My Pajama-less Children

Libby has NEVER liked to wear pajamas. It's just a fact of life. For the first three years of her life she could usually be found running around in her underwear. Now, she likes to wear clothes, and change them about six times a day, but you can still occasionally catch her in her undies.

Grace is usually very opposite of Libby and sometimes even inspires Libby to try something new. So, this very chilly autumn evening as I was putting Grace to bed, I noticed that she was chilly as well. I grabbed a pair of footed pajamas out for her thinking that they would keep her warm and she would enjoy them. Chris came in to tell her good night and told me he thought she would get too warm. I told him she was so cold I thought we had better put them on her just in case. An hour after putting her to bed we heard her in her bedroom talking so Chris went in to check on her. He immediately called me in to her room. Why? She was sitting there in her diaper with a big smile on her face. Oh, my children! :)

Shadow

Libby has ALWAYS loved Shadow, but this was the first visit that Grace really got to enjoy Shadow. She just hasn't been at an age where she's had much interest yet, but this trip...that poor cat got a work out. I remember when I was in highschool I kind of thought that Shadow was a mean cat. Well, I suppose he was...due to Stephanie teasing him all of the time. :) I was a little worried about him once I had kids, but this cat has proved to be the BEST cat for kids there could ever be. He has not ONCE tried to swat or bite either of my girls. And, yes, he has had to endure similar behaviors from Libby as you see in these pictures. I was so glad that dad got pictures of Shadow with the girls this time because we just haven't really taken the time to take pictures in the past. I was even more glad that dad took pictures this last visit when I got one of those dreaded phone calls yesterday. Mom called to tell me that Shadow had died. :( I am so glad that Grace got to enjoy him this one visit. Libby handled the news very well for a four year old. She was sitting on my lap when I told her and she just laid her head on my shoulder for awhile. Then she looked at me and said, "Mom, I had a lot of fun playing with that string with Shadow last time. I'm going to miss him." Me too, Libby, me too.

First Boat Ride

Neither of the girls have ever been on a boat before, so I thought it would be fun to ask my aunt and uncle for a ride on theirs. The girls truly enjoyed it and I think that it was fun for Aunt Sandra and Uncle Jim to kind of get to know the girls, too.

Here is Grace trying her hand at being the captain.

Libby is just enjoying the view.

In this picture Grace is getting ready to go somewhere. I'm not sure where, but she has a mischievous look in her eyes.

And this is my FAVORITE picture of the day! I love that carefree and joyous look on Libby's face. I will cherish this picture.

Cousins

While we were in Ohio we went to visit my dad's aunt (although she is 3 months older than him so I am the one that calls them aunt and uncle). Their grandson, Roland, who was born the month after Grace, came to visit grandma and grandpa while we were there. It was quite fun to watch them play, especially when Grace thought he would make a good "horsie" for her...and, well, he didn't seem to mind.

Grace's Fame (part 2)

Here is the video to go along with the pictures.

Grace's Two Minutes of Fame

So, Grace is by far the more adventurous of my my girls. The first time I saw this bungy jumping contraption I was with my sister and we both agreed that Grace would LOVE it! Sure enough, we saw one when we were in Tennessee and Grace wanted to go on it so badly. She was underweight for that one, and to be honest, I think Grandma Tucker was quite glad that she was. :)

We stopped in at the Springfield mall especially for Grace to ride this. Grace lasted a good two minutes before she decided she was bored with the whole thing. She wasn't too amused with the harness around her waist and wasn't quite sure what you were supposed to do, but she still had some fun with it. The girl was quite nice and didn't make us pay for her. After Grace was finished, Libby decided that if Grace could do it, so could she. BUT...there was about a 10 minute period to think things over and when it was actually her turn, she decided that she would keep her feet safely on the ground. :)

I love my girls and their many, many differences. It is fun to be able to pick out their strong points and try to find ways to SAFELY (in Grace's case) foster them. I can't wait for John to be born and start to develop a personality too. I am excited to a.) have the energy to work more with the girls again and b.) get to know my son as well as I do my daughters.

Dance With Me!

The girls had a blast when grandma pulled out Hannah's old dance outfits. They both loved playing in these and looked cute doing it.

Too Tired!

Did I mention how much I love this little girl? This was on our way back from Ohio. She swore up and down that she wasn't tired (like usual) and then all of the sudden, it fell silent. Yes, I took this picture while I was driving. But I couldn't resist. Besides, I took it blind...and got lucky on my first attempt. :)

Story Time

I love this picture of my grandma reading to both girls. I love that my grandparents are so involved in my children's lives. I don't remember a whole lot of things about my great grandparents spending time with me. I know that I dearly loved my great grandma though. Libby was named after all of my grandmothers. My great grandma was Elizabeth, my grandma is Mary Elizabeth and my other grandma was Elizabeth, Libby for short. I love that my children are named after family members. I am so glad that we could honor special members of our family by naming our children after them.

Family Pic

How often does this happen? A picture with all four of us? Thank you Megan! You're a doll! Too bad I'm like hogging the whole picture. Well, if you want to be technical, we can just say that this is the first picture of all five of us and we had to get John in there, too. :)

Last Post

...for the moment.

We took Grace's pacifiers away from her a month or two ago. She's been doing great without them. But, lately, we have started preparing for John and that includes getting some new pacifiers for him. This was a freebie from the hospital that I left on the counter before putting it away. :) Little Miss was SO angry when I took this pacifier away from her. She thought she had hit a gold mine.

We Have a Sidewalk!

Here is a collage of all of our WONDERFUL neighbors helping us form up the sidewalk. Chris was so glad to get it done. It's been raining pretty much all summer so everytime he wanted to work on it, the weather was too wet. I don't know how many times we called the concrete company and then had to cancel them, yet again. BUT...it's in now! :) Yea! Libby had a blast watching the guys at work and the finished product looks pretty darn good (except for the cat prints from a friendly neighborhood stray).

Temper Tantrum Time

Miss Lindsey brought JD down to watch us pour the sidewalk (pictures next) and we had a good visit...for the first 20 minutes. Then, both kids decided that they were done and they were going to let us know about it. It was kind of funny to watch them throwing a fit in tandem. They are only a month or two apart (as her daughter, who was just born, and John will be) and they are so on target developmentally with each other. What fun to grow up with friends right down the road!

Cool Kids

Ok, mommy has been working her tush off the past few days getting ALL the clothes in our house organized. SO...it is time for a blogging break. :) I am going to start in Septemeber and move backwards just because it's easier that way. Here goes!

These are my cool trropers. Don't they look good toghether? And below is each of my Hollywood stars!