Standing Girl

Now that Catherine has mastered crawling, she's on to bigger and better things.  Catherine will crawl all over the house and find anything she can to pull herself up- the coffee table, the couch, chairs, boxes, and even walls.  The girl loves to stand!  If we leave her for a minute, as soon as we come back in the room she's standing up.  Every time I go to get her from her bed, there she is standing up with a big smile on her face.  I think we should all brace ourselves for what's bound to come next- little steps.

Cute Twins

Daddy and Peter decided to go as twins to church last week.  Who knew green polo shirts and khaki shorts could be so cute?  In a sea of girls, daddy is thankful all the time he has his special buddy, Peter.

Airplanes!

We have a cool little air plane museum just up the freeway from our house.  I've seen it a million times as I've driven by, and never had the time to visit.  We had a free day recently, and decided to check it out.  It was awesome!  There were tons of models of early planes, and even a huge double-decker plane out back that was open for the kids to run around in and explore.  Of course, they loved the cock pit- especially Peter.  We may have a budding pilot on our hands.  On our way out, we were cleverly shuttled through the gift shop.  We decided to pick up a few simple model planes to take home and try out.  I'm so glad we did!  Oh, what fun we had throwing those planes around outside!  The kids loved them so much, we showed them to all the kids in our neighborhood, and everyone had a great time with them.  Now I'm inspired to learn more about air planes, and to certainly delve a little deeper into model planes.  

Cards, Dancing, and Ice Cream

Summer time is winding down, and that means that our summer concerts will soon be ending.  We've had a fun time this summer listening to music in the park with our friends.  Amy always sets out lots of blankets and her little table, and the kids have been playing long and intense Uno matches.  Lately it's been getting interesting as Catherine tries to climb up the table and grab all the cards, but the big kids don't seem to mind.  Lizzy loves to play hide-and-seek behind the stage among all the tall trees, and Peter loves to dance with Connor and run all over.  Peter and I always share a pizza, and the kids love to get a treat from the ice cream man.  Enjoying time with friends on a warm summer evening is just the best.

A Royal Adventure

Lizzy and Peter play all sorts of imaginary games together.  The fight bad guys, they build boats, houses, and stores, they tell ghost stories, and they play house.  They've been known to be mechanics, teachers, racers, explorers, and detectives.  On this day, they were in a royal sort of mood.  Lizzy decided to bring out all of her old princess dresses, and took turns modeling them.  Peter wore his cape, and even one of Pat's old ties, to look extra spiffy.  They danced together, got married, and then things got really exciting.  As is often the case around here, some bad guys came into the picture.  They had to set up their carriage and fight them.  There's never a dull moment around our house!

Discovery Museum

We visited an old favorite last week, and it was just as great as we remembered.  Even better, in fact, because everything seemed new to the kids, since we hadn't been there in so long.  Peter loved, and I do mean loved, the ambulance and fire truck, especially when he got to take over the driver's seat.  I loved watching him trying to steer and get his foot on the gas- a pretty tricky maneuver.  We played outside in the garden, had a blast splashing in the water area, and loved exploring all the exhibits.  I love when we can hit up these great local museums.  We always have a great time, and the kids love discovering all the fantastic things to do there.

Standing!

Now, when I hear Catherine in her bed, making her little noises and squeals, and I go in to get her, this is the sight that awaits me- a huge smile, bright eyes, and a little body standing, yes standing, at the edge of her crib, just waiting to be picked up and snuggled.  It's perhaps one of the most joyous sights I've ever seen.