A & Z

Here are some sweet pictures of our kids together. Zachary has really taken an interest in playing with Allie, and she adores him. I really enjoy watching them interact, especially when they don't realize I'm right there. And yes, we know, they look A LOT alike!! We are so blessed.

Water "park"

We took the kids to our county little water park. It is for small children, so it has all these fun sprinklers & slides. The water is super shallow everywhere, so that makes it really fun for Zachary. He was a little hesitant at first (as usual), but once he figured things out, he had a great time running through all the fountains. Of course, Allie was just pink from the heat and watching all the action with her pretty eyes.

SO MUCH FUN

Zachary is such a delight. I enjoy him tremendously. He has started this random dancing all the time. This might be my favorite thing he's ever done (so far). He clears the playroom floor (well, just the middle part...that floor is never actually "clear"), and runs to find me to "play the music, mommy!" (turn ITunes music on the computer...which is located 5 feet from the playroom).
He will dance non-stop for 20 minutes. As each song ends, he'll pause and say, "Nother song!" and then a new song will start. I absolutely LOVE watching him dance. He totally gets lost in the music and just enjoys himself. He's always saying, "mommy dance too..." and I'll join in...but then I'll forget to dance because I'm having so much fun watching him! I really can't describe how sweet this is. I LOVE it. Can I pause his growing up? I just want to stop here.

And...he's built a tent in the living room. This is also hilarious.

I LOVE this kid!!

27 Dresses

Allie has all these pretty dresses of which she is about to outgrow. We had a little fashion show this week, to get some pictures before she gets too big!

Mommy forgot the fancy bloomers for this dress!

She's not quite mastered the "keeping your legs crossed while wearing dresses" rule! (Nor the "don't chew on your dress or show your midriff" rules!)

And, of course, these fashion shows can be so overwhelming & exhausting!

Tee(th) Time

Allie is chewing like there is no tomorrow. Incoming: bottom 2 front teeth!!

Play Date (x2)

Our friends Kenny & Kelly have children the same age as Zachary & Allie. They came over to play this week and everyone had a good time!
Allie (5 months) & Benjamin (2 months):

Allie seems to really like Benjamin...!

Zachary & Emma:

04JUL08

Yes, these are way late. I'm still waiting on copies of everyone's 4th of July Weekend photos, but here are plenty from the batch I have. We had a house full of family and it was such a fun time!
Allie wearing the colors of our USA:

Zachary stealing pound cake! He really grabbed his stool and dragged it in the kitchen so he could reach the pound cake. So cute!

Great picture of Aunt Jen & Aunt Shell:

Handsome Zachary, wearing his USA t-shirt:

Allie & Grammy:

Cousin Emily & Allie:

Grammy Claire & Zachary picking tomatoes!!

A pretty picture of Allie with Grammy Claire:

As usual, we ate the entire weekend.
Chef Jen & Emily, cooking a yummy breakfast:

The kids enjoying Grandpa enjoying the kids:

Aunt Jen & Emily tag-team to get Zachary ready for bed:

"Old Aunt Jenny"(her name preference) with Allie:

Zachary (or Todd's twin) with Aunt Jen:

Daughters: 4 Generations

My family has generations of daughters (particularly families with 3 girls!). I was recently reading an article in Cookie magazine (Aug. 08) with this quote about mothers with daughters:

"Women of our generation want daughters precisely because we like who we are."

What do you think about this statement?

That's how she rolls

We knew it was comin'! Allie's been teetering on her side for awhile and just this week, she finally rolled completely over. Todd & I agreed that we wouldn't count it as "rolling over" until she figured out how to pull that underneath arm out. (We're not putting too much pressure on her at all, are we?!)
Anyway, she had come really close earlier in the week, so I kept my camera armed & ready. These pictures capture the ACTUAL FIRST complete roll over! (That's for all those people who harassed me about taking pictures of all of Zachary's stuff, and questioned whether I'd do the same for Allie!).

This picture is funny. She is also currently teething (bottom two front teeth) and chewing on EVERYTHING, including her clothing.

She pops right over (notice that underneath arm?)...

...And then gets SO MAD that she's stuck. In this picture she is not crying, she is screaming/yelling/squealing...whatever you want to call it. She's just MAD!
With some big brother moral support, she gets that arm out and be-bops her head. Zachary is so sweet! For encouragement, he'd put her little toys right there so she could see them. I love these two pictures.

Pickin' "Blew-bees"

Thankfully, the Zacharese pronunciation of "blueberry" has just recently started including the "L" sound. Otherwise we might have giggled too much at the Blueberry Farm hearing Zach yell "boo-bees" over & over. (!!)
Over the 4th of July weekend, 9 of us trekked out to the Georgia country and found a great farm to pick blueberries. It was quite a fun morning.

Grammy Claire & Zachary also had fun blowing at dandelions together.

This farm was so pretty. I love how blueberry plants look.

Aunt Jen & Aunt Shell are always trying to get me to buy some stylish sunglasses like these. Speaking of stylish...my mom was so mad at me for putting this hat on Allie. I forgot her sun hat, and this is one of Zachary's old hats that was deep in the trunk of the car. My mom calls it a "gangsta" hat (remember, she owns a baby boutique...full of beautiful sun hats!) .

My cousin Emily was so helpful with both kids. She is a natural!