Busy Bees

AG has enjoyed painting lately (when LL is asleep!) and we've started a little gallery in our kitchen.

This is one of the only pictures I've been able to take of one of T's and my favorite views these days. Most afternoons after he gets home we all go out for a walk with the girls in the stroller or wagon. Several months ago AG started wanting to get out and walk once we got back to our street, and lately LL has been joining her. It is precious to see them walking down the sidewalk hand in hand (when LL will cooperate with that!).

LL at 18 Months

LL actually hit the 18 month mark a week and a half ago, and I've been meaning to post since then... but then if you've ever lived with an 18 month old you understand that sometimes you have those weeks where things like blogging just don't happen as easily! The short and sweet of it is that she is healthy, happy, and busy. It is so neat to hear her putting her ideas together into a string of words as we go through our days and adding new words and skills all the time. She's able to feed herself effectively, if not neatly, and loves to read "boots" and "rot" (or rock, if you like!). Outside, she's still scoping for "pillars" and likes to help water the plants, push AG on her new trike, and get in the "wings" (some call it a swing) for about 10 seconds before asking to get down again. Her favorite activity of all, however, must be dancing... it is almost like her little frame wiggles involuntarily when she hears a good beat and she is always saying "dance!" or "march!" and teaching us some new moves! She has her share of willful moments, but continues to delight us all and be a little ray of sunshine.

The Thirteenth: The Thirty, The Third, and The Three Thousand

Yesterday was a big day for us! First of all, we celebrated T's 30th birthday! The girls enjoyed giving him some gifts and we all had birthday dinner and cake after spending a nice afternoon together...all of which came after another momentous occasion: our 20 week doctor visit and sonogram...which let us know we are expecting a third daughter! Thankfully, everything looked great and it was neat to get a good look at her. AG and LL were with us, and AG suggested that we name her Laura (that is what you name little sisters, right?) but we may think of another name just to step out a little bit. We are thankful to be at this point and look forward to meeting a new little sweetie in a few months. The other "event" of our day was an all-out war on the "thousands" of little invaders in our yard...black prickly caterpillars that we've heard can sting! We spent a good while yesterday afternoon both watching them from inside... Here AG and LL are watching one crawl on the outside of our window screen...
and waging war on them outside. Trey "moved" at least a dozen away from the doors and windows while the girls and I served as scouts. AG said to her Nana on the phone, "Capapillars are everywhere!" and LL kept an eye on an unusually inactive one on the patio about which, even though I know it had met its demise days ago, she continued to announce, "Pillar...sleep." So from the big events to the small, it was a fun day for all. Here are a few more pictures.
AG has big shoes to fill!
One of LL's new favorite activities is climbing onto the couch, over and over again.
And to end the day, a fun bathtime. Think we have room for one more??

Bouncing Babies

Last Thursday we went to the birthday party of a little friend who turned 5. It was at a fun place with lots of big bouncers and slides, and both of our girls had a great time. Thankfully, Trey was with us to help retrieve them when they got stuck and to carry LL up the big slide (below). She loved it but couldn't make it up the long "ladder" by herself without getting run over by the bigger kids! AG could do it herself...here she is reaching the top...
and just after getting to the bottom!
AG worked up a big appetite with all her climbing and sliding and was really excited about having pizza, cake, and ice cream afterward!

Cry Me a River

We had a good Easter weekend here at home and enjoyed going to our church and having lunch with a sweet family of 9 afterward. AG especially enjoyed jumping on the trampoline with some of the bigger kids (or more accurately, getting bounced while they jumped!). Monday we went to visit Gran and PopPop for the night. While we were there we went to see a yard in town which has been decorated with hundreds of wooden cutout bunnies doing all sorts of fun things...having a tea party, riding a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, train, wagons, trikes and bikes, etc...it is a kid's wonderland of decor which, thankfully, is mostly safe to interact with. Since my camera batteries were dead, I don't have pictures, but if you can imagine LL running around to spin dozens of brightly colored pinwheel flowers repeatedly and dancing inside a little train and AG having a tea party with bunnies and rearranging dozens of huge plastic eggs, you have the general idea of the fun and chaos that ensued!

Later that evening after bathtime, I got the bright idea to trim AG's hair. She was not in agreement that this needed to happen, despite several efforts to convince her, including my mom and I saying she could sit on the rocking horse during the trim and that Gran would photograph the event. Finally, Gran said, "AG, if we don't do it now, I won't have any pictures of your three year old haircut!" Without hesitation and in her best fake-sympathy voice, AG said, "Poor Gran!" Needless to say, we all got a good laugh but nobody got a haircut that night...

April Showers...

Thankfully there are two little sunshines inside our house...since it's been a few days since we've seen the one outside! We are looking forward to a return to warm, sunny days and hoping these showers will deliver those May flowers, too! Here are a few recent shots I took just before the batteries in my camera died... Above, another shot of AG on her birthday last week.
Watch out! AG's out for a drive with a juice box in hand...
The eggs continue to entertain!

More Birthday Fun

As you can see, LL likes the new table and chairs, too! She started this little peekaboo game with AG and has wanted to "seat" in the chair alot since Saturday.

Yesterday morning AG went to Sunday school for the very first time and was so proud to show us the activity she did there. In the evening we went to a church crawfish boil, which fit right in with the other festive events of the weekend. Then this morning (since today is her actual birthday) we had a little party here at home with some of her friends. She has been talking about this for weeks and very thoroughly describing where everyone would sit, what they would do, and so forth. Here she is having lunch with some of her friends:

Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to play outside. It was a great way to mark the day! Here are a few more fun facts about AG at three:

*She tells me, "I'm going to do a little EMA-mail" and then pulls out her little Laugh-Top computer...hmmmm, wonder where she got that idea??

*Every time she gets undressed she says, "Now I'm a nun!" This idea got started when she was just a baby and Trey would pull her shirt back over her hair and say, "You look like a nun!" After all this time, she now thinks being naked equals being a nun, which will surely get cleared up sometime soon since...

*She is getting really into the Sound of Music. She wants to listen to the songs from it on her Broadway CD and watch it alot now.

*She is more and more anti-hair accessory everyday. Even if I succeed in getting something into her hair, it usually only stays a few minutes.

*Her stories and descriptions of imaginary scenarios get more elaborate and longer all the time. Sometimes I cannot get a word in and am sure that it could go on for hours unless I totally interrupt to, say, feed her a meal or get her to bed.

*I love to hear how she typically phrases her questions and comments, sandwiching them between two references to the person to whom she's speaking, such as "Mommy, can I have a snack, Maamaa?" or "Daddy, I brushed my teeth, Dada." When she's distracted but trying to say something to me, sometimes it comes after a string of at least a dozen "Mamas."

*It is so sweet to hear the things she talks about doing when she "get(s) a big girl"...she knows there are some things she has to wait for, but on this special day, I am so aware of all she can do now and how much of a "big girl" she already is. It is amazing how much she has changed in this last year! We are thankful for this sweet and dear girl and the times we are having with her. Happy Birthday, AG!!!

Party Girl

Here she is, the birthday girl, beginning her three days of festivities to celebrate three years of life! On Saturday, we went to the zoo with Nana, Grandpa, Gran, and PopPop to get things started off right. Above, AG got a lift from Nana and Gran so she could see the bears without getting out of her "chariot," which she soon thereafter decided to get out of anyway and push, empty, herself.

PopPop, Gran, AG, T, LL, Grandpa, and Nana taking a short break to pose for a picture in front of the monkeys

AG ran to give her stroller-bound sister a big hug!

After our morning at the zoo we had a picnic at the park nearby and then came back home for cake. AG immediately started enjoying many of her presents...here she is playing with her Doodle board and modeling her fun new raincoat from Nana and Grandpa (which she got to test out in the rain that day, also!). She also loves her new kid-sized table and chairs from Nana and Grandpa and her tricycle from Gran and PopPop. It was lots of fun for us all to get to start off her birthday weekend with her grandparents!

siLLy

LL continues to be a little ham and loves to make us laugh. Here are a few recent antics caught on camera. Above, she's giving us semi "sweet eyes"...with a blueberry stuck on her teeth! Below, I came into the room to discover three red books and three blue-eyed babies lying on the floor...

Playing "phone" on the way to Texas...

The old "Blankie on the head" act always works...

We came in during one of her naps in Texas to discover that she'd gotten her hands on her bag of diapers and her Daddy's WCF before going to sleep... definitely a few steps above "Goodnight Moon" and her other usual bedtime reading!

Bluebonnets!

Great timing for our trip...we were able to capture our two little Texas-born belles together in the bluebonnets for the first time!
Beautiful!!!

Back to their Beginnings...

Last weekend we went back to where it all began for our girls! They had a great time playing with friends during our visit. Above, AG plays with her sweet friend that we stayed with while we were in town.

Patiently waiting for a table when we went out for a taste of Tex-Mex!

A rare moment of "down time"...Do you think these two might be sisters?

Playing ring-around-the-rosies at church with another sweet friend...

Here we are after a wonderful time of worship at our church there.

It was a great trip! Other than all the kids having grown visibly and the addition of a few new babies and progressed pregnancies(!), it seemed like no time had passed since we'd been there. We were glad to see and catch up with the dear friends we've missed, go to the church we are so thankful to have been a part of, and of course, have a great meal at Chuy's and even a chance to shop at HEB... oh, I no longer take fresh chips and salsa and fabulous produce sections for granted! We have so much to be thankful for, then and now, there and here.

Spring is Here!

Spring has arrived in our part of the South with a burst of azalea blossoms and some wonderfully refreshing warm-but-not-too-warm days. Last week we celebrated the official first day of Spring with small gifts, cookie-making, and an egg hunt in our backyard.
"Eggs!!!" T came home from work in time for the festivities. (I have to take a moment to tell you how great he is... Earlier that day we stopped by his work for a quick visit with him, and his good friend Andrew was with him. They were talking about when they could play racquetball, as Andrew is from TX and only works here a few days a week. Trey said, "It'll have to be tomorrow...I have to go home today to do Spring stuff." Talk about dedication!)
AG gave LL a chance to find a few eggs...
Some of the funny bunny and butterfly cookies AG helped decorate...just like real life, no two were the same!

Hope Spring is off to a lovely start for you wherever you are!

The Why's One

It has started...the insatiable toddler question: "Why?" Though not totally unexpected, it has begun with much greater intensity than I would have guessed. (And all you more experienced parents can laugh now and say, "Just wait...") It seems any comment is fair game for this response now. Like last night, on the way home, she asked, "Is home very far away?" I replied, "No, not very far now," to which came the question... And though that one was not too tough, I know she'll only up her game... Should make for an interesting drive to Texas this weekend!

The Zoo Crew

Last Saturday one of my oldest and closest friends from high school came to visit with her husband and their three kids, ages 7,5, and almost 2. We all loaded up and headed to the city zoo for a morning of exploring!
Just the girls!
Our family with the giraffes, who were having a "dinner on the grounds."
This was taken on our way out...as you can see H's daughter had bonded with LL. She actually pushed LL's stroller almost the whole time, but at the end decided to ride for a while and just hold hands with LL...which LL was all for!
This scene has been seen rarely, if ever, in our stroller! AG's never been much of a stroller sleeper, but by the end of our zoo adventure she'd had it! She got just enough of a nap to get perked up for lunch and playtime at a nearby park.

Playtime at Mimi and PawPaw's

Mimi reading AG a Curious George book...
LL mailing a letter with PawPaw...
LL taking a little break to ponder how she can get her hands on...
the "FLAG!" she discovered in Mimi's laundry room, which is now at our house. If I haven't mentioned it before, LL is quite taken with "FLAG!"(s)
and patrols for them everywhere we go, happily announcing everytime her amazing flag-radar spots one. And then it usually takes me several minutes to find it... Anyway, this was her first hands-on experience with one and, even though we need a few more lessons in "flag safety" (or "how to not put your or your sister's eye out with a stick that's fun to wave"), I am sure it will not be her last!
AG helped Mimi get the rice cooking, then stood at the counter and read her mail (one "letter" said, "Cook some rice." Seems like we were right on schedule!) and talked on the "phone" (which looked suspiciously like an unplugged, unattached electrical cord, but it seemed to get good reception!). We also got to visit with the girls' Grandpa and Aunt Nanoo while we were there, which was lots of fun. This day trip to Lafayette on Friday was the start of a busy weekend, so we'll post more pics and news of the rest of the fun soon!

Say Cheese!

Here are some views of LL's first ponytails. She was pretty patient with my attempt to wrestle with her wisps!

AG and LL love their time with their Daddy...and it's mutual!
AG, the happy hugger!