Wrapping up summer

It feels as though the end of summer is near as we prepare for Taylor's last year at preschool. She is moving up to Tracy and Dana's class (young 4s) and this will be her final home before starting at Mangum next fall. Her end-of-year Ice Cream party is this afternoon, since this is her last Friday in Mrs. JoAnn's class. We have open house next Thurs night to meet her new teachers and then they are closed Friday to prepare for new classes on the 25th. She is excited about moving up and graduating to the "big playground", while it is all bittersweet for me - realizing that it makes her one year closer to school buses and growing up.

Brad has been at the beach for the past couple of nights, and helping his parents paint a veranda that was built over the patio, so we've had lots of "girl time" at home. Taylor has been a true angel and such a big help to me - she got ready this morning without the slightest hesitation, which was wonderful since I had an early meeting. We have our ups and downs, but she is such a great kid and sometimes I think I just don't tell her enough.

That said, she had a couple of "memorable moments" this week. Yesterday I snuck out of bed with both girls still sound asleep and thought I would get my shower before anyone got up. (Famous last words) Taylor stumbled into the bathroom and I told her to be sure to close the door so she doesn't wake up Hannah, to which she replied "Oh Mommy... Hannah is already awake - I already woke her up!" I sarcastically replied with "oh thank you taylor" and she said "You're welcome Mommy!" and I was quickly reminded that sarcasm is completely lost on 4-year-olds... The other good one was this morning when I asked her if she would like to call Daddy to tell him good morning and she said no. I was shocked and asked if she was sure, and she quickly said "Mommy (sigh), we're going to the beach tonight - I'll talk to him when I get there" as if I were crazy for even suggesting it! Kids...

Hannah had her 6-month checkup yesterday and she weighed in at 13 pounds, 15 ounces. That put her right around 10th percentile for weight, BUT she was at 90th percentile in height! Her doc said that she tends to call these babies her "pint-sized pistols", which is extremely fitting, and that ironically they tend to be females. After a moment of observing Hannah, she noted that it was going to prove difficult for us to keep weight on her due to her activity level. Hannah is trying to crawl, tries to sit up when laying on her back, and loves movement in general (she is way ahead of most 6 month olds developmentally - I think it is simply a survival technique and an effort to catch up to big sis). She hates car seats or anything that tries to keep her tied down (with the one exception being the sling - probably because it attatches her to Mom). She is definitely taking the crown for being high maintenance and she makes her likes and dislikes very clear. Overall she is a great baby, but knowing what pushes her buttons is critical to making life manageable... somehow that sounds very familiar and as I am constantly reminded, she gets that from me.

We are doing great though and are heading to the beach again this afternoon for a little break from the chaos before work gets completely crazy on me. Next week will be rough and the one after that even harder as we move toward the "go-live" date of 9/1 on our new billing system. Pray for us and we hope that you all are doing well.
(here are some pics of the girls from dinner on Tuesday - Hannah enjoys her feet as much as her actual dinner!)

Busy, busy, busy

It seems like an eternity since I've updated, so let me catch up. We've been very busy these days, but the biggest news is that Hannah was baptized this past Sunday. Here is a picture from that very special day (she slept through it all!):


We just finished a round of antibiotics for Hannah's first ear infection - just shy of 6 months old, but she had good ones. They even passed into her eyes, and all in less than 24 hours! Vacation bible school was lots of fun (slideshow below) and that was certainly a whirlwind week, but worth it all.

We just ordered Taylor a new mattress/boxspring for her bed and it will truly be a princess bed when those come in. I told her that she'll need a stool to get into bed after we put it all together - it is so tall! We decided to wrap up the existing mattress and save it for Hannah's crib conversion to the full bed, since it was the perfect "starter set", but not good for much longer than that. Since we often have to sleep up there with her, it benefits the entire family to have a bed that we can stand to lay on.

Taylor has decided that she wants to play soccer this fall, so we have those sign-ups for NJAA on the 18th. We'll be going this weekend to get all of the necessary soccer gear. I also have to sign her up for dance class soon (guess we'll be needing new dance shoes too), so as you see, it is going to be a very busy fall too. Ahh, I guess this is how it will be from now on - go, go, go!