Busy May!

We've had a busy May this year. The latter half of May, anyway. I forgot that blogger uploads the pictures in reverse order, so if you want to see a chronological account of the past couple weeks, start at the end (although I think I'm the only one particular enough to care).

Naomi had her 3rd birthday party last Sunday at Doyle park. Today is her actual birthday -- Happy Birthday NaNa!


Leah, Brian, and Isaac came into town for the occasion. Issac fell asleep sitting in Leah's lap.


Ada liked the stuffed tiger Naomi received as a gift.


Josephine enjoyed watching Naomi open her presents. She even helped open some . . . .


Ada trying to get to Isaac.


Ada sat in her chair for a long time. She never fell out and was happy to be a big girl.


The Birthday Girl!

Josephine, Ada, and I have been to the zoo three times in one week. We had a great time each time, especially Saturday when Nathan went with us, but I'm getting tired of the bird show that Jo insists on seeing every time we go. I generally keep Ada in the Moby wrap and Josephine walks the whole time. Ada loves being able to see everything. She does her soft, deep, giggle of excitement when she sees something she likes. Her favorite so far has been the water bucks. Don't know why, they don't do anything special. They look similar to dogs and she loves Granna's dogs, so maybe that's why.


Josephine on the lion.


Ada petting a hedgehog. You can kind of see the the hedgehog's funny face if you enlarge the picture. Ada wasn't incredibly interested. (She's snug in her Moby wrap here.)


Josephine on the turtle. The hat was her idea.

We went and picked strawberries two weeks ago. Jo and Na didn't care too much for it. They'd pick them if I found the strawberries for them.


This was the best picture I could get of all the girls. Ashley is holding Maeve, Emily, Lily, Elena, Ada's foot behind Naomi, and Jo.

Out at the Anderson Farm.


Isaac with his chubby cheeks. He weighs one pound less than Ada. He's about 6 weeks old.


Josephine pushing Ada in the swing.


Josephine going down the corkscrew (don't know the correct name for it) at the park. It was the first time she'd ever done it. She was very proud of herself.

Ada is kinda-sorta crawling. She will get up on her knees, move one knee forward, then reach as far as she can for whatever toy she's wanting, then fall back down to her belly. She's getting there. Apparently she said "Moug" the other day. What is with my girls saying their aunt's name before saying "mama"? I wasn't there to hear it but there were multiple witnesses. ;)

Josephine is now in charge of cleaning up her place after she eats, including wiping off the table and picking the food off the floor that she dropped. It's worked well so far. Not nearly as many ants in the dining room these days. She uses her laminated maps as place mats, which keeps her entertained while she eats. She's learned the Tennessee state flag (on the reverse side of one of the maps) and loves to point it out whenever we pass one by. She's shout "There's the Tennessee flag. And my flag." "My" flag is the US flag.

Josephine got a bike a couple weeks ago. She can steer just fine, but hasn't figured out the pedals just yet. She'll only ride for a few minutes at a time, though.

It's Ada's bedtime and she's letting me know. I'll post more when I get a chance.

Long time, no updates.

I'll do my best to catch up on whatever I've missed lately . . . .

Two Friday's ago I took Josephine, Naomi, and Ada to the zoo. Apparently it was "free" day for all kids. I've never seen the zoo so packed. We didn't get to see many animals, but everyone had a good time anyway.


Josephine and Naomi in front of the camels. I have no idea what Jo was doing.


Ada only rode in the wagon until we got to the elephants, then she was in the sling the rest of the time. The hat didn't last very long either.

Ada is a big eater. She's starting to eat foods that aren't pureed. Her favorites seem to be peas and green beans, although I haven't found anything she doesn't like yet.


Ada eating bananas. This has to be done shirtless, of course. ;)

Josephine and Nathan watching Ada eat.

Our church had its annual Barn Dance and Chili cookoff last weekend. Josephine had a blast. It was at "her" farm, so she was completely comfortable there. It was strange to let her wander off and not know where she was all the time. She was all over the place playing with other kids. She even tried to play football with the boys, but they didn't understand that the 3 year old girl wanted to play too. : ) I don't know what she would have done if they had included her. Josephine really liked dancing, too, for the most part. She stayed the whole time and danced with me, Nathan, and Granna. Ada danced for just a little bit, but she left early with Nathan.

Naomi and Josephine. I thought their facial expressions were hilarious. I couldn't get Josephine to wear her cowboy boots or jeans. She was very intent on wearing that particular dress (go figure). Naomi was much more argreeable with her mom on what she wore....

Ada playing with her friend Caleb. He's 2 months younger, I believe. She really liked him. She yelled at him for a few minutes. Not a cry, but an actual yell or scream. He was nice enough to share his toys even after the yelling.

Ada with Lauren and Caleb with his mom and dad.

Ada eating cornbread. She loved it!

Josephine has been up to her usual Josephine things lately. The only new thing we've been doing is going over to the new soccer fields near our house. She doesn't play too long, but she enjoys going. She prefers to go with Nathan, of course. She went with me once, though. She'll be old enough next spring to play on a team. That will be something to see!

I cut Josephine's hair again today, but I don't have any pictures yet. I only cut off an inch or so, nothing dramatic. I think I'm getting better at cutting her hair, too. We'll see when it dries and I brush it out. I've found the trick is to let her watch a movie so she'll not obsess over what I'm doing. She sits still just fine, but will worry or complain about what I'm doing if her attention isn't focused somewhere else. I also took advantage of the distraction to cut her nails too. That was also much easier.

We have a set of alphabet cards that have pictures on one side and the first letter of the word on the other side. Josephine gets a majority of them correct, which impresses me. Guess it's time to work on ending sounds and letters. She enjoys the landmarks/famous places cards too.

Ada still isn't crawling, but can roll wherever she wants to go. That doesn't give her much motivation to crawl. She's been up on her hands and knees so it won't be long. She always goes for Josephine's shoe basket or any shoes on the floor. Of course she would go for the dirtiest objects in the room. I'm going to have to find new places for the shoes and games because Ada pulls them all down. The funniest thing to watch her do is "chase" the ants on the floor. I can't keep the ants out of the house and there are always a few walking across the carpet. Ada tries to pick them up, but they keep moving

Speaking of Ada, she's awake and yelling and blowing raspberries from her bed. Quiet time is over. : )

Portrait Innovations April 2009