Fireflies

Audrey tried to catch fireflies for the first time a week or so ago. She would get so close then open her hand but she'd get mad because "they aren't getting in my hand!" She finally concluded, "They're scared of me because I'm a big giant."

Ballerina

Here she is all decked out before her recital.  She was very excited.

This is Ms. Amanda, her teacher and the director of the whole shebang.  We love her!

I've learned that you should never assume a photo is ruined.  B&W will do wonders.  I usually try to stay away from black and white though.  My baby girls were just born to be shot in full color (note their hair color). 

Harmony

I try to snap pictures of them when they're playing really well together . . . it seems to happen so infrequently.  :S  They were having "dinner."  I thought it was so cute that their chairs were side by side like that.

They noticed me taking pictures of them and showed me their funny faces.  :)

Bloomers

Like most little girls Audrey's age, she has a hard time being lady-like when it comes to wearing dresses.  We decided it was time for some bloomers!  Thanks to Gramy (my mom) who can sew ANYTHING, we've found the solution, and it works like a charm. 

Audrey will now demonstrate for you how they work:

Ta-da! 

No tiny pink panties in sight!

Happiness

This makes me happy.  They just look so cozy and sweet.

This picture doesn't look like much, but I took it because we were having such a great morning and I wanted to remember it.  We all slept in.  We had oatmeal (haven't had it in a long time, but we love it).  We giggled and sang songs for about an hour while we ate very slowly.  (I've never seen Audrey eat so much oatmeal in my life.)  My roses from Mother's Day looked BEAUTIFUL.  And my house was pretty clean since I'd gotten a chance to clean it the night before.  I don't even remember what we did the rest of the day, but it was certainly a great morning.  :)

Finally, more pictures of Claire

I just barely missed a smile in this picture. 

I think we have a blue-eyed girl here for sure!  Hers are bluer than I remember my other kids having when they were still in the "newborn neutral color" stage.  If you click on the picture to make it big you can definately tell.  But I could be wrong.  Some days I think her hair is going to turn red like Janes too . . . who knows.  She's not ready to make up her mind yet I guess.

Another missed smile.  Sorta caught the end of it.  She definately looks like Dave when she smiles!

Then we wore her out. 

Play Ball!

I was having a crazy day.  So was David.

Dave got ahold of a couple of Rangers tickets.  I had no idea how we were going to make it work, but I knew I HAD to get out of the house.  At first I just told David to give them away, but he found us someone to watch the kids and we took off. 

On our drive out to Arlington, we got a chance to talk over the day.  Gradually our stress gave way.

We were pleasantly surprised by what AWESOME seats we had!

Neither of us had ever been to a baseball game.  We were pretty excited.  I was surprised at how fun it was to try and follow the game.  There was so much to see!  I'd get distracted people watching and miss a great play.  Luckily Dave seemed to always know what was going on and what things meant.  I was impressed considering he's not into sports.  Maybe it's something all men are born with.  I was also surprised at how dangerous baseball can be.  There were TONS of fast foul balls flying into the stands, usually right around where we were sitting . . . and one hitter even lost his bat.  I felt sorry for the poor woman it bonked on the head.  :S  But it did make for an exciting game.

I take baseball very seriously.

Our team won by a mile.  Lots of home runs, lots of fireworks (they go off after each home run).  Lots of noise and team spirit.  It made me love baseball. 

Babysitter

Any time Claire cries, Jane is always ready to help out.  She's particularly good about helping her keep her binkie in and talking to her to help her relax.  If you want your heart to melt, just listen to her say to Claire, "Oh, it's ok sweety heart."  It's SO cute.  I do still have to keep an eye on her, of course .  .  . I did come in just in time one day to find Jane acutally trying to sit on her face!  :S 

Misc Pictures of Jane and Claire

Dressing up again

We did not dress her like this.  She just showed up in the livingroom one evening wearing her latest creation.  This time she chose pieces from Dad's closet.  :)  Funny kid. 

Big Sister

Jane loves hanging out with Claire more than anything.  She's such a sweet big sister.

(Notice all the blood stains on the bottom of Claire's pants!?  She went to the doctor that day and had blood drawn.  On the way home she lost her bandaid and bled ALL OVER--probably more than usual because she was screaming her head off the entire way home.  When I went to take her out of her carseat I about had a heart attack.)

Priorities

According to Audrey, we are currently looking for "a yard with a home in it." I think after living in apartments or homes with no yard . . . we're all very anxious to have one WITH a yard. And, yes, one with a home in it would be ideal.

Married 6 Years Today!

I still really like him a lot.

Hide and Seek

Two nights ago, Audrey decided to come climb into bed with us.  This is usually no big deal.  Claire woke up at about 5:00, so I asked David to take Audrey back to her bed so there would be room for me to feed Claire without worrying about Audrey rolling over and elbowing her in the face while I'm feeding her (yes, she's done this before).  So, he took her to her bed.  He came back and asked me where Jane was.  Weeeeell, I had tucked an already-asleep Jane into bed myself at about 10, so I asked him if she was just snuggled up good in the covers and he didn't see her.  He double checked . . . no Jane. 

So we start frantically looking around the house for our missing child.  It's was a bizarre feeling.  The Elizabeth Smart episode kept popping into my head.  I was approaching the panic stage when it occured to me that I should look under her bed.  So . . . I checked under Jane's bed.  There she was!  Sound asleep.  This is totally weird because she's not that heavy of a sleeper, and any time she feels the need to get out of her bed in the night (like if she drops her binkie on the floor) she always just climbs back in and goes to sleep.  So, I noticed her binkie on the floor beside the bed and wondered if she had climbed out to get it and just got disoriented.  It was odd too because there really is hardly any room under their beds!  I'm actually surprised she managed to get under there and then lie on her back to fall asleep!  And the fact that she hadn't woken up and started freaking out was a shocker too.

Funny girl. 

So, if you lose your kid in the night, look under the bed first.

Death and Resurrection

Audrey was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider with Jane yesterday. 

The spider no longer gets "washed" out.  He gets "killed" out. 

The good news is that he does climb up the spout again. 

Claire's First "Bath"

She liked it.

Birthday Continued

We bought the scooter with this park in mind.  It's the park right by our house (literally, just a few yards away).  It's great because it's basically a private park.  There isn't really any parking, no one really knows about it unless you live there, and only the people who live nearby ever go to it.  It's surrounded by grass and it's very safe.  There is a circle of sidewalk that surrounds it, perfect for riding a scooter on.  :)

When Dave and I went to the store to pick up the scooter, we found this bubble blower too.  It looked fun, and for $3, it was definately worth how much the kids liked playing with it.

That's the "parking" area--the grass along side the alley and the picnic area.

And that's me in the van feeding Claire.  At first I was bummed that I had to sit in the van and miss half the fun, but I really loved just having a silent and serene view of my family at play.

Apparently, the possibilities of entertainment with a bubble blower such as this are vast . . . she was so fascinated!

I'M fascinated with this HAIR!  I can never get over how beautiful this girl is.

Yep, and now she's 4.

She tells me that I'm 6.  :) 

Only about 20 years off, but who's counting?

Grassy area to the right of the playground.

Scootering.  :)  What a great day!