21 Months Old!

Closer and closer to TWO every day.  These girls are talking up a storm lately, like big time word explosion!  They'll pretty much attempt to repeat anything you say... which is a constant reminder that mommy & daddy have to watch what comes out of our mouths!  ha!  And they are speaking more in phrases as opposed to just singular words.  We are working on our counting in English AND Spanish (I have to get them on video doing this, I was thoroughly impressed!); they also sing along to the ABC's (mostly) and know a few songs (more or less).  It really is astonishing how much these little sponges soak up on a daily basis. 

I love you my girls!

Being silly with Daddy

Liv, you are so thoughtful and caring, and a bit of a daddy's girl.  You are definitely more timid than your sister, and you like to hang back to assess the situation for a bit before opening up; but when you do, you just light up and become this little ham!  You are our good eater and tend to be content as long as you've been fed and have your "baynkee" close by.  You are always cracking us up with your faces and I love watching you care for your dollies - carefully tucking them under a blanket and singing them a lullaby - such a little doting mother!  You are always worriedly soothing Caroline when she's fussy, telling her, "Sissy, don't cry... don't cry".  My favorite part of the day is when you first wake up and you are so happy and literally bouncing around in your crib being such a cheese ball.  Love my happy baby. 

Caroline, you are such a little pistol; very determined, curious, and at times dramatic - yes, I said it, she's a bit of a drama queen.  You are so outgoing and interested in meeting new people - you'll walk right up to a group of big kids at the playground as if to say, "what's up?" and won't even look back.  You tend to favor your mama when you get hurt or fussy, and are always in to something.  You like to pick on your sister, even though she's bigger than you are; but you are getting better at sharing and are so generous with affection when we catch you in the right mood.  You are a picky eater to no end which drives your mama crazy, but you sure do love anything sweet (wonder where she gets that??).  You are our little climber, if I turn my back for a second you'll have already rigged up one of the bar stools and hoisted yourself onto the kitchen island countertop, with your hand in the fruit basket.  You keep us busy, that's for sure; and we love you so very much. 

I love watching them grow into themselves, developing their own unique personalities. 
What a tremendous blessing. 

Road Trip - Lake of the Ozarks

We returned from our trip to the Lake of the Ozarks early Sunday morning.  It was a great family vacation as everyone enjoyed themselves and we got to spend time with my mom, step-dad, my sister and her husband, my little brother, and my grandparents.  The girls had so much fun exploring the big house, on their first boat rides, and swimming in the lake. 

They were so funny - Caroline LOVED loved loved the boat and would get excited to put on her life jacket and take rides out on the water; but she was also DEATHLY afraid of getting into the water for some reason.  She screamed her head off whenever we'd try to put her in.  And Miss Olivia was the opposite - she LOVED swimming in her floatie with her Aunt Nee Nee and wanted to jump into the lake every chance she got; but when it came time to go on the boat she clung to me like she was going to go overboard and wouldn't let me put her down. 

Here are pictures from the week. 

The generous hosts, my grandparents Shirley & Jerry. 

Thank you so very much for your hospitality! 

These girls sure did take to their Uncle Logan

Caroline & her Papa

The girls feeding the ducks with Grandma Karen

Happy Belated 4th of July!

We've been traveling like crazy, so sorry for the late post. 

We went to Michigan for the 4th and had so much fun with Mama Diane, Papa Bede, Aunt Kari, Uncle Jay and cousins Katie & James. 

Hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Fourth of July!

Lots of pictures, of course...

Bike Rides make us sleepy

Us at the Saugatuck Parade!

And feeding the ducks with Daddy & Papa

Lots of videos:

Weekend Wrap-Up

We attended Rob's cousin's wedding down state on Saturday. 

Congratulations, Meridith & Gary!!!

It was a beautiful wedding, but a long day for the girls as we drove into town that morning, made a quick pit stop at the hotel to get everyone changed, and then off to the ceremony and reception.  Between wrangling & chasing them down, doing damage control for the mini meltdowns & tantrums, and just generally keeping them enterained and happy... I was pooped and didn't even think to take any pictures.  I'm hoping Uncle Jay snapped a few that he can share with us. 

This one was the only picture I took -

my littles, exhausted on the way home Sunday morning. 

Yesterday afternoon, we had our friends Troy, Katie and their daughter Taylor over for dinner.  The girls had a great time playing with Taylor; and we learned just how territorial they are with their toys!  We need to work on our sharing. 

Here are the daddies & their girls

Videos:

Video of the girls telling us about their day.  We had just returned home after our outing and they were all sweaty and excited from eating ice cream:

 

And another of them being silly with daddy. 

Birthday Party, Father's Day, and General Weekend Catch-Up

We had a full weekend that started with celebrating our friend, Ms. Jessie's birthday on Saturday.  The girls had a blast hanging out with all the kids, enjoying the food, toys, baby pool and bounce house they had there. 

The Stinkers - C in Orange, O in Green

Here's a video of them going nuts in the Bounce House:

We spent the night with Papa Bede and Mama Diane after the party, so we could celebrate Father's Day all together. 

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!!

 I thought this was so cute of Liv and her daddy.

 Silly Papa trying on Livi's bow. 

And here are a few from yesterday at the park.  C in purple, O in stripes.

 Liv, my little monkey

 And my sweet Liners

 Caroline's latest phrase is, "Wibbie, where are you??"

And she's been doing a lot of jibber-jabber too:

Evidence

Daddy was working late tonight so it was a good time for us to draw him a picture as part of the girls' Father Day gift.  I gave them each a crayon and paper while I started dinner, and when I looked over a few minutes later, Olivia's crayon was half the original size. 

Me: "Livi, what happened to your crayon?  Did you put it in your mouth like mommy said not to?"

Livi: "No no no"

Me: "Oh, Olivia!  Did you eat it??"

Livi [shaking head back and forth]: "No, mama!"

Hmmmm... given the evidence shown here, I had good reason for my accusation. 

Notice the blue tongue.

"What?  I didn't, I swear!"

"Okay, I give up!  I ate it, and it was YUCKY!"

20 Months [yesterday]

Our big girls are now 20 months old!  They impress us with new things they've learned every single day.
It's truly amazing to see. 

And like most kids, they LOVE watching their favorite shows.  They'll tell me, "Shows, mama!  Shows!!"  (Don't worry, we limit TV time to about 30 minutes in the morning, and 20 minutes before bedtime). 

Here are our little TV watchers, enthralled with last night's show.  Now, if these aren't the faces of some completely mesmerized toddlers, I don't know what is. 

Dora the Explorer is by far their favorite right now.  I'll have to get a video of them dancing to the opening song, it's hysterical.  If you're familiar with this children's show, you'll know that famous line by Swiper the Fox is "Oh, Man!" (as in, "awe, shucks") when he doesn't get his way.  So that's been their latest phrase of choice - "Oh MAAN!"  Here's a couple videos of them doing this. 

Olivia

Caroline