Mr. No Fear

It seems like every time we are in the pool Cole gets more and more confident and brave.  Oh my!  It is so exciting to watch him yet a bit scary too...I mean, when did he get to be so big?  Lately, his 2 favorite things to do while swimming are jump in from the side of the pool and put his face under water.  He really loves that now that he has a pair of super cool goggles.  We have 2 friends with pools that are sweet enough to share them regularly (thank goodness) so he has had a lot of time to practice this summer.  Cole absolutely loves being in the pool.  He is so happy and carefree but still remembers the rules.  The biggest rule we all have is "no touching in the pool" - it was taught to him last year by my friend, Kellie, and he holds it dear.  If anyone touches anyone he is the first to remind them that it is not safe.  I have thoroughly enjoyed watching him this summer.  He is such a little boy and is so full of energy and life and imagination.  It amazes me that he is ours...he is just so fun!

Lily Kate at 9 Months

This little lady has seriously stolen our hearts! Have you ever seen a more beautiful face?! Lily Kate has become so much fun this past month. Don't get me wrong...she is a busy little bee and is in to absolutely everything but that is part of what makes her so fun! She is officially crawling on her hands and knees like a big girl. She pulls up on everything and is interested in getting her hands on anything she can. She has become rather brave and will hold on to something with one hand and use her other hand for playing. She will take a few steps while she holds our hands. Lily Kate loves music. If that girl hears any kind of beat she will start to bounce and laugh and she will sometimes throw one hand in the air and shake it around. She loves books and will snuggle up in my lap to be read to (that is about all of the snuggling I get these days). Her favorite book is called I Love You Through And Through. It mentions lots of body parts and when I read it I point to whatever part it mentions (eyes, ears...) and when I do she laughs so hard! Now when I grab it out of her book basket so begins laughing too. Besides mom and dad, Cole is still her best buddy and she adores him. They play together so much and really have a neat relationship. Lily still takes 2 naps a day for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours each and then sleeps around 11-12 hours at night. She has been able to stay up later which is nice (by later I mean 7:15 - ha). She is eating stage 3 baby food - I gave up making her food when she obviously wanted chunky foods that she can chew and I don't have to tools (or time) to make it that way. She still takes 4 6 oz bottles of formula a day. Lily is practicing and doing very well with her sippy cup. I ended up buying one that sort of looks like Cole's and she is much more interested and happy with it. She loves finger foods and does well with small bits of soft fruits and veggies. You can tell she feels so big when she eats something like that. Lily Kate has 4 teeth. Lily has discovered baby dolls. She has one and she loves to hold it and "kiss" it (aka chomp on it's face). And, of course, she loves to play with anything that makes noise. That girl is seriously such a joy in all of our lives. We love her to pieces and spend the whole day enjoying watching her learn new things and grow.

Summer Fun

Davis

Dylan and Cole

Tyson and Nadia

Thomas

Nadia enjoying her first Popsicle

Lily Kate playing her piano

We were happy to host our community group's fun night last night at our house. We meet every Tuesday night for our Bible study without kids but once a month we try to get the kids together too. We did pretty well when you consider it was the night after a holiday - we were only missing 3 families (and 3 kiddos). The kids had such a blast playing and running and eating while the adults talked and did some playing too. The big boys played some sort of tackle soccer for so long that you would have thought they had a bath they were so sweaty. The younger kiddos loved the sand box and turned into sweaty sandy messes....I guess that is summer in the South! We are so blessed to be apart of this group and love raising our kids together. The kids enjoy each other as well which makes nights like last night even more special! Cole slept like a log last night and woke up saying he was ready to have our church friends over again today! So sweet!

Happy 4th of July - 2011

We had a wonderful and relaxing 4th of July this year. Rhonald worked Saturday and Sunday so the kids and I spent lots of time in the baby pool and enjoying Bom Pops. Our neighborhood has a tradition of having a big block party and fireworks show the day before the 4th. We did not make it to the party...it was about 100 degrees outside and I had both kids by myself so we (I) decided to skip it. However, we did make it to the fireworks show this year. There is an empty lot right next to our house and that is where they shoot off the fireworks. Last year Cole saw one firework and ran inside crying. We figured this year would be the same because he still hates loud noises but he kept telling us he wanted to go so we agreed to give it a try. I put Lily Kate to bed and said an extra long and hard prayer that she would sleep through the show (which she did - thank you God). Around 9 pm we headed out to our front yard to meet our neighbors and enjoy a few fireworks. Weren't we shocked when Cole LOVED them! He did keep his hands over his ears the entire time but he absolutely had a blast. The show lasted about 30 minutes and he ate up every second of it. It was so much fun for all of us to enjoy the beautiful fireworks from the comfort of our front yard. Our neighbor in charge of the show also played music and Cole loved that - he danced and danced (the whole time keeping his ears covered) and was so sad when it was over. I cannot tell you how happy I am that he had so much fun! It stormed on the actual 4th so we all stayed home and enjoyed some down time - playing trains and cars and trying to keep Lily out of trouble (that girl is a total mess these days). We all took a long nap and woke up to a beautiful sunny sky. We spent some time playing outside and then ended the night curled up in our bed watching Ice Age with Cole. How truly blessed we are to have the freedom to do whatever we wish on any given day.

We Are Blessed

This is the closest thing to a family picture we could get Sunday morning. We are blessed beyond measure to have this little family of ours!

LOVE HIM!

Oh sweet Cole, when did you get to be so big?

Lily Kate's Spoon

Lily Kate is becoming more and more interested in feeding herself these days. She does great with little snacks like puffs and cheerios but lately she has been grabbing her spoon whenever we try to put it in her mouth. It has caused quite a huge mess at meal times so we finally just decided to give her one of her own to play with while she eats. Oh my - what a happy camper she is now that she has a spoon of her own! She chews on it and bangs it on her table like crazy. She acts like she is so big because she has her own spoon - and it has made feeding her a lot easier. It is so cool to watch her develop new skills and learn new things. I don't know that we are ready for all of these changes but I also know there is nothing we can do to slow her down. She is amazing and we love her too pieces. I just wish she would stay our baby for a little while longer...