Miss Annabelle is getting to be such a big girl!

Mommy and Daughter tea party

Playing outside - Annie loves dirt!  Lucy would rather pose for the camera and keep her hands clean.  Lucy will yell for help to get the roly polys out of her sandbox while Annie will grab them and terroize them by squishing them in between her two finger.

Lucy's ballet recital this year

Our Little Ladies

 Miss Annabelle Kate - such a sweet, giggly girl.  Annie is so much fun with such a sweet personality.  However, she has no issue with letting you know when she is angry.  Many times through the day I have to say, "Oh boy!  You're angry!"  And just let her throw her fit on the floor - which isn't too awful - usually just her crying and dramatically laying her head in her lap.  She usually doesn't want help, but wants to do everything by herself.  Today I was helping her up on something at the park and she did her little, "ACK!" and swatted my hand away.  Then started fussing and crying because I had stepped in.  I just stepped away and figured I'd do my best "swoop in" if I saw her falling.  I love her personality because I can see that when she's older she won't let anyone push her around.  Good for her!  She is constantly laughing and jabbering.  Wow - is she a talker!  She loves purses and necklaces (neckins).  Annie has come such a long way with her gross motor skills.  She's been pulling up for a while and now she is cruising all over the place.  This girl will work for M&Ms (who wouldn't?).  We set up a little obstacle course for her and she'll walk all over to get her candy.  She still won't walk alone.  But now I can hold her hands and she'll walk some short distances before plopping down and just back to crawling.  She loves the slide and insists on going down alone.  She crawled up onto the sofa the other day and crawled behind me to look out the window and said, "I spy eye......some bing....wewwo(yellow)!"  Daddy, Lucy and Annie play I Spy while the look out the window.  Guess she decided to play on her own this day!  She even answered herself after a pause and said, "Noooooo......(pause)  YES!"  She's so good at playing alone.  I don't hear from her for the longest time.  She is such a treasure from God - our little family is so blessed with her in it.

Miss Lucy Mae - so big!  Our girl is ready for Kindergarten this fall.  Lucy gets more and more bored @ home.  I can't seem to entertain her enough most days.  (and Lucy sure does need to be entertained.)  She's so extremely social!  She could talk to anyone, anywhere about anything.   Her latest likes:  still ballet, reading, painting/drawing and playing the piano.  She taught herself a few songs and can play them well - so we may invest in some lessons in the near future.  Whenever she needs to just "be alone" (which isn't often - I don't think she can handle it!) she heads to her book corner to read.  Her latest favorites are Junie B. Jones and the Magic Tree House series.  They both keep her entertained for a good chunk of time.  I love Magic Tree House books because they teach her a lesson - I used to love to use them in the classroom when I was teaching.  Lucy is such a kind girl.  However, she's definitely getting her own mind and likes to let us know - and gets quite sassy.  So she's been a challenge sometimes and can push us to have a short fuse.  Independence - it happens!  I love her - God has given her a compassionate heart.  I can't wait to see how He will use that in the future. 

It's Almost Spring.....

so time for an update!

Not only does this girl "love to Dance" (as her shirt says) but she loves to read!

Miss Annabelle Kate - you are just so cute!

Here's Lucy ready to go out with Daddy for the night!  She and Matt went to the Daddy/Daughter dance last month. 

Here are the other beautiful, little girls who went along:

Karah and Lizzie (how sweet and beautiful do they look?)

 

Daddy's and their girls

Dancing with Daddy

Fort building!  I just have to laugh @ this picture because Annie is so obsessed with that flower lei!  I will put it in different places and somehow she finds it.

Hiding inside!

 

 

Lucy:  Still loving preschool.  Loves ballet.  Getting sassier by the minute.  But overall a sweet, good girl!  She loves reading, dancing, building forts, and Magic Tree House books. 

 

Annie:  so sweet - but a budding firecracker.  She has no problems telling us no or pitching a little fit - however, she is pretty cute while doing it.  Still not walking - but climbing stairs and pulling up on everything.  She was fitted for orthotics, and we go for a final fitting to pick them up this week.  She's pronating her left foot and relying much more on her right leg, so her left leg is weaker.  But just 2-3 months with her brace on her left ankle and she should get the support she needs.  We love watching her progress and now need to get ready for her to be walking and running everywhere! 

 

Matt and I are looking forward to our vacation in a few weeks!

Christmas 2012

We took Miss Lucy to see The Nutcracker this year.  She loved it!  She was so excited to get dressed up and finally get to see the Sugarplum Fairy.

 

Oh gosh - had to take this pic!  We were getting our main bathroom remodeled (yes, 4 days before Christmas - never....again.... but pictures later).  We had Annie take a nap in the basement playroom to escape the crazy noise outside her bedroom.  You have to just love her Santa Baby bottom - Lucy wore this when she was 1!

Christmas day - Annie loves to be in the baskets!  And she loves to slip on her colorful lei.

Lucy wearing her Christmas present - a Rapunzel nightgown - and playing with another present, her microphone.

 

Snow!!!  Lucy couldn't wait to get outside to make snow angels.

Annie loved her ride on the sled.

Why do these girls look like they are up to something??

Just NO time!

Things are just crazy!  Which is good.  I'm ok with not being on the computer to post nonstop.  But, alas, the Nannies, Grandmas, and Aunties of the world need to have some cutie pics of their darlings, right?  Life's been busy - but fun.  There are many days (like today!) where I just want to crawl in bed around 8:00 after the kiddos are in bed.  But tonight I decided to grab a glass of wine and sit down for some quick updates and cute pictures. 

 

So we went to Mom and Dad's house for a week before Christmas.  My brother had gotten some tickets for the Eagles/Bengals game - so Matthew went with Eric and Dad to the game.  (Bengals won!)  We had a fun time - starting with some gingerbread house FUN!

 

Pappy and little Popcorn

A little town near my hometown had a display set up - Lucy loved running around everywhere and seeing the different characters and live deer. 

Miss Annie enjoying a Christmas cookie!

 

Having fun with Uncle Eric!

Here's Miss Lucy on her 5th Birthday!  We bought her some Pinkalicious books - one of her favorites.

 

Having fun @ Lucy's preschool Christmas party.

 

Lucy:  So the clock is ticking - and this gal is going to Kindergarten next year.  ALL DAY Kindergarten.  I just don't know if I'm going to handle that well.  She's a social girl, so I think she'll do ok - but will definitely be tired by the end of the day.  Lucy is taking ballet again and really enjoys it - I'll be glad when we have a closer ballet studio next year!  She loves preschool and her friends.  Lucy loves to read and her newest fave is Junie B. Jones (although Momma's not a fan of Junie's spunky language).  I love catching her reading - I know she has to be totally engrossed in something when i don't hear her for over 20 min.  She is so full of energy and some days I am just excited for 7:30 to come so she rests her head on her pillow - and I get some time to decompress.  But one thing I can say is that she is so full of life - and I just adore her.  At her age - she is coming up with a million things that just catch me off guard and just make me laugh.

 

Annabelle:  Well, the most exciting thing is that this girl has started pulling up!  the other night, I put her to bed and came downstairs.  I heard her saying, "Uh oh!"  really loudly over and over.  I went upstairs and she had tossed her blanket out of her crib and was standing up!  We had PT the next day and they were really excited as well.  Today we went to a local church to play and she climbed up 2 steps!  Huge for this little gal!  She is sooo full of spunk.  She has no problem telling us no or grabbing something from my hands after I have taken it away from her - hmmmm....something she must have gotten from her sister who just takes things from her.  Annie is verbally taking off - she knows so many words and some shapes and colors.  PT is giving her another month to see what she does - if she doens't keep moving forward we may have to go in for some testing.  But as Matthew and I say - we just think she is lazy (her PT likes to say she just has a "cautious personality" - and thinks she is just fine).  She'll pull up and stand when she sees something that motivates her - but when we try to help her stand any other time she just flips out.  Very much like Daddy in that she is very cautious.  One day I had to go to her room at least 3 times because she was standing up and had no idea how to get down.  But, oh, for all her spunk, she is just such a cutie! 

 

Daddy:  tired

Mommy:  tired

yet I still do all I can do relish my time alone @ 11:20 pm to post a blog entry!

 

 

Operation Christmas Child

Our tracker email came today and our boxes went to

Equador!!!

 

Birthday Girl

 

A Nutcracker Suite Birthday Party