Summertime!!!

Both girls are napping this afternoon, which is a rare occurrence lately so I thought I'd take a minute or two to update the blog :) Summer is officially here and we are enjoying lots of fun times! I can vividly remember last summer, watching Addie run around in the sprinkler by herself and thinking "next summer Lydia will be chasing after her!" and here they are....the best of friends, playing together and enjoying being sisters. I could not be happier, just knowing they have each other and love each other SO much :)

They truly ARE the best of friends :) They play this little "game" ALL.THE.TIME. where Addie calls herself "Mama" and she calls Lydia "Sweetie Pie." Mama holds Sweetie Pie's hand wherever they go and is just so mothering, patient, and sweet to her. I don't have pictures to document this part, but Mama even takes Sweetie Pie to the potty, taking off her diaper and pretty much doing everything I would do (all under my supervision of course). And the greatest part is that Sweetie Pie doesn't put up a fight with "Mama" like she does with me on occasion ;)

Lydia and her sweet friend, Jenna riding the Jeep :)

Since we didn't take advantage of Spring camping weather this year, we decided to have a little camp out in our living room a few weeks ago. We had planned to do some real camping over at Papaw Mike's house, but it was just TOO stinkin' hot....so we opted for the A/C and comforts of home.

Daddy pitched a little tent in the living room, we ate "camping" type food out on the deck, swam ALL day in our little blow up pool, and slept horribly (because that's usually how it goes when you're really camping, right?). Although the girls loved the idea of playing in the tent before bedtime, neither one actually slept IN the tent. Chris and I had mattresses on the floor for ourselves and Addie ended up sleeping between us....and the little Rascal a.k.a. Sweetie Pie, couldn't get settled down so she was banished to her crib. Needless to say, we only attempted the tent one night and everyone was back to their own beds the next night :)

We did go on one little outing while pretend camping....to the camp store (a.k.a. Target). Addie has been asking for a bicycle for a while now and we thought it would be a good almost half-birthday present to get her one. Since we don't have a very flat area for her to practice pedaling, we decided to get her a princess scooter instead which she was thrilled about! She has gotten better over the last couple weeks with lots of practice....we'll see about getting a bicycle for Christmas :)

This is how Lydia feels about Addie getting a scooter...just kidding!

Even though it's been HOT HOT HOT outside, we have been trying to get outside to play every single day....the earlier the better. The girls have discovered their love of sidewalk chalk and our driveway is ALWAYS decorated :) Addie taught herself how to write her name about a month ago so she is loving to sign her name by her art and trying to write other letters too. If I would let them, they would spend all day and night in their swimsuits playing in the pool on the deck. Lydia is so funny, every day looking out the window saying, "wet, pool, swim, outside" over and over. The other morning, they spent over an hour collecting bouquets of clover and berries, humming along just as happy as could be...getting sweaty little heads and rosy little cheeks :)

One of my favorite parts about being the mom of these two cuties, is that they don't NEED actual toys to have fun. They are so imaginative and creative in the way they play together. We have a good amount of their toys in storage right now while we're trying to sell our house and it just amazes me that we don't miss them one bit. The newest addition to their list of favorites is the box that our new dishwasher came in. Sometimes it's a house and other times it's a dress store or other places. When it's too hot to go outside, they are playing in and with that box! They use kitchen items and my decorations as their "props" and just go to town playing together.

Nothing really new to report about baby #3. I am currently 31 weeks, which means I have NO MORE THAN 9 weeks to go :D This has been a wonderful pregnancy, other than trying to stay cool in this heat, and we can't wait to meet our newest little sweet pea sometime in August! Sorry baby #3 for not taking any belly pictures of you yet....that's okay, we're having our wonderful friend take some maternity pictures in a few weeks (which we've never had done before so that makes you special!).

Happy first week of Summer!

A Mini-Vacation

Realizing we are quite short on time and money before our third little one arrives, we decided to plan a last minute getaway to St. Louis this past weekend. We got away on Sunday morning and arrived at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House right after lunch. This place was amazing! As soon as we walked into the conservatory, butterflies were flying all around us. Of course my camera lens fogged up right away since it was so much warmer in there, but after being patient and finally wiping it off carefully I was able to get some great pictures of the beautiful creatures!

When we were finished exploring the inside of the Butterfly House, we headed out to walk around the garden. Although it must have been too cold for butterflies to enjoy the garden, we had fun walking around and looking at all the pretty flowers and plants....and the girls were able to burn off some much needed energy built up from the drive. There was also a wonderful, HUGE playground just near the Butterfly House that we took advantage of for quite a while. Both girls played and played until they crashed in the van on the way back to our hotel.

We made it to our hotel around 4 and you would have thought Addie had never experienced a hotel before! She was SUPER excited about our room and couldn't believe we were going to get to sleep there! I wish I could have caught it all on video, walking around showing us and telling us about every little detail of the room :)

We headed to the zoo in the morning and it was VERY cold (well for the middle of May anyway!). Good thing I packed pants and jackets for the girls....but Chris and I were out of luck when it came to jackets :( We survived! We had a great time wandering around looking at all the animals. The penguins were my favorite and we even got to see them eating their breakfast and listen to the keeper answer lots of questions. Lydia's favorite part was the elephants because she's really into saying "elphanenenenent" right now and it just cracks us up every time! Addie says her favorite part was the goat petting yard, probably because it was the last thing we saw/did and she actually got to pet and brush them :) So despite our wish for sweatshirts, we had a fun day at the zoo!

We decided to go to one of my family's favorite Italian restaurants on The Hill, Cunetto House of Pasta. We had taken Addie there with my parents when she was about 15 months old, so we figured we'd give it a try with TWO girls this time. I'm pretty sure none of the restaurants in that area are super kid-friendly, but we were quite sick of McDonald's and went out on a limb here. Of course when we got there, Addie had fallen asleep so Chris had to carry her in and sit with her limp body on his lap for the first half of dinner. The food was great, at least from what I remember. The experience.....well, let's just say eating out at a nice restaurant has changed quite a bit for us since having children. When one child says she has to potty....the second one continuously yells POTTY or sometimes even POOPY at the top of her lungs until she gets her turn to check out yet another non-child friendly public restroom. And I must say I have mastered the art of taking an 18 month old potty and putting her diaper back on her standing up in a very tight stall WITHOUT letting her touch anything....something only a Mommy could do (sorry Dads). Chris and I were dying laughing the whole car ride back to the hotel....I'm SO glad we can have a sense of humor about it, rather than getting upset and thinking that our children "ruined" dinner :)

We all slept very well that night.......and headed back home the next day. Short and sweet, but a great time away having fun, laughing, NOT whining or melting down, and enjoying each other!

Enjoy the slideshow:

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Strawberry Pickin'

Life has been keeping us busy, especially with our house on the market and trying to keep two little ones happy. We are all doing wonderful (even baby #3) and enjoying springtime around here!

Last Friday, we ventured out to the strawberry pickin' patch with some friends and had a blast! This was a first for us and the girls and I really enjoyed it. I was a little worried about tackling the picking with both my rascals WITHOUT Daddy there to help, but they both did GREAT and I don't think any strawberry plants were ripped from the ground by the littlest rascal ;)

The rascal, working hard

You CANNOT go pickin' without a little taste here and there ;)

She truly was a good little picker

Big Sis finding the perfect berry

All the girls at the patch

When we got home, I had a VERY busy afternoon preparing all 8 lbs. 11 oz. of our strawberries :) We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that evening and I made plenty of strawberry freezer jam, which we had on our waffles the next morning. Mmmmmm, can't get enough of that stuff! I froze some of the berries, but I don't think they'll stay in the freezer for long because the girls and I are huge fans of smoothies for breakfast and I'm sure they'll get used quickly! This was a super fun experience and I'm sure it will be a yearly thing for us from now on. I never knew how much fun it would be to pick our very own strawberries :)

Springtime Fun

We are LOVING the warmer weather and bright sunshine around here! Last week was beautiful and we took advantage of one of the nicer days and had a little Easter Egg hunt and craft time with our best friends. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends who love to play and have as much fun as we do :)

The girls with their furry bunny ears

Lydia finding her first egg (other than the softball she already snagged!)

Addie checking out her "loot"

Lydia and Jenna going after the same egg (no tears were shed, I promise)

The whole crew after the hunt...this was one of the best of MANY pictures taken trying to get them all to be happy and look our way :) Luke's thinking, "Ugh, women!"

Our family spent some time outside at Papaw Mike's house on Friday and the girls enjoyed being able to run and run and run (and look for a few eggs in the process)! I just love taking pictures of them in their element, the great outdoors!

Addie enjoyed picking teeny tiny little flowers from the yard

Lydia hunting for Easter eggs

After a VERY emotional morning dealing with Attitude Addie (boy, I can't wait til she's a teenager!!), we attempted to dye some eggs. Daddy enjoyed doing this activity with the girls and I enjoyed watching the whole process and attempting to take a few pictures while supervising our little egg thief ;)

Add admiring her eggs and making sure they were drying properly :)

The cutest little egg thief (good thing they were hard boiled!)

We are so happy Spring has arrived and are enjoying the longer days! We have so much to be thankful for this Easter...MOST importantly for the sacrifice of God's only son, our Lord and Savior Jesus! Have a blessed Easter and Happy Spring!

Baby #3 Update

We had the pleasure of "meeting" baby #3 via ultrasound last Thursday, April Fool's Day :) Chris and I decided to take Addie with us because we knew she would be excited to see the little one and could sit still long enough for us to enjoy it (unlike the other wee one in our family, who had some special play time with Grandma at home). Biggest sister did great and loved seeing our baby "on TV" as she said.

Baby cooperated for the most part and looked very healthy...I'll have to get a quick scan at my next appointment to finish up a few areas. The heart rate was 149 bpm today and our little one seemed to be quite squirmy in there, kicking and curling his/her legs up towards the face. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the day:

"Hi family!"

Profile looking JUST like both sisters already :)

Adorable little foot

All curled up and hiding for the 4D image

I am feeling great for a pregnant lady who is almost 20 weeks, chasing around 2 very active girls every single day! Funny how I wasn't feeling much movement before the ultrasound, but have felt baby tons the last few days which makes me very happy :)

We absolutely can't wait to meet the newest member of our family in August!!!

"Tight"

My blog entries lately seem to revolve around the second born, but she's just at that age where so many changes are occurring and I want to document everything just as I did with Addie dearest.

Little Rascal is talking SO much these days, but one of the words she has picked up on that has me in stitches is "tight"--used when things are difficult for her to do. I am laughing so hard because little does she know, her big sister used to say "oh tight" in the same situations. (See this blog post from July, 2008)

Rascal wants to do everything big sister does so this means trying to dress herself. She will "ask" me to take her clothes off of her just so she can attempt to put them back on ALL BY HERSELF. And I mean it, ALL BY HERSELF. There will be no assisting from Mommy, or a fit will be had. It's pretty hilarious and frustrating all at once. She actually does a decent job, but can't quite maneuver pulling her pants up all the way so she sports the "penguin waddle" look :)

I am in no way trying to potty train my 16 month old daughter, but yet again, she wants to do everything big sister does so she insists on wearing panties. Well....when she tells me she has to go by saying "potty" or "pot-pot" and I take her in the bathroom and she goes.....okay then, you can wear panties for a half hour or so my teeny tiny child! I am amazed by her daily. Especially because I always thought she would be my less independent sort of child seeing as how she was WAY more demanding in her infant days than Addie ever had been. Things are starting to change in that department....and while she still loves to be cuddled and loved on, and lets the hugs and kisses flow freely.....she wants things her way and by goodness, she will do them when and how she wants to do them!

Shortly after my last two blog posts explaining some of her "adventures," we had a little mishap one afternoon. Earlier that morning, she was sitting in the chair "reading" with Addie and realized she could reach the light switch if she wiggled her way up the back of the chair. It was "kinda cute" (famous last words) so I took a picture. Later, after we finished eating lunch and were snuggled in for some reading time, she attempted the same thing and fell off the back of the chair....landing with a thud on the floor. I did not see how she landed, but the only visible wound I could find after a thorough check was a tiny whole in her tongue where she'd bitten it. Ouch! Now for those of you who know me WELL, you know I am not a worrier and I don't get worked up about much of anything. Hmmmm....this child had me in a panic that day, thinking she just might die when I put her down for her nap. I checked on her frequently while she slept and she ended up taking a record breaking nap that day and I just couldn't WAIT for her to wake up (this is just not like her either...she's usually up exactly 2 hours to the minute after I lay her down). I'm sure her little body was sore from the fall, but she seemed to bounce back pretty quickly after a good rest. I think she will be the child I feel the need to pray the most for her protection!

Oh how I love my funny little adventurous baby girl!

Tap Dancin' and More

One of Lydia's *talents* mentioned in the previous post:

I told ya she has an obsession...if the vacuum is out of the closet, I know where to find her :)


Just *one* of her hiding spots...behind my clothes in the closet

SHE IS ONE FUNNY GIRL!