Just another sunday

Since my last posting, my brother and Taya had a beautiful baby boy, Theo Denis. We can't wait to meet him in person in July when we travel to the west coast. Click on the above link to follow my brother's blog about parenthood. We've been skyping with Paul, Taya and Theo about every other day and it's interesting to see parenthood through their eyes.

This weekend we were busy around the house. We (I) planted flowering bushes, we for Mother's day. The girls stayed out of the way for the most part and played nicely in the sandbox, although Claire did help with the watering. They both needed baths afterward. And in the afternoon, Claire helped water most of the bushes in the front yard. She is such a good kid.

This Sunday marked the start of something new for Claire and me, as we are going to have breakfast together (just the two of us) every weekend - or at least try to. Mom had Claire in a dress and I took her to IHOP. She was the best dressed in the whole restaurant. And I had a coupon. After discussing the weather and current events in the middle east, we got down to brass tacks, what we were we going to do after our nap this afternoon.

Turns out we didn't do too much as someone (not me) slept until 4pm. Oh well, there is always next weekend. Until then, here are a few photos from this weekend.

Like father, like daughter

So, sleep has been a popular topic around our house these days. I am sure you all know how much Mark loves to sleep. Well, it is definitely echoed and noticed in our house. Two sweet examples:
This morning, Claire, Laura and I were playing while Mark was at church. Just before 9am, suddenly Laura comes over to me, whines, gives me a hug and then walks over to the stairs and looks at me. I walk over and she starts crawling up the stairs, walks to her room, I change her and she goes down for a nap. Like clockwork! Love it!!
The other night, Claire and I were reading the Dr. Seuss book, Maybe you should fly a jet, maybe you should be a vet. As we are going through each page, she would tell me what she wanted to be. When she got to this page, she said, "That's what daddy wants to be!" I will let you guess which one she chose. I just about fell off the bed laughing.
Anyway, all is great in our household. Laura is learning words daily. She's got book, ball, bird, baby, mommy, dada, and foot down pat. Of course, that is in addition to what's that and who's that. She is developing quite the personality, too. As everyone who meets her agrees, she is a mini-mark - both looks and personality. She is very serious, but also very mischievous - a total tease. She loves Claire and Claire loves her. Actually, Claire gets very upset if she doesn't get to kiss her before she takes a nap/goes to bed.
We also have pictures from Claire and Mark's work together planting my mother's day roses and gardenias and also from their special outing this morning for breakfast. Will post those to Mark's picasa account later.
Hope you are all well-rested!
Lynn

Happy Mother's day

Lynn celebrated her fourth Mother's day with a photo shoot with the girls. As you can see, someone was not cooperating. Anway, we culled 250 photos down to these. The day started off great, as Nick, Curt and I came up with a great plan while we were golfing on Saturday. We were going to cook breakfast for our wives. Mimosas, eggs, bacon, has browns, fruit, and french toast. It was cholesterol heaven. After breakfast we all went to Kristi's work where she has a gym for kids to do exercises. The kids had a ball. There were 6 adults and 5 kids.

During the past week we were treated to Grammy and Grampy visiting us on their annual migration north. The girls sure enjoyed having their grandparents visit. They went to the bounce house, the park, and Claire got her hair cut. I am not sure who was more tired at the end oftheir visit.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the girls first cousin. Auntie Taya and Uncle Paul are expecting any day now. The baby (sex unknown) was actually due 3 days ago. We applied for Laura's passport last week, as we are heading to Canada to mean the new family member in July.

Finally, here are some other photos from Luzma that she has taken of the girls.