First beach trip of 2009!

We had a fantastic first beach trip of 2009! Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the first couple were miserable!! I did not pack appropriately (genius here did not look at the weather report!) and I was freezing when I went outside. Despite all of that - we were there for over a week (Sunday to Monday) and it was so nice to just be with our family with no place to be, nothing we had to do, etc. We started really potty training Ali while there and she picked it up right away and has had very few accidents! One nice thing about being stuck inside, just the four of us! :) Rhodes got lots of floor time too and is moving all over the place. She can turn around in a circle using her arms, but can't get those tiny :) legs up and going just yet. It won't be long! Here are the few pictures we got from our fun trip! (camera kept running out of batteries)

On Tuesday, we ventured out to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island




Ali was VERY excited to go there but not sure about them once she got close. (And, I have to admit, they were kind of scary looking!)
I'm not sure Rhodes cared too much about the sea turtles...
Hanging out and having fun at "Mimi & Papa's swim house!" (as Ali calls it)

Tea parties, potty training, scooting everywhere - what our first days were full of!

Here comes the sun! The sun started peaking out (and barely made it to 80 degrees) so we headed to the pool. Here's Rhodes' first pool experience.... Big sis Ali was a little weary of the pool at first but warmed up more and more, the more she was in it! Hopefully by the end of summer, she will love it again!

School's out for summer!

I can't believe that Ali's first year at Weekday has already come to an end.  I guess our lives were extra busy this year, but this year flew by!  Ali LOVES school so I am interested to see how summer goes - not being able to see her friends and teachers every week!  She LOVES her teachers - Ms Carolyn and Ms Kris and we talk about her school friends daily! We will miss them and hope to see some of them this summer!  Here are some pictures from Ali's last day of school party last Thursday (before our beach trip).  

Ali and some of her friends playing in the sand.  (Gracie, Charlotte Anne, Sammy) I think Ali's look shows that I am already that embarrassing mom, taking pictures!

Back to business
Ali thinks bubbles are the greatest invention these days!  She was having a ball trying to catch them out of the bubble machine.
Lovebirds...Ali and Bennett

Ali and her daddy
Rhodes and Mama
This picture kind of sums up what goes on at our house these days! Ali getting messy (although she hates to be messy!) and Rhodes going after something.....especially loving the things that belong to her big sis!

Rain, rain, go away!

I am sitting at the beach with two sleeping babies, rain pouring outside and Ryan upstairs reading John Adams. (I think he has been reading it for a year!) Even though the rain is pouring outside (and it's COLD!!! Colder than when we were here in November, even!), I am loving being here with these three (and Baxter) and getting good QT in with the ones I love! :) Hopefully it will clear up soon though b/c I am sure we will get stir crazy soon enough!!

I wish I had pictures to share - but I have yet to get the camera out. We got the girls pictures done recently by Shelli Allen and she did an AMAZING job! I cried when I saw them and had the hardest time deciding which ones to get! I have the disk at home and hope to get a taste up to show soon - but, Shelli sent me a link to her blog where she put two pictures up of the girls. http://www.shelliallenphotography.blogspot.com/ (under Meet My Little Sunshines!) She did an awesome job and I highly recommend her to anyone around here looking to get photos done - the girls loved her! I can't wait to get pictures done again!

Hopefully I will be busy enjoying the sun instead of blogging/getting on Facebook every day while I am down here! It's so peaceful though and feels so good to be away from the real world for a little bit!! I hope the weather is nice wherever you are! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend this past weekend - I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend and was so sad to wake up this morning knowing it was over! :)  We are so grateful for our mothers and grandmothers, especially on this special day!!  I felt incredibly grateful this year for our little family and these three pictured with me below made sure my weekend was perfect!

I thank God for these two little girls who came into my life and made me a mother!! 

I told Ali to put her arm around Rhodes (when sitting next to her) for a picture - and this is what we got.  



What a perfect day!  I love these two girls (and their daddy!) more than anything in this world!

Gearing up for summer!

May is my favorite month and I am so glad it is here! We are gearing up for summer (1 week until our first beach trip!) and winding down with our activities, etc.

Ali had her last day of gymnastics before starting swim lessons. I finally remembered to bring my camera to get a few shots of her last day before taking the summer off! Ali is in the hot pink and her best buddy Bennett is in the white shirt...

She LOVES the rings...


These two....

I am so excited spring/summer is here and so are cute outfits! This is one of my favorite outfits of Ali's for some reason (I love the pants!) even though I am usually a dress person. Of course, she wouldn't let me get a good picture but I am loving the spring/summer clothes!
Rhodes and her first biscuit!

Ali was so excited about her new princess stamp set!
She even let her doll, Jean Alice, do a little stamping!

What a great sharer - when Ali played dress up, she also dressed some of her stuffed animal friends dress up in her princess dresses!



Sweet sisters!

2.5 years and thriving!

This post may make me cry....my little Ali turned 2.5 yesterday!  2.5 years. Amazing!  I have mixed feelings about this b/c I feel like since Rhodes has been born, Ali has grown up so much! In some ways, I feel like she should be older than that, but in many, I can not believe how fast my firstborn is growing up!  I love my ABP for making me a mother and for the light/joy/laughs/smiles/even sometimes frustrations she brings into our lives! At 2.5, Ali talks like a 5 year old, loves to play outside, with her sister, with Baxter, with her Mama and Daddy and all of her family and friends.  She is also very protective of us all and has such a sweet heart.  She loves to sing (especially Cinderella/Enchanted songs), dance, run around, jump, swing, read books, eat lollipops, popcorn and popsicles! Lately, she says cute things like "Mama, that was so very nice of you!" when I get something for her and gives the best hugs and kisses around!  This past week, she improved daily in swim lessons and by the end of the week, she was going under like a champ and "swimming" to her instructor who was a foot or two away!  She also started potty training herself and with out much effort on my party - made great progress!  At dinner Thursday, Ryan and I were so proud of her as she said the prayer for us! (God is great)  I am in awe of this little girl and know that she will move mountains one day!

Ali B at 6 months (at Watercolor with the McNeels)

A year later at 18 months
Our little 30 month old this week getting ready to go swim!
We love you Ali B and can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Seven months??

Rhodes turned 7 months on Saturday (5/2/09) and I honestly can not believe it!  She is now closer to her 1 year birthday than to her actual birth - I feel like she should still be a newborn.  She is sitting up, rolling all over, scooting backwards and trying to crawl.  She is such a happy baby and her laugh will melt your heart.  She pretty much laughs at everything her big sis does!I started giving her teething biscuits/puffs this past week (she is so interested in everything we eat!) and the above picture is our 7 month old eating her first biscuit.  It was a hit!  My least favorite thing she does is when she sits in the bumbo chair she stretches her body out and tries to get out and moves the bumbo backwards!  Not good for when the bumbo is on countertops but luckily I have caught her doing it before she gets herself into trouble - we'll be sitting in the highchair from now on in the kitchen! :)  We had her six month appointment on Friday (a day before she turned 7 months) and here are her stats: 

Height: 28 inches (97%)

Weight: 19 lbs 12 oz (90%) - string bean is thinning out! :)
Head Circumference: 17 1/2 (90%) 

I think all of the percentages are based on 6 months and since she is actually 7 months, she may be a little lower in the rankings.  She had 3 shots and did awesome!  She fell asleep before the nurse came in to give them to her - but woke up and cried for maybe an entire minute during them and then was perfectly fine!  We went straight from there to playgroup at the park and she was such a trooper!  On the other hand, it was my first doctor's visit with both girls, so let's just say that was interesting!  I am sure there are many of those to come so it was a pretty decent trial run!  

Happy 7 months Rhodes!  We love you more every day and thank the Lord for bringing you into our lives!!  If only this first year would slow down a little bit!!

Sweet Ali

Ali has been super sweet lately (although she still has her moments - like when we tell her to say hi/bye to someone, etc).  She has been cracking us up and melting our hearts all at the same time.  I keep wanting to write down things she says so I can remember (and really want to get them/as well as Rhodes' sweet laugh on tape!) so here are a few off the top of my head that she has said the past few days:

When she got out of the bubble bath last night, she looked back and noticed there were still some bubbles on her back/behind.  She looked down and said "Oh my goodness! My bottom!"

I bought a little pink outfit for a friend having a baby and had it out on the counter to wrap.  Ali walked by and saw the gift and figured it was for her, since many times they are!  She pulled the box down (I hadn't wrapped it yet) and opened up the tissue paper and exclaimed "How did you ever know! Oh my goodness - it is so cute! Thank you so very much!"  

She is into adding "very" or "so" into sentences and it makes them so sweet!  There have been a few "Mommy, I love you so very much!"  Tonight, I went out to run errands and I got home to a huge hug and "I'm so glad you're here!"  She knows she is being sweet and she knows we are loving it, so luckily that is causing more sweetness around here!  Too cute!

She has also been slamming doors and Ryan told her to "close the door gently" instead of slamming it.  Tonight, when Ryan was reading her a bedtime story (he's been putting her to bed again these last few nights - yay!), he was reading loud and doing voices, thinking she would love it.  Instead, she said "Daddy, you are loud!  Read it gently!"

Just some Aliisms that I can remember right now....more to come as they come to me! Although, I do know they are soooo much cuter in person!  We love our little Ali Bali!