As They Become Available

Since Lisa is very busy-understandably-taking care of two kiddos, we don't correspond nearly as frequently as we used to. I was going to try and wait until I had several pictures backlogged of Sierra and Chase before I posted these, but since they are sent intermittently I will post them as I get them.

I have been waiting not-so-patiently to post this one. I love his striped suit and hood. How very en vogue!
This one was sent last weekend while they were visiting Reedy River. As you can see, our nephew took in all of the natural beauty our fine city has to offer! :)

No More Wild Kingdom

Well, it is time to bid farewell to our wild and wooly cat. My friend Shelley came by last week and offered to give Katie a good home. Since we are trying to downsize to an apartment as soon as our house sells, we wanted to make sure Katie would have a yard to play in and children to play with. Shelley has two boys who will keep Katie on her toes, or paws, as the case may be.

A Little Too Close to Home

I know that I already sent this to many of you so you may be viewing it for a second time, but it just embodies my life so perfectly at this moment and thought I'd share it with all of you in the hopes that it puts a great big smile on your face!!

Quirky Growth Chart

Right after Lorelai was born I took her to Barnes & Noble. Thea Caro met us there and decided that we should use Starbucks cups as a barometer to see how much she grows. I had pictures taken at 3 different times, but the middle photo shoot came out blurry as the pictures were taken on my cell phone. The most recent pictures were taken last weekend. It's hard to believe that all of these pictures were made with the smallest cup available, especially the first one.

I love the face she is making in this picture.
Our girl grows up.

Quite an impressive balancing act.
Just wanted to show a close-up of this cutie shirt. It has a matching set of pajama pants that have cupcakes on them.

Officially a Toddler

Well, I tried to load the video footage of Lorelai's latest milestone, but much to my dismay it would not cooperate. While she still crawls if she needs to "make good time," she is making a much more concerted effort to walk more frequently. Hooray Lorelai!

Little Drummer Girl

I was under the impression that if I gave my inquisitive one-year-old a pot and some spoons to play with that she would bang on it until I couldn't stand the noise anymore. As luck would have it, she grabbed the spoon by the wrong end and hit it about twice.

Then, once she had ditched her "drumsticks" she pounded on the pot with her hands. Perhaps bongo playing is in her future. I'm sure her Uncle Craig, the drummer, would be so proud. :)

Didn't get any pictures of this, but eventually she just pushed the dutch oven around on the kitchen floor for a while. Go figure!!

Lorelai & William's Slumber Party

Last Friday night my parents kept Lorelai and William. Laura stayed for a while after dropping William off to spend some time with her niece.Story time!
Play time in pajamas.

Nothing's better than a good book and a baggie full of snacks.

Flashback from days gone by. Can't believe how much they've both grown!

Long Overdue

I will admit that these pictures have not been posted until now due to my lack of technological prowess. Yesterday I finally figured out how to make them viewer-friendly. What a triumph!!

Most of you know this backstory, but here is the abbreviated version. Dan wanted to make sure he got a picture of our proposal so he had his parents accompany us to the New River Gorge Bridge on our way to Pittsburgh. It was my first time going up there and he wanted to be able to introduce me to his extended family as his fiancee. He totally caught me off guard. I couldn't ask for a better man. :)



One of only 3 pictures taken of me when I was pregnant, not counting my shower pictures. This was taken at my school's prom.
Christmas 2007.

Monkey Madness

Lorelai's friend Landon turned 1 on September 12th, and we went to help him celebrate this milestone last weekend. The theme for the party was monkeys. It was great!! They had inflatable monkeys and an amazing cake - both in appearance and in taste!!!

Here is the best picture I could get of Landon's "1st Birthday" onesie.
Adore this picture of him. That smile just never ends. :)
What a haul!!!

No surprise here...after all of the gifts had been opened, the most alluring object was the paper that came with the gifts. I do believe Lorelai did the same thing.

A picture or two of the un-birthday girl playing on Landon's toys.

Had to include this picture as the bloomers are just too cute.
Riding on Landon's dino, or is it a rhino?
Ta Da...THE CAKE!!! The cake decorations matched the monkeys on the invitations.

The detail was fabulous. Jamie got the cake from The Purple Kitchen.
Landon wasn't quite as into demolishing his cake as Lorelai was.

Jamie tried to give him a hand at destroying it.

All that remains.

Gamecock Fans Aplenty

After Landon's party, we stuck around to watch the Carolina game. I'm not much for football so I just played amateur photographer instead.

Here is an adorable hand-me-down shirt that I've been dying to put on Lorelai. While the game wasn't on ESPN, I figured this was just as good a time as any to put it on her. While she did look a bit like a boy, she was still precious! :)
Here she is doing just what her shirt says. (Well, kind of.)

While the decorations were being taken down, we put dibs in on a pink monkey for Lorelai. Here he is in all his glory...

...right before she bit a hole in his forehead. It is a bit tiny, but it still seemed to do the trick. (It's above his left eye.)
Here he is in all of his deflated glory. :(
Landon chewed on a monkey as well, but his managed to live through it.
Once again our kiddos do the old switcheroo. Lorelai stole Landon's cup...

...and Landon stole Lorelai's pink Snack Trap, complete with butterfly emblem.
Landon's fun faces.

Checking out the game with Dan.

Standing where he shouldn't be. Jamie wanted to make sure I got a picture of him before she got him down. That's my girl!!! :)

Why bother with the stairs? This is more fun anyway.