July 30

Today is a milestone day of sorts at our house.

First, Lily is officially 18 months today. One and a half! ...and walking! Remember that we were going to see where she was by now and if she wasn't walking we would need to seek some therapy if some kind? No thank you!

Also, today is Abby's kindergarten (5yo well child) appointment at the doctor. That means shots. Yuck. We talked about it a whole back, maybe a couple months ago and haven't talked about it since. She knows she has an appointment today, but shots haven't come up. I'm not sure that she remembers and I think I'm going to keep my mouth shut, because I'm sure it's going to be terr.i.ble. Babies are hard enough, but 5 year olds know you are sticking then with needles and it hurts. The only bright spot is the main nurse at our pediatrician is AWESOME. She is crazy fast with shots and gets them over with quickly. That said, please say a little prayer for us!

Lastly, Matt and I have a date night and still haven't decided what to do (this ones not really a milestone, just something else going on today). Hmmmm. Any ideas?

Water, water, everywhere

We had Abby's bestest friend, Alex, over to play today, along with his siblings. They played on the playset a bit, and then I gave them the job of washing my car knowing full well that really it was about the water. They spent about 2 minutes washing the car (if that) and then it turned into full on water war. I honestly think that Abby lost the water war and was totally okay with it. Alex's older sister helped with their little brother and Lily by pulling them in the wagon, but I don't think she was too upset when she got a little wet too (I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of her. Bummer).

The babies, Lily and Aaron, were nice and toasty in the wagon and kept drinking out of each other's sippy cups. Oh well. Much fun was had.

Leaps and Bounds

Lily is growing by leaps and bounds lately. She is walking AND sleeping through the night (Matt is going to say I'm jinxing it).

LOVE the purse.

I just happened to catch this. What do you suppose they were talking about?

Just when he thought the world was over...

For Abby's birthday, she received a Butterfly Garden from Jaimie. It started out as two gross jars of caterpillars.

And, today, it has become something wonderful, or as the quote goes...

"Just when the caterpillar thought his world was over,

he turned into a butterfly."

They are so cool! We started out with 10 caterpillars and so far have 7 butterflies (6 "born" today so far.) I could watch them for hours. The pictures are kind of weird because I have to shoot through the white netting.

We've been naming them. Let's see if I can remember all the names... Princess, Louise (my favorite), Alex, Edward, Katy, Ella, and Sam. We have Ray (after the firefly in Princess and the Frog) reserved for the next one and need to come up with 2 more. It's been fun. We'll keep them in the net for a few days and then release them. What a cool miracle to witness.

Window Markers

Remember this blog entry about the window markers? Well, we tried it. Here is a little photo journal...

Favorites

So, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite bloggers/crafters that I have bought from recently. And, to be honest, I'd love to buy more! Check them out-

The Pleated Poppy is one. Her blog can be found here. I bought some posy pins that are sooo cute. Mine look a little like the one below. I would love to get a zippered pouch and maybe a sunglass case and maybe a petal pusher and maybe some more posy pins.... Yeah, I like her stuff! :)

I'm also in love with Lisa Leonard Designs. She makes beautiful stamped jewelry. I have a necklace with the girls names on it (2 charms) and I actually have the one in her button below, except mine says "shine". I LOVE them. Her blog can be found here.

(for the store sites, you should be able to click on the images- hopefully-if I did it right)

Pink Lemonade Cookies

We're trying out a new recipe at our house this morning. Don't they look good? Parents Magazine calls them Lemon Slices, but we're calling them Pink Lemonade Cookies. They have lemonade mix in them along with some food coloring. Other than that, they are pretty much sugar cookies. So far, we've made the dough and rolled it into a log. It's in the freezer right now, mostly because we're (Um, I'm) too lazy to wait on the refrigerator. After a bit, we'll go roll them in pink sugar and slice them (and bake, of course!). Click here if you'd like the recipe.

Happy Baking!

Guest Photographer

Abby got a new digital camera for her birthday. She LOVES it. Here are some pictures of her world and what is important to her.

Abby's Room:

...and fun features of her camera (She's getting better and better at these. As a matter of fact, she's driving me nuts right now taking my picture. Apparently, she just made me a monkey.):

Bed Head

A severe case

Cataract Falls

Today, we went on a little outing to a State Park area called Cataract Falls. They had 3 main waterfall areas: The Upper Falls, the Lower Falls, and Little Sister Falls. We had to have a little fun. Get it? (Matt's idea, but I admit, I went along with it.)

We also borrowed an Ergo baby carrier that has a backpack option. We loved it and Lily seemed to like it too. Soooo much better for when you can't do a stroller (or don't want to). The problem is now we want one and they aren't cheap.

As far as the falls, there were beautiful, and we even walked a trail which was a highlight for Abby and Matt. Me? I'm working on it.