Evening Drive

Caroline had Jeff hook up the wagon to the back of her Jeep so that she could have a trailer to tow her dolls around. Charlotte loves for Caroline to drive her in the Jeff and sort of enjoyed the ride in the "trailer" for a short time. She soon got to experience her first try "driving" the Jeep though! That experience took the cake (even though her sister was working the gas peddle because her short little legs don't quite reach yet); and I'm not sure whether we'll get her into the passenger seat on the Barbie Jeep without a fight anytime soon.

As a post-script: After I typed this up, I decided to go back to see pictures of when Caroline got this Jeep. Time flies. That was almost exactly two years ago!

Summertime

Jeff pulled out the water balloons a couple of days ago and the girls had so much fun splashing themselves and watching the balloons break on the driveway (and in the grass and on the street and close to their mama). It was so fun to watch them try to pop balloons on their heads and laugh as they watched the balloons roll down the driveway into the street to pop on a pine needle. Evenings like that remind of the simple memories from summer that I have with my brothers. As much as I loved vacations to the beach, there is something special about memories of playing in water puddles or having a water balloon fight in the street on a hot summer day.

Just another Wednesday morning . . .

You know it's a good day when there are two precious girls running around the house before 7:30 am wearing superhero costumes (one of which is about four sizes too big) or princess gowns complete with plastic "high heels" and tiaras. The joy of watching these girls is new every morning!

The 4th

We had a really good weekend, and thankfully I have the day off of work today, so we get to enjoy one more day at home. Between relaxing and playing at the house, cleaning the house the little (because of course too much cleaning would = no fun), swimming at the pool, watching Charotte's Web (and as I cried through the last ten minutes or so, Caroline informed me that "it is just a movie mama. And you are a big girl;, you don't need to cry!"), taking a walk at the lakes, a trip to Target, eating doughnuts, taking naps (at least some of us), baking brownies, swimming at the pool again, and enjoying some 4 year old sized fireworks we had a busy, but fun weekend.

We only managed to get pictures from the fireworks last nightafter Charlotte went to bed, but she did get to experience a few poppers and sparklers before her crib called her name. I realize it looks like the first few pictures were taken around 4:00 in the afternoon, but it was actually around 8:00. For a girl whose bedtime is before it gets dark enough to enjoy fireworks, we had to go ahead and the show on the road!

We had a busy weekend; Jeff and Denver put on their third race of the year on Saturday morning and Jeff's nephew got married on Saturday night, and Jeff's sister and her family stayed with us for the weekend. It was a whirlwind, but we enjoyed it all!

The race went well, and I was impressed by the number of people willing to run in 100 degree heat in Louisiana in June. Caroline ran the kids one mile race and she place second for girls, but I was most proud of the fact that she finished the race. She had to walk for a while because she was so hot, and I told her that she could stop if she needed to, she said, "No, I am going to finish!" She picked up running again and finished strong. Her perseverance impressed me more than her time; I think that dedication will serve her well in life!

The wedding was beautiful. Caroline came with us and she was enamored of the whole event. She thought the bride and groom were a princess and prince and she was very caught up in the fairy tale of "the wedding". We all had fun and it was great to spend time with Jeff's family.

In baby news, she seems to be doing well. She gave me a little scare today by sleeping very soundly for much of the afternoon. I'm used to her being a very active baby, but after I took some cold medicine today (something I never do - but this was doctor approved), I felt very weird and then a few hours later realized she hadn't moved since before lunch. The doctor had me come in for an ultrasound to make sure everything was fine and it took the sonographer about 10 minutes to wake her up. She said that our baby girl was just in a very deep sleep and after that I've decided that I'll just stick it out when I have a cold from here on out! We think we've settled on a name, but I'm feeling it out for a while before I tell the world, so hopefully soon enough I'll have a name to share!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

Caroline and Charlotte are blessed to have a Papa who loves them well . . .

And now that we're almost halfway through summer vacation . . .

I can't believe that it is getting close to the end of June. Caroline starts school in early August, so I feel like once July hits, we'll be starting to do school preparation and that will of course make the end of summer vacation seem even more imminent.

We've had a great summer so far though; we've spent plenty of weekends and evenings at the pool swimming with the girls. Charlotte is fearless in the water and loves to put her face in and blow bubbles just like her big sister. Caroline is really getting to be a pretty good swimmer, she just doesn't quite trust herself to take a breath most of the time just yet. She's been working on diving off of the side of the pool, and she's honestly gotten to be pretty good at it!

We spent a week at at the beach with my mom and brothers and sister in law and nephew at the very beginning of June. Thankfully, we missed the oil's arrival in Perdido Key and it was really nice to enjoy the sand, waves, sun,and pool for a week. The girls both loved the beach; Caroline has always enjoyed it, but last summer Charlotte spent most of the vacation coping with an ear infection, so I wasn't sure how she'd take to the sand. She loved it and enjoyed digging and playing in the sand with Caroline. She also loved the endless supply of snacks that accompanied us to the beach each day! You can read Amelia's beach recap here.

And finally, today Jeff took Caroline fishing on a little daddy-daughter day and they had a great time. Caroline was very proud of herself; she caught 5 fish (more than her Papa) and had so

much fun.

She was one tired girl this evening! As she was sitting int he living room watching a show on the Food Network, it was time to take a bath and she said, "Mama, I wish there was a bathtub in here so that I could watch this show on TV and let you bath me. I'm too tired." Maybe one day she'll enjoy the luxury of having a TV above her bathtub - I think I'll officially discourage her from adding a bathtub to her living room.

In baby news, I'm feeling good and she is growing. It is hard to believe that by the beginning of September there will be another pink-clad body living in our house. We haven't decided on a name yet, but we're finally working on it! Hopefully we'll agree on something soon and I'll be able to share that bit of news. Caroline's latest suggestion is to name her Charlotte, but I think that might get a little confusing,. So far Charlotte's only contribution to the name game is "baby"; so the search is still ongoing!