Uncle Chris and Aunt Sophia

Uncle Chris and Auntie Sophia got married yesterday, 8.28.11.  Both girls were flower girls in the wedding.  Both were amazingly beautiful.  Auntie Sophia was quite stunning herself.

Maddie fell asleep on the car ride to the wedding so we had some shaky sam's when we got out of the car and the paparrazi came out.  These may be the only photos you'll see her in. 

Allie on the other hand was living it up. 

Pre-wedding jitters and a peptalk from Zaide.

pre-wedding "again, again" (referring to being chucked in the air)

The bailout

Watching the wedding from the safety of dad's arms.

Kip spent the night dancing away.  Sonja spent the night videotaping Bob dancing the night away.

Just kidding.

She just taped him once. He's a good dancer!

It's been a long week

On Thursday morning the girls and I were out in the front yard gardening.  Maddie, as best as I can tell, decided to hang off of one of our large flower pots that line our walkway to lower herself into the driveway.  It worked.  Unfortunately she fell with the very large pot.  We spent 4 hours at the doctor on Thursday and Friday we went to the orthopedist.  Maddie is very afraid of males and very afraid of the doctor.  We ended up leaving the orthoped without a cast but came back a few hours later, much calmer and prepared to have the cast put on.

The hard part is that this girl wants to swim. And she likes to blend in.  She's very shy about the cast and is worried kids will make fun of her.

2 year checkup

2 weeks

2 months

five months

six months

9 months

1 year

2 years

A healthy little girl with an above average vocabulary and the biggest smile you've ever seen.

Back in Business

I sold my camera a few weeks ago and have annoyed friends, family and strangers with "Which camera should I buy" questions.  I finally got my new one today...I opened up the box and snapped a few shots.  So much to learn. But, for now, a couple of cute little chunky monkeys.

And another beautiful sunset. I feel like I need to take a few more of these just to get me through our long, dreary winter.

Busy, busy weekend

With the years of flight training I have under my belt, not to toot my own horn here or anything, I am always prepared.  I've been wanting to go up to Crystal all summer so that we could have a little picnic at the top of the mountain and ride the gondola.  This weekend we finally made it happen.  It was great.  The end.  Just kidding, a few more deets for your reading pleasure.

Did you know that Madeline is petrified of elevators?  I blame my mother-in-law who exposed her to these horrible contraptions at too fragile of an age.  Every time I say, "we're going ______"  Madeline invariable says, "do we have to ride an elevator?"  SOOOOOO, she was not exactly thrilled with the thought of the gondola.  And there were a few tears before we got going for our adventure.  But after we got there she was (somewhat) game.  She did not however appreciate it when the operator joked with her on the way down and said, "Oops, you just missed the last one."  Fuuuhhhreeeeeaaaaakkk out. 

So, to back up even more.  On Sunday morning my mom watched the girls while Kip and I worked out.  After picking them up we ran home to pack a picnic and pick up Rudder.  Allie had a complete meltdown because I wouldn't let her eat her bunnies (little cookies shaped like bunnies) until we got to the mountain.  I mean a COMPLETE meltdown.  So, I continued to race around and pack everyone's stuff (kip was in the shower) trying not to trip over a thrashing baby.  Finally, the girls and I were all loaded into the car.  We had a nice drive up to the mountain. Both girls took much needed naps and Kip and I talked and listened to music.  About 2 miles from our destination. I looked over at Kip and said " Oh my F-ing God."

 Can you guess what I forgot??
It has to do with this little one.  (I blame the tantrum)

Check out the snazzy new sorels.  Yes, we drove 90 miles to go visit a MOUNTAIN without her shoes.  But lucky us, they had her size and winter boots were 50% off.  So, now we're ready for winter.  As long as we actually remember to put them on her.

The mountain was beautiful and both girls had a great time.  Rudder treated everyone at the picnic tables to a massive, horribly smelling poop (most of it unable to be picked up do to it's consistency- and I am still laughing out loud imagining Kip trying to pick it all up) but hey, that's how we roll.

On our way down.  Maddie's expression here cracks me up.

And finally, after a fun day at the mountain we capped everything off with a swim at a friend's pool. 

The End.