my girls

Kate:
-no more diapers! thanks to coercion with Diego stickers and promise of a Princess dress... she's getting close!
-is very complimentary. "I like your white teeth" is a favorite of hers
-loves nursery. most mornings she asks "Is it Sunday today?"
-is in to pretend play. most days she is going to school at BYU or on a boat ride
-knows her shapes and colors
-is working on learning the sounds of her letters. She has made some progress, although right now most letters say "Ba"
-still asks when we are going home to our house on Cottage Street
-informs me that gwen is crying by saying "Mom, Gwen is mad at you again"
-other favorites: popsicles, El Pollo Loco, Diego music (a CD we picked up at the library that I can't wait to return!), the park, snuggling before bed, the red trolley car in seal beach
-is always looking out for her little sis. whenever we start getting ready to leave the house, she always asks "Can Gwen come too?"

Gwen:
-is getting huge. really fast.
-sits up and scoots around. the stationary baby phase is ending. sigh
-has her 2 bottom teeth
-still snorts when she laughs
-sleeps through the night... although is often woken up by her sister too early!
-likes to chew on everything
-loves having a big sister to entertain her. i love that part too.
-verdict is still out on her eye color. probably not blue, but not really brown either. hazel, maybe?
-has red hair coming in
-started eating food. just rice cereal so far. and a few of kate's fruity cheerios that she lunged for today in church.
I love my sidekicks.

nap time

It was 4:00. It seemed late for them to both still be asleep. I went to check on them and found this. Kate reading stories to Gwen in her crib. I'm beginning to understand how 2 kids are easier than 1!

Compare and Contrast

Last year this time... we were starting to wear sweaters and coats. Picking apples and pumpkins. Watching the leaves change. Enjoying the crisp Autumn air.
This year we are at the beach! Did you know it's the last day of Summer? I'm not sure if there is such a thing around here... it feels like it is always summer to us!

Where's Pablo?

Proud of his 2 seconds of fame on the world's largest jumbo tron at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Go Cougars!

Utah

Labor day weekend while Paul was in Dallas at a BYU football game (another blog post) I packed up the girls and we went to Utah. It was the first time I had flown with the 2 girls by myself, but being used to flying cross country, the trip to Utah seemed pretty quick!

Kate is still talking about the trip and today was pretending she was eating lunch at the cougar eat with Aunt Lauren. A turkey sandwich with pink lemonade to be exact. (How does she remember that?)

Other highlights of the trip were staying with Matt and Rachel and playing with their princess toys (quite impressive--they don't even have kids yet!) and of course seeing Peter.These two kids are so cute to watch together. The weeks leading up to our trip whenever I would tell Kate we were going to Utah she would shout "Hey, that's where my friend Peter lives!" We were happy to visit them in their temporary home in Utah and wish they weren't moving so far away again! See more of these two in action here.

footprints on my floor

After putting the girls to bed the other night I walked into my bedroom feeling exhausted from a long, hot day. I noticed this footprint on my floor in the reflection of light from the bathroom and couldn't help but smile and feel happy--even though I had just mopped the floor the night before. This footprint is a great symbol of my life nowadays and the happy, bustling (and sometimes messy) home that we share.