A Working Weekend

This will be a short post since mom worked all weekend and is still working! She did manage to snap a few pictures and get the girls back in bows! We also have some video to post but that will have to wait for another day. After about a month of build up, Amanda seems to have finally mastered crawling....at least a few steps anyway. She can make it about 2 or 3 steps forward and then she lunges forward onto her chest. She manages to get far enough in most instances to grab the toy that she was after so it's all good! Natalie is close behind, but seems to prefer practicing her crawling skills on soft and cushy surfaces like mom and dad's bed!

Here are the girls looking cute in polka dots:





And in bows:

Weekend Fun

We had a nice family weekend after having some great adult time with Brian and Kristin on Friday night! :) Here are the girls on Saturday....WAY too early in the morning hanging out for a few minutes in Miss Amanda's crib.



The weather is SO nice right now and so we went for a walk both Saturday and Sunday. Here are the happy girls after one of our walks.



And today, we did a little shopping and the girls were lucky enough to score some new accessories. They both have a lot more hair these days but it's still not long enough to hold a barette. I'm growing impatient so we're settling for some cute headbands for now! Here is Amanda loving her new look!

And Natalie:

And the two fashionistas together:

A Sable Post

Sable went to the vet recently and while she was there one of the vet tech's came up to her in the waiting room to talk to her. While chatting, she told Sable that if she was a person, she would be a model because she is so tall, thin and beautiful! I think she's right! Here is Sable the model.....

Stay At Home Picnic

We had a picnic in our backyard today. I really wanted to get out of the house and doing a stay at home picnic was much easier than going somewhere. And the weather is perfect right now.

Natalie and Amanda were happy to be outside. And they were completely focused on Sable the entire time we were out there. Here are the three of them:








Here are the girls watching Sable's every move....



A cute profile pic:

And finally, Natalie in her classic pose. She lays and sleeps like this all the time...hilarious!

On The Verge

Natalie and Amanda are both on the verge of crawling. It's fun to watch them try to figure it out. We're still have not really done the necessary baby proofing so it won't bother me at all if it takes a little while longer!

Here is Amanda. We often find her now up on all fours rocking back and forth. She has great fun doing that!







And here is Natalie. She just recently started trying but she seems to have skipped the "shuffle" phase that Amanda went through she'll be there quickly too!

Flying Solo

It's an all girls weekend at our house! Daddy is celebrating Donn's big 4-0 in Seattle this weekend (Happy Birthday Donn!!) so mommy is solo with the "G" team: Natalie, Amanda and Sable. So far, so good. This morning we went for a walk -- it's amazing to me how much cooler it is all of a sudden at night and in the morning. And we had fun playing. We definitely have a big HAM in the house and her name is Amanda. When I get the camera out now, this is what I get....it cracks me up!








Here is the less dramatic Natalie posing for the camera too:

Wish me luck that the rest of the weekend goes as smoothly as this morning! :)

Girl Talk

As I mention in a post below, the girls are very chatty and smiley with each other these days. Here is a small taste of some of their girl talk....

Sunday

I have no creative titles for my photos this weekend so they are entitled "Saturday" and "Sunday" respectively. Very imaginative! Here is Amanda chilling out in the morning.




Here's Natalie catching up on some reading.

Amanda used to take a pacifier but stopped on her own about a month ago. Now they are toys!

And, speaking of toys....the girls got some fun new toys today at the toy store. They LOVE them! Yeah!

Saturday

Here are Natalie and Amanda showing the crowd their "don't mess with us" looks.




And here are the smiley girls that we get to see all the time!

Here is Natalie with her big blue eyes.

This week it seems Natalie and Amanda have begun interacting with each other even more than they were before. Although sometimes they become quite annoyed with each other, they have really started talking to each other and laughing at each other a LOT more than before. It's very cute! Although this looks like a "Mom, she's touching me" photo this actually was taken right after they gave each other a big hug!

Happy Birthday Grandma Zena and Grandpa Bruce!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Zena! We are so excited that you both have the same birthday today because (1) we get to join your celebration and (2) it makes it easy to remember your birthdays! :-) We bought you cupcakes, but Mommy and Daddy ate them before we could stuff them in your Birthday cards. We love you both and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

8 Months Old

Natalie and Amanda are 8 months old today. It's hard to believe! As I was explaining to my parents last weekend, they really have turned into "little people" within a short 8-month time span. They are definitely both opinionated now. Amanda will whine if she does not get what she wants or if you take away a toy she was playing with and Natalie expresses her opinions by crying when she's not happy. (I have not decided which is worse....for me, it depends on the day, I think.) Amanda is crawling backwards now but has not yet mastered going forwards. Natalie is thinking about it but hasn't yet taken the plunge. They both enjoy meeting new people. Of the two, Natalie is more circumspect when she meets someone new and so it takes her a little while to warm up to a person. Amanda, on the other hand, is Miss Smiley. And speaking of that, Amanda has figured out the whole picture taking thing. About eight times out of ten now when I get the camera out Amanda will smile for the picture....how on earth does an 8-month old know that I want her to smile when I'm taking a picture?!! Here's one where she's not smiling, but, of course, they're both in this picture, which means that this is about the 25th attempt at capturing the two of them together. It's never a small feat! Happy 8-month old birthday little darlings! :)

Fun Weekend!

We had a fun and relaxing weekend. It's amazing how fast 3 days fly by! We ran errands on Saturday and happened to be at Goore's, the local baby store that has a scale. So, we did an impromptu weigh in. The totals are: Natalie is 16 lbs. 10 oz and Amanda is 16 lbs. (both with clothes on, of course). Amanda is definitely still gaining on her big sister!

Here are a few shots of the girls having fun over the weekend. Here is Natalie playing with Daddy:






And Amanda playing with Mommy:

Amanda followed by Natalie demonstrating their fine sitting skills:

Today, we had a visit from"Auntie" Catherine. Both girls were happy to visit with her. Here is Amanda:

And Natalie:

Finally, some of my favorite shots from the weekend, with Amanda first and Natalie second. Could those cheeks on Amanda be any bigger?