Summer Days and Back to School

The summer has started and ended and we are back in the routine of school days, ballet classes and the joys of Fall. I must admit that I love the beach and warm weather and lazy hot days spent in front of ceiling fans. My summers as a child were spent at our family beach house in Seagrove Beach, FL and I spent weeks at a time covered in a fine film of sand and salt and remember being constantly hot and happy. I also discovered my enduring love of REALLY cold Diet Coke as I drink it without ceasing there. We still own that house so I am blessed to see Julia growing up with a similar experience at the same beach house and we spent many weekends this summer at the beach.

But the days grow shorter and new adventures have started again for us. We absolutely love Julia's Preschool. Yeah, I know everyone says that unless you send your kid to "Miss Sarah's Child Labor Prep School" but we are thrilled with our time at Advent. Julia went to "Summer School" and we are so happy to see her continuing to grow and thrive.

We started the year with our first haircut...I got a little misty when we put her locks in a Ziploc bag but she looks so cute with her Pixie cut now.

Our First Haircut

 I'm hoping to post regularly and look forward to sharing our adventures!

Tub Time Theology

When Julia started preschool in September it was with a heavy heart. We had loved her being cared for by my sister in law every day and starting school was just a scary prospect. What if the other kids were mean? What if SHE was mean? What if she felt abandoned, started a coup in her classroom and overthrew the preschool administration? My thoughts were admittedly running a bit wild! But we took the plunge and it has been an amazing experience both for her and us. We are lucky that my sister in law still keeps Julia in the afternoon but the mornings have expanded her in ways we could not dream. They have cooking class, dance, music, science and most importantly chapel. She has chapel 4 times a week and it has opened her eyes to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We have always been a religious family per se. We pray over meals, we celebrate Christmas and Easter and talk about more than just the man in the red suit and the bunny, but this new revelation of faith has been transformative for us as a family.

We get snippets of Julia's day over dinner or when she breaks into a rousing rendition of "The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book  for me..." in the car or while playing in the yard but usually we talk about God and Faith while she is in the bath. A kind of Tub Time Theology. We talk about whatever is on her mind but often the conversation comes around to Jesus, God, etc. She has so much insight into the stories that we read about in the Bible. When talking about the Resurrection Julia said, "Jesus went away and all of his friends and his mommy Mary were really sad and they cried a lot. But Jesus came back on Easter Day! He's not dead...he is alive!" It literally brought tears to my eyes to hear her talk with such excitement and hope about God and Jesus. It is beautiful to see the Holy Spirit working through her. Having Faith be a part of an ongoing conversation is so exciting and I'm looking forward to years of this conversation going on forever!

May Day!

Happy May Day!! As a kid I used to always love the first of May because to my it signalled the end of school and beginning of summer. Today is a perfect example of the start of summer, clear blue skies and warm sunny weather. The kind of day that makes you want to ditch your office and just be outside in the beauty of nature.

We are staying busy and had some family photos taken a few weeks ago at the beach. it was a fantastic idea that my sister in law had for my parents birthday as we have wanted professional pictures taken for ages and while Wes takes amazing photos, if he is taking the photo he is often not seen! These are two shots below and we absolutely love them! The photographer Courtney did a great job with getting amazing photos with 3 young children so she is a gem!

I love this photo of Julia! She just loves digging and sitting in the sand and I thought this dress looked very cute on her. It is moments like this when I realize how big she is getting.   

Wes and Julia getting ready to engage in a game of "chicken" with my brother and their youngest son. She is so happy up there with Daddy!

Happy Spring!!

So, I started this blog...then took a sabbatical!! ;) Life has been busy for the Three Cline's and we are

 all doing well. We are delighted that we closed on our new house in February and are now homeowners!! We love the house and are slowly making it into our home. most weekends are spent cleaning, painting, cutting branches in the yard and other fun projects.

We love living on the lake and spend most evenings out here with the herons, geese and fish. We have seen bunnies, deer and armadillos. Obviously we are not as excited about the armadillos as they dig up my flowers! Julia loves all of her furry friends!

Julia is growing up and loving school. It is amazing to think that she will soon be 3 years old and she is just changing so much each day. It is bittersweet to see her vocabulary changing and her changing from a baby to a toddler to a little girl. Just looking a photos like those below show how much she has changed in just one year.

Easter was lots of fun and Julia was very excited that the Easter Bunny ate 4 carrots and a cup of milk. She was much more interested in the bunny than in candy! It was so heartwarming to see her understanding of the true meaning of Easter with Christ's Resurrection. Even at 2 she understands the glorious mystery of Christ and his saving grace. It is exciting to see the Holy Spirit working through that little blonde head.  

 Wesley and I are doing really well. Wesley loves his firm and is very happy working with a great group of attorneys and staff. He is very happy and is thrilled that we have a workshop in our new house so he can putter around the house building things. Like these! Hey I can hope!

Katherine is staying busy with work and travels a lot these days raising money for FSU and I'm happy being back in Tallahassee. I'm working on sewing a few dresses for Julia and am making the dress below out of the blue daisy fabric. Stay tuned for more pictures!