Because I think it's funny

Remember these pictures?

Could you tell the girls apart?

Well, let's look back to Ernie at TEN months.

I love seeing how my beautiful girls are growing into their own little persons.

And I really need to get some quality camera time (NOT video time, have plenty of that!) with Mimi!

They Just Keep Growing!

The girls and I spent the morning at the doctor's office, for their 4-year and 9-month appointments respectively. Yes, we're a LOT late- I forgot that summer-time is prime "sports physicals" time, and it's pretty hard to get an appointment let alone TWO appointments together.

So.

Ernie is growing big and strong!

Weight: 44 pounds (90-95th percentile)

Height: 41 1/2 inches (75-90th percentile)

She is doing great at reading- she reads a few verses of the scriptures with us every night, and is getting really good at saying "And it came to pass." *grin* She can count to 100 (but poor 16 gets left out every time), loves to dance to music, and her favorite foods are apples, carrots, grapes, bananas, bread with butter, "quesadillas with cheese inside," and chocolate ice cream or pudding. She makes up long involved stories, especially about Jonah and how after his mis-hap with the whale he swam to the Promised Land, and met a Nephite...and killed him. The he met another Nephite, and killed that one too. Basically he walks around killing Nephites, and then climbs up on the wall waving his arms around and yelling "Wepent! Wepent! Stop doing bad fings!" (We don't talk about Nephi and Laban any more at bedtime.) She also loves to sing.

Mimi is turning into our bean-pole.

Weight: 19 lbs. 3 oz (25-50the percentile)

Height: 30 inches (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 45.5 cm (75th percentile)

She loves to cuddle, and is cruising the furniture and taking her first steps. She loves to clap, and will get her whole body into it, banging her head to the side with each clap. She likes to imitate what we say to her, and loves splashing in the tub. Her favorite foods are cherries, melon, strawberries, beans, cheese, bread, and any of Mommy's dessert she gets to sample. Basically, the kids likes to eat! She's sleeping through the night, 8-6, and takes 2 or 3 naps still. Hooray for Mimi!

What do you mean, Mommy left?

Pictures courtesy of Wonder Daddy, broken heart strings courtesy of Mimi.

A Study in Portraits

Just a few portraits I snapped at this morning's Pioneer Day Picnic.

We had a great time- thanks for inviting us, Mom and Dad! (And THANKS for toting Baby Mimi around for 2 hours in that fabulous backpack :)

Here's Wonder Daddy, all kitted out- he rode his bike up "roller coaster hill" up to the peak of the mountain! To give you an idea of the steepness of this hill...he arrived home, on bike, 3 minutes after we did. Whoo!

There's that gorgeous Momma of mine!

Beautiful Bert

Remembering These Days

Downloading the latest batch off the camera, I realized something very sweet: if my daughter can get ahold of the camera, she heads straight for me. "Let me take your picture, Mom!"

You know, these are some of the only recent pictures of me there are, since I'm normally the one behind the lens. These pictures are more of Ernie and Mimi, then they are of me. I love having these mementos of these sweet years we have together.

Splish Splash

I'm sharing, Mom!

More, please!

Morning at the Park

Cool, clear morning, with no other committments: time to go to the park!


(Tell me: are her bangs fashionably long... or am I late on the haircut?)

Family Dinner at Grandpa's

Saturday afternoon we packed up two kids, two loaves of french bread, one mommy, one chocolate cake, and a daddy and headed out the door for dinner with all my family in the area. I love that there are so many of us here. True, we're missing a lot of folks, but when we get everyone together we're fourteen strong, plus two dogs.

Which means I get to make BIG cakes. I love big cakes.

You know, you've got to keep your eye one Wonder Daddy. Now that he's not studying, he has free time...and a spring in his step...and when you're not looking, he's out with his face in the flowers, snapping macro shots!

Good shootin', Daddy!

Oh, and if you ever find yourself with leftover chocolate cake it makes a fabulous trifle with pudding, the leftover whipped cream, cherry pie filling, and chocolate chips. And yes, it sounds gross: that's why I don't often make trifles. It's hard to get myself worked up about making something that looks more like a mud pie than something fit to serve company. But OH is it ever good!

A Day at the Science Center

A few weeks ago Ernie filled her jar, and we were due for another family outing: she chose "Let's go to the museum together like a family!"

We had a really nice Saturday morning at the local science museum, and the kids especially enjoyed the childrens' section. We were there when the doors opened, so practically had the place to ourselves!

Mimi couldn't believe someone left all this water, just at her height. She loves to splash.

Oh, yes we're still using the baby wrap regularly. I can easily carry her twenty pounds for hours this way, and she loves it. She'll be happpy, strapped to me, for HOURS longer than she's content to ride in the stroller.

Wonder Daddy made a neat little fort!

Is anyone else impressed she knew this was a caterpillar?

Photo Editing: A Fun Thing to Do !

I've been messing around with a downloaded version of Google's photo editing software, Picasa 3. I love it! It's easy to use, cleverly designed, makes my photos look great, and has this great collage functionality that I'm totally addicted to right now. Here is my latest family-portrait mashup.

What do you use to edit your photos?

Portland Zoo

We spent last weekend in Portland- Wonder Daddy rode the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride, so we thought we'd combine a bit of sight-seeing and family-visiting with our Wonder-Daddy-meeting-at-the-other-end.

A few things didn't go as planned- Wonder Daddy and his friend thought they'd drive themselves to the 4:30 start time, but found out the night before parking passes had to be pre-purchased. Saturday morning found our whole, happy, sleepy family in the car an on the road at 3:45- Mimi was rather confused about the whole thing.

The girls and I stopped for an hour for breakfast, and made it to our desination where we'd be staying with family around 9:00...and as I was unbuckling Mimi, the call came: "I've been in a wreck. Can you come pick me up?" Sweet Aunt D collected my extremely sleep-deprived children into her home, and I hit the road to a spot two hours away. Poor Wonder Daddy- he was travelling 27 MPH in the "fast" column when a fellow in the "slow" column decided HE wanted to be fast too, right in front of Wonder Daddy! He wasn't quite fast enough to merge, and with nowhere to dodge, Wonder Daddy had to hit the brakes. The front wheel of the fellow behind him locked into Wonder Daddy's back derailer and both bikes were toast. Thankfully, mercifully, and perhaps miraculously, neither man was hurt. I picked up Wonder Daddy at the home of the "guy in back," and we loaded the poor bike (with a back wheel so bent it couldn't turn) onto the bike rack and started the 2-hour drive back to his aunt's house. Quick shower for Wonder Daddy, a well-deserved milk snack for Mimi, and we were on the road once more to visit my grandparents in a near-by suburb.

We had a lovely weekend, and Wonder Daddy's aunt and uncle were so to let us stay at their home, pick their fantastic blueberries, and be so welcoming.

Monday morning we took the girls to the Portland Zoo on the way out of town- here are a few pictures!