First Swim of the Season

We are very lucky to have very generous friends who live close by and have a pool they let us use. In May we had a couple of those super hot days where all you want to do is be by water and they use a solar cover so the water was finally warm enough to be bearable. We took a family trip to their pool!

Harper is still unsure of the water when she can't touch. She clung to us and opted to ride in the baby pool float that we had brought for Paisley. Check Harper out here in the same float at 5 months old! You'll also see pics of Paisley wearing that same giraffe bathing suit soon. Courtney bought it for Harper and it was always a favorite of mine.

It turned out to be ok that Harper took over the baby float because P was not comfortable in the water unless she had was next to our bodies holding on. She really needed to feel secure but loved splasing her hands and kicking her feet.

This month Paisley added crusing to her list of skills. She's surfing around the furniture, exploring the kitchen and showing off holding on with one hand while she waves a whisk found in a kitchen drawer in the other. She is amazing.

Harper is sporting a floatation device that was given as a favor at one of Alex's birthday parties. And it definitely wasn't his last one...I'm thinking 3rd birthday but maybe Dana can tell us. I clearly am good at holding onto pool toys.

Harper is also wearing her "favorite" bathing suit that I may have to sneak in the trash one of these days. It's always her first choice which is fine but she's had it FOREVER. It can be seen here in 2010 and more shockingly here it is again in 2009 in the infamous Jackson the pool boy photo. Amazing...talk about getting your moneys worth. Although Harper has two beautiful new bathing suits for this year that she has worn...just haven't been documented yet.

In other Harper news she continues to keep us on our toes. I got sick of her eating all the crab and avacado out of my sushi so tonight I got her some California rolls of her own. She was so excited to have dinner like Momma's.

She has an incredible memory. Tonight in the car she asked me where we got her princess toothbrush. I told her I wasn't sure and she told me we got it when we were at Theo's house. She was right...we had forgotten one and I let her pick out any toothbrush she wanted. I don't know how long ago that was but it had to be 6 months I think.

She really cracks us up but she's such a good little girl. We were at the grocery store tonight and I let her take a little cart and push it herself. Our co-op has a fruit program so she gets a free piece of fruit everytime we go. Tonight it was a plum but she would not allow me to help her push while she ate. We caused a few traffic jams but she managed to do it "all by herself". Then at the check out she proceeded to take each item out of the cart and put it on the checkout belt. Then she put our shopping bag up there and took the cart back out where she got it before she came back to stand with me. The woman behind me in line was astounded. I chuckled a little because some of it is that she has to do EVERYTHING by herself...but the other part of it is that she wants to help and she is very responsible and self aware. I really trust her.

Lastly, Will and I offered her a new doll of her choice if she stops peeing in her nighttime underpants. It's a challenge for her with a reward that she'll work for. We have a Corolle doll catalog at home and this afternoon she was pouring over it with Will showing him all the options she's considering. We had to chuckle but I bet she'll do it. We're not sure how long she has to go without peeing at night but we'll decide soon.

Other than that we're just enjoying the warm weather. The octopus sprinkler is out and sadly not reffered to as the "octakaw" like it was last year. Hopefully we'll hear that version of the word again when P is 2.

Happy Summer!

Happy Father's Day

This year for father's day we decided to revisit our local paint your own pottery place. I had big ideas of putting hand and footprints on tiles for all the dad's in our lives. Then they were out of tiles and Paisley decided to sleep through the event making her contribution temporarily unavailable.

So, instead Harper picked out a pencil holder. (No one owns more pencils than Papa!) And then she picked her favorite colors...purple and green with some sparkles for good measure.

She wanted to get every last inch covered...when we've gone in the past she could care less about the inside.

After she was done we picked out a teeny tiny mouse and owl that she wanted to paint for herself. They were super cute and she was so excited about them when we went and picked them up.

So even though I lost my father's day gift steam when I got there we had a really nice time. The most fun we'd had yet. Plus we went with good friends and there's nothing better than that!

I'll definitely be taking them there again soon...and next time this one will probably be awake...yikes. 

First Ice Cream Cone

May was a good month...it brought us lots of good things...most of which I can't remeber because I'm so behind on my blog.

Needless to say it brought Harper's first ice cream cone. Sure, she's had a little cone of ice cream at someone's house before but when we've gone out for ice cream in the past we've always gotten her a dish with a cone stuck out of the ice cream. Mostly because the portions are far more generous and harder to manage.

This trip was different. We walked to the ice cream place down the street from Pat and Steph's house. Harper ordered chocolate with rainbow sprinkles. She was so excited. We helped a little to keep the drips under control but this girl ate every last bite including the cone. I think it took her and Pat an extra 15 minutes to get back to his house because eating ice cream and walking is a challenge for the most seasoned ice cream cone eaters.

Just When You Thought Their Daddy Couldn't Get Any Cooler...

He marches in the Memorial Day parade...

These are some proud little ladies!

Thumbs Up Daddy! We love you!

There's Something Special About Tradition

This is the story of a beautiful doll house. It used to be mine. My dad made it, he painted it with a blue roof and blue shutters on each window. My mom crocheted rugs and teeny tiny curtains for each room. My grandfather made handmade doll furniture like a hutch with tiny little knobs and opening doors and drawers.

It lived in my parents attic for the last 20ish years. It recently came back down, got a fresh coat of paint, a couple new pieces of furniture and some very special new doll people. And most of all it has two tiny new owners. One of which won't be allowed to play with it for quite a while, at least until we can be sure she won't put the miniture little cups and saucers in her mouth.
Harper's excitement when she saw the dollhouse for the first time was priceless. She loves it and was totally ready for it. It's awesome to see such an important part of my history live on.

It turns around so we can protect Paisley from the tiny pieces. It's beautiful from the front. I'll get a picture and add it.

First Haircut

Our girl got her first haircut. It was a very big deal. She had beautiful wavy baby curls but the ends were getting a little unmanageable and very long. So, I made her an appointment with Schavon and she and I went on a special Mommy Harper adventure. She asked me if Paisley was coming and didn't hide her shy grin when I said "nope...just you and me"
She was soooo excited to go and enjoyed waiting in the animal print salon chairs in the waiting room. Then as soon as she got in the chair she went stone faced. Not sad, not scared, just serious. She followed every instruction "chin down" "look this way" and was such a good little lady! I was so proud of her.



Before pics...shy posing with me

Beginning of the haircut



First cut...Schavon was very kind to me and accommodating when I wanted to catch every single strand she cut.

 

Getting a blow dry

After!!!

She finally smiled when they gave her a lollipop and agreed when she wanted two...how could they not...she was soooo good.

Certificate of the big day! Something for the baby book!