Summer Nights

We went to a dinner and concert at the Arboretum the other night and it was so much fun.  There is something so magical about being out there at night.  The weather was perfect, the breeze was perfect, the music was wonderful, and everyone was happy and friendly.  The kids loved running around and dancing outside (after bedtime, which made it even better).  I love that we live so close to wonderful things like this!

Charlie made so many friends that night.  He is Mr. Social, and had so much fun tormenting other kids and encouraging them to run wild with him.

Sweet Evie was content to just play with her parents. :)

This picture cracked us up.  Clint was swinging Charlie around, but because of the camera angle, it looks like Clint's swinging a large adult.  Too funny.

This picture also cracks me up.  I love seeing Evie's big eyes peeking out from her stroller. :)

What a fun night!  Can't wait to do it again!

Look Who's Driving (Part II)

 Look who's joined Charlie in the car cart!  And they are both SOOOO happy with this arrangement.  Charlie takes his job of "teacher" very seriously, and is very picky about how Evie drives.  She is required to hold the steering wheel with both hands at all times (he doesn't have to, of course), and help him carefully navigate around turns.  Evie doesn't seem to mind.  She is just REALLY happy to discover that there is life outside of the Ergo carrier. :)

Sweet siblings.  Charlie loves to kiss Evie, but only when the camera comes out. :)

 We've been driving everywhere--Central Market above, Whole Foods below.  Sweet Evie doesn't look like the brightest bulb below, but I think it's just an unfortunate picture. :)

Father's Day 2012

I know, I know.  Father's Day was almost a month ago.  But hey, at least I'm posting. :)  We had a wonderful Father's Day.  It started off with a great present--for both of us.  The kids and I got Clint a kids' seat to go on the back of his bike and it was a huge hit.  Charlie loves it, and was so excited for his first ride in it.  We were trying to enjoy our morning, but we could not get Charlie out of the seat, so we finally gave up and sent Clint and Charlie out on their ride...

 Here they go!

 Apparently the first ride around the lake was quite fun.  Charlie spent the first half of the ride saying "I love my bike seat" and the second half asking "almost done?"  Even so, they seemed to have a great time. :)

 After the bike ride, we headed out to a celebratory brunch at Taco Diner.  Luckily for our checkbook, breakfast tacos are Clint's favorite meal. :)

 And later that afternoon, we played in the wading pool while Evie napped.  Charlie loves his pool, and was especially excited that Clint got in with him.

 Nico, our neighbor came over and joined in the swimming/watergun fun.  Both boys found Clint's vigorous slides quite entertaining.

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful, sweet, fun Daddy.  You are so loved!

Evie: 8 Months Old!

Another month has passed and I really feel like I have a whole new baby.  Evie has had a developmental explosion this month--she really seems like a whole different person than she was a few weeks ago.  She is crawling (as of June 28), pulling up, cruising around on the furniture, and climbing over anything that gets in her way (especially on me and Charlie).  She is WILD and into everything all of a sudden (she is not a good cuddler these days--she wants to be down).  Poor Charlie has to work hard to keep her out of his toys, but he has been pretty patient with her.  Evie is a wild woman everywhere, but especially in the bathtub.  She crawls all over the tub, pulls up on the sides, and tries to get into everything.  Trying to keep Evie from falling under water while trying to bathe her and Charlie is a stressful job!  

Even more than her physical development, Evie just seems like so much more of a person lately.  She is really interactive, and smiles and laughs and talks constantly.  She waves bye bye (and hello :), she "dances" in her highchair, she laughs and plays with Charlie (they love peek-a-boo), she loves music and dancing (her Kindermusik class is her favorite activity of the week), she cannot get enough of Charlie's Matchbox cars and Legos (or any toy that she senses is highly prized), and she loves her books.  Her favorite book is Pat the Bunny, and I love reading it with her.  She gets so excited about petting the bunny and playing peek-a-boo with Paul (if you know the book, you know what I'm talking about :).  I think my favorite thing about Evie is her happy little smile every time someone new comes in the room or we visit a new place.  Evie always seems to think every experience is going to be a wonderful one--and she is usually right. :)  I have also loved seeing her relationship with Charlie grow and change this month.  They have started "playing" more and more and have so much fun together.  There are still plenty of fights to monitor, but there is nothing cuter than hearing them laughing and talking together on the floor.  Her eyes light up when she sees Charlie or Clint and they are both equally enamored with her (she is pretty hard to resist :).

For my memory bank, at 8 months Evie weighs 17 pounds, which apparently puts her into the 25%.  [I'm no doctor, but these are NOT 25% thighs.]

These pictures were taken on Evie's 8-month birthday, but the poor girl had a terrible cold that was in the process of developing into a bad eye infection (ER visit post to follow).  Through it all, she remained as sweet and happy as ever.  It was a little harder to get smiles out of her, but other than that, you really would not have known she was sick.

We love you sooooooo much little mouse.  You are an amazing little girl and have made our lives so incredibly happy!

Milestones

With a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old in the house, we are hitting milestones faster than we can count.  It's amazing what a difference a week makes around here.  Take one week at the beginning of June (I know, I'm late on my post, yet again... :).

June 8: Charlie pee-peed in the potty for the first time (with two in diapers I am getting SO excited about potty training!!) and got a sticker.  This could not have gone better--he loved the sticker and later, at the park, several kids were exclaiming over it and just dying to "borrow" it.  Charlie has never been so proud of a sticker in his life. :)  We've had a few more successes with the potty, but I'm not pushing it yet.  Hopefully soon!

June 6: Evie pulled up!  You've never seen anyone so proud of an accomplishment.  She loves standing so much, especially if she gets up on her own.  You have never seen a bigger smile. She's getting pretty steady on her feet, and even stood on her own for a few minutes the other night.  Scary for me, but exciting for Evie. :)  

June ?-present: This is more an almost-milestone, but Evie is almost crawling.  Every day I think that she's going to take off, but she hasn't quite done it yet (she crawls a few "steps" every day, but hasn't quite gained the confidence to keep going).  Here she is pre-lunge...

...and post-lunge, getting ready to kind-of, almost, not really crawl.  In her determination to not-crawl, Evie has figured out clever ways to get what she wants.  She lunges into crawling position, scoots/crawls forward a few inches, and then rotates around and sits up. She will repeat these goofy movements until she gets where she's going (or, more typically, forgets where she's going and enjoys the spot she's ended up in :).

June 12: And Evie is walking!!  Haha, just kidding.  But she does love to push Charlie in the little red wagon. :)

June 7: Back to Charlie, who learned how to pedal his trike!  He was so proud of his accomplishment, and has been having a blast riding up and down the sidewalk on his "bike."  He waves to everyone who walks or drives by, and loudly proclaims that "I am riding my bike."

June 3: Charlie's been riding his scooter for a while, but in that same week, he really took off.  He shoots down the sidewalk at an alarmingly fast rate of speed and has even figured out how to glide back and forth and makes some pretty sharp turns.  He LOVES his scooter more than anything else right now.  I tried to get him to come with me to playgroup yesterday, but he told me he was going to "stay home with my scooter."  Glad he's content to be home!

Final milestone: Charlie and I met Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.  That's a milestone, right? ;)

Weeks like this are fun, but it is frightening how fast these little ones are growing up.  I am just painfully nostalgic about my time with these two!

If only...

I feel like I am always thinking, "if only I had a camera right now, this would be such a cute picture."  Lately, though, I just never seem to have my camera with me.  And even when it's available, it seems like my hands are full.  Excuses, excuses. :)  One of those times I've thought over and over that I should photograph is the moment when I get Charlie up in the morning or from a nap.  Evie often wakes up first, so she's usually with me.  She loves to get in Charlie's crib with him and they will play and cuddle and giggle in there and are just so sweet together.   And I love seeing my babies cuddled up together.  So I finally decided to take my camera up and record some of this adorableness for posterity.  Only they decide not to cooperate.  On the day I finally take my camera (and open up all the windows to improve my lighting), they decided they despise each other and hate being in the crib together.  Ahh, memories. :)

One Hail of a Storm

Only in Texas would photos of hot summer days in the wading pool be followed by photos of freakishly large hail.  Last Wednesday, we had a brief--but destructive--hail storm in Lakewood, and the neighborhood is still recovering.  The hail we saw ranged from pebble-size to tennis-ball size, and it covered everything.  It was shocking how much damage it did--leaves and branches were everywhere, car and house windows were shattered, and almost everyone in our area is getting a new roof.  Luckily, we were eating dinner over in University Park and missed the whole thing.  But driving back into Lakewood was quite a shock.  We thought at first that a tornado had ripped through the area.  We were relieved when we heard it was a hailstorm, until we remembered that my mom's car was parked outside of my house.  It was parked under a tree, so it didn't have any broken windows, but it was pretty banged up.  Our house survived amazingly well, with no broken windows and (so far as we know--the roofers haven't come yet) no roof damage.  As Charlie so artfully remarked, what a "big big mess."