Cute bird shirts & funny pics

I Love birds and I love my girls. Such funny faces and funny pictures. Priceless!

Caption Contest: Add a caption to the above photo and win a prize (prizes are still coming to the two previous winners: David Haller and Rebecca Eaker!)

3 Months for the youngest!

Hear Her Roar: Ashlyn Claire is 3 Months Old!!

She is 100% chunk and 100% sweet.

Some stats:

-More alert during the day

-longer naps; about 2 big ones, a few cat naps

-sleeping better at night

-coos, talks, laughs and holds things in her hands

-rolled over twice! (from back to front)

-loves to sit in the bumbo seat and watch me cook or watch us at the dinner table

-holds her head up really well and is much less 'bobble-y'

-is so excited to gain another GIRL COUSIN (Congrats Mark and Jill!)

Just came back from the gym after working on her fitness.

(Headband in honor of her namesake: Great Grandma Claire)

Daddy and Mommy making her laugh. She loves to look at her sister play and do what she does as a toddler. Ashlyn just watches wide eyed. Sometimes she'll even giggle at her too. So sweet!

Ari the [bald & big] girl!

Dressed up in her Sunday best. The bow didn't last long...

Flushing her first poo poo [on the potty] down the toilet (I did take pictures of the real deal but didn't know how many of you wanted to see that via the internet).

Reading her sister some animal stories while wearing some matchy-match pants!

Events of Late

Ashlyn has been spending a little time in the bumbo seat practicing sitting up! She likes it and is smiling and cooing more and more each day!

Ari has been a big helper in the kitchen lately. This night I made fish and a big stir fry and she 'helped' cut the veggies. Then, she ate all the veggies at dinner!

This past weekend, Grammy and Grandpa were here with Zach and Allie... for almost exactly 24 hours! We watched Notre Dame lose their first game :( and played with lots of toys. We went to a cool museum called Discovery Place Kids and really enjoyed the activities there (saved for another post).
We had our good friends John and Lauren over (parents of Ari's friend Jones). We were planning on grilling out, playing in the kiddie pool and throwing the football around. Well, a 30% chance of rain became a 100% chance of a severe downpour with thunder, lightning and an electricity scare. We managed to have a great time and enjoyed talking and eating with them!

Twenty Months

20 Months!!

Ari's favorite hobby is still reading books! She is adorable when she opens it up and will tell you what is on each page. She has learned many, many new words and our current favorites are: yellow (lell-lo), much (for I love you THIS MUCH), hold you (holdchuew), broccoli (bra-key), the elephant sound (hand as a nose, phssht), wash, green, blue, red. She is working on her colors and is starting to grasp the concept. Oh, the wheels in that brain are moving and its amazing to watch it unfold each day. We wouldn't trade it for anything.

She still kisses upon request and has now expanded her imaginary play to include her stuffed toys to kiss one another. So sweet. She carried Elmo in the Baby Bjorn and loves to tend to her animals and brush their hair. She loves to play with chalk and the hose. She crawls under the tables and plays hide and seek with Dan. They also built their first fort this past week!

Ari is learning her letters and numbers but no rush... I don't want my baby to grow up so fast.

Being a Toddler is so exhausting! Ari is climbing around on everything and she gets her little sticky hands into all the "no" things in the house. She loves to carry around the fly swatter and swat imaginary flies on the windows. SO funny. She has 8 teeth on top and 8 teeth on the bottom. All of a sudden, a new tooth just pops up! She hasn't been affected by these at all! She is still sleeping 7-7 and is such a joy in the morning. That she gets from me! Ha. She imitates alot of the things that we do like gestures or facial expressions. We are making an impact! (which means we have to watch what we say and do much more...) My favorite 'sound' is when you ask her to choose something to do or choose between two shirts, she'll say "hmmmm" like she's pondering what it is she wants. Such a grown up.

She is super tall and uses those legs to run and finally does not trip when she takes off! She has peed in the potty a few times and we are working on it each day. She loves to play with my jewelry and likes to help Dan do projects around the house with tools. Ari loves dancing and doing 'somersaults' on the floor. We are loving this age and each day Ari surprises us with a new word or phrase, action or gesture.