Snack Time

In order to not go broke buying baby food I am trying to help Charlotte appreciate other foods. She thought this frozen waffle was a lot of fun to play with. I did get her to take a few little bites.

Elaine loves popcorn or "ohcorn" as she calls it. Typical of her, she always wants to hold the bowl and doesn't always want to share.

Elaine has also become my laundry assistant. She likes to pull her stool in front to the washer and her job is to put the laundry in. She also likes to help move the laundry out of the dryer when it is done. The other day she decided the dryer did not look right empty so she decided to fill the space. She asked me if she could climb in and I said yes thinking she would not really do it. She hopped right in. She had a great time with her tape measure and Elmo.

True Love's Kiss

While we were in UT last month Elaine and I watched the movie Enchanted. Elaine must have absorbed more of it than I realized. We were listening to some of the songs the other day and her favorite is True Love's Kiss. The second it comes on she says "listen, the Princess is singing" but her favorite part is when Prince Charming starts singing. She is sure it is Rob singing. When Rob came home the other day she kept saying "Dad, sing to Mommy" so I turned on the CD to appease her. I think it is funny she thinks it is Rob singing because, really, Rob is tone deaf. In her eyes, however, her Dad is perfect like Prince Charming and can do anything. It is not uncommon to hear Elaine with her little voice singing this song to herself. She loves it!

Milestones

We have had several milestones around our house lately. Our girls are growing up which is so fun but makes us a little sad. "I don't remember growing older, when did they." Who doesn't love a little Fiddler on the Roof.

I personally survived 4 days and 4 nights alone with the girls while Rob played golf and hung out in airports in Minneapolis. It was a lot of work to watch my own children for that long. I would not enjoy single parenthood.

Charlotte:

*sleeps through the night without interruption
*is a fantastic napper during the day
*has both her bottom front teeth
*eats like a champ
*remains one of the best behaved babies ever

Elaine:
*only needs to wear diapers at night (This is HUGE)
*loves to take care of her baby sister. They sit and play and talk. One of their favorite activities is building towers with blocks and knocking them over. Okay, I build them, they knock them over. Elaine always says "don't knock it over sister" and laughs when Charlotte does.
*has a large vocabulary which she uses to boss us around and tries to talk her way out of getting in trouble. If she does something she knows is wrong she preemptively runs to us and says "I'm scared". This is when I know I am about to walk into a big mess of some sort.

Busy Girls

It has been a busy few days around here. It is officially HOT. Today is day #8 of temps over 110 degrees. Because playing outside is turning into a memory and something to look forward to in a few months we have had to come up with a few indoor activities.

Elaine loves to play with Play Doh which she calls "Tato" for some reason. Thanks to everyone who bought it for her as a Christmas present. If we come to visit I will bring some along to share the joy of getting it off the floor. For some reason she loves to make it into tiny pieces. It does give her hours of joy so it is well worth the mess.

Charlotte has now started contributing to the never ending toy mess on the floor. I fill this basket with toys and she empties it one toy at a time. Her little tooth is coming along nicely and she has not complained one bit about it. Like everything else that comes her way, she just deals with it.


Of course our constant source of outdoor fun is the pool. Elaine loves to help clean it. We just wish she would stop throwing things in to fish out. In these pictures is the rare wearing of her "kini". She prefers the freedom of no suit at all but I prevailed at this swim session.

So much to wear, So little time

Since we always hear it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind I guess it is not so surprising the changing of the minds starts at around 2 and a half. This comes through especially in Elaine's choices in clothing. At any given moment of the day she will appear naked and then seconds later she is dressed in an outfit of her choosing. It usually consists of several pairs of shorts and a couple shirts . The arm holes still escapes her sometimes resulting in the all the clothing sitting around her waist. She is so proud of herself every time she gets dressed I just go with it unless we are leaving the house. Here are a couple of her recent ensembles.

I'm small I know

I have been sorting through baby clothes the past few weeks and set this outfit aside as one that is a little snug and short on Charlotte. Elaine apparently wanted to remind me how petite she is. This outfit is 6-12 months and fit her very well. I thought it made a cute little romper of sorts. Only Elaine would insist on trying Charlotte's castoffs on.

Hooray for Father's Day

Rob is going to hate this post but I just wanted to pay a small tribute to a mostly great Dad.
A few hours after Charlotte was born. This was the first meeting of the sisters.
This is the first time he held Elaine. She was 4 days old.

We have spent the weekend enjoying the sun and sand (see previous post) and just spending time together.

For Father's Day my sister, Megan, took pictures of the girls that I had framed for him to take to work. Thanks Megan!

Happy Father's Day, Rob!

Back in the Sandbox Again

After several months we have returned sand to the beloved sandbox. Despite the 111 degree temperature Elaine was thrilled to have her favorite outdoor toy back.

Of course she did not want to play alone so her Dad cooked in the heat for a few minutes until it was time to jump back into the pool. Of course the biggest downside to the whole thing: sand is already invading every crevice of our house. This means if you are coming to visit be prepared to sweep.

Forsooth there is a Tooth

This is probably really weird but when Elaine got her first tooth the way she smelled changed very slightly. (I told you it sounds weird.) Yesterday I noticed Charlotte had the same smell and so I was not surprised when today there is the beginning of her first tooth peeking through her gums. She is growing so fast, were have the last 7 months gone? When the tooth is a little bigger and she is more cooperative I will try to post a picture of her new feat.



Nate: What is the tally now? ;)

Poor Charlotte

Charlotte has a really bad cold. It seems to be the one that Elaine and I are getting over. All I can say is if she feels like I did last week she is one step above miserable. I took advantage of her very stuffy nose and probable loss of taste to feed her some of the foods I think she would not liked otherwise i.e garden vegetables. Although not feeling well she sure is cute.

Down at the Carwash

This weekend Rob assisted Elaine in washing the cars.

That Elaine is a real slave driver. She made Rob wash the same spot over and over again.

Her favorite part? Getting more water on her sponge.

Just because this picture is so adorable

I Go Swimming?

Summer is here and although Elaine has been playing in the pool for months she now really loves to swim. It starts as soon as she gets up and goes until we make her go to bed. She keeps asking "I go swimming". Sometimes the answer is yes and soemtimes it is when dad comes home. I usually let her into the what she calls the "little pool" or our unheated spa. She loves to stand and play with toys and color with her chalk. The other day she was running by it and her foot slipped in. I was there to scoop her out but she keeps telling me how she fell into the little pool. It was not enough of a scare to deter her at all.

Of course she is not done the hose. It remains her favorite toy.

She Did It!

After much waiting and anticipation Charlotte finally started rolling over. I seriously wondered if she would ever get it. She can sit for an hour all by herself but until this morning at 3:30AM she had no desire to roll. She will only go from back to front right now but I am sure she will figure the rest out when she is good and ready. She remains a very mild mannered kid. She seriously is the reason that people have more than one. She rarely cries except, when I take her to the daycare at the gym. For some reason she just hates it there and they always have to call me in after 10-25 minutes because she is so hysterical. She does not usually have stranger anxiety so it is a total bummer that she chooses to have it there. Elaine on the other hand loves it. She always asks "can we go to the gym now". Good thing I love them both or else that would make me crazy.

Will Work for Food

Elaine has assigned herself silverware duty. She loves to put away the clean silverware out of the dishwasher minus anything sharp, of course. She does a great job at getting it in the right place. Of course she sometimes gets a little distracted and has to play with the finds.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

We finally are back from our trip to UT. The girls and I arrived last night with our trusty assistant who flew home to UT today. The return road trip went well with only one stop thanks to napping children and a large gas tank. We had a lot of fun visiting and it was fun to see rain for the first few days. We are, however, glad to be home in the sunshine and heat. Elaine got in the pool first thing this morning and again a while later after her bath and with her clothes on. That girl is great at creating laundry. Here are a few pictures of trip and some of the people we got to see.