June 2009

Anna is now 10 months going on 11 months. Can not believe how time has truly passed so quickly right before my eyes. I think that this first year has gone even quicker with Anna then it did with Sallie. Maybe that is just because we have been so busy. Anyway, Anna is crawling all over the house now on a mission. She can pretty much get into anything now. she loves to get in the bathroom and pull up on the potty and the bathtub. She loves bathtime and crawls around in the tub like a fish. She will put anything in her mouth and loves Jack's dogfood. This, I have caught her with many times. Must not taste too bad because she keeps going back for more. She really will eat anything. I can put cold peas and carrots on her tray and she will gobble them right up. I love it!!! Sallie on the other hand will fight me tooth and nail to eat anything unless it is junk food. We have had to do away with snacks for her for a while because she just will not eat at meal time. Anna now can say Daddy, Mama, hey jack and Sallie (this may be strecthing it). It is "Sallie" to me. She looks at Sallie and says something. Sallie is becomming a true helper with Anna and is such a good big sister. The summer program at Sallie's school this summer has been lots of fun. They do water day and ice cream truck day every Friday. This has been the highlight of Sallie's week. They also go to Chapel on Wednesdays with the big kids. She will be in the 3's starting August 10 (her birthday) and will go everyday from 9-12. I am getting sad about this as I am not really ready for everyday school. I guess we will adjust and when I need a little time with my Sallie, we will just have to take a day off. Anna will go only three days a week so that will be nice to have two days just with Anna by myself. Sallie is working on saying that she is 3 years old as we are almost there. She does a pretty good job holding up three fingers (thanks to Pops). Sallie is loving her ballet class that she is taking this summer and seems to be learning a lot. She is a precious ballerina!! We had a fun play date at our house last week. Lots of our cute baby friends came over. I will post some pics of the little ones inside while the bigger ones played outside. Can't wait to do this again. We are headed to the beach for a July 4th celebration and are looking forward to it. We always have a great time. Will post some pics when we return.

Daddy's Day '09

When I asked Sallie what she wanted me to write in her Daddy's Day card for Ward this is what she said. I love my Daddy because:

1) he plays with me
2) he takes me on boat rides

3) he swings me

4) he lets me help him with things outside in his office

5) he makes me breakfast

and then we added together......he loves me and he is the best Daddy ever!!!

What a special day for Ward...First Daddy's Day with 2.. Ward you are the best Daddy ever and we love you so much for your enthusiastic, adventurous, positive, energetic, compassionate, God loving self.....You amaze me daily and have adjusted to Daddyhood as if it were your job. Thanks for all your support and love. Here are a few pics from our day. We did not do anything spectacular but it was a wonderful day. We went to church and to lunch and then home for naps and some rest time. Ward is now out doing his favorite thing....washing and waxing the boat. I think he almost likes doing this more than riding on the boat. Anyway, we will have a nice Daddy's day dinner tonight with fillet Mignon, twice baked potatoes and homemade lemon meringue pie.

Now to my Dad.....not sure that you really stay up to date with my blog but if you do heres to you. I love you for being such a wonderful Dad to me and a great Pops to my girls. I love you because you....

1) love me unconditionally (even when I was a teenager)

2) you played red ball with me

3) you tried to get me to love golf

4) you always help me out with advice in tough situations

5) you taught me to drive and bought me my first car

6) you raised me in a way to appreciate things and not to take things for granted

and the list goes on and on. Thanks for everything that you have done for me and to continue to do for me. I love you.

Anna's Baptism

Anna was baptized Sunday! We could not have asked for a better day. It was wonderful. She is a little late getting baptized. Ward kept saying that we were waiting for her to be able to walk up to the front of the church by herself. We were really waiting for the right time after joining the church and this past Sunday June 7th was the day. It was a wonderful sermon and Anna did great. I was a little worried about her due to her being a little older and going to the pastor and getting the water on her head. She has a mind of her own and she will let you know when she does not want to do something. She was a little verbal for the first part of the service prior to getting baptized but she did fine up front. She started smiling instantly as she was carried around the church looking at everyone. She was waving to the choir behind her as we were standing in the front. It was really cute. Sallie did pretty good as well. She participated in the children's church by helping with the prayer and then walked around the church with the pastor and Anna after Anna was baptized. We had a lunch at our house afterwards for family and my Mom cooked all the food. It was all around a wonderful celebration. I will post some pictures of Anna in her dress. This was my christening dress and Sallie wore it for her Baptism as well. It was so special to put it on Anna. Anna wore a cross necklace that my Mom gave her that was hers and Sallie wore my cross that I was baptized in. Anna's head was too big for the bonnet that I wore so we left that off. Anna is getting more mobile by the day and happier as gets more mobile. I think that she loves to be able to go and do what she wants. She is laughing all the time now and thinks that Jack is hilarious. We have decided that both our kids have a set of lungs that can be identified anywhere. Sallie started swimming lessons last week and is doing well. She loves it but 30 minutes flys by and she wants to swim longer. She has gone under water many times and has no problems with it. She has also learned how to doggie paddle and kick her legs with a noodle under her. Anna has gotten in the baby pool again with her Nana and we let the water warm up in the sun a little and she liked it. Maybe it is just the cold water that she does not like. Anyway, summer is in full swing and we are soaking up the summer fun!!

Beach 2009

We are still at the beach however thought that I have a lot more time here, than I do at home, to blog. We came to the beach Saturday and will be here until Saturday. We are having lots of fun and the weather has been beautiful. Our trip started out kind of rocky however as of Monday we have been busy enjoying the beach and the boat. Anna got a fever bug Fri and it did not go away until Mon. We had to go to doctors care two times as the fever got kind of high and was not going away. We did a lot of Tylenol, Motrin, and Popsicles. Thank goodness my parents were here until Monday to help out with Sallie. Sallie is still a little fish and has no inhibitions about the water. Thank goodness we will start swimming lessons on Mon as she is making me a nervous wreck. She will go straight into the waves without looking back. Anna on the other hand is not crazy about anything on the beach but the sand. She has been eating sand by the handfuls. She has also been depositing the sand by the diaper fulls. We went to Broadway at the beach and played putt putt which Sallie loved. We then went to build a bear and built a beach lamb. It is pretty cute. Sallie loved making it but now could careless about it. It was a really fun experience for anyone that has never done it. I never really knew what it was but have wanted to go. We have been out for dinner a lot and Sallie told me last night that she loves going to restaurants. Everytime we leave to go somewhere and then head back home she asks if we are going to the beach house or Columbia. I think that she is going to be sad when we really head back for Columbia. We have been taking lots of "cart rides" as well and found a path where we can take cart rides to the ice cream store. We went in a really big candy store today at the hammock shops and got to pick candy out of barrels. Not sure who really enjoyed this more....me or Sallie? I snuck some of her candy. It has been a wonderful week and we have really enjoyed it. Ward took Sallie fishing and she got to reel in a little fish all by herself as she would tell you. She then let it go back to his mommy. We have gotten lots of pictures as this is really Anna's first time on the beach. She looks pretty darn cute in her swimsuit, I must say......I was looking back as pictures from our beach trip over the last couple of Memorial days as this is usally when we take our week vacation. Amazing at how much Sallie and Anna look alike at this stage. I did not notice how much until I looked at these pictures.

Watch out, Anna is crawling

Anna started crawling tonight. I had her on the floor while I was straightening up the bedroom and getting on my pjs. A few minutes later I heard her babbling in the hallway and thought that Ward had come in our room and gotten her. I looked over my shoulder and she was in the hallway all by herself. I ran, got the camera, some keys, and tried to get her to come to the keys...she loves keys. She did it on cue and we got some cute pictures of her first couple of crawls. It is pretty cute. I know that this excitement about crawling will be short lived especially in the morning when I am trying to get ready for work and Anna is in the bathroom trying to pull up on the toilet but it was cute tonight and she was very proud of herself. She started eating some real people food this week as well. She has been eating peas and carrots really well and she loves yo baby yogurt. She does not have any teeth yet and the doctor says that she does not see any in sight. I guess that Anna will be late getting teeth like Sallie. We had my niece and nephew spend the night this past weekend. We had a fun slumber party with pizza and movies. It was a lot of fun and they all enjoyed it. I do put mothers with 4 children, 5 years old and younger on a pedestal now. It was hard work!!! It was my sister's birthday though and they had a nice night out. We are gearing up for our week long beach trip starting Saturday. Sallie is so excited and has all kind of plans for her vacation. This will be the first time that Anna will actually go on the beach. We have been there two times but it was too cold both trips to go out on the beach. WE are looking forward to some family down time. Sallie was "working out" with me today and lifting "bones" as she calls my weights. She put the weights down and I was lifting a weight and she walked behind me and the weight hit her face right under her eye. So....if you see Sallie with the black eye, please don't ask questions. I feel awful. Anyway, will post lots of pics from our beach trip when we get back and have posted some pics of Anna's latest 9 month adventures...crawling, food, and slumber parties.

The Best Mother's Day 2009

I had the best Mother's Day yet and we celebrated all weekend long. For Mother's Day Ward got me a appointment at my favorite hair place in Greer, SC to get a cut and color. We went to Anderson to spend the night with Ward's Mom Fri night and got to go out to a nice Dinner while Nana kept the kids. I left early Saturday kid free to get my hair done. We came back to Columbia Saturday afternoon and had a cookout with my Mom and family. Sunday we all went to church and then off to the lake for a boat ride. It was a wonderful weekend. Sallie and Anna made me a precious platter for Mother's Day and I will post a picture of it. I love it!!! The kids made their Nana a apron and their Peppy a little tote bag with their hands and paint. I will post pictures of their artistic abilities. I tell you what, the painting part of these gifts almost sent me over the edge with Sallie. She just wanted to paint everywhere and pour paint in bowls and she painted some on the carpet on the porch. We put the paint away for a while. I am so thankful for my precious girls and they made my Mother's Day so special. I am also so thankful for my Mom who made "me" possible. She has taught me so much and continues to teach me things everyday even when I don't want to listen. I am thankful for Ward's Mom who made him a wonderful husband and father. I am so thankful for my sister who is a wonderful Mother and has taught me the ropes of motherhood. Motherhood is flying by and I want it to slow down. It seems like my very first Mother's Day was just yesterday.

Watch our Peppy on WISTV

The link below is my Mom, the kids' Peppy, on the news this week for her work with a child that is getting a cochlear implant. She did such a great job and we are so proud of her. What a amazing part she gets to play in this child's life...helping him to process new noises as he learns to hear. Hope this link works. Enjoy

http://www.wistv.com/global/category.asp?c=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=3851&topVideoCatNoB=67010&topVideoCatNoC=125643&topVideoCatNoD=87934&topVideoCatNoE=138849&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3723484

Sallie has really enjoyed playing t- ball so I am posting some pictures of her playing last week. She is actually really good at it. Anna enjoys sitting back and watching it all. Sallie has a busy summer planned for her. I just signed her up for swimming lessons and for ballet. I am excited about watching it all.

Igot some pictures of Sallie but have not uploaded them yet however Sallie has decided that she wants to sleep with no clothes on all of a sudden. I have no idea where this came from but she fights me everynight on this so I decided to let her just go to bed with just a pull up on. She says that she wants to get cozy with her blanket. If I make her put her pjs on she takes them off as soon as I leave her room. This is all new so we will see where this goes. Sallie and her cousin Ella are playing doctor together in this last picture. They were very quiet for a while so I walked back in Sallie's room and this is what I saw. It was pretty funny!