Headlines!

Several important and notable things have happened in the last week or so that are blog worthy. However, instead of devoting an entire blog to each event I have decided to skim through them like you would the Sunday paper and mention only the headlines. Here goes...

Jack Says "Mama".

Actaully, he says "Ma Na", but its clear what he means. This, obviously, isn't a picture of him saying, "Ma Na", but I can't really get a picture of that. He only says it when he is crying or distressed and I think it was after this bath, which Bryan gave him, that he said it for the first time. And, he looked pretty cute in his little tub anyway.

Lilly Discovers Lip Gloss.

And, she discovers that her father will do almost anything she wants. When Lilly asked Bryan about opening up the lip gloss he readily agreed. I'm sure he thought she would be the one wearing it. Unfortunately for him, she had no interest in wearing any, but she did want to put some on him. Well, actually she wanted to put a lot on him...and a tiara.

Jack Pulls Up And Stands

...on some paper towels that I haven't put away. He has been pulling up a few other times, but this was actually the first. Today, in fact Jack tried to stand while holding onto Lilly's step stool in her room, sadly, he lost his balance and bumped his cheek.

Jack Discovers The Dog's Water.

Jack LOVES the dog water. It is his new favorite toy. If I turn my back on him for even a second he is heading for the water bucket as fast as he can. And, that is surprisingly fast considering he is still dragging himself along using only his big toes, one arm and a hand. When I see him and say, "Jack NO!" He just looks at me and goes faster. I might as well have shouted, "Jack HURRY!"

Lilly And Jack Have Started To Play With Each Other

Which means they are only a short time away from fighting with each other.

Leap Of Faith-Lilly Jumps Off The Diving Board

As you know, Lilly has been taking swimming lessons since early June. At the very first lesson her instructor assured me that by the end of summer Lilly would be swimming under water and jumping off of the board. I doubted him. But, he was right on both accounts.

You had to know that I couldn't just list the headlines without a little bit of explanation to go with it.

Something to Blog About

We've had a pretty relaxing couple of weeks, as far as our social calendar is concerned. Other than the Fourth of July, we haven't done a whole lot that I can blog about. But, that doesn't mean we don't have new things to share, we just haven't had many plans...and its been great.

Like I said, we have plenty to share and the kids continue to grow, regardless of our plans. The biggest news may be that Jack is up and on the move. He has recently started sitting up on his own. It took a while and I was beginning to think he was lazy. But, he must have decided it was time because one day I sat him on his little bottom and he just stayed there...before intentionally rolling onto his belly and crawling away. By crawling, I mean dragging himself along on his tummy like a army recruit scurrying under a barbed wire fence. It may not be graceful, but he gets where he wants to go and he can get there pretty quick if he's motivated.

Here he is, taking advantage of Lilly's nap time to play with her doll house and eat some of its people.

Another blog worthy event is Lilly's swim lessons. She loves to play at the pool, but hasn't ever been a huge fan of leaving the steps. We've all tried to coax her out into the deeper water and even attempted to teach her some beginner swimming, all with not much luck. So, we decided to hire a relative stranger, Alex Masten, to come over and teach her and her friend Avery how to swim. Both girls have progressed at a rapidly and are right on target for their age. Lilly looks forward to her lesson and loves her teacher. She blows bubbles, puts her head and face under, kicks her feet, attempts some strokes and even jumps off the edge to Alex. The next step will be to use a kick board and maybe jump off the diving board to her teacher.

One day at lessons Avery showed up with the same suit on. Unlike adult women, Lilly and Avery were delighted that they had on the same swimsuit on the same day and in the same place.

Jack likes the water too, but isn't quite ready to join in the lessons. Although, I doubt we'll have any trouble getting him into the pool when its time.

July 1st..and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th

For the third year in a row Bryan's sister, Cammie, and her family, along with Bryan's parents, joined us for the fourth of July. As usual, we kept busy and had a blast. But, this year was made even more special by the fact that July 4 came on the heels of the Maynard's move from Germany back to the US and the fact that Ed was able to join us. Celebrating Independence Day with a soldier and his family brings the holiday into a whole new light and makes me appreciate that I get to spend every holiday with my family.
Every year the kids in our neighborhood put together a small parade on the morning of the fourth. And, every year we stand outside and watch it and say how much Lilly would have liked to have been in it. Well, this year we were prepared. Morgan helped Lilly design and decorate a head band to wear. Then, a few of us (not Bryan, kind of a sore subject) made tie dyed shirts to show our spirit. See, look how much fun we're having. Granddad, Lilly and Jack practicing for the parade.

Cammie and Jack. Jack misses his aunt Cammie, she was always there to change him, feed him and hold him while I did other things. It was the most liberating weekend I've had since he was born. I miss aunt Cammie too...

Third of July fireworks: because you just aren't American if you don't spend your mortgage payment on explosives.

Heading off to finally be in the neighborhood parade!

Morgan and Jack sat the parade out, but still wore their new t-shirts.

The parade. Courtney and Aiden stopped by for a visit just in time to join in on the fun.

Everyone in their new shirts.

Later, we headed down to the park for some inflatable fun and later the fireworks. Lilly loves the inflatables and didn't even need Matthew's help this year.

She was so proud to climb up all by herself and then slide down.

Lilly didn't need Matthew to help her climb up the slide, but she still took advantage of him for a shoulder ride.

I love fireworks and worried for days that I was going to have to miss them because Jack would be afraid. I even bought him some ears plugs and had an emergency exit strategy when the show started. It was all for nothing. Jack fell asleep before the fireworks started and never even flinched when they started going off. But, you can see the little green ear plug.