Poser

I was clearing off the memory card in my camera, dumping the pics that I had taken over the last few weeks and I noticed a trend in the pictures of Lily Kate. Hmmm she's always posing, and I do mean ALWAYS. These are just a few of the lot. I thought this was really funny... I am laughing b/c even as I'm typing Lily Kate just said, from across the room, "take a picture of me, I'm ready" According to my parents, I did the same thing. The ham doesn't fall far from the tree :)

My Garden

I realize that I might be the only person interested in this post about my garden, but I am LOVING having a veggie garden. Since this is the first summer in our new house we started small, unsure of what spot might be the best for the garden or what would grow well here. I'm going big next year. Lily Kate has really enjoyed growing food. She especially loves the "minty" and pops leaves in her mouth every time she's out there. She learned the hard way that basil isn't as fun to chew. Above, some of our most recent cucs. Below, Cayanne peppers. Don't you look at those and think, "that might be a little dangerous in a yard with little ones, the baby might pick one and eat it...." Yep, she did. There was a lot of face scrunching and tongue wiping. Some of our cherry tomatoes, and the first almost bloom from the sunflowers that Kate planted all on her own (a gift from her Soni).

tomatoes, just in time for skewers tonight

Our friend, Samuel, turned one a few weeks ago and we had a great time at his birthday party. I didn't bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures of him, but the Laniers helped us attempt to take some family pictures. I included that last one just so you can see how funny it is to try to get 4 people to look in the same direction at the same time. Look at LK with her eyes deliberately closed and Charlotte crying to be held. We'll try not to over-analyze their personalities from this behavior :)

18 Months Old

I'm not very good at "reporting" on the growth of our kiddos but I thought it would be fun to say a bit about our Charlotte on her 18 month birthday. Charlotte loves to talk. Often when I walk in her room in the morning she is holding on to the railing in her crib, bouncing with all her might and laughing at herself. I say "good morning, Charlotte" and she says "need new diaper". While I change her she loves to list the people she sees in the pictures tacked above on her bulletin board: The first is always "Ahh Ber" (Oliver), then "Sissy", "Wuul" (Uncle Will), "Becca" (Aunt Becca), &"Baby" (herself when she was younger). Sometimes I get a shout out. When we're done she says, "okay, cer-rul, cer-rul pease" It goes on and on all day, while we drive down the road she stares out the window and says, "fower" & "car" over and over. She and Lily Kate are both really into listening to Girls Just Want to Have Fun right now, so she asks for "dancin song pease". Lately she has been able to recognize the color purple and will point it out when she sees it. Lily Kate taught her that. Charlotte loves to be held. She is rather persistent and will stand at my leg and beg, "hold you pease". I like to look at her and say "hold who?" and she'll say, "hold ME pease" and smile. Like every 18month old we've really gotten to see her personality blossom in the last few months. She is very silly, much more so than Lily Kate, who can be serious more often. She is very opinionated, she eats more than I do and is still pretty small, she says "tank you" almost every time you hand her something, she often follows that with "welcome", she is finally getting over her fear of the water and has been begging for "simming" the last few times we've been to the beach, she adores being with Lily Kate and watching "Monkey Gorge". We can't get enough of her around here. Kate has been asking about the two of them sharing a room soon, but we're going to wait a little longer. Between the two of them I don't think that room would ever be quiet. Thank you Lord, for our sweet, sweet Charlotte. We love her.

Relaxed...

Ballet Camp!

It's no exaggeration when I say that we've been looking forward to ballet camp for a year. Last year Lily Kate and I went to the recital and she was enamored by the dancing and maybe even more excited about the flowers that some of the girls got afterward. When I told her she was enrolled she asked for purple flowers at the recital and she has reminded me at least 10 times since then not to forge the purple flowers. A girl from our church lead the camp and she is a "real ballerina". It really was the most fun week.