Emily 9 Months Old

Emily was 9 months old May 11th.  When we went for her check up she was weighing in at 20 lbs, 12 oz and 29.5 inches long.  She's off the charts on her length and between the 75th and 90th percentile on weight.  She looks like a chunky monkey to us but I guess she's on the skinnier side in relation to her length.  Emily is cruising very easily and crawling all over the place.  She does good pushing her walking toys as well.  Emily has just started to bounce and dance a little bit to music.  She loves Kate's Mike the Tiger that plays the "Hey Fightin' Tigers".  Emily is also starting to get into books and begins to slow down for a second to watch when Kate is watching Mickey on TV.  She loves to play peek-a-boo and if we won't do it for her she will pull her blankey over her face and play herself.  Emily is basically done with baby food.  She reached a point where she would take a look at what we had on our plate and decide that it looked a lot better than the baby food we were offering her.  She loves avacados, spaghetti, chicken, cheese toast, fruits, yogurt...I really haven't found anything yet that she won't eat!  Emily is very happy and super sweet.  She's become a little bit of a Momma's girl over the past month but I'm not complaining :)  We are so blessed!



Weekend on the Lake

The first weekend in May we made the trek to North Alabama to spend a few days with Nonna and Papa on the lake.  We were all so happy to see Nonna, Papa and all of our family in Alabama.  The weather was perfect and we had a lot of fun playing outside and on the water.  Kate is going to be a little water bug.  She was ready to just jump right into anything and everything.  She and Daddy kayaked and rode the wave runner, she swam and was pulled behind the boat on a tube.  We had so much fun and can't wait to go back for a whole week in July!!

Kate and Daddy kayaking

Kate and Liza making their way down to the water

Kate with Daniel

And with Connor

Happy girl

With Daddy

Kate had no fear and was ready to jump right into the water.  She did a great job kicking and spinning herself around in the water too

Daddy taking Kate, Liza and Mary Emma for a ride

Kate ready to drive the boat

Emily and Daddy on the boat

Momma and Kate taking a swim

Momma and Kate tubing.  Kate loved it!!

Emily enjoying some time with Granny

Kate, Liza and Mary Emma waiting to start a ride on Giant Bubba

Nonna and Emily on the boat

Papa and Kate driving

Momma and Emily playing on the boat

Nonna took the girls for a ride on the Giant Bubba

Happy Half Birthday Kate!

 Kate was 2 1/2 years old on May 2.  She's now quick to tell anyone who asks that she is 2 and a half placing a big emphais on the 1/2!  She is such a big girl!  It is unbelievable how quickly she has gone  from being a baby to a "big girl"!  Kate definitely has reached a point where she wants to be more independent...has an opinion about her food, clothes, shoes...oh the shoes!!!  This girl is such a girly girl and loves dresses and shoes!  As much as she likes them though getting her to transition from winter shoes to sandals was quite a task.  Had to orchestrate a visit from the Shoe Fairy (who knew there was such a thing!) to just get us over the hump from old to new.  Kate has been loving going to her play school 3 mornings a week and we are sad that it's now over for the summer.  Kate is also quite the chatterbox these days and most recently has started the neverending "Why, Momma?"'s.  I probably get asked why at least 100 times a day.  I try to answer the best I can but we usually reach a place of either "I don't know!" or "Just because" and if you ask Kate why she usually give a drawn out "beecaaauuuse!".  It's pretty funny.  Kate's pretty patient with Emily often letting her play with her.  Of course she has her moments where she doesn't want to share and doesn't want Emily around but overall, Kate's a great big sister.  Kate is still pretty tall for her age, looking more like a 3 or 4 year old than a 2 year old, with a head full of curly hair!  We are loving the curls!  Her hair still looks pretty short most of the time but it's because the longer it gets, the more it curls.  Before Kate was born, we looked at baby pictures of Nick and laughed and laughed about his curls and Kate now looks JUST like him!  When we show Kate pictures of Nick around her age she will tell us that it is her.  She cannot comprehend for one second that it was her Daddy.  I've been wanting to post a comparison for a long time now but didn't have the pics of Nick scanned whenever I sat down to blog.  Well the time has finally come--

As a special treat for Kate recently, we also took Kate to Disney Princesses on Ice with several of ours and Kate's friends.  She loved it!  To say that she's obsessed with princesses is an understatement, so it was right up her alley.  The show was great and we enjoyed getting to do something special with just our big girl (Emily stayed home with Pop Pop).



Kate and her cousin Karoline all dressed up and ready to go see Disney Princesses on Ice

Outside Fun & the Ettouffee Festival

We have busy enjoying the great weather the past month or so.  We have been playing outside.  Daddy even put the "swimming pool" (more like a little splash pad) out for the girls a couple of times.  They loved it!  No surprise for Kate of course, but since it was Emily's first experience we were happy to see that she's going to be a water girl just like her sister.  Here's some pictures from the first swim day at our house--

Daddy and Emily

It was still a little chilly in the cold water the day we did it.  Emily loved it but didn't last as long as Kate.

Kate loving it!

Here she's using the sunshine like the wheel on a boat.  She said she was driving a pirate ship.  Quite an imagination!

Both girls enjoying themselves

Then at the end of April we decided to make a day trip to Arnaudville for the Ettouffe Festival.  It was a great day!  We met 3 of Nick's brothers, sister-in-laws, Pop Pop and lots of cousins for fun at the festival.  For those that may not know what festivals are like in Louisiana, they are more like what I would call a fair...rides, funnel cakes, games, you name it.  Then there was also live cajun music, refreshments and, of course, plenty of ettouffee and good food.  Kate was all about the rides and had so much fun with all of her cousins.  Emily enjoyed being outside in the hustle and bustle even if she couldn't participate in any rides yet.  She and Kate both got to sample some funnel cake so Emily got in on some fair-like fun herself!

Cute girl along for the ride!

Kate, Anne Marie and Claire riding in a bus

Barrel full of monkeys--Anne Marie, Kate, Daddy and Claire

Kate, Claire and Anne Marie riding all by themselves like big girls.

Daddy and Kate on the Super slide

Kate talked about riding the ferris wheel all day.  Here are the 3 of us waiting in line for the big attraction

And on the ferris wheel

Kate and Karoline riding a train



Kate enjoying some cotton candy at the end of a long day of fun!