Up and Down

Lauren is having great fun polishing her new skill--pulling up! She loves to pull up and sit down over and over again. She is also trying to transfer to nearby things.

The Mess of Independence

Oh my goodness! Lauren made the biggest mess at dinner. She allowed me to feed her half of her dinner and then insisted on being hands on. The bib was completely useless against miss messy fingers.

Budding Musician

William has discovered my old trumpet. Yes, yes, I play (well played) the trumpet. It looks like William has the lungs for it, huh!

William played in the sprinklers this weekend. He needed a a little encouraging to get wet but had fun once he did. He is wearing his new bathing suit that he picked out.





















Lauren is trying out the tricycle. She had a lot of fun being pushed around. Grandma is standing behind her getting ready to push.




















Lauren had so much fun playing with this microphone. She started getting a little tired of waiting for me to finish cleaning up the kitchen so I gave her the microphone--IT WAS A HIT. You could not have taken that thing away from her if you had pliers to pry her fingers open



Lauren is giggling at her brother while he is watching TV

Wreck!

William had a little motorcycle accident a few days ago. He was pushing around on his little red motorcycle and somehow fell over the front, right onto his face with a little skid. You can see the scrape on his face. He was a little upset. But we just talked about what a really awesome scrape he had and looked at it in the mirror; he was ready to go again and hasn't stopped since.

Getting the Picture

William and Lauren are modeling their Bass Pro Shop hats. Grandpa bought Lauren's hat to get her started with fishing gear. Grandad bought William his own hat because William is always taking his. They were total clowns during their little photo session.

Lauren's First Bubble Bath

This is Lauren's first bubble bath. William is well experience with bubble baths. He absolutely loves to have bubbles and colors in his bath. We play a counting game ending with Mommy blowing a handful of bubbles all over him. Lauren thought the bubbles were really neat and enjoyed splashing in them; But, didn't think they tasted so good when she tried to chew on her bubble covered toys.

He does listen!

William has done a few things that have tickled me lately. We go to story hour each week and each week William picks out books to check out. We read them throughout the week and I always tell him the title of the book and the author. The books we have this week are "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and "Aaarrgh, Spider!" by Lydia Monks (and, well, he also picked out "My little Pony" and quite frankly it is his favorite). Last week he spontaneously told me the author of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and today he requested we read "Aaarrgh, Spider!" by telling me the title and the author. That is just proof he is always listening.

Another thing he did--I ran into Pet Smart to get Zoe's food and left William in the car with Lauren and Neenee. At the check out they had logo frisbees for a dollar (William loves frisbee) so I got one for William. I gave it to him in the car and laughed when I told him I bought him a dog toy. The next day we were driving home from grocery shopping and William was holding his frisbee and laughing in his seat behind me. So I asked what was funny and he said " mommy, you bought me a dog toy!"

We took another trip!

We recently took another trip to Atlanta to visit Wendy and to use her house as a stop over on the way to Hickory, NC to visit my friend Elizabeth and attend a shower honoring the future baby sledge. William and Lauren couldn't have been better behaved given the circumstances of traveling. Lauren was full of smiles for everyone but definitely needed Mommy to be nearby at all times. William was his normal self; he stayed close to mommy and was full of energy. He spent lots of time riding his motorcycle in Hickory. While we were at the shower he entertained himself for part of the time by reading his book. I am so proud of them!

Giggle Button

I love hearing my kids laugh. William has always been a very generous laugher. He will always give a laugh. Lauren is a little stingy with her laughs. You have to do something pretty terrific (in her eyes) to get a laugh. I was laying next to her while she was sleeping. I put my hand on her side and she starting giggling. So, naturally, I did it over and over again; each time she giggled. I was so tickled.

William was beside himself with excitement when he saw this skateboard that Grandpa made for him (thanks for the wheels Clayton!). His older cousins skateboard so, of course, he thinks it's really cool. Evertime he tried he fell on his rear end.

This was a moment that needed a picture. I was changing clothes from the washer to the dryer and needed both hands. So, I put Lauren in the laundry basket. William came running into the laundry room hoping to help me put clothes in the dryer (he loves to do that). But, he was sidetracked by Lauren in the basket and had to get in with her.
William, William, William!! This boy loves icing. Grandma bought donuts after dinner one evening. So, I gave will his chocolate donut with sprinkles and then sat down to nurse Lauren. Before I knew, William had helped himself to three donuts, eating the tops off all of them.