Thursday, May 29, 2008

Summer, Summer, Summertime!!

So, its officially Summer here in the "great" state of Texas. Sorry, folks, after 4 years of living here, I'm still not sold on the idea that Texas is the best state ever....though the people are some of the nicest you'll meet!

Anyway, its been in the mid/upper 90's with high humidity and us Arizona dry-desert rats are struggling!!

We went to Hannah's best friend's house this past weekend for some time on the slip n' slide. Hannah and Cailyn, neither one, liked the sliding part, but they both thoroughly enjoyed the little splash pool at the end. It was a blast, though, watching Seth and Greg take turns "bowling" Amanda (Hannah's friend) and Emily (Amanda's older sister) down the slip n' slide!!

The girls and I (Jen) also had our first trip to the pool for the year yesterday. Dopy mommy that I am forgot the camera. Doink!! But anyway, here are some pictures from the epic Slip 'n' Slide Adventure!
Hannah, Amanda and Cailyn splashing away

Hannah showing Cailyn how to get the best bang for your buck


Hannah contemplating her next move


Hannah's silly face


Cailyn overcoming the trauma of being slid down the slide

"Oh my goodness, playing in the water is sooo fun!"


"Can I eat the grass?"


"Water, water, water, squishy, squish..."


Cailyn's silly face

(side note: her swim suit was a gift - thanks, Missy!! - and its sunblocking material, and the bottoms are a re-usable swim diaper!! Saving us some BIG bucks!!!)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Going crazy

Ok, so today, we actually got a little rain here today, and it happened to be a day when we all needed to head to the mall we go to. Well, when we were done, and on the way back home, I noticed some funny stuff going on in the back. Cailyn is finally a forward-facing car-rider now, so she loves being able to see everything that's going on. So I look in the mirror, and I see both of our girls using those "head-pads" on the side of their car seats to bang their heads on. Back and forth they went, banging their head on one side, and then the other, all the while laughing themselves silly. It was so funny! Sorry we couldn't get a video of them both (oh how I wish you could see that), but it was quite a site. We nabbed Cailyn doing it for a minute though, so here you go...enjoy!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Please Pray!!

Please pray for the Steven Curtis Chapman family. The suffered a horrible tragedy this past Wednesday when their 5 year old daughter was accidentally hit by her brother, who didn't see her in the driveway. You can read the article and leave prayerful comments on his website at http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

Please pray for peace and comfort!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Teething, ear infections and talking - oh my!

Well, we've had a full-rich month! Mother's Day was amazing - thank you, Seth! - and I'm told there's one more gift on the way! Boy, am I one blessed Mommy!!

Hannah got a double ear infection and the poor thing had to deal with a 103 fever for 3 days! Thankfully, this ear infection did not involve any vomit - thank God! But, when she's sick all she does is sit on the couch, which is hard to watch because she's usually a ball of energy running around, playing, singing, bouncing. So, we watched lots of movies and had lots of snuggles.
Most of you that read this know that we're trying to sell our house, so we've been doing lots of work to get it in tip top shape. Seth re-seeded the front lawn and trimmed off the extra branches from our front tree. We had to have them in a bundle no longer than 4 feet, so Hannah helped him stack them up after he cut them. The yard is looking great! I need to take a picture!!
These girls LOVE being outside, and its been beautiful weather lately, so we've been taking in the sun a bit more - which resulted in Hannah's first bad sunburn thanks to a bad mommy! You can see it in the picture below. She's walking on our neighbor's planter...she loves to just walk around and around and around, and then jump off.
At the end of the day, nothing beats a good snuggle and sleep with your blanket and Big Pooh! We never know what configuration we will find Hannah and her friends in when we check on her in the night, but it never ceases to put a smile on our faces - and usually we have to stifle a giggle or two! But, speaking of sleep, Hannah's been wearing big girl panties at night for about a month now and we've only had one accident!!! Wahooo!!!!! Now the next step is to get her to realize she can get up and go potty at night by herself - that's still a work in progress!
Cailyn continues to grow and change everyday! She's walking like a champ now and can nearly run when she's really excited!! She, also, loves being outside and when Hannah was helping Daddy with the branches, Cailyn discovered the runoff from the rain earlier that day. I thought about trying to keep her out of it, but I remembered all the fun times I had playing in gutter water, so I tried to put the thoughts of germs and bugs out of my mind (and know I know why my mom always answered "If you really want to" when I woudl ask if I could play in said water! LOL) and let her explore. By the time we went inside, she was completely soaked from the hips down and made it very clear she did NOT want to go inside!
Alas, it was time for bed.....she, too, is beginning to give us some interesting sights when we go in to check on her at night. This is the "I surrender!" pose!!
She finally has 3 teeth, and the fourth is about to pop through any day. I would guess by end of the day tomorrow she'll have the first cut done. However, that doesn't deter her from wanting to eat what we eat! She LOVES spaghetti and lasagna, which are pretty easy to cook to death so she can gum them. She also loves pickles, oatmeal squares, graham crackers, the list could go on and on!! She's also working on several words, finally. She's got "dada" down pat, and is finally starting to call me "mama". But she still thinks its hilarious to point to me, say "dada!" and then collapse into a heap laughing. She can also say duck, fish, shoe, and yes. My favorite, though, is "Mmm-hmm." If the answer is yes to whatever you ask her, she'll nod her head and say, "mm-hmm!"
We are also quite attached to our new best friend - blankie! She outgrew her sleep sack and so the search for the perfect blanket ensued, and this is what came home. This child LOVES her blanket!!! She has one corner that seems to be her favorite, which she holds and rubs on her upper lip between her nose and mouth, and on the little middle part of the nose that divides her nostrils. Wherever Cailyn goes, blankie is not far behind. As you can see, we're still not out of the bruiser phase. It seems as though just as soon as on clears, she gives herself another one. The one you see in this picture is the result of her dumping water on the floor, then stepping in the water and hitting her face on a nearby chair on her way down. All this happened in about 3 seconds.
She partook of her very first popcicle recently - an attempt to soothe her teething pain. This one was before her first top tooth popped through. She LOVED this thing, as you can see. She ate the entire thing and wanted to finish of sister's because sister doesn't like to eat cold things.
So, there's the past month in a nutshell...its been fun and busy, but we love it!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Mother's Day 2008

I realize this is a bit late, but it's one of the presents Jen got for Mother's Day this year. I compiled a video for her beginning the day that Hannah was born, through some of the most recent shots we have of the girls. It was so much fun to make...it made me laugh, made me pause, made me reflect, and each time I watch it makes me cry...but most importantly, it made me appreciate just how lucky I am to have such beautiful little girls and such a wonderful wife that takes such great care of them. They are wonderful because of her. She is such a great mother, and as is the case with all moms, there is never enough thanks or recognition we could give them.

Jen, to you, I say again how much I love you and thank you for being such a great Mom.

And to my Mom's, a great big I Love You and thank you.

Seth

P.S. It's very long (11 minutes!) but there was too much to share! You'll laugh, be amazed, probably utter a few "aahhh's" or two, but please, enjoy!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Vote for the girls!!!!! UPDATED

I've entered both girls in the Parents Magazine cover search. Go to Parents.com and click on the cover photo contest. The girls pictures should be up in the next 24 hours. Vote, vote, vote!!!

Ok, so its not "voting" its "recommending". LOL Here's the links for each girl:
Cailyn: http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=158700143
Hannah: http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=158700146

Thanks!!