A Mellow Weekend

We had a mellow weekend as Mom was out of town for part of the weekend and Dad was a little under the weather on Saturday. However, Mom returned with presents and Dad is doing much better! Mom bought the girls a fancy bead necklace kit, and here is Amanda intensely concentrating on beading her string to make beautiful!

Natalie also had fun stringing her necklace but was not quite as focused on completing the task and needed a little help from Mom.

Amanda, the one who normally smiles for any camera shot, had to manufacture the silly smile for a brief second when we distracted her from her task.

Natalie, who generally runs from the camera, was just so happy to pose wearing her newly made necklace!

Needless to say, the girls wore them until bedtime with the promise to see them again in the morning.

Here is Amanda and her completed necklace.

Natalie being silly!

And, Both girls saying a BIG "cheese" and being silly!

Will was napping during much of today's photo shoot, but here is a recent picture of him being the happy little boy that he is. He is changing rapidly every day. A few steps have turned into purposeful walks, he knows what he wants and fights to get it, he says a few words (such as "mama" and "hi") and otherwise has a robust vocabulary of baby talk that seems quite purposeful but has not been said in a way we can understand it, he loves to clap and dance to Elmo songs, and he has a ton of fun these days carrying around a photo of Mom and Dad from our bedside table and he enthusiastically points us out in the picture.

Video Extravaganza

Will started taking a few step here and there right before his birthday. He was SO excited!



And then this past week, he put it all together and now he prefers to walk instead of crawling. (In the background is the kids' water table, which provides hours of entertainment....and lots of wet laundry!)



For those that get a chance to meet and get to know Dad, you will quickly learn that Dad has a passion for golf. Here, Dad is starting to invest in our retirement fund! FORE!

Look at the swing...Natalie has the gift!



Check out Amanda...She's got Game!



Every night, the girls love watching Yo Gabba Gabba, a show on Nickelodeon Jr. that teaches kids to sing, dance and play well with friends. Both girls love to dance and we have been trying to capture a few of their dance moves on video. Here are just a few of their moves.

Farmers Market Fun

Usually, dad takes the girls to the market while mom and Will stay home so Will can nap, but yesterday Will was nice enough to sleep in a bit, which allowed us to all go the market. It was a beautiful day and everyone had a good time. The kids loved playing in this tube in the playground. Here is Amanda giving Will a big kiss. (Amanda is full of love and kisses these days -- we get about 1,000 kisses a day from her. It's so nice to be loved!) As you can see, Will is a happy recipient of Amanda's love too.

And one random shot from last weekend. "Auntie" Kristin was nice enough to donate her girls' rocking horse to Will. Here he is taking a little ride. Giddy up!!!

A Wild Time

Well, it was actually fairly tame, but Will did have a zoo-themed one-year birthday party, so I could not resist the title! We got the day started by blowing up a lot of balloons. And Will LOVES balloons. He practically jumps out of my arms at the grocery store when he is offered one!








We were happy that many of our friends were in town over Labor Day Weekend and that they joined us to help Will celebrate his birthday. Here is cute Miss Ali, rocking the zebra visor that was part of the kiddie "swag."

Natalie and Amanda also had fun at the party but it was a bit overwhelming for all 3 kids. I guess we don't have enough parties for them to be comfortable with a swarm of people at our house! I'm sure that won't change any time soon!!!

Randy, Isabella and Will.


Our lovely friend, Dawn, and Will.

Gary and Anabella.

The neighbors: John, Nancy and Jerry.

Kevin and Olivia.

Krista and Olivia.

Lynn and Peg.

The neighborhood gang: Nancy, Jerry, Carol, Steve and Meredith.

Jillian and Natalie.

Water table fun.

Amanda enjoyed her chocolate cupcake a ton. That girl has a BIG sweet tooth. I have no idea where she got it from!

Will got creative and decided to eat his cupcake with a shovel.....

And then he nicely posed for a photo with mom and dad (with the shovel, of course).

After the party, we all gathered inside, where it was cool, for more balloon fun AND present opening.

Needless to say, Will got a LOT of help from the girls opening up his presents. But he had a great time nevertheless.

He particularly liked this great little ride on fire truck. Thank you, Carol and Jerry!!

And he liked opening all of the cards.

Grandma got him a cute hat and outfit. He leaves the hat on his head for about 15 seconds a time!

Natalie and Amanda were lucky enough to get some too, but only Amanda would let me take her picture. Awww....



Thanks, Grandma!!

Family

We love it when we get to spend time with our families, since we do not have many opportunities to do so. Grandma Jean and Auntie Shelly made the trek from Albuquerque over Labor Day Weekend to spend time with the kiddies and help out with Will's birthday party (photos to come). Here are some shots from their first night here when we all got to relax in our new and improved back yard.

Before and After...And Some Stats

Here is a shot of Will's first birthday cupcake BEFORE he got his hands on it. (There is just one candle, the other things that look like candles are chocolate sticks.)


And here is Will AFTER. He did some real damage, although I think he ate very little.....

And this is just a cute picture of our little guy who is now walking. Watch out world, here he comes! He only makes it about 10 steps at a time but I vividly recall how the girls so quickly moved from 10 steps to a full out sprint!

He also had his one-year check up recently. He weighs in at a whopping 20 lbs 6.4 oz (15th percentile), which is only a few pounds less than the girls weigh. And he's 30" tall (55th percentile). At the conclusion of the appointment, our doctor pronounced him "perfect." We couldn't agree more!