Quick Catch Up!

I feel like I'm a terrible blogger these days, and I'm sure that I'll look back and think, "Man, why didn't I write that down," so I'm going to try and catch up and do a little better!

The past few months have been a little crazy. Back in July, Claire had surgery at Children's, and it went really well. We definitely are grateful to God for keeping our baby girl safe and for healing her. It couldn't have gone better. Seriously, if your child needs to go to the ER or a hospital and you have time to drive a few extra minutes, go to Children's. They are wonderful with children and make a scary time for parents and children a whole lot easier.

Also in July, I entered my 30s. I actually feel so great about my 30s. With such a wonderful husband, lovely babies, beautiful home,  special family and friends, I feel complete. I feel that God has blessed me so much in the 30 years I've been here on Earth, and I can't believe this is the life I get to live. I hope I can really enjoy my 30s more than my 20s, though. In my 20s I felt like 2 or 3 different people: college student, new teacher, new wife, new mom. I am really hoping to just take a deep breath and enjoy 30! My husband was so great to give me such a wonderful birthday present. He was my personal assistant for the day. He made us breakfast, changed a lot of diapers, scrubbed the bathtub, drove us around town, helped at the pool with the girls, had lunch with us, and then took us to Pappasitos (one of my favs).

He also gave me some time away with one of my best friends, Crystal by playing with the sisters all weeekend. We both added a new baby to our families this year, and as stay-at-home moms, we had a lot to talk about and celebrate. We laid by the pool, had a lovely dinner, and did some shopping. I even got a massage and pedicure to help me relax and welcome my 30s in style. It was a blast!

Happy Anniversary- well, in July, Mark and I also celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. Really? Crazy. That means we've been together almost 11 years. This year, it was my year to plan, so I found a great deal on a modern-loft style hotel in the area. It was different than any other place we've stayed. We had some excellent meals (one at Jasper's- awesome) and we even had some time to relax by the pool and look at pianos. We are hoping to get one for the sisters to play, soon. It was a wonderful couple of days away. Thank you family for keeping the sisters! (I don't have any pictures of this, but we were actually having so much time relaxing, we didn't take a lot of pictures!)

We also got to celebrate the 1st Birthday of our best friends's daughter, and they had pony rides at the party. The girls had a blast. They even got to wear tutus. I could tell that I maybe hadn't quite "girlied" Claire up enough because she cried when I tried to put the tutu on her. I had to put one on so she wouldn't get scared. This is funny to me because when I was little I loved everything that was lace, frilly and ruffly, but I never put the girls in stuff like that. Weird.

Hooray for parties!

 

Look, horsies!

Mark is enjoying his work and has even taken time to enter a few code contests, and he has won a few of them. We are so proud of him! One of the things he was able to acquire by winning a code contest was an older version of an iPad. He gave it to the sisters to play with, so Claire has really been enjoying it! She'll say, "I plaaaayyy iPad. I play giwaffe. I play iPad." Soooo fun!

Entertaining August

In August, we really stayed indoors mostly because it was so ridiculously hot here in Texas, but we found ways to stay entertained. Well, I was entertained. Claire is so funny these days. She'll just spin around and say, "I spin in circle. I march in circle. I running. I hide and seek." It's quite cute. She also loves to sing songs. She's on a "This little light of mine" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" kick right now. She's also quite a parrot. She will almost repeat anything you say. It's funny. She also loves to do "upside down" when she just puts her head between her legs. She is also really into coloring right now. Sometimes she gets it on her face, the floor, her sister... but hey, that's art, right?

Upside down!

Proud of her art!

This is one of my favorite faces... the concentration face.

sweet artist.

Claire: Our Talking Big Girl

We have just been amazed at how verbal Claire has been. Around 19/20 mos, we started to notice her vocabulary skyrocket. It's so much fun. She's quite the parrot these days... Here are a few videos of her singing and talking skills. We are so proud of her!

Singing "This Little Light of Mine"


ABCs- Claire Style


Talking Talking Talking

My Lovelies

I haven't posted in awhile, and we are quite busy, so I just thought I'd post a quick pic of my 2 lovelies. Well "our" 2 lovelies I should say. :)

Lauren:

crawling, teething, laughing, snuggly, solid-food eating, growing, blue-eyed, 7 month old, sweetheart.

Claire:

laughing, running, talking, happy, twirling, snuggly, dancing, eating, singing, growing, 21 month old, big girl.

Love these sisters...

4th of July

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

We were excited to spend the 4th of July here at home with the sisters. Mark made homemade cinnamon rolls (yummy), and we went to the 4th of July parade here in town. Our friends from church invited us over to their house because their house was on the parade route. It was a little warm, so Lauren didn't really enjoy that, and she slept through a lot of it.

Claire loved the fire engine, the clowns, the band, and all of the cars. All of those in the parade gave out candy to the kids, which of course, Claire loved. :) It was a great little parade!

We opted out of fireworks because the sisters really can't stay up that long. Well, let's be honest, mommy and daddy don't really want to stay up that late either. We figure that right now, they are a little loud and we have plenty of years ahead of us to see fireworks! Mark's parents came for dinner, and we just had, all in all, a fantastic weekend.

5 Months (ish)

At 5 months, we enjoyed giving L her first taste of cereal, bouncing on her knees and on the last day of her 5th month, she started crawling. There is no slowing down with this sweet girl!

Clearly, she isn't one for sitting still...

sweet feet...

She is such a sweet girl! She is trying so hard to keep up with her big sister. Can't believe we get to spend each day with this special girl. Love her!

Daddy's Daughters

I can't tell you enough how wonderful my husband is. He does it all... works so hard at his job, spends his free time (not that he has a lot) with his family and friends, serves others, enjoys learning, prefers reading to tv, cooks, changes diapers, feeds babies, gives me an night out once a week, plans date nights, is flexible, he's patient, and he is a man of God. What a great blessing it is for the sisters to have him as a father. I am so excited each day that they get to sit in his lap and read a story, laugh with him, and look freakishly like him. Seriously, will I ever have a child that looks like me?

With Claire, Mark is so loving.

I remember the day she was born, and Mark sang, "Welcome to the World" by Sister Hazel, to her. Tear.

He'll also pull her up in his lap and read to her. One of my favorite things is when he taught her how to roll a ball and throw it. Of course her first word was daddy. Go figure! When Claire was in the hospital, he was so calm, and was always the one to make her laugh.

Also, Mark make this duck/ pig- like sound with his throat that I can't do, and Claire loves it! She's funny because she'll try and copy Daddy, when he does it. He loves sharing food with her, too!

I also love seeing Claire so interested in buckles on everything, stacking blocks and making towers, and how interested she is in making things work, reminds me so much of Mark's intelligence.

She also loves the computer, just like Daddy!

During the day, when we are eating lunch, Claire will look over at his chair, or go to grab his hand during the prayer, and she'll say, "Da-eee," and I know that even if she doesn't run to him the second he runs in the door, she sure loves her "Da-eeee."

With Lauren, there is just this soft spot that I think Lauren has for him. Wrapped around his finger, is more like it...

She smiles bigger and laughs harder when he's around. She also gives him slobbery kisses. I think that anyone who has been around Lauren will agree that she has her father's disposition.

She is extremely laid back, quiet, and attentive. Mark is really great at snuggling with her...

and always knows how to make her laugh.

Not to mention, she (just like her sister) looks just like him. :)

The Sisters have such a great Daddy. He won me over, and I think he is doing the same to them every day. I love that as they grow up, they'll be able to look at boys and think, "Well, you're great and all, but you'll never be as great as my Daddy, because he is awesome!"

Happy Father's Day, Mark. You are such a great Father to our girls. We are all so blessed that we get to spend our days with you!