Photo Friday

I went through pictures from the last several weeks and here's what we've been up to:

PARK

Peyton being silly.




Peyton hanging around.

Grace swinging or gliding... I'm not sure.

HOME

The girls (P Left, G Right) sleeping like their babies on the couch.
They thought they were pretty cute.

ZOO

An impromptu but very enjoyable evening trip to the Zoo.
They insisted keeping their hats on... not sure why.




Peyton letting us know the policy before we walked into Cat Country:
"Hush your mouth, or they'll eat you!"

They both thought this "man" had a baby in his tummy just like mommy.
Of course, I told them a man could never cope with the pain of child birth therefore "mommy's" have babies. Surprisingly they seemed to grasp the concept.

Those giraffes are STINK-Y!!!

Good thing I didn't drop the camera and lose our memories forever!

This was obviously spontaneously posed.

Parents of the Year!

We've won! We've won!

It's official... and we didn't even know we were nominated!
Apparently this is the video that sealed the deal.

Here is the background:

1. They told me they were building a sidewalk - which is what the path of random stuff they are walking on is meant to be. Clever and weird at the same time.

2. The thing they jump on is actually a blow up trampoline, which is upside down, that has provided over a year of fun for us. It finally succumbed to the "hole" gods as apparently there is a hole in the upper portion of the "guard" around the trampoline. To move it out of the way before we threw it out, I put it in the corner after they fell asleep so we wouldn't break an ankle trying to get around it. Once we came home from daycare the next day Grace saw it and wanted to climb the "ladder". How safe is that, right?! So I put it on it's side, about it move it out of the way, then my attention was diverted (maybe on purpose??? this NEVER happens!) and you have the video below.

3. In the video Peyton is saying she is a baby Marmoset in trouble. Do you even know what a Marmoset is? Well if I didn't watch Diego (The Animal Adventurer) I wouldn't know either. We saw the episode months ago and she pulls it out randomly here. It's amazing what kids remember... Stephen really needs to watch his mouth - who knows what we'll catch on video next!!!

So Proud...

Like mother, like daughter. In one area above all others I hope this comes true... on the soccer field! (Daddy played soccer too so they should be programmed just right for soccer.) We got a glimpse into the future this weekend and I couldn't be more proud!

Here is Peyton dribbling! Mia Hamm, eat your heart out!
Never mind the hand ball in the middle, she's only 2 1/2 for goodness sake!

And here is Grace dribbling the ball! What a star! Look at that speed!!!




Much to our surprise Grace has already mastered keeping her head up while dribbling.
For those of you who are not familiar with the inner workings of soccer - that's a big deal.




Yes, I am crying right now. This is beautiful.

Elmo Live!

First off, a BIG THANK YOU to J.Todd at the DCC!

Daddy and the girls walking up to get our tickets!
(No, they are not wearing the same thing, similar, but not the same)

We went to the 7:00 show on Friday night and the girls had a ball! It didn't hurt our seats were awesome too!

Grace is ready for Elmo to "bring it"!
Meanwhile, Peyton is terrified of anyone with fur.

I don't have too many pictures of me and girls for some reason. Maybe because I feel skinnier behind the camera. I thought this one turned out pretty well though.




The show starts... Look how close we are!
The characters had near perfect N'SYNC moves!




Then intermission hits and a lesson in Marketing 101 is given free of charge. Well, sort of.



If you bring it, they will buy it. These puppies were $8 a pop!


Suckers.



We were lucky enough to be tipped off by a good friend (thanks Angela!) that this would happen so we promptly whisked the girls upstairs so we could stretch our legs on the concourse level.

Another highlight: Grover reached out and touched Grace! She was understandably very excited. As a parent, it was pretty neat that the characters came around so the kids could get an up close look.

How many do you remember?



Don't worry if you can't remember their names.
When you become a parent, you'll be required to know - by law.

So Long Peyton!

Peyton (in the pink shorts on the top right of the photo below) has decided to spread her wings and run away.

We wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors! You'll be missed!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Peyton, & Baby C

We had dinner this week with our friends Sara, Jessie, Uncle Won, & baby Mallory at the Natural Born Griller's restaurant in Southaven. We all felt weird to be there since they are a competitor of The Pork University during Memphis in May every year. But that's where baby Mallory wanted to go and really, who's going to argue with a 4 month old?

As soon as we pulled up to restaurant the girls saw "a tall mountain" that they immediately wanted to climb. Can I blame them? Absolutely not.

Was Daddy going to cart them up the hill while Mommy relaxed at the bottom to take pictures?

Absolutely.

So after dinner the girls climbed the "tall mountain" with Daddy. Twice. I'm so glad we have photographic evidence of this event. Their baby books would not be complete without it!

20 Questions

This post is in honor of the mean checkout lady at Target almost two years ago.

It used to happen all the time when we would go out in public with the girls while they were very young. Apparently seeing two small children, both in infant carriers, evokes a person to figure out why and how this happened. The questions and comments come unsolicited and without warning. I WISH I would have had this shirt back then so I could just keep on going...

And no, if you're my friend, I don't ever mind answering these kinds of questions. It's the crazy checkout lady at Target who takes the pacifier out of my sleeping child's mouth so she can get a good look herself to tell if they are identical or not. Nevermind my now screaming child who was perfectly content 15 seconds ago.

Also, I would have had to have taken off #14 as that would be an incorrect statement.

Child Labor

We are ALL for it!

$4.99

That's all it cost at Walgreens to buy a Slip-n-Slide this past weekend! At 50% off I couldn't resist. I planned to live vicariously through my children that afternoon, so as not to split the plastic slide with my massive body weight.

Slip - n - Slide "Action"

Had I been able to fully demonstrate, I'm SURE they would have gotten it.

Also on the front of the box, "Recommended Ages: 5-12".

Luckily they were un-phased but their lack of propulsion on the Slip-n-Slide so they conveniently moved to the sprinkler. Had I known this would have provided the joy it did, I would have never had Grandpa blow up the pool and fill it with water.

Here they are having fun with the sprinkler...

Notice the sharing taking place. This will be archived under "Video: Sharing Part 2".
For reference, here is "Video: Sharing Part 1"

All of this took place while Daddy was away in Fredericksburg, VA visiting our sweet nephew, Nathan, who was being baptized. We were excited to hear he is crawling around now and should give mom and dad a real run for their money! Get those gates up! Lucky for them they only have 4 floors in their house...

Uncle Al, "Baby" Nathan, and Aunt Teresa

Dora Live!

So I apologize for not updating as often as I should. BUT... I have a good excuse! I've been chasing around not one, but TWO 2 1/2 year olds.

Dora is to toddlers as Baby Einsteins is to babies.
Dora is to toddlers as Hannah Montana is to preteens.
Dora is to toddlers as Garth Brooks is to me.

The girls love Dora as evidenced here. So when tickets went on sale via Ticketmaster you can bet their Daddy was right on top of it! He scored some killer seats about 15 rows back from the stage of the Orpheum.

Photography of the stage or show was strictly prohibited.

The girls LOVED the show but couldn't grasp intermission or the actual end of the show so tears ensued. I mean, really, intermission... for Dora?! She's speaking in 5 word sentences for crying out loud.

Here is evidence of our happier times at Dora Live!

Grace and Daddy.

Daddy had to put his leg on her seat so she didn't become a human taco. It was cute. And yes, I would have most certainly taken a picture if it had happened.

A rare image of Mommy in front of the camera. This is why it is rare.



Peyton looks like she's having a WONDERFUL time.

I think the most magical thing that happened at the Orpheum besides seeing a grow man dressed like a monkey doing cartwheels on the stage...

...was that Peyton used the potty!!! (during intermission no less!)


All in all, we had a blast and are looking forward to our next theater adventure:

Vacation ~ Butterfly Center

Callaway Gardens has a butterfly center which had a neat parrot show we took the girls to before we headed into the butterfly center. Here are some pictures of the girls checking out the scene.

I love these shots where they are side-by-side.

Looking at the fish in the pond below.
PS -Check out those parts, great job Mom!

Overkill.

After the rather warm air in the butterfly center we headed inside and ended up being the only group (Nana, Aunt Teresa, and Baby Nathan, Gina, Ryan and Baby Carter and Aunt Debbie) in this area with a couple rows of chairs in front of a big screen that played a continuous movie about something, I'm assuming butterflies.

As I let the girls stretch their legs I hear Grace say "Ready, Set, Go"! All the sudden Peyton takes off down the row of chairs and I hear Grace say, "My turn!" and off she goes.

Here is Grace - look at that form!

Peyton, mid-stride.

Peyton's turn to yell "Ready, Set, Go!"

Parent of the year!




Peyton got a glimpse of Grace's form and proceeded to give her some gentle pointers.

"You look at me Grace, stop pronating!" - Peyton

Maybe the gene for being slow is recessive...

This could be the first proof that the girls may have avoided their parents fate.

Parenting lesson learned at the Callaway Gardens Butterfly Center: if you're in air conditioning and the kids aren't crying, bleeding, or hungry and just running around like hoodlums...keep doing what you're doing.

Vacation ~ Callaway Gardens

We went to the Read Family Reunion in Pine Mountain, GA last week and had a great time! Callaway Gardens was nearby - it has, surprise, gardens, famous golf courses, and a really nice lake complete with a mile long "beach" among other things. We took the girls to the beach and they loved playing in the sand (it was our first "beach") and were scarily unafraid of the water. I took some pictures of the girls in their suits before we hit the "beach".

Grace giving me a quasi-smile.

Not sure if Peyton is smiling with her eyes but I think Tyra Banks would still be proud.

I haven't been a fan of the swimsuit "shirts" until recently. After reading some crazy statistic that states only one sunburn in a child's young life increases their chances of skin cancer by 20% I started looking at the shirtsuits a little differently. I have to admit, I'm a fan now and think they are cute! If you don't think they are cute, your opinion is wrong.

I brought a tent to the beach, you know, for some shade...

...it seems I didn't tell Grace what it was for.

More to come...