Father's Day

We had a busy day, but it was nice spending time with both sides of our family! Ben & I are so thankful for our Dads. Our fathers are truly two of the kindest men I have ever met. They are really a lot alike. Both of them are hard working, laid back, generous, honest and Godly men. Our girls are so fortunate to have two Grandfathers that are not only wonderful Papa's, but wonderful men! Thanks to our Dads for all their love and support over the course of our lives. I know Ben and I can honestly say we are the people we are today because of their influence in our life. Thanks and WE LOVE YOU!!! Happy Father's Day!

Papa with his girls!

3 Generations

Grammy rocked Anna to sleep... what a sweet, sweet picture!

Spray Park

Last week we met Deanna and Brittney at the spray park for a picnic lunch and fun in the water! The kids had a great time playing in the fountains. It was a warm day so the cool water was such a relief (I got a little wet, too!!). Olivia and Grant slept most of the time and Anna enjoyed watching the action from the baby carrier! We had a great time! You've gotta love Summer!!

Claire leaning over to tell Landon a secret! Poor Landon... Claire and big girl Anna (as Claire refers to her!) are always trying to hold his hand or hug him. He really isn't interested in public displays of affection at all!

Anna watching all the activity! She didn't make a peep in the 2 hours we were there. She's such an easy baby!

"This is FUN!"

Landon looking cute at the picnic table!

Isn't this the sweetest picture of Olivia & Grant?!?!

Anna & Claire playing!

A cute picture of all three of the kids having fun in the sun! They were a blast to watch!!!

Almost Sitting

Anna is pretty much sitting up by herself. She just gets tired and her balance isn't great. She definitely has the strength and will! She is kind of at that stage where she wants to do more than she can and she gets bored. She is hard to entertain right now. She loves sitting up with the Boppy around her because she can sit up for long periods of time and play. Claire likes giving Anna toys to play with and she also dances and sings for her. It's so funny! It's like Claire thinks she has an audience when Anna is sitting on the floor! She is quite the performer, too!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is big enough to sit up!! Oh... how quickly the times goes by!

Scaredy CAT????

In the last couple weeks we have had some pretty bad thunder storms. If any of you know Greyhounds, you know they are usually VERY thunder phobic. Actually, they are scared of loud noises in general. Both of our Greyhounds have been terrified of thunder storms and the 4th of July is the worst day of the year for them. We have to tranquilize Sophie during the fireworks. We learned our lesson the first year we had Maddie and we locked her in our bedroom during the fireworks display. She literally tried to escape because she was so terrified. She pulled down our blinds and curtains, she tried digging under the door which destroyed our carpet, she chewed on our bedroom furniture and more. Needless to say, we have tranquilized our dogs on the 4th ever since!

Sophie is a smart dog! She knows that one of the safest places during a bad storm is in a bathroom. She actually tried to get to the basement (even safer), but the door was closed. Poor baby!! She was shaking like a leaf!

Craft Time

I try to do a craft with Claire at least once a week. This week I decided to get the paints out to make Nuna a GET WELL SOON card because she had surgery yesterday (she is doing well!!). Claire really enjoys coloring, painting, using chalk, stickers, glue and anything else that is crafty. She was very proud of the card she made Nuna and loved giving it to her when we went to visit her in the hospital! It turned out pretty cute. I also added Claire & Anna's handprints on the card! I think I had as much fun as Claire!!

Grammy gave Claire these paints for Easter. They are really nice because you squeeze the paint out and they have a brush at the end so you just brush on the paint. Claire got the hang of it quickly!

Even though the paints had a brush, it was too tempting not to use fingers as well!!

Both sides of the card we made Nuna!

We also made Grammy a picture!

Nature Hike

Ben was off last week so we tried to go on a couple "family outings". One of the outings was a trip to a local reserve for a little hike along the river. For some reason (one I still do not fully understand), Ben thought it would be a great idea to get IN the river with the girls and Sophie. It was one of those moments when you think in your head "this doesn't seem like a smart idea", but despite my better judgement, I kept my mouth shut because I want Claire and Anna to enjoy nature and experience life to its fullest! Well, as Ben was climbing up the river bank to get out of the water, he slipped because the bank was really muddy from all the recent rain and he fell forward. Now mind you, he was holding Claire's hand and he had Anna in the baby carrier and was also holding Sophie's leash. Claire obviously went down with him, but thankfully only Anna's hand got muddy. Claire definitely got the muddiest of all of them. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. It was kind of funny, but I was frustrated that we had a completely mud covered toddler. We had quite a trek back to the car plus a 10 minute drive home. We ended up stripping Claire to her diaper and using wet wipes to get some of the mud off. When we got home she went straight into the bath tub! It was quite an adventure!!

Ben, Anna & Sophie

Claire insisted on holding Sophie's leash. Sophie is excellent on a lead and doesn't pull so we were fine with Claire holding her. Plus, we were right there if there was a problem!!

Claire slowing down to let Sophie sniff around (above & below pictures!)

This was right when they got in the water. Sophie was so cute pouncing in the water! She loved it! She was also VERY muddy and had to get a bath!

Cute picture of Claire looking up at Ben!

I didn't get many pictures after the fall, but I think Ben captured this picture of Claire looking "not so happy" with mud all over her!

Claire was so muddy her Crocs kept falling off her feet. Poor girl!

Uncle Brad

Uncle Brad came in from Atlanta last weekend for the Memorial Day holiday. We were so happy to see him. He hadn't been home since Christmas and last saw Anna when she was just a few days old. She has changed so much in 5 months! We have had a great time just hanging out with Brad. Ben & Brad have been able to do a lot together in the last week. I wish Brad lived closer because I know Ben has a lot of fun with Brad. They definitely keep us laughing when they are together. You've got to love "guy humor"!!

The Cutting Family- We don't get many pictures with ALL of us!

I love this picture of Brad with both his nieces! Claire recently learned to say "cheese" when we take her picture and we get the funniest pictures now!

Uncle Brad & Anna

Anna's 5 Month Quilt Pictures

My sweet, little Anna turned 5 months old on May 21st. She is getting very STRONG and is definitely enjoying having some control over her body. She is at that age where holding her is a full time job. If she decides she wants to arch her back or squirm, she could come right out of your arms. She pretty much has mastered getting out of the Bumbo. So... gone are the days that I can just put her in the Bumbo while I try to get a few things done! She still continues to be a great baby and seems pretty low-key. I know she is still young and we can't wait to watch as her personality continues to blossom. I love being a mother to two little girls and as much as I worried about their 17 month age difference when I was pregnant with Anna, I truly wouldn't want it any other way! I love that Claire & Anna are so close in age and I know they will always have each other throughout life! God's plan & timing are so much better than mine! Anna is wearing her beautiful dedication gown Grammy got for her!

Our miss smiley was not in the smiling mood when I took these pictures. I took them right before nap time so it was bad timing on my part!

A good shot her her laying flat in her gown!

Even though she isn't smiling here, I think she has such a sweet, pleasant little face!

RiverBlast 2008

This afternoon we went Downtown for RiverBlast 2008. It was such a pretty day and we knew we wanted to do something outdoors. RiverBlast was a lot of fun and we went early, before it got too busy or too hot. Claire, once again, had a great time on the inflatables. There were a bunch of inflatables and several were even free. We also watched a Purina dog frisbee show. The guy that was there had several dogs that performed and they were all National or World Champions. It was amazing to watch the acrobatics of the dogs (and the handler for that matter)! It was quite impressive and our little dog lover, Claire, seemed to be enthralled by it. We were in the very front so she got a great view of the action! She actually tried to climb over the railing a couple times to get an even closer look at the "doggies"!

More inflatable fun!

She didn't seem to mind that the other kids were quite a bit older and bigger than her. Sometimes she had a hard time standing up because of all the bouncing from the other kids, but that only seemed to add to her fun!

She went on a total of 6 inflatables while we were there and it STILL wasn't enough for her!

Claire really liked "Cindy" the dog!

Claire's front row view of the show!

Claire enjoyed leaning over the rail! Look how long her hair has gotten!

This dog is balancing on the handlers feet! WOW!!! The tricks were spectacular!