Yay...pictures!!!

The first time the girls ever played in a lake!!

She was amazed that her one little finger could make the balls spin and pop!!

Makeshift water slide!!

Hey gorgeous.

Just kickin' back and eating a snack.

She's just surprised as I am that I let her (attempt to) eat yogurt all by herself!!

Never enough time

It's so cliche, but it's so true.  There are simply never enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to get done.  As far as the blog goes, I've been having trouble keeping up with it because as the days have gotten longer, the kids have been going to bed later and later.  The older two are essentially going to bed with the moon and getting up with the sun.  So by the time everyone is in bed and soundly sleeping, I don't entirely feel like writing. 

Anyway, Emmi has been able to pull up to standing for a week now.  The big girls are quickly realizing that nothing is safe from her grasp anymore.  Coloring book on the couch?  Nope.  Doll on the toy box?  Absolutely not.  Bowl of cereal on the picnic table?  They wish.  Those little arms can stretch pretty far now!!

Ok, I'm tired.  Pictures to come hopefully in the next few days.  I haven't even downloaded any recently from the camera.  Good night!!

Emmi update

Little Emmi has developed a mind of her own.  Holy moly!  If you dare pull her away from something that she wants to be playing with, she screams, arches her back, throws her head against your chest, you name it.  She's even (accidentally) slapped me in the face!  It's a pint sized temper tantrum!!  Fortunately, since she's only 10 months old, I find them to be kind of funny.  My strong willed little girl.  Just ask me what I think of that strong will in 6 more months!!

She's starting to display a little bit of separation anxiety.  Last week when I dropped her off at daycare, she crawled after me as I was walking toward the door and cried.  So sad.  Of course, I had to stop and pick her up.  She tore my heart out.  So I gave her several more kisses on her head, put a few toys in her lap and rushed out.  She ended up having a great day, so that made me feel better.

I think she's slowly phasing out any foods that she cannot feed herself.  It sure is a struggle to get her to take a spoonful of pretty much everything.  She really, truly acts like she's not hungry.  But if you throw some finger foods on her tray, she gobbles them up!!  Maybe it's that stubbornness coming out again!  Little miss independent.  Isn't she too young for this?!  Good gravy.

'Tis the season

For camping.  We went on our first camping trip of the summer a week and a half ago (hey, I told you I've been lacking the motivation to blog lately).  The weather wasn't the greatest, but the girls had fun anyway.  It was about 60 degrees and overcast but at least it didn't rain - it actually rained for the 5 days leading up to the camping trip and the 3 days after...but not during the camping trip.  So we had to compromise and be happy with the kind of chilly temps!!

The girls rode their bikes, played at the campground park, went swimming (in an outdoor pool when it was 60 degrees - they're crazy), made s'mores over the campfire, played with bubbles, drew pictures with chalk, etc.  Essentially, they did a lot of activities they can do at home...but for some reason, doing it when they're camping on "the bus" (aka: RV) is so much more fun!!

She knows she saw bubbles come out of this thing.  Now she's trying to figure out how!!

Watching grandpa get the fire started.

Last year they weren't remotely close to being able to walk on a balance beam.

 

Racing...one on a motorcycle...

 

And one on a dinosaur.  A little unfair, but oh well!!

And swimming by themselves!  Getting too big, too fast.

Good gravy, I'm slacking

And for no real good reason other than I've been lacking motivation.  So here are some pictures to tide you over until the next time I actually feel like writing something.

 

Mmmm.  Turkey and cheese.

What a little dare devil...look mom, no hands!!

I think she's telling me it's time for lunch.  And before you freak out about germs, this is our own personal swing in our backyard!!

A rare moment where Addi actually wanted to hold her AND have her picture taken!

Told them I had a surprise for them.  They asked the whole way there what it was.  Apparently they were none too pleased that their surprise was a trip to the zoo.  Hmm, mom fail.

They did perk up though and loved watching the tigers.

 

And Emmi thought the whole experience was great!!

 

After we took a break for some food, we went to a park under construction.  Holy mud puddles!

Just looking cute.