Memory Lane

Today Danielle and I spent almost an hour watching video of her from 1-2 years old. That was SO special. I did get choked up a few times. Mostly when I heard her tiny little voice calling herself "Nana" and saying, "littlin blit" (for "little bit"). One thing that was really neat was watching her using sign language. I am so glad we taught her that because we were able to understand her at such an early age. We plan on teaching Samantha and might even have more fun with it because Danielle can re-learn it, too. For a brief minute I was sad when the video was over because we did have so much fun watching her learn to dance, walk, talk, etc. Then she made my day and reminded me of how fun THIS stage is when she said, "Daddy works at the office so we can stay together!". Then we were having a picnic/tea party on the living room floor and she said, "This is so very special for our flamily". My heart melted. And no that wasn't a typo...she still says flamily. There are very few words that she doesn't pronounce correctly. That is one of them and it makes me smile everytime.

One more funny thing. I sing a song to Samantha where I use her full name (Samantha Joy) and Danielle Hope now says, "I'm Danielle Joy!". I try to explain that her name is SO very special but for now she thinks Joy is better. Too cute.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Just a quick picture and note to say "Happy Birthday to Grandpa". He's working out of town where there is no cell service so we can't even call him to wish him a happy day. So, we baked cookies and my mom is delivering them to him when she visits tonight. We'll see him this weekend, though, which will be nice.

I thought the pictures of Danielle "helping" with the cookies was a cute one! She really is getting much better at helping. She's also learning about different ingredients, counting, etc. So, it's fun, yummy and educational!

Finally playing together

Danielle and Samantha have really started to become buddies. We borrowed this walker from Grammie & Grandpa's house and Danielle loves to push her sister around in it! She pushes her to her play kitchen, to all kinds of other places that she makes up with her imagination. It's really fun. Samantha loves it, she feels like she can get around and see things, she is never bored.

The next picture is of all their stuffed animals in a big pile in the living room. Samantha did some form of scooting to get over to them and then Danielle just plopped right on top of them. The only problem with this kind of "mobility" is that Samantha gets frustrated when she can't get where she wants to easily, or if a toy just doesn't seem to work the way she thought it would! I remember this with Danielle, it's so amazing to watch them figure things out through their frustration. I'm sure anyday I will be posting about Samantha crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks but then just dives forward.

Time for the fair

The fair was a lot more fun this year. Danielle was able to go on all the little kid rides which she got a kick out of. It's hard to say what her favorite thing was. Everytime we asked she said something different....playing in the corn, the petting zoo, seeing the pigs, eating ice cream and cotton candy, etc. Samantha was a real trooper, cruising around in the stroller and doing lots of people-watching. I would have loved to take more pictures but it's difficult with 2 kids and so much going on. The corn she played in was this sandbox filled with corn kernels! It took a minute for her to get used to the corn in between her toes but then she had fun filling toy trucks and burying her feed. The big slide was fun but it's a long walk up for a 2 year old....once was enough for Mommy. I like the picture of Danielle on the truck ride. She got in the drivers seat, checked her mirrors, and was ready to go. Next thing we know 2 little boys are climbing in the back seat. There was another truck they could have gone in together but they wanted to ride with her, I guess. Well, that was enough fun for one family!

My 2 favorite pictures (this week)

Not too much is new this week. Just had to post my favorite pictures. Both were taken when my Gram was visiting. Danielle's crown and jewelry were a gift from Gram. She loves them! I'm going to see if I can get her out the door to the park today without them!

Samantha is no longer waking up at 5 a.m. (she was doing that for over a week and I knew she didn't need to wake up that early). Now it's closer to 6 a.m. which is fine with me. She wakes up happier, eats, smiles her morning smiles for Daddy and then goes back to sleep. More than likely she will just gradually sleep a little later in the morning. Also, it turns out the tooth I thought I saw might not be one. I saw a friend who is a nurse last night and she doesn't think it's a tooth. Guess we'll know for sure as time passes! It's 2 little white bumps that looked like they could be a tooth. Who knows?.

Another Special Visitor

We all enjoyed a few day visit with Gram. She hadn't seen the girls since Samantha was born so she was very anxious to have some time with them. Danielle loved showing Gram everything and Samantha loved getting snuggles. We did a day of shopping and then another day had lunch at the park and played at the playground.

Yesterday afternoon Samantha would not sleep long at naptime and was a little fussy. We were not sure what was the matter since she is very rarely fussy! Turns out she has a tooth coming in. I was surprised because Danielle didn't get a tooth until 11 months old. Samantha is getting her first at a more "normal" age I guess. Anyway, we were glad there was a reason we could figure out for her fussiness. A little tylenol and she was sleeping soundly.

Also, Samantha rolls everywhere now. It started Thursday night during Bible Study. Here we are wanting to pay attention to the study but we were quite distracted by Samantha rolling from one corner of the room to the other! Look out Danielle...your sister can now get just about anywhere!

Worth Waiting For...

I believe Danielle would say that camping this weekend was worth the long wait. She had a fantastic time. I loved watching her enjoy every little thing. Her favorite thing was sleeping in the tent. That was awesome because she never argued about nap or bedtime. It was also fun to roast marshmallows, go for walks, swim in the lake, dig in the sand, and play with all the other kids.

I'm sure Danielle had more dirt on her this weekend than in her whole 2 1/2 years combined! I wanted to get a picture but it was hard to have the camera handy and my arms were usually too full. Oh well, I'm sure you can imagine.

One night there was a thunder/lightning storm. While we sang praise songs to God around the campfire He was putting on quite the light show for us! That was really amazing. Then we tried to sleep through thunder and rain. Luckily it didn't last long and only woke the girls up once.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was playing in the lake with Samantha. She was sitting on this raft and I was standing in the lake. She loved watching all the kids play and didn't even mind getting splashed. I loved watching her face and talking with her. Another favorite was walking with Danielle (many times) to the potty in the early morning, middle of the day, and before bed. In the morning we talked about what a pretty day it was and watched chipmunks play at our feet. In the afternoon we talked about how much fun we'd been having and we had a blast with our shadows. Late in the evening we saw the moon and I told her I loved her all the way to the moon...and back.

It was a very exhausting weekend. I think it's because there is so much work to camping to begin with and then very small children to care for out of our routine and away from home. I bet in a few years it will be a little easier. Still it was a really great time and we already can't wait to go again.