Grace Talked Her Into It!

Great shot focused on the kids getting their haircut in the background.

It's the only one I got and barely looked through the viewfinder when I took it since it was nap time, we had been there for 45 minutes, and little E. was climbing in the foot spa tub trying to play with the bath salts!

Reesi, Elye, Grace, and I went to the mall yesterday to beat the heat by playing indoors. On the way Grace starting talking about Reesi getting her ears pierced. She convinced her it wouldn't hurt and she should do it today. Reesi agreed to think about it while we were at the mall. After playing and having lunch, Reesi decided that today was the day. I was actually in shock that Reesi would ever purposely put herself through pain. This is the girl the couldn't walk for several hours after her kindergarten shots. She's just not the toughest one of the bunch. So we home and got the camera headed to Divas and Dudes. We ended up having to wait 45 minutes to get her ears done! I was not very happy with the place for several reasons, but I won't go into that here. The lady who actually did them was super sweet and did a great job. Reesi didn't even seem nervous during that 45 minute wait. However, since there was only one lady who could do the piercing, that meant she had to do them one at a time. After the first one there were big tears and big cries. We tried to comfort her with a sucker, but she just said she wanted to get it over with. It broke my heart to watch her little body trembling waiting for the second piercing. But she finally did it and 3 minutes later was fine. She is so excited and is making sure she takes excellent care of them. My baby girl is growing up.

Granny's 75!

Tonight we celebrated Granny Snoddy's birthday over at Karen's house. We all ate, the girls (Grace and Lyla came) swam, and Elye rocked and sang for us all(in her own language). Happy Birthday, Granny!

E. at 15

This is my favorite face you make every time something is surprising or exciting.

It makes me laugh every time.

Elye, at 15 months you . . .

-are jabbering constantly. Every once in a while there are actually words mixed in. Some of your new words are shoe, gank goo (thank you), Mimi (when she is around you just walked around yelling it every time you need/want something),ah, maa (ah, man-I didn't realize this, but apparently I say this phrase frequently when I drop something or mess something up) . . .

-you love to be outside.

-hate to play alone in the house. This means I get very little done with you around.

-throw fits. You threw your head back on the concrete at the pool the other week. I thought you were going to have a concussion! However, around our house you have learned to throw your head back slowly.

-absolutely love music and dancing!

-are already down to one nap a day, 2-3 hour afternoon nap.

-ride-a-horsey is a favorite game. You always fall down before we even get to that part in the song.

-give out real kisses.

-can be pretty ornery (pulling hair, scratching faces), but all your cuteness makes up for it.

-weigh 19 pounds and 2 ounces (4th percentile)

-are 30.25 inches tall (40th percentile)

-have a head circ. of 17.72 inches (25th percentile)

Afternoon on the Harpeth

Reesi, getting a lesson on skipping rocks from the master.

"Ooooh," said Elye.

I love this concoction that was built for the rope swing.

Larry joked that I used to be adventurous and would have gone off the swing.

I think it's not that I was scared, but I really didn't want to have to ride home soaking wet in dirty water.

I guess I am officially old.

Shelby Street Bridge

Reesi and her ginormous sunflower she grew. Ironically, she name it Daisy.

As you can tell, Elye was not feeling like cooperating that night.

The girls and I left Larry alone for almost a week, so when I got home we were ready for some family time. Saturday night Larry had to swing by Shelby fields so we decided to make a night of it. We went downtown to hit Satco and walk the Shelby Street Bridge. It was a busy night downtown with arm-banded American Idol hopefuls taking a break from the try-outs and some unidentified concert on the Riverfront. On our way back to our car we decided to let the girls play in the water in front of the Capital. We had no towel or extra clothes. Reesi rode home in wet undies and a dry shirt found in the bottom of the stroller and Elye rocked the white trash diaper look, but they didn't care a bit. They just loved the water. Even though Elye screamed and cried most of the car ride there and back and would only ride in her stroller 25% of the time, it was still a fabulous family night.

Good, Cheap Fun

Indiana, Again

Her fanny pack full of dog treats

Boyd's corn on the cob

The girls and I decided to take advantage of the fact that there is no school, no work, and they feed us for free. So we are in Indiana for the week, again. It's just so much more fun to play outside here than in our backyard! Over the past couple days Reesi's been working on training Sophie and Elye's been raiding the pantry.

The Fourth of July

I think this is my face trying to decide if I should let her lay her little head on a dirty goat or make her scream.

I decided to let her lay her head on a dirty goat.

Reesi at Sweet Cece's.

Sarah and Elye

This is the dog that Elye fell in love with. She would lay her head on him and wrap her arms around him. The sweet little dog just let her do whatever she wanted.

Our no good, horrible, firework spot. We'll know better next year.

On the actual Fourth of July Larry got home in time to celebrate. We headed downtown Franklin for Franklin on the Fourth. We ate with Karen and Van and walked around looking at the booths set up. After about an hour in stroller Elye was ready to get out. We let her out and she started dancing to the music immediately. She loved it! We also went to the petting zoo. Elye would go up to the sheep and goats and lay her head on them(I did try to sanitize her head afterwards). She loves animals!

We then ran into Bob and Sarah from school and went for some yogurt at Sweet Cece's. At this point Elye had already decided she was not going to get back in the stroller. Sarah was sweet enough to help us out with holding her and following her as she tried to run away. Elye was loving it! After Lori Morgan performed we went to find the perfect spot for fireworks. It turned out it wasn't such a great spot after all, but we made the best of it. We didn't get home until 10:15, which is the latest Elye has ever stayed up. I can't believe she made it the whole time without a major breakdown. I think she just loved being outside and being able to explore!