Peeking in our Window

It is important to never forget to accessorize!
Aaahh, a moment of sharing....aaaaahhhhh.....if only these moments lasted longer!

Learning to color, in between tasting crayons.

And, this is what happens when becca leaves the paper lying around 'til Tuesday before taking the coupons out to clip.

Grass is Greener

I give Anna-Kate and Mary-Knowles their sippy cups. They take a sip, see the other cup, and decide "I must have that one." Today the girls had identical purple cups. They took a sip, and even still, they had to switch!

Uuummm, does anyone know why they always seem to get sick at the same time?

Da-ddy!

I have one serious daddy's girl! If Anna-Kate sees someone wearing glasses, she says, "daddy." If she sleeps her nap at our house, from the moment she wakes up I hear, "daddy? daddy?" If she sleeps her nap at MK's house, then from the moment we get in the car to go home I hear, "daddy? daddy?" If she hears a loud vehicle in the distance, she says, "daddy?"

As I cook dinner, Anna-Kate periodically goes to the window to see if daddy has come home yet. It is sooo cute!

Again! Again!

Mary-Knowles's grandma came to town this week. We went to Cary Towne Mall, which meant we had to ride the carousel!
Anna-Kate could not have been more excited!

This picture is a lot cuter than the tears that happened when we had to get off the carousel!

PS How tall does AK look on that horse?

Reunion Recap

My ten year high school reunion was this past weekend.

I was excited to go and show off my family to my old friends, friends/people that I haven't seen in ten years. (And, yes, I did shop for weeks to find the perfect outfits for the events, a picnic at lunch and dinner/drinks in the evening.)

The planning got a little crazy, but it was fun to be working on a project with some of my friends. As I heard their voices on the phone, I felt like I was 14, standing in the kitchen using the phone with the longest cord. (Phones with cords...and that is what will date me to my children.)

Katie (above), Kasey and Joseph (below)

I love this picture! It was nice to see that this was the most common greeting, not awkward smiles or snubs.

Actually, we all commented that it was neat to watch people interact. Time had passed such that the cliques were gone. Everyone wanted to know what everyone else was up to. Not until the end of the night when we had all said, "what do you do now?" so much that we couldn't listen to one more answer did people start to return to the friends they had kept up with. (Right around 50 graduates, 1/3 of our class, came!)

The Class of 2000 would like to introduce you to the Class of 2027 and 2028!

Anna-Kate, you are meeting boys a little earlier in life than I had thought about it for you. At least I like his parents and know where his family comes from (Katie's son Bly).

Thanks to Kasey for all the pictures!

Marbles

Today the girls and I went to Marbles Kids Museum for the first time.
Anderson and Ashley let us join them. Anderson showed the girls how to work the museum!

This was the only 2 minute period that the three kids stood together.

Anna-Kate and Mary-Knowles's first real interest was the grocery area.

Mary-Knowles brought some of the groceries in from the garden.

Anna-Kate preferred to shop the shelves.

Mary-Knowles clearly had an agenda to keep; she was very busy!

Once Anna-Kate found the medical area, she put this stethoscope on and wouldn't take it off.

Anderson picked this baby up and calmed him down with "Rock-a-baby."

Anna-Kate saw a whole ring of balls and her eyes lit up as though it was designed just for her!

One of my favorites to watch was the girls on the dance floor. Nice Ipod, Marbles! (Can you tell by MK's face that this was at the end of the morning? :)

Anna-Kate gave Michelle Tanner a run for her money as she danced to the music.

Marbles, don't you worry, we will be back!!

Too cute

to not share.

It's Tough...

...being a toddler.
Maybe I should have warned you about the harsh nature of this post. Doesn't Anna-Kate look pitiful in that picture?! The above was taken yesterday. The below was taken today. Anna-Kate fell down while walking back from checking the mail. She recovered quickly, but her face remains quite pitiful.

Watching Anna-Kate learn to walk, cut teeth, ... I really do believe it is not always an easy life being a baby. It has its perks, but not all of it is easy. I also admit that it is not easy being the mom (and the dad) that have to watch these hard moments of stumbling or painful teething or...

Today

Today my normal two became three! Emma joined us for the day since her sitter has a sick baby to care for. Right now, as I type, all three girls are sleeping at the same time (aaahhh). They have been good to me.

Mary-Knowles (17 months), Anna-Kate (15 months), Emma (11 months)

We had been in the house too long. I don't have a car for three car seats, so this is what getting out of the house looked like for us four girls! Thanks to a random neighbor for taking the picture for me.

The walk was good for us all. We enjoyed being outside in this gorgeous weather! I was a little tired at the end of the walk, but the girls said they were okay.

We came back to the house for some play time and then meal time. Anyone who has toddlers knows that meal time can make or break you. They all ate well! Emma, maybe you are a good influence on MK and AK.

Before nap time, the girls finished the morning by playing. They had been playing together so well that it is not surprising that they each took a minute to be by themselves.

Emma rocked for a minute, taking in the antics of her two buddies.

Like her daddy, Anna-Kate enjoyed a quiet minute of reading before getting back on the floor with the other ladies.

Mary-Knowles really wanted a quiet moment. I don't know if she should be allowed to do this, but like any good mom/nanny, I ran for the camera.

In between taking these two pictures, MK looked up at me and said, "bye."

Anna-Kate, Emma, Mary-Knowles, I enjoyed our day together!

Party Like It's

2000!!

My ten-year high school reunion is here. (Somehow I am the one collecting the money, which is why I am an absentee blogger this week.) Ten year reunion! Crazy!! In honor of my high school reunion and the year 2000, I thought I would share some random facts about my year 2000. Here is becca, 10 years ago:

I was way-too-involved in high school. The year I graduated I was a leader in Student Government, a leader in FCA, never missed Young Life, assistant to the coact for both boys' and girls' soccer team, helped with the yearbook, worked one or two days a week at a local coffee house, and went to a lot of the minor club meetings as well (FTA, French Club, National Honors Society, ...)

I had a great group of girls that I hung out with, pretty much every weekend. We had game nights, overnights in a barn and in the mountains, tons of surprise birthday parties, and of course lots of note-passing in French class and stalling in Statistics class.

The first four songs listed in a search for the most popular song of 2000 went to Brittany Spears.

Literally ten years ago, I was starting at Gardner-Webb University. I had never had my own computer or my own email address before then. Mostly I emailed my high school buddies!

Now, it is ten years later and time for the big reunion. A family picnic for lunch and a dinner on Saturday night. I can't quite believe it is time for a high school reunion, and I feel like it has been a lifetime since I have seen most of these people.

Our Weekend

We have had such a great three day weekend!! It has been nice spending the weekend in Raleigh, just the three of us. We have been relaxed, doing a lot of our favorite things. We took Anna-Kate to a park. We have watched a movie every night. (Date Night good, Bounty Hunter okay, Backup Plan blah....good husband to watch those with his girl) We have eaten in and out. We have even done a few productive things: (Will) wash my car, join BJs, grocery shop.

Our favorite parts have been Saturday and today. Saturday we met Will's parents downtown for Krispy Kreme and a walk to burn off the donuts! Then today we went to Chapel Hill. Will showed me and Anna-Kate his new office surroundings. I love spending time with my family!