Finger Foods

There are lots and lots of awesome things about having a thumb sucker- self soothing, never have to look for lost binkies, easy to fall asleep.  But there is one drawback- finger foods!  Catherine is getting pretty good at picking little pieces of food up, but when she tries to get it into her mouth, she puts her thumb in instead.  Oops!  Sometimes a stray piece of food will make it in there, and she'll surprise herself (and us!).  I'm sure she'll get the hang of it eventually, but it's pretty hilarious to watch that thumb popping in there instead of food.

Morning Sillies

Lately, Catherine has been the first one awake in the mornings.  I quietly pad down to her room when I hear her begin to talk and coo to herself, change her diaper, and nurse her.  She's so snuggly in the morning, and it's our special time when I can hug her, and give her lots of kisses, and just hold her before the craziness of the day begins.  I cherish those few moments in the morning.  Pretty soon, I'll hear footsteps in the hall.  Peter or Lizzy will wake up and see if the other is awake as well.  They'll talk for a few minutes, then they make their way to Catherine's room.  They quietly peer around her door, then come in, ready for their snuggles and good morning kisses too.  There is something precious about the beginning of the day, when everyone is fresh from sleep, ready to begin a wonderful day together.

Hot Summer Nights

Every Wednesday night, our town has a summer concert in the park.  Families pack a picnic, meet on the lawn, listen to some fun music and dance.  I always want to go, and often we do, but there's no doubt it can be at a dicey time of day, and sometimes it feels like a lot of effort after a long day.  Once I'm there, I'm always so glad we've come.  Lizzy, of course, is in her element.  She loves to dance with her friends, and is often a magnet for little girls, who will come up to her out of nowhere and begin holding her hands and dancing.  Lizzy welcomes them right in, and doesn't miss a beat.  The real fan of these concerts though, is Peter.  Yes, Peter, who can at times be very reserved, often let's his hair down and is ready to boogy down when he hears the beat.  It's priceless.  I love watching him dancing away, with a huge smile on his face, laughing and having so much fun.  Through all the chaos, there are definitely moments of summertime bliss: sipping wine with friends on a breezy warm evening, watching the children playing and laughing, feeling the freedom of dancing like nobody's watching. 

Tiny Golfers

While Lizzy was away at camp, we did one of our favorite activities (well, one of daddy's favorite activities, but if truth be told, we're all catching the fever).  We hit the driving range!  Believe it or not, there were three of us on the mats: Catherine (not great at golf yet, but definitely great at looking adorable and cheering us on), Peter swinging away and getting some "big hits," and me.  Yes..... I said me.  Pat's gotten me a little hybrid club of my own, and I must confess, I don't totally hate it........I actually kind of really like it, and I've even gotten some pretty good hits out of it.  Maybe we will turn into a golfing family after all.

Water Balloons!

I found a bag of water balloons stashed in a messy kitchen drawer.  Like a kid, they called to me, and I remembered all the fun times I had as a little kid at the park playing with water balloons, or as a camp councilor having tons of balloons thrown at me by campers and scurrying out of the way.  We decided we must have a spontaneous water balloon party- we just must!  Thank goodness for Lizzy and Peter!  We made a little assembly line and filled up a ton of balloons in no time flat (with only a few explosions that soaked my pants, but that's the fun, right?!).  Daddy ran to the store and bought hot dogs and treats, and all our friends came over.  The kids had so much fun, and it was such a perfect way to spend a summer afternoon.

Bikers

It's a bike-riding summer, that's for sure.  Now that Lizzy is really confident on her new big-girl bike, and Peter has turned into a speedy, capable, rider, the kids love going for bike rides.  There's only one problem: they are super fast, and I am super slow, pushing Catherine in her stroller.  Thank goodness for daddy!  He's brushed the dust off his bike, and has proven to be quite the amazing bike rider himself.  Now one of Lizzy and Peter's favorite things is to head to the park with daddy and wildly ride all around the winding bike trails.  They even love to ride as fast as they can over the speed bumps in the parking lot- those dare devils!  Catherine and I try our best to keep up, but we mostly end up admiring everyone from afar.  They wave to us, as they gleefully speed by with huge smiles splashed across their faces.  They're wonderful to watch!

Getting Close

For a while now, Catherine has been this close to crawling.  She'll bend down on her hands, reach really far out, and rock back and forth.  She's showing all the signs, and I'm sure it's going to be any day now, but right now, it's not quite happening.  Crawling, like any other skill really, isn't something that just happens- boom, poof, she's off!  It's something that slowly evolves, after countless tiny steps, a million little pieces building upon one another to establish understanding and mastery.  It's happening, right in front of our very own eyes, but it's such a slow process, it's hard to see.  But I think it's important to step back and admire what's happening, champion those little pieces fitting together, and be awe-struck at how amazing it is that babies somehow, someway, figure it all out.  They know what to do, they just do.  It's pretty awesome, when you think about it.  So instead of worrying, and waiting, and wondering, "when will she?", I'm going to think, "Wow!  She's doing it!  She knows!  She's putting it all together!"  Because she is- amazing!

Pattern Work

The other morning I could hear Peter busy at work playing with some old beads we have.  He will often use anything he can find to make different houses/garages/parking lots for cars, so that's what I assumed he was up to.  When I saw his finished product, I was amazed!  He had created this long, pretty complicated pattern with all the beads.  I love those flashes when you see how bright your child is, how much they are thinking and using their brain, and how awesome it is to watch what they can do.

Breakfast Helper

Catherine has started eating breakfast now too.  Thank goodness I have a wonderful helper in Lizzy.  She often wants to feed Catherine in the morning, and I can certainly use all the help I can get, so it's a perfect partnership!

4th of July Fun

We love the 4th of July around here.  We always begin the day early by starting at our friends, the Heinz's house, for some drinks and donuts.  Then we hit up the neighborhood parade.  We love to decorate our bikes and scooters, and it's so fun to see all the kids in the neighborhood in their red, white, and blue, pedaling around the block on their fancy bikes.  In the afternoon we went over to the Nelson's for a BBQ.  Catherine and I had to leave "early" since she goes to bed around 7:00, but Lizzy and Peter got to stay up late and wait until it got dark.  That's when the fun really begins.  Everyone went back to the Heinz house for some firework fun.  Lizzy told me she loved writing her name with the sparklers, and Peter said he had so much fun running around with Connor.  What an awesome day!

Bed Head

You know you're getting a lot of hair when you wake up in the morning with a serious case of bed head.  Okay, I know it's not a really crazy case of bed head, but it's perhaps the first time we've seen a hair out of place on Catherine's perfect pixie 'do.  I say it won't be too much longer before she has enough hair for ponytails, right?!  

Players

Now when Peter hits the range, he does it in style.  He loved getting to bring his big boy bag with him to the range the other day when we went to hit balls.  He insisted on carrying it all by himself, just like Lizzy.  We've got two little golfers now.

Buckets of Fun

Who knew an old metal bucket could be this much fun?  Lizzy and Peter, that's who!  Honestly, this simple bucket has already provided hours of summer entertainment for my kids.  They have used it to fill up their water guns, scoop water out of, clean stuff, and now, the newest idea............relax and put their feet in!  While they were doing this, they kept saying to me, "Ahhhhhhhh, Mommy, this is the life!"  I couldn't agree more!

Fill and Dump

Fill and dump, and dump and fill, and fill and dump, and dump and fill........... Chances are, if you peeked in our window, you'd probably see Catherine sitting on the floor in whatever room the rest of us are in, playing with some sort of container with something inside, or more likely all around her.  In the kitchen, it's a pot with measuring cups and spoons.  In the living room, it's a plastic tub full of duplos.  Boy does this girl love to pick stuff up, and put it in, and take it out, and throw it around.  It's endlessly entertaining.

Park Boy

We spend a lot of time at our local park and rec area.  It's the total package- duck pond, library, soccer fields, skate park, playground, and gym.  It's awesome, and even though we've been there a million times, the kids still love to explore and run around and play.  While Lizzy was at camp, Peter had a great time riding his scooter all around.  He found a perfect climbing tree, and had a great time climbing that tree over, and over, and over.  On our way out, we ran into our good buddy Connor by the duck pond.  The boys loved playing by the water and were instantly lost in one of their imaginary games.  I love when I can spend some time with Peter at the park!

New Wheels

Yay, Catherine got a new stroller!  It was getting a little ridiculous trying to squeeze her into that tiny snap-and-go.  Now, she's really a big-time baby.  She can sit up, look all around, and, my personal favorite, have a perfect place to eat her lunch when we're on the go.  Nice wheels, baby!

Swinging Buddies

If this isn't cute overload, I'm not sure what is!  Where to even begin?  I want to eat up Catherine's yummy legs and squishy arms, and I love those big bows the girls are sporting.  They are so cute!  When we were at the park the other day, we put the girls in one of our favorite old time poses.  We used to do this with Lizzy and Trevor when they were babies, and now it's so fun to have Catherine and Reagan to play with in the same way.

Big Boy Day

It can be a little confusing when your birthday party isn't on the same day as your birthday.  But in our world, it's just a great opportunity to keep the party rolling!  Peter got to have an extra-special day on his "real" birthday.  He decided to have a "boy's day" with just Daddy.  Lucky Daddy!  Us girls were a little bit jealous.  After church, Peter and Daddy had lunch at Jeffrey's.  And you know what that means- hot dog, fries, and a huge chocolate shake- yum!  Then, Peter and Daddy hit Daddy's favorite golf store, and Peter got to pick out his own set of big boy golf clubs.  He picked some with a yellow bag- his favorite color.  Afterwards, Lizzy and Peter got to go with Daddy to hit balls at the range.  And after dinner, we got to have another favorite treat- cake and ice cream.  What a perfect way to spend a birthday!

Peter's Piston Cup

Boy, did we have a blast celebrating Peter's 4th birthday!  Since the guy has loved cars his entire life, it was pretty easy to pick the theme.  We went on a cars bender!  We had a "car wash" where everybody pitched in to "wash" our cars, we had a "pit stop" complete with tools to "fix" broken cars, and we even created a "giant" racetrack where we rode our scooters and bikes around in a huge race.  Of course we also played games and had cupcakes to top it all off.  It was an awesome party, and the perfect way to celebrate our special boy.  Happy Birthday, darling Peter!  We love you so much!

Aquarium Adventure

We love a good road trip!  We had so much fun meeting our cousins at the Academy of Sciences.  The kids were so excited, they all wanted to sit next to each other in the car.  We loved the Academy, but we were especially glad to get to visit the "rain forest" this time, and to see the butterflies close up.  We were having such a great time, we decided to spend some time at the Children's Playground.  We rode the merry-go-round, had a treat, and played, and played, and played on the playground.  Everyone had a blast!  What an awesome day!

Pretty Pants

It's so fun for me to put Catherine in outfits that Lizzy (or even Peter, believe it or not) used to wear when she was little.  I love to remember when we got the clothes, or what they looked like when they wore it, or where we lived, or a special place we went.  It's amazing what memories clothes can hold.  I love these little overalls that Catherine was wearing the other day.  I remember Pat bought them for Lizzy as a Christmas present, and I remember thinking how sweet it was of him to buy her a little outfit, and how totally adorable she looked in them.  Now, when Catherine wears them, it breathes life into those memories, and keeps them alive.  Those pants, well not really the pants, but the baby inside the pants, were so adorable, and we were so happy to have our little baby to put them in.  Now, our joy continues as we get to share them with Catherine.