How We Roll . . .

. . . this is how we like to spend time at the pool:

- 5 minutes to find everyone's bathing suits.
- 8 minutes getting everyone dressed.
- 3 minutes to pack towels and hats and find flip flops
- 4 minutes digging around the closet trying to remember where I put the suntan lotion
- 6 minutes getting everyone loaded in the car and cramming our pool floats and toys in the trunk
- 1 minute to run back in the house to grab a water bottle and the pool pass.
- 30 seconds to drive to the pool.
- 2 minutes to unload, grab kids, toys, towels and walk to the pool.
- 6 minutes to spray suntan lotion on everyone and put hats in place.
- 30 seconds to jump in the pool
- 1 minute to get Abigail situated in her float
- 1 minute for Emily to find friends near the steps and play with them
- 2 minutes for Emily to swim around with Dad . . . .

10 seconds for everyone to jump out of the pool when a big thunderclap hits the sky!!!! . . . 30 seconds later everyone runs home and the bottom falls out.

27 minutes to get to the pool . . . less than 5 minutes spent in the water . . . and that's how we like to go swimming around here : )

In other fun news Emily spent more time as a princess:

and then she asked her Dad to dance with her and my heart melted all over the floor:
Saturday was my birthday so we had lunch at my favorite restaurant! Abigail sat in a high chair for the first time. She looks like such a big girl! She even ate a few puffs for lunch:

After baths last night (cleaning up from all the time spent at the pool!) Joe got Abigail ready for bed while I bathed Emily and got her ready for bed. By the time I got back downstairs, Abigail's hair was completely dry . . . but Joe forgot to brush it . . . so just in case you ever want to know what unbrushed hair looks like on a baby . . . here it is:
I had to get this picture of Emily. She said her friend Julia was here and needed to take a nap. So I had to make pallets for both of them:

More Milestones . . .

We have noticed lately that Emily has started trying to color in the lines instead of just scribbling on her coloring books. And the other day she wanted to just draw for a little while . . . and while I was watching her she started making smiley faces on the paper. I was so impressed!

She also wanted to dress up like T*nkerbell last night and today. When she is in her costume she told us we couldn't call her Emily but had to call her T*nkerbell : )

Abigail has started sitting up on her own. I have to sit her there but she stays sitting up for a couple of minutes . . .
. . . before something else catches her eye that she tries to grab:
you have to really watch this girl! She will go for anything . . . I've caught her gnawing on my shoes and Emily's shoes, she grabbed my water glass the other day and sent water and ice flying across the room . . . she's eaten napkins and magazines . . . and the phone charger! I don't remember Emily getting into so much stuff : ) And bless her heart . . . today I sat her on the couch to change her diaper and just turned around for 2 seconds to grab a diaper and she rolled right off . . . I guess every child has to do that once in their life.

And somehow today she pooped while she was in the bouncy chair and somehow missed the chair she was sitting in and shot it right down her leg and all over the carpet! I've put carpet cleaner down twice so far today and scrubbed a lot and you can still see the stain . . . guess those sweet potatoes she ate last night are here to make a permanent mark in our lives.

This morning Emily got up really early and came and climbed in our bed and went back to sleep and I never knew it. When Joe's alarm went off this morning I went to nudge him and realized I was nudging my 3 year old instead . . . she's a sneaky one : ) She managed to sleep thru all of us getting up and getting ready, including Abigail's loud jabbering this morning.

More Zoo Fun

This weekend they had Members Only night at the zoo.
They had lots of characters there and Emily wanted to wait in line to see her favorite!
Abigail hung in there with us even though it was past her bedtime:
This was my favorite part about going at night . . . this is the only time we see the Lions:
On Sunday Emily wore this outfit that I made for her:
We also got a swing for Abigail. I found it on Cr@ig's List and our friend Jason picked it up for me since it was by their house. We were able to get it from them yesterday and Abigail enjoyed swinging in her new swing:
She also totally grossed me out trying to chew on the straps!!!!

It has begun . . .

This morning I put Abigail on her blanket and when I came back she had rolled over to one of Emily's toys and was gnawin' away on it . . . and so begins the phase in our life of making sure Emily's toys are out of Abigail's reach : )
She also grabbed my cup during lunch today and slung water across the table . . . that girl that girl!

Last week we ended up staying the whole week in Montgomery because my dad went to the hospital. He is doing better now thankfully. But while we were there I took a few pics of Abigail and Emily on the go. Here's Abigail enjoying her toes while we ran errands:
We went to a park one morning to enjoy the sunshine a little bit:
Emily stayed with Aunt Chelle a couple of days while I worked in Montgomery. She had a blast spending time with her cousins.

We drove home on Friday and on Saturday we went to our neighbor's birthday party. Emily had fun on all the slides:
The last time we came here Emily needed help going up the big slide and I had to go down with her. But this time she did everything by herself. What a difference a year makes:
Abigail enjoyed watching all the kids running around. She'll be joining them before we know it:

7 Months Old!

Abigail is 7 Months Old Today!!!!!

She is eating baby food once a day now. It was hit or miss most of the month but then the last few days she has eaten it every night for dinner and actually tries to swallow it now instead of rolling it around and out of her mouth. If I take too long in between bites she reminds me that she is ready for more. She has eaten about a half of a jar each day. She has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash.

Her hair is starting to lay down now instead of stick up which is bittersweet for me. She also babbles a lot and the other day kept saying "mamamamama" which I'm saying is "mama" : )

Emily and Abigail wore these outfits today that I made them:

Trip to Montgomery

Last Thursday afternoon after Emily's party we drove to Montgomery to see my parents. On Friday we went to the zoo:
While we watched the buffalo roam we ate our lunch:
While we were eating our friend Emily from Auburn walked by with her son. Their kindergarten class was visiting the zoo the same day. It was good to visit with her.
It was fun seeing the different animals they have here versus our zoo at home:This eagle was there and his sister (or brother . . . I can't remember) is the eagle that flies at the Auburn football games!

Party

Last Thursday we went to Emily's end of year party at school. They had a field day with relay races and each class had matching t-shirts. It was hilarious watching the 2 year old class learn the concept of relay races. They kept wandering back and forth between the two teams and when they would finish with their part of the race they would get right back in the front of the line instead of the back. Like my brother always says, "it was like herding cats".

One of Emily's classmates, Julia, had her little sister ride along with Abigail to watch all the activities while their mom got lunch ready for everyone:
Joe was able to join us which I was thankful for since I'm not use to taking care of two younger ones while we helped feed lunch to Emily and Julia:
We had a great time!