Lazy days of Summer

Sunday started out as a lazy day. We were trying to figure out what to do to entertain the girls ( well mainly Iris) in 100+ degree weather and that would not require a ton of work. Then it hit us--- We live on the water! So off to the dock we went. Isabella continued her lazy day in the shade (there is a fan on above her)...

While Iris and daddy jumped in the creek to cool off....

I jumped in too but then we had no one to take a picture. We only lasted about half an hour or so out there. It doesn't take much water play to tire Iris out, especially when it's so hot outside. It was fun though and something we need to do more often.

23 Months!

This outfit is adorable and this would have been a much cuter picture if Iris were standing up. However, she was not in the cooperating mood so this is the best we could do. Iris, you are getting so big and I can't believe you are almost 2 years old!

Isabella is 2 Months!

Isabella turned 2 months old today. She is so cute. We kind of think she looks like a boy though. I think it's all the hair. She just naturally has the perfect "Little Boy Haircut." It also spikes up in the back. I wet it and put hair gel on it but it still stands up straight. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it here later. I'll also have to post her stats later because her 2 month check-up is not until Friday afternoon. She is now cooing and smiling when you talk to her. She loves to lay on our bed and watch the fan. She laughs and waves her arms and gets very excited. She eats about every 3 1/2 hours during the day but at night she'll give me one 7 hour stretch. It is usually from around 6:00pm to 1:00am. I'm trying to change that to 10:00pm to 5:00am but I can't get her to wake up enough to eat at 10pm once she falls asleep in the early evening. So far she tolerates Iris sticking the paci in her mouth but she gets quite upset when Iris takes her paci out of her mouth and steals her blanket when she is sleeping in her swing. She LOVES the swing. I fear I keep her in there too much but she's so content and happy when she is in it. That is where she takes her naps during the day. She will NOT fall asleep in the bouncy seat and if I lay her in her bassinet during the day she wakes up within 20 minutes. If she is not swinging she likes to be rocked to sleep which is hard when you don't have a rocking chair so I ordered one for her today. Happy 2 Month Birthday Isaboo! I couldn't decide between these two pictures so I just posted them both. ( Thank you for this onesie Jasmine, it's adorable!)

Wet at the Waterpark

Saturday afternoon we took the girls to the waterpark. Iris was kind of a scaredy cat this visit. She wouldn't stray too far from either one of us and didn't like getting splashed in the tots play area. She had fun with daddy on the lazy river though....

Isabella didn't get in the water but she seemd to enjoy laying out in the shade and people watching.

Potty Time!

Iris has been telling me when she has a dirty diaper lately. Not every day but often enough that I thought we should take the next step. We started potty training on Friday. Here's all the paraphernalia that I bought to initiate the event. I tried to make it as exciting as possible and had all of this set up when Iris woke up Friday morning. She seemed most excited about her book and her new Elmo underwear. I put her on the potty in the morning and she peed within about 10 minutes. Her potty sang a little song, we clapped and made a big deal over her success. I thought my child was a genius and this was going to be simple. Boy was I wrong! We only had one more successful moment all weekend.

The Princess on her Princess Throne!

All in a Day....

Saturday was our last day in the mountains but there were three more things we wanted to do. 1. The Zorb--yes, even Isabella was a bit confused by this activity but she got dressed for the occasion and cheered on mommy and daddy.

The Zorb is a huge round ball that you get inside and then you roll down the mountain. There are two options. The first is standing up in the ball and getting strapped in as you flip over and over down the mountain or you can sit inside a smaller ball filled with some water and just slosh around inside. I opted for the second because flipping upside down did not sound appealing to me and also because--well, honestly, I did not meet the height requirements for that one. Here I am rolling down the mountain... I do not recommend this for anyone who is claustrophobic and/or who has a fear of drowning. Getting zipped into a huge ball filled with water and pushed down a mountain is a dumb idea. This is the point where I figured that out and began to panic...

This one is Brad...

He was walking a little funny when he got out. I don't think his back felt all that great after the ride.

Well, onto bigger and more relaxed things. After the Zorb adventure we went to Ripley's Aquarium. This is Iris' latest saying: It's "Oh No" as she puts her hands to her cheeks. I'm not sure what she was looking at here, must have been a big shark or something....

Ok, this picture looses it's effect when she's holding onto the neck and I have my head stuck out the side while holding her up but it was still a cute pix.

Mr. Dad taking control of the situation. Not sure what he was telling Iris but I am sure she was not listening...

After the aquarium we went to Pigeon Forge and let Iris ride some little kiddie rides we saw on the way in. We started with the Choo Choo Train...

Then the swings...

the Airplanes..

and then the Ferris Wheel. We had to ask the lady to stop the Ferris Wheel and let Iris off. She looked a bit like I did when I was rolling down the mountain earlier.

All in all it was a great family vacation. Iris talked about the Choo Trains and the tunnel (we went through several on the trip up there) all the way home.

Dollywood

On Thursday we decided to go to Dollywood. There were 5 kids so I was distracted and did not do a good job taking pictures. Here's Isabella hanging out while we get ready for our big day.

Iris played a bit in the Toddler area...

rode the carousel.... and then stopped for a snack.

But the best part of the day was when Iris heard the Blue Grass band

and couldn't help but stop and dance....

Family Vacation

Last week we went to Gatlinburg, TN for a family vacation and when I say family I mean the WHOLE family. My cousins and aunt and uncle from Ohio met all of us and we all stayed in a 7 bedroom cabin. I think there were 20 of us total. The cabin was awesome but of course I forgot to take a picture of it. I did get pictures at the pool though. Iris has a matching hat, sandals and cover-up that was adorable but she would not let me get a picture of her because she ran straight to the pool and had a fit to get in immediately.

Iris is such a daddy's girl these days.....

Here's most of the family. My grandmother with her two daughters, her four grandchildren and her seven great-grandchildren.

My Cute Babies

Just a few cute pictures of my babies I thought I'd share...

I love the picture below. Iris was being such a sweet big sister until....

she decided to abruptly move her arm. Poor Isabella....

Gahagan Park, Take II

Friday it was back to the Gahagan park again. My friend Jasmine was home from Arkansas with Sydney Grace. Carrie is still on maternity leave with her new son, Reid and Rachel had the day off so we all decided to meet in the park for a picnic and playdate. Sydney and Iris enjoyed swinging together.

Isabella was a trooper and just took it all in....

It was hard to get a good picture with everyone looking in the same direction but this was the best I could do....

There's that tire swing again, daddy is really going to have to get one of these!

Gahagan Park, Take I

Thursday morning went as usual, Iris taking over all of Isabella's things.... Then it was off to the park with my nieces and nephews. We went to Summerville becuase they have the best shaded park and it was pretty hot.

Isabella even had a good timeplaying with Nana...

These three are Trouble, Trouble, Trouble!

Iris LOVED this tire swing. I'm trying to convince Brad to put one in our yard, so far, no luck with that request.

After the park we went back to Nana and Papa's to cool off a bit. It was a pretty big day for everyone and a great start to our summer!

Typical Day at Home

I have made a great discovery--- Yogurt Popsicles! I saw a Dannon Yogurt commercial where they took a spoon popped into the top of the yogurt cup and froze it to make a popsicle. I thought I would try it and Iris LOVES them. I do to mainly because: 1. It's yogurt so it's healthy 2. It's not as messy and sticky as a real popsicle 2. Iris thinks she's eating ice cream; and the best reason of all, 3. It takes Iris at least 20-25 minutes to eat it so I can sit her in her highchair and she's happy as a clam while I get some things done. This is the first one I gave her. As you can see she is really enjoying herself. The whole time she ate it she kept saying "ice cream, cold!" over and over again. Poor little Isabella is too little to have one but watched on from her bouncy. Iris has shown a lot more interest in Isabella lately. She often goes over to her and gives her a kiss. I was lucky to catch this sweet moment... Iris watched me give Isabella a bath this afternoon. She stood next to the tub, pointed to Isabella's belly and exclaimed "belly button"over and over again while I gave her a bath. Afterwards, I was dressing Isabella on my bed and I heard a splash behind me. I immediately knew what had happened. Iris climbed in our tub and decided to take a bath herself. Fully clothed of course....

At that point I decided I might as well give Iris a bath as well. I filled our tub with water and tried to take the baby bathtub out but she threw a fit so I just went with it and bathed her in the baby tub as well....