Fashionistas

I think these photos of summer fun speak for themselves.

16 month old Brooklyn

This post is SO BELATED, because I wanted to add a video & I couldn't find it on my computer... so I've just reloaded it and I still can't find it. Argh. It will be coming soon.

At her 16 month check up Brooklyn is measuring in the 52% for height... she's TALL for our family!

I just love everything about this stage of childhood. Each new discovery is magical... from puddles to thunder to barking dogs to climbing on the kitchen counter. She is also our most 'destructive' child, though. About a month ago she & I were upstairs doing laundry... or something. I came downstairs to check on Caitlyn when suddenly I heard a loud C*R*A*S*H as something shattered on the tile upstairs. I ran up to find Brooklyn standing in the bathroom sink, pointing at the Q-tip jar on the floor, saying "Uh-oh". Sigh. Thank goodness she hadn't toppled over the sink with the jar. Good thing we love her!!! She's just at that magical age of exploring everything... and getting in the middle of everything. She's like a fly in the ointment. But this too shall pass, so we are enjoying it to the fullest.

She's really trying to communicate with us and says a few words. We know that she is understanding everything we tell her, because she 'obeys' any instruction we give her. Ie: Let's wash our hands. Get your shoes on. Let's go change your diaper. It's just too darn cute.

So far she says: mama, daddy, bumpa (grandpa), peese (please), ish (fish), sss (shoes), mo (more and milk), num num (food), nana (banana), ine (mine), and a few more.

Oh, and she says ah-ive, (olive). This could be her favorite food!

Keeping up with the sisters... one morning before school they all created a masterpiece. Lovin' her cheesy smile.

More Wedding Photos

This is the best we could do with a non-cooperative 1 year old. And the whole Carruth fam... silly style.

What's more American than baseball?

Nothing, really! We took advantage of the free tickets the girls earned for participating in the reading program at the library this summer. This was the first Major League Baseball game that any of us have attended & it did not disappoint. It's tradition for the fans of the Astros to sing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" a few times and watch a train car filled with oranges go across the stadium for a home run. Although, if you look closely you'll see that we were on the LAST row, up against the wall, behind the AC units. Perfect seats for us!! We tried our best to explain the rules of baseball... they were only semi-interested. However, they loved the cotton candy and Sprite... oh, and the pre-game picnic in the car.

P.S. I'm SUPER behind on my summer posting. So we're all going to re-live summer as I get caught up.

A Week of Firsts

This is only a week late...
Madisen:
Our sweet oldest girly is now officially a kindergartner. She was so excited on the first day of school that she was up at 5:15. Bill and I had to lay by the girls to keep them in their beds until 6 and then they were up and eager.
Notice those tennis shoes.... she tried on a few sparkly pair, but this 'taller' and more comfortable pair won! She wears them everyday! (Oh, and the polka dot dress was the 2nd outfit for the morning. The green smoothie landed right in the middle of the dress during breakfast.)
Here she is in her classroom. The Hannah Montana jacket is b/c the school is FREEZING & no one can concentrate when they are freezing.
The above photo was taken just moments before we had a little melt down. I had taken Madisen to school and walked her to her classroom the first day. She wanted me to help her get settled and then as I went to leave, she got very sad. It was heartbreaking to me! I hugged her, fighting back tears of my own. After a few minutes of crying in the room, we moved to the hall where we could chat alone. She kept saying, "I want to go with you. I don't want to stay here. Please take me with you. I want to go home." I held her in the hall and we cried together. For a brief moment I looked down the long hall and thought, "OK, let's go home and try again tomorrow. Or maybe I'll keep her home and teach her myself for 1 year. This really is a long day and a lot to expect of a mere 5 year old." But I knew that would get us no where fast, so I mustered up all of my courage and bravely told her that she needed to stay at school. I came up with every excuse in the book... "New shoes, new clothes, new class & new friends, new backpack, get to eat the lunch we packed, etc." for why she should stay. Finally I let her choose something special that she wanted to do after school. That got her back in the room, but I still left her in tears.

She made it through the day. But at the end of the week we ended up changing her into a different classroom. Her new teacher, Mrs. Hollis, is a perfect fit for Madisen! She's firm but friendly, structured and appropriately nurturing for a kindergarten teacher. If you ask Madisen what her favorite thing about school is she'll say... recess! She's already making friends in her class. We are looking forward to a GREAT year!

Caitlyn:
This precious girl started preschool! She has 2 AMAZING teachers from our neighboring ward and there are 9 church friends in her class. She was elated to pick out her first day of school outfit and carry her backpack (which is almost as big as her).
Caitlyn's latest loves are her Cars flip-flops, playing cars, singing songs, The Backyardagains, gymnastics (NOT dance), practicing writing for school and being the big sister!
Brooklyn:
Oh wow this little girl is getting TOO BIG TOO FAST!! She thinks she's much older than she is. Three other moms and I started a little 2 hour play group for our young ones. We are rotating houses for some structured play once a week while Caitlyn is at school. Last week it was my turn and I really enjoyed having some time to focus on Brooklyn.

Can you tell that the 3 girls all have older sisters? (There is a little boy in the group, but he was off racing cars or something while they were trying on shoes.)

I can't believe how big my baby is getting!! She wants to do EVERYTHING the big girls are doing. Which is why she's up at the table, doing dot art in her paint shirt. The only dots I did on that page are the blue ones that you can see carefully placed in the arc. She was so pleased to be dotting the paper with colors!

And today she carried her own purse- loaded with a diaper and snack- into her friend's house. What happened to my little baby?

The beauty of gluten free cooking

is that these semi-nicely shaped cookies
surprisingly turned into this flat mess. Which was not easy to scrape off the pan.
So Brooklyn's cookies now look more like granola in a tupperware. And she'll be eating crumbs. At least they taste good.

If you send your husband to the grocery store...

he might see that meat is on sale. Then he'll decide to get some. So he'll bring it home and place it in your refrigerator, just like this.