New Year

Wow, I really suck at blogging. I'll add it to my list of New Year's resolutions. Unfortunately, I have no pictures from Christmas to share. Annabeth got a camera from Grandma and Grandpa so I guess I could post some of her photos but I don't know that you'd be able to make anything out.:) Poor Camilla is going to feel jipped that I'm not nearly as good about taking pictures of her and logging her progress. But here is a quick recap of the last few months.

Sweet Camilla is now 8 months old. She has 6 teeth and one more trying to pop through. She is such a good baby. Honestly - she never even really seemed bothered by her teeth coming in. You may have noticed that she has a lot less hair now. What's weirder is that it is growing back blonde! I had a feeling it would start falling out because she has such a dry, flaky scalp. In fact, her whole little body is dry. The only thing that really makes a difference on her skin is Aquafor which we have to put on her nearly every day. She has just started getting up on all fours and rocks, but we aren't crawling yet. Annabeth was crawling already by this age but Camilla seems to be in no hurry. She is pretty content just to lay and be entertained by her big sister. She loves to laugh at anything Annabeth is doing, and she also just discovered the dog who she thinks is hilarious. Her hobbies include putting anything and everthing into her sloberry little mouth and rolling all over the place to get where she wants. I had forgotten how clean my floor has to be at this stage so I am constantly scouring it for small objects. She goes to bed around 7 pm and wakes up around 8. Such a great little sleeper. I stopped nursing her around 7 months because she stopped gaining weight (same thing happened with Annabeth) so now we are on formula which she does really well with. I'll admit, while I loved nursing, it is nice to be able to let other people feed her. And now she can even hold her own bottle! Freedom! Love that little teethy smile.

Annabeth is getting so big! I can't believe I have a sunbeam now. She is SUCH a drama queen and we have meltdowns daily. Her absolute favorite thing to do is play dressup. She is always putting on princess dresses, ballet slippers, crowns, etc. and putting on "shows" for us. She loves music and she loves to dance. I really think we need to put her in ballet again. She is so expressive and dramatic, and we need an outlet for all that energy! She changes clothes 10 times a day now and likes to dress herself. I try to beat her to it in the morning and pick out a few things she can choose from. If I don't, she'll spend forever in her room pulling out all the clothes from her drawers. When she finally emerges, she yells "SURPRISE!" And is wearing some interesting ensemble of stripes on stripes or jeans with shorts over them (try explaining to a toddler why stripes don't match stripes, or why all pinks do NOT go together). She has also started recognizing when mommy and daddy use past tense. For example, if I say "We sang a song" she defiantly shouts "No mommy, you SINGED a song!" Also frustrating trying to explain to a 3 year old. She knows her ABC's and what sounds most of the letters make. Still gets a little confused by those tricky ones that have 2 sounds, but man is she smart! No matter what time we go to bed at night, Annabeth is always the first person awake in the house (usually 6 am bright and early). We must seriously be the worst parents in the world because we pour her some cereal, turn on cartoons, and go back to bed! I have no idea where she gets so much energy but I always feel like I am dragging myself trying to keep up with her. She started sunbeams a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Her biggest concern though is that she doesn't know the songs in primary. She really does love to sing. We love these girls so much. They have both of us wrapped around their tiny fingers. I need to do better about writing down the funny things they say and do because it is passing me by all too quicky.

Oh - last night, Annabeth told me she had a dream that we had another baby and that the baby was playing with a zebra. Naturally, she has since put in a request for both. She has a better chance at getting the zebra!

Halloween Fun

Since she was old enough to listen to and understand stories, Annabeth has been obessed with fairy tales. She especially likes to hear the parts about the witches - even though she is terribly afraid of them. It is a kind of morbid fascination with all things evil. A few times, when I noticed she was far too quiet, I discovered her in the bathroom "making potions." They consist of toothpaste and soap mixed together with water. This year, I thought it would be fun to have a witch party and let her make a real "potion." We invited some friends over and let everyone decorate witch hats (spray painted party hats). We played "Pass the broom" and "pin the wart on the witch.". We couldn't ask for a cuter bunch of kiddos to have as friends.

Couldn't get everyone looking at the camera at the same time.
Decorating our witch hat cookies. Glad we did this outside since things got messy. =)
Annabeth, Tava, and Weston lookin so darn cute.

We mixed sprite (swamp water), Frozen lemonade (slime), and pineapple juice (monster juice) together to make a yummy "brew." The kids all threw in ice cubes with frozen spiders and worms inside. Then we added a genuine, green, frozen monster hand! Actually - I really liked this punch. One of my favorites - even though it was green.

Annabeth and Camilla before our ward trunk-or-treat. She loves to hold her sister. I can never get over how sweet natured she has always been with Camilla. She never really shows any jealousy towards her - not yet anyway - and always tries to make her smile. Such a great big sister. Couldn't ask for sweeter girls!

Family Photos October 2011

I have been meaning to post these great pictures of us taken by Dave McClellan who did a fabulous job. I know I'm partial but dang we make cute kids! Lately, so much has been going on - which is great because we were really starting to get bored with the summer. It was too hot to go to the park and even too hot for the pool! Seriously - it felt like bath water. Now, we are enjoying 80 degree weather, soaking up as many beautiful days outside as we can. In September, Annabeth started a co-op preschool with some of her friends from church, and she has really been enjoying it. She is so full of questions these days! Every other word out of her mouth is "Why"? She has been getting a lot better at saying her evening prayers. She always makes sure to bless the robots - don't ask me why. I am realizing that nothing gets by her so I can no longer tell little white lies. She remembers EVERYTHING and calls me on it all the time. "But mommy...You SAID we were gonna go to the park!" She also had learned how to turn Brent and I against each other. She asks Daddy for something first who then tells her to ask mommy. Then she runs to me insisting that daddy said it was OK. Such a smart little 3 year old.

Camilla is rolling around everywhere. Her hobbies include putting anything and everything in her mouth. She has two bottom teeth and we haven't even hit 6 months yet! She sleeps much better at night now, but hates to take naps during the day. When she does nap - they don't last long. I feel as if I can't get anything done as she constantly wants to be held. Oh well - I am soaking up all the slobbery kisses I can. I love this stage! We feel so blessed to have such sweet girls. Love them to pieces.

The Things I Miss....

For Labor Day weekend we were able to drive to Shreveport to check on our rent house and spend time with family. Every time I go back home, I remember all the things I love about my hometown. If you've ever been to Shreveport, chances are you thought it wasn't much to look at. It isn't really a touristy place so you probably just drove through - unless you wanted to frequent the casinos of course. Maybe you wondered what the heck people do around there all day. But if you grew up there, then you know all the sights and smells that you can't experience just driving through. Shreveport has it's problems of course - poverty, failing schools etc. But here are some of the things I really miss:

1. Strawn's strawberry pie - it has been too long since I tasted your soft, flaky
crust
2. The Red River Revel - every year in the fall, vendors sell food and crafts on
the riverfront/ lots of great music
3. The fact that every time I go into a store or restaurant, I see someone I knew
from high school, college, church, or a student I taught.
4. The riverfront - where Brent and I had many many dates/ where he first told me
he wanted to marry me.....sigh....
5. Humphrey's from Counter Culture - when music theory with Dr. Rust proved too
much for the day, we walked across the street to get these little pieces of
heaven. The perfect medicine for a crap day at school.
6. College buddies and professors. Loved that I had such a close network of
colleagues that all graduated with me.
7. Family - hands down, the thing I miss the most is being able to see my parents,
grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Also - most of Brent's family lives
here so I miss my in-laws, too.
8. Church family - growing up in Louisiana means you know pretty much everyone in
the stake. It's fun to see all the faces that taught me as a youth.
9. Easy commute - Living outside of Dallas means everything is at least 20-30
minutes away, sometimes more. Our last home was about 10 minutes from
entertainment.
10. Fried Food - really just my dad's fried catfish. Even if you don't care for
fried food, you would like his because it's made with love just the way I
remember it as a kid. Even better when we helped to catch the fish.
11. King Cakes from Julie Ann's Bakery - Cream Cheese...so so so good. I shipped
one to Brent on his mission because he loved them so much.
12. Mardi Gras
13. Southern Maid Donuts - Referred to by my sister simply as SMD's. Krispy Kreme
doesn't stand a chance against these althogh Brent would beg to differ.

Don't get me wrong. We love where we live! We've been blessed to be part of a great neighborhood and wonderful church family. But sometimes when we visit, we toy with the idea of moving back to Shreveport one day in the future. For now - we love being Texans. But when people ask me where I'm from, I'm proud to say I'm from the great state of Louisiana.

Orange Beach 2011

She looked so darn cute in this swimsuit!

Shelley and Ryan

Building sandcastles with daddy

Mom and dad sitting under the gazebo they brought. It was so great to have shade for the baby.

Annabeth, me, Brent, and Camilla
She was pretty terrified of going into the water but agreed to walk along the edge holding Brent's hand.
My little beach bum.
The kids pretty much dug in the sand the entire time we were at the beach. Erin didn't care too much for the water either.
Camilla and her cousin Ava. Hopefully these two will be friends just like Brooke and Annabeth.

Freckle Face

Lately, I have noticed freckles showing up on Annabeth's face. So I've been putting sunscreen on her every time we go outside because I didn't want her face to look like mine. It doesn't seem to be helping though because they keep showing up. I will admit that they are much cuter on her than me. You will also notice her unibrow in this photo. ( She gets that from her daddy.) I can't believe how big she is getting. She has been such a great big sister. When I hold Camilla, it makes me sad to think that just 3 years ago, Annabeth was that tiny. Now she is turning into a little girl right before my eyes. I love this little girl so much. She is the reason I get up every morning ...literally. She comes into our bedroom and says "Mommy get up! I'm hungry." Even when she does something that drives me crazy, she makes up for it by doing something so sweet. She is the most forgiving person I know and makes me want to be a better person every day. I worry sometimes that I don't spend as much time with her since Camilla was born. I hope she knows how much I love her.

Little Ballerina

Recently, Annabeth has discovered Angelina Ballerina. She loves to turn on her music and twirl around the house in circles nonstop. I finally gave in and enrolled her in a ballet class at a local rec. center. The class only lasted 6 weeks but she had tons of fun doing it. She was the youngest and smallest but she really did try her best to keep up with the other girls. Albeit, she did spend a lot of time stealing glances of herself in the mirrors and hanging on the bars. The video below is of their "Kitten Dance." So cute!

our little ballerina on her last day of ballet