Lauren: You've Got Mail!

Lauren received a letter yesterday.  She's always excited to get mail!  I think normally most people are until you get to the age when you get more bills than fun stuff. 

 Mommy was informed this would be coming to Lauren; it's her letter inviting her to her first day of Preschool!  I think I've only read it about 10 times today to her!  So she is excited and I just hope everything goes smoothly next Thursday on her first day, Sept. 13th.  Stay tuned for that update!

Adalynn's voice...and she uses it!

Adalynn's new thing is to get our attention if we aren't in the room.  She kind of hollers and cries all in one.  So if you can't be seen that is what you'll hear.  But lately she's almost been talking to her rattle in her chair.  And she holds both her rattle and hand teether that hang from either side.  So she's discovered her voice and knows how to use it!

 

Adalynn laughing

Adalynn finds her big sister hilarious and has started laughing. These are a couple of videos of Lauren trying to sing a song to Adalynn, if she can stop laughing long enough to finish it!  It's a song from Phineas and Ferb. And Adalynn cracks up every time. It makes daddy and mommy laugh to hear the two of them together.



End of Summer?

We've been trying to take advantage of what's left of summer.  The mornings are very cool, foggy and dewy, so it's definitely transitioning to fall.  Here's some recent backyard pics.

 It must be the end of summer....the slip and slide busted!  So we "rednecked" it with the sprinkler.

 She still can't figure out how to do it on her own.  To slow of speed, plus not enough weight and momentum equals one frustrated Lauren!

 But with Daddy's help, the disappointment doesn't last long!

 We're still working on the sprinkler and no not the dance moves.  She backs up into it and then can't jump over it.

 So Daddy tried kinking the hose, but he let go to soon!

 Second time with trickery and it worked!  She kept jumping around saying "I did it! I did it!"  But then when we tried to get her to do it again, she said "Tomorrow."  That's her new word for EVERYTHING when asked to do something or eat something!

So hopefully these aren't my last sunny pictures, but we've been told rain is in the forecast.  They've been known to be wrong and we can only hope!

Same pic...different kiddo!

It's funny to put Adalynn in the same outfit that Lauren once wore and have flashbacks to specific things.  I couldn't resist this opportunity.

Lauren with Dougie the horse.

 Adalynn with Dougie the dog.

Yes, we know it's horrible to name both snuggle lovies the same thing, but it's so hard not to!  Like we said with Lauren's....it's made by the Douglas Toy Company and we are not original.  Lauren will tell you that hers in Dougie and Adalynn's is Douglas.  BIG difference!

Sand in the City

Each year the Hand on Children's Museum in Olympia has an event the last weekend in August called "Sand in the City".  They bring in loads of sand and local businesses put together teams to build competitive sand castles.  So I packed the girls and went this year on Friday and had a great time.  Unfortunately they were building the sand castles which was interesting to mommy, but not so much for the almost 4-year-old.  Not when there were other activities to keep her interest!

Here she is using a Bingo dobber to paint a paper visor for herself.  No she's never wore it and tells me it's a bib, not a visor.

 She got her face painted.  Out of all of the items to choose from....

 ....she chose a spider.  The little boy in the opposite chair chose a rainbow.  This is Olympia we're talking about.

 It's the "Hands On" museum...so everything was hands on.

 Racing her rubber ducky down the gutter chute.

 Water soaked sponges + Board with holes = One happy Lauren

 She got it in the hole twice out of probably 10 tries....so not to shabby!  Especially since it was always a 3 spot which was the smallest hole.

 They had a sand area for the kiddos to play in.  She could have spent a lot longer there, but mama was getting bored!

 We hit the bubble station on the way out.  First she thought you had to blow on them like the ones at home...

 ....the she figured out it was windy enough down by the bay....you could just hold it out!

 Lastly, we made a "race car".  A paper car that you place a golf ball under.  You'd think she was holding gold she thought it was so neat.

Lots of fun and one tired Lauren afterwards.  So we'll definitely have to hit this up next year!

Last Playgroup?

Say it ain't so!  But it is.  The playgroup that we've been a part of for the last 2 years is no more!  Not to say we won't still get together.  But our weekly play dates have come to a close.  All of the girls are on different preschool schedules this year, 2 mommies took part time jobs, 1 family moved and it's just too hard to get our schedules to mesh.  A few weeks ago the kids came to visit the playground in Shelton for the last hurrah.  Here's some pics of Lauren and Cassie. 

 The playground has received new rock this year and since we haven't had enough rain to wash the dirt away....Lauren's black pants became a disgusting gray.  Once home we had to take a mid-day shower before lunch!  Oh well, that's what the washing machine is for.  At least we haven't needed are rubber boots and rain jackets much this summer!

3 months old....already!!

Adalynn is 3 months old today.  Hard to believe, but it's true!  I've had to put her in a couple of onesies lately that are 6 months. It depends on the brand but she is definitely growing!  We had to upgrade from the bassinet to the play yard.  We put that up in our room, rather than her being in the crib all the way across the house.  And especially since she still nurses one or two times at night.  Her sister is a light sleeper so this is to also help with that situation. 

 She is definitely a happy baby. Only fussy if she needs to burp, is hungry or is hurt (which doesn't happen except for shots).  We don't have an appt until 4 months but according to the bathroom scale she's about 14.5 pounds.  She seems long to mommy so we'll see in another 4 weeks. 

 Adalynn's hair seems to be getting lighter and her eyes are definitely blue. She's a good baby, which is extremely nice with the current 3-year-old in the house.  Whoever said it was the terrible twos.....LIED!  Three is worse.

We also got her to take a bottle once from mommy and once from daddy last weekend, which is a relief to just know she would actually take one since that wasn't the case a month ago. 

I love this face.  She wasn't mad, sad or indifferent.  It's just funny!

Keeping Cool

This week Western Washington has seen some of the hottest weather of the year so far.  So we've found lots of ways to keep cool.  

Some days it wasn't worth the hassel of getting into a swim suit, so we ran throughthe sprinkler in our clothes.  This was a new concept for Lauren and one that took her a few minutes to come to agreeance with. 

 Other days we got in the swimsuit and ran through the spinkler.  Some days we waited for evening so the backyard was shaded like below.

 Others we just embraced the sun.

Adalynn was a little confused by the bubbles her big sister was making.

 Lauren has become a professional bubble blower this year.

 Biscuit had to have a prison shower one day, but it was almost 90 and she sunbathed on the deck to dry off in a short amount of time.

 Adalynn enjoyed most days under the cool shade of the tent.  This is how we roll in Washington when it gets over 90 degrees....and sometimes the tank top comes off too! 

 She's learned that she can stick her tongue and make noises. 

Hope everyone else is fairing well in this heat wave!

Playgroup

I finally made it back to playgroup.  Technically they haven't officially met since I had Adalynn, so realistically we haven't missed any!  But today we met at a park and let the kiddos play.  Trying to watch Lauren and tend to Adalynn makes for less social time for mommy now.  But hey, at least Lauren was happy that she got to see her friends!

She really liked this spinning thing....I think it worked better to stand on....but only if it didn't go too fast!

 She liked to play with Baby Alexa who turned one in June.  She's changed a lot in the last 2 months!

 Love this picture of the firecracker redhead!  That is her personality for sure!

Sounds like we are going to try to maintain a schedule for the rest of summer.  But the girls are on such different preschool schedules this fall, it's going to be hard to get together.  Plus 1 mommy is going back to work, 1 is picking up more hours and 1 is moving away!  Looks like we'll just be attending Mom's Club functions instead of a weekly playgroup.  I'm sure Lauren will look at Preschool as her new playgroup!