, but I let her eat the ladybug herself. :)
Here she is studying the intricate details of her ladybug snack.
By this point she was was super eager to eat her creation. You can almost see her saying, "No more pictures, please."
Finally, it was time to taste, and the ladybug didn't stand a chance. 
Notice that the "spots" and "antennae" are already gone; they were definitely her favorite parts.
Over the past few months, we have seen glimpses of the personality God has given our sweet one. She is tender-hearted, compassionate, very, VERY observant with an excellent memory, passionate about reading, loving towards animals and babies, a connoisseur of culinary delights, and independent. One other faculty that E possess in spades is her mental acuity; this combined with her vocabulary means I am constantly thinking on my feet. Whew!!
In fact, all of these skills merge into the perfect storm when there is something that E really, REALLY wants. Case in point, snack time yesterday. Picture us in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I am taking E out of the cart and putting her in the car when the following conversation transpired:
Me: Okay, we're going to go to the library, and when we get inside, I'm going to give you a snack!
E: Oooh, really?
Me: Yes! We'll go inside and look for books, and you can have your snack!
E: (sheepishly) I could have my snack in the car.
Me: (gently) Well, no, you'll have your snack at the library.
E: (now in her seat with a sly smile on her face) I could have some of my snack in the car.
Me: (a little more firmly) No, you'll have your snack at the library. (I close the door and walk around to the driver's side. I get in and E says...)
E: Mommy, I could maybe have some of my snack in the car.
You will be proud of me, I think, because I did not cave. We, in fact, did not have our snack in the car but at the library.
You've probably also figured out that this is why E has earned the nickname of "The Negotiator" in our house. Now I realize that there is a fine line between arguing and negotiating, and while E works on that, I'll work on timing my snack announcements.
P.S. You can't actually eat your snack in the library. They asked us to take it out into the hallway. :) Perhaps the car would have been better after all!!
This, I am sure, will be the first of many posts with fun pics from our summer. Elizabeth loves being outside and being in the water, and frankly so do I. Thus, today we just had to invite our buddy Maxwell over to partake in our sprinkler in the front yard. (Thanks to Daddy because the yard was newly mowed. :))
Here, E is still quite dry because she's not sure about getting into the water.
Now she is thoroughly wet and loving it!
Close-up!
"I'll protect you, Elizabeth!"
Good Buddies! (Maria and I couldn't believe I was able to get this one with my camera!)
In the life of every child, especially toddlers, there are fake tears and real tears.
The fake ones are easy to recognize, especially with one's own child. The fake ones usually move me to frustration and to think quick on my feet and to pray for great patience and grace.
The real ones are similarly easy to recognize, I think. :)
Yesterday, Elizabeth shed some real tears. We were at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Papa Perez (a must if you come to Bryan/College Station), for Matt's birthday with his parents and younger brother. When the waitress brought out his "Volcano", their version of a birthday cake, we all began singing "Happy Birthday." And I definitely mean ALL! Every person in the restaurant joined in, including a table of a dozen junior high boys. Needless to say it was really loud, especially when everyone clapped at the end.
I was sitting across from Elizabeth and watched as her little face began to tear up with big huge sobs. She was frightened by the noise. I felt the tears began to come to my eyes, too, knowing how genuinely frightened she must have felt. I wanted to take all the fear and pain from her heart and comfort her quickly. My precious one!
She did come to get some hugs from me after also getting comfort from her dad and Siti (Lebanese for "grandmother"). But what was the most endearing part was when she asked to go to see her Ghido (Lebanese for "grandfather"). The looks of joy, love, and contentment on both of their faces was my favorite part of the day. We love our family and are so grateful for every member!
And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling Matt, too!
