Tutu Girls

My mom sent the girls these tutus and they had a great time playing around in them. Mary jumped around on the air mattress for quite some time. Jumping around on an air mattress is a great rainy day activity! We have had several rainy days with just plain bad weather! We managed to have fun inside.

Yesterday we had some serious weather. The girls and I made a not so quick trip to Target. While inside a tornado warning was issued and we were rushed to the back of the store and told we couldn't leave. We hung out on the toy aisle for over an hour. Mary made the best of it and met some new friends. I sat on the floor and fed Rachel. When we did leave I was happy to have a great parking place so close to the front. It didn't matter though we were soaked after running through the most torrential rain I have ever been in. Just part of living in the south.

Garden Update

We have good news. Our first attempt at gardening has been successful! We are getting lots of cucumbers and have counted 9 watermelons so far. The cucumbers are so tasty! I felt a little proud of us when I went grocery shopping and didn't need to buy a cucumber. Miracle grow brought our cherry tomato back to life in a major way! One of the little branches fell off and I left it in the garden bed. Guess what? Now we have two tomato plants instead of one, cool! A friend gave me three other tomato plants and they are growing well too. Yay!

Hexagon?

I am used to hearing "Mama look, Rachel's eating _____". Usually it is a toy of sorts and I smile and say "Yes Mary, isn't that silly." This morning Mary said "Rachel's eating a hexagon." Murray and I were both there to hear it and we laughed! When did Mary learn what a hexagon is? Last time I did shapes with her I was impressed that she knew, square, circle, triangle, diamond, oval and rectangle but hexagon?! Go Mary!

Dot Art

Mary has a crafty side. Usually she enjoys anything that involves her holding a glue bottle. We broke away from glue for a short while and now we are into dot paint. These things are totally cool! Mary has done about 15 of these pictures in three days.

Today I asked from the living room "What are you doing Mary" because she was in the kitchen pantry and only trouble happens in there for her. She responded "I'm making juice". I bolted in there and found every juice box with a straw in it. I felt like I was going to get upset but all I could do was laugh. Question, what do I do with a dozen full juice boxes? A friend suggested squeezing them into a pitcher.

Count Down

Mary and I were playing with these numbers the other day. We had fun walking, jumping, running and even crawling I think. My favorite was when Mary started walking backwards from ten and counting down. Thanks for these numbers Grandma Mary! We didn't realize how many fun games could be played with them.

Concert

We live very close to the Snowden Grove amphitheater and there have been several concerts this summer. We decided to go to one rather last minute because Murray found inexpensive tickets. Last minute means no babysitter. So, the girls attended their first rock concert! We heard Collective Soul and had to go home before Gavin Degraw came on. Mary thought it was fun and Rachel enjoyed a bit of it but somehow managed to sleep through most of it. It was so much fun! Thanks for the great idea Murray!

Blue Monster

We have great neighbors! The Grear family is super cool for many reasons. One of which is that they are nice enough to always share their fun slides and jump houses with everyone in the neighborhood! Mary loved this monster slide and I think Murray did too!

Oatmeal

I dumped a carton of oatmeal in a box and gave Mary different size containers and scoops to play with in it. It is a hit at our house!

In the car Mary likes playing "I spy". It is very cute to hear her say "I spy wif my wittle eye, sumping dat is."

Rachel starting saying "da da" when she is happy.

Milestone Central

Mary made the big decision to not wear diapers anymore! We are so happy and proud of her! A few months ago I put all things potty training related away. I was frustrated and nothing seemed to be working. Two weeks ago Grandma sent a package with some disney princess underwear. Mary just became interested in the Disney Princesses that day it seemed. She wanted to wear them and I explained that she would have to potty in the toilet if she wore them. Mary put them on right then and there and started using the toilet. She is even sleeping through naps and the night, staying dry. WOW! I never was really into the princess thing for Mary. Personally, I like Sesame Street a bit better. But now I LOVE Disney Princesses!

Mary wearing a princess hat that also came in the package from grandma and eating candy in celebration of her decision to be a big kid!

The Push Up

Rachel has been working really hard to get her tummy up off the floor! She can do the push up and even started rocking back and forth. Yep, crawling is around the corner.

Water Babies

My girls LOVE the water! When Rachel hears the bath water running she gets SO excited and starts kicking her legs like crazy. She will even start complaining if we put Mary in first. Many children will get upset when water runs in their face but not these two, they think it's funny.

4th of July

We drove to Conway, Arkansas to spend the holiday with Murray's brother Devin his wife, Allie, their three boys and Allison's family. We hadn't seen them in two years! It was a fun weekend and Mary loved spending time with her cousins! We went and saw Ice Age 3, ate dinner out at Chilis, went to downtown Little Rock to walk around the market, visited the children's museum, ate a yummy BBQ feast and did fireworks. We enjoyed spending time with them! On the way home Mary spotted a Chilis restaurant and said "I ate at Chilis with my cousins". Geesh Mary, good memory! By the way Mary has been killing us at the game Memory these days!

Mary loved the sparklers

Rachel's first Independence Day

Dallin and Mary

Mary and Ethan

It was so much fun to watch these two play together!