Erin's shower

On Sunday, we went to my cousin's bridal shower. It is always great to see the family, and we are very excited for the wedding in November!

The bride-to-be

Angela even made it in from Memphis!

The girls encircle William.

Mom with her grandkids: Lily, William, Courtney and Abby

Queeny Park

We love to explore the many, many parks around us and especially love to find unique parks that offer something different for the kiddos. We stumbled upon this park just minutes from our house and spent a great Friday morning enjoying something new.

Aww...look at that cutie. That's my big boy!

Always the watchful (and often the overbearing) big sister :)

Peek!

Cuteness overload

"I got this mom."

Wait for me, Lily!

After coming home from the park, Lily wanted to play "restaurant". She's such a sweetie, and I love our days together. Of course, this is very easy to say as she is sleeping peacefully in her bed. :)

Great Wolf Lodge

We first went to Great Wolf Lodge on our family vacation to Michigan last year. We had so much fun, and Lily loved it so much, that we pretty much decided then and there to make it an annual tradition. This year did not fail to please. This time, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. Lily swam from about 2:00 in the afternoon until about 7:30 at night, only taking a short break for dinner.

William loved to splash...

...and drink the water. Yuck!

Look at our little one swimming!

Whoa!

Fun at the fort

Downpour!

One of Lily's latest tricks: floating

Hold on William!

The clock tower where they hold the nightly story hour

A happy (and tired) Lily in her pajamas with her new poodle ready for the story

Posing with Violet. The story time was over by about 8:30, and we went back to our room, I think it took Lily all of 8 seconds to fall asleep.

Yay for Great Wolf Lodge and off to new adventures in Colorado!!

The coordinated family

We're so cheese.

Feeling the love

Nuttin' but love for the Cardinals!

Showing love of country in patriotic colors


Sibling love

First day of Pre-K

Today Lily had her first day of Pre-K at her zoned school. Carl and I were excited about this next step, and we really played it up. So it is hard to know whether her excitement for today came from within or she was just feeding off of us. Either way, she was happy all the way there and had only good things to say when I picked her up.

She got to wear her special first-day-of-school dress that she saved just for today. She picked out a new lunch bag to accommodate her cup for water at snack time (a good green idea - to have the kids bring their own reusable cups). She had picked out the snack that she wanted to bring days before (which was celery and carrots with ranch dip - something I'm quite sure that I never begged my mom to pack for me). She made sure that she had our family picture for her picture frame. She also brought along (snuck in) a special friend - a littlest pet figurine that she put in the bottom of her lunch bag.

Drop off was fairly uneventful. I got there a little early to pick her up, and she was on the playground playing in the sandbox with about 5 other little girls. She later told me that they were making "cakes", her favorite thing to do with sand. We had to teach William the song "The Wheels on the Bus" this afternoon, and I'm quite certain that William will be subjected to learning many new things this school year whether he wants to or not. Lily commented that she made two friends, a little girl named Claire and a little boy whose name she did not catch. Overall, it was a smooth day - aside from William not napping at all due to what we think is a cold, poor baby.

I'm really excited because we are back in school mode. Our days are structured, and I'm about a thousand times more productive. It is nice to feel on top of things again. I love new school years because it presents an opportunity for new beginnings - so far we are all off to a great start!

Lily's school is just a 10-minute walk away so we loaded up the sit and stand stroller (which I love, by the way) for our walk to school.

Thankfully today was a lot cooler than yesterday when we did our practice run (by cooler, I mean actually under 95 degrees). When we showed up today, no sweat! Whoo hoo!

This school girl is clearly no stranger to the camera and loves to ham it up!

Sweet girl

Science Tuesday

We've been trying to incorporate a lot of science into our summer activities, and we have managed to hit several really good science programs. Last Tuesday, we went to the Science Center and watched a program called "Boiling Hot and Boiling Cold". Lily also got a stuffed toy Triceratops there. Likely the only thing she will remember from that day is the toy Triceratops. :)

Yay for Science!

We had to snap a picture going over the bridge that leads from the Science Center to the Planetarium because it shows daddy's hospital in the background.

I like this picture of the kids because it shows the difference in their eyes so well. Lily has the deepest, darkest brown eyes while William has such light, clear blue eyes. I love them both!

Carl likes to bring science home literally. He caught this little green frog on our front porch.

9 months

We went for William's 9-month check-up last week, and things are looking great. His stats this time were:
weight - 22 lbs. 2 oz. (75 %)
height - 30.75 in. (>97%)

His recent growth bumped him over his pumpkin seat weight and height limits (22 lbs/30 in) so we moved him up to the big boy seat on Monday! I can't believe that Lily just moved out of this seat about 6 months ago, and William is already in it!

William's fine and gross motor skills continue to improve, and he wants to walk so, so bad. He still doesn't have any teeth, but his hair is slowly growing in, and it looks like we have curls!! Overall, he's healthy & happy and seems to be right on track.

Chow time!

After the zoo on Friday, Lily and Angela whipped up some gourmet homemade pizzas. Here they are working on their special white pizza.

William worked on getting his hands on his own pizza.


What would a trip to Memphis be without some bbq? We say, "Yes, please!"

Yay for visiting with Aunt Angela!

C - M O M

On Saturday, we went to the Children's Museum of Memphis (CMOM). I'm not sure who loves exploring new places more - me or Lily. The museum was excellent, and when we came home, Lily had to tell Carl immediately about how she and Aunt Angela searched for bugs all around a (play) house, and they got a prize for finding all the bugs (at the Terminex exhibit).

Lily thought this horse just screamed "Photo Op".

Lily loves all things domestic and probably would have stayed in the grocery store the entire time if we let her.

This kid was really into the dance the room.

A little play area just for William! I appreciate tiny tot areas so much more now that I have two children. This allows the little one to play too instead of just sitting and watching the older one have all the fun.

Ready to serve and protect

Jammin'

Lookin' good

If practice makes perfect, Lily should be a stellar fisherwoman when she gets older.