Beach pictures

Lily had a dirty diaper at the beach in Galveston, and it's hard to get cleaned up with all the sand around. We took Lily down to the ocean to rinse off, and apparently everyone around thought it was very amusing!

Lily loved her hat, and she and Camille had lots of fun building sand castles. Camille was excited to tow the boogie board around but not to go out much in the waves.

The zoo and the beach

Houston at Daddy's birthday 7/20

Camille and Lily loved to help cook Daddy's birthday cake. They also loved to eat it!

Nana and Papa got them cute caps and shirts!

Camille and Lily loved brushing the goat at the zoo with Nana and Papa while we were in Galveston.

Get-away to Galveston

Here are the only 2 photos we took during our get-away to Galveston. This was the week that the hurricane hit South Padre Island. Stormy/rainy weather is seriously what always happens when Matt and Stephanie go on vacation.

It really didn't make bad weather, just hit or miss downpours in Galveston. There was impressive wind and big waves. We had fun playing in the surf with boogie boards and taking walks in the wind. This second picture doesn't capture the big waves. I pinned my hair down right before the picture, so fortunately for me it doesn't show how my hair would frizz straight up in the wind!

They're so sweet!

Camille and Lily both love to play with the piggy bank. Lily is entertained for quite a long time putting coins in the bank. Here Camille is playing banker and has lots of change slung up in her dress, like women used hold things with their aprons.

This is Lily's first ponytail put in by mom. She was very proud of it! The next is Camille proud to show off her umptheenth ponytail.
Doesn't Lily look cute in these glasses? They are Camille's old glasses, and they've really held up well. Lily will wear them all around the house. Note those curls!!!

Last Friday Matt went out for the evening with Camille to his cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner. I was home with Lily, and she was in quite the grumpy mood. She was throwing fits about everything. She was screaming her head off as I changed her diaper and put on her PJs when Grandpa arrived to play before bed. She was so excited to see him that you wouldn't have known she had been upset but for her splotchy red face, runny nose, and tear streams down her face. They played and read books until bedtime, and she was an angel. She was even good about going to bed. Dad, so can you come over every night at 7?

Goofy kids!

We were originally trying to get a cute picture of the girls sitting together, but apparently the camera ruined the mood. Both girls turned wild. Camille went to making crazy faces. In the next picture you can see Lily trying to imitate Camille's goofy face.

Lily got to go for her first bike ride and loved it!

Here you can see Lily and Camille sharing the learning tower. This is kind of a nerve-wracking thing because my girls are jumping beans!

These lovely tongues are from ringpops that Camille gets from Daddy's hair cut trips. (I figured he might not like me to call it a salon.) Lily ended up with a blue ringpop which was really a nearly disasterous choice. Lily did love the candy, and when it came time for me to take it awa, she was furious. She threw a full out tantrum and she was drooling blue!! I was trying to keep her from throwing herself on the carpet or getting it all over my clothes, and that made her even more mad. After teeth-brushing and plenty of liquids the blue saliva finally ceased . Whew!

Cheese!

Lily's first day in the Learning Tower.

It always more fun to sit on Grandma's lap and mooch off her plate!

Better late than never!

Yes, we're still alive. I've found myself too busy to write on the blog, but I'm amazed that it's been over a month now! These pictures are old from June that we just found on our camera. I love seeing Camille and Lily holding hands walking down the sidewalk.

Lily absolutely loves being pushed around in the laundry basket. Camille is pretty sweet about it, even though Lily's heavy.

Mmm, corn on the cob. Lily loved it this night when she tried it for the first time. Corn is one of Camille's favorite foods! She always tries to convice me to buy her 2 ears of corn. If I do that it means she'll eat exclusively corn for that meal.

Chocolate Soup

This photo was taken on Father's day. Camille and Lily looked so adorable in their matching dresses that Grandma and Grandpa found at Grandma's new favorite store, Chocolate Soup. My mom and I went to Chocolate Soup last weekend and it was almost overwhelming with the amount of adorable children's clothing. Camille asks all the time if they can wear matching clothes. People tell me to do it while I can because soon Camille won't want to. It's also proven tricky to find matching clothes in girls and toddler sizes.

Mommy's night out

I went to a baby shower tonight and Matt played with the kids and put them to bed. At the shower we were all musing about the stalling techinques our children use to avoid going to sleep.

When I got home Matt told me that Lily was less than thrilled when she realized I wouldn't be putting her to bed. Camille pouted in her room for a long time and finally told Matt that he'd "hurt her feelings" when he didn't say "please" go upstairs and get your PJs on.

Camille came downstairs four times after being put to bed with these reasons:
1. "I can't remember the name of this pig" (stuffed animal)--Matt said if you don't know it, I sure don't know it! Name it whatever you want.
2. "The bathroom nightlight isn't on, and I can't see."--it wasn't even dark yet.
3. "I can't reach my chapstick and my lips are so dry."--He offerred her a handy chapstick that she'd left on my desk, but she insisted on her red chapstick upstairs in her room.
4. "Daddy, you forgot to floss my teeth and the dentist told me that I ALWAYS have to floss my teeth every day!"--She bounded up the stairs so fast that she had it all ready when he got upstairs.

One time she came down the stairs so stealth while he was working on the computer that he didn't hear a sound until he felt her tapping him on the shoulder. Ninja Camille!

He said Lily cried less than 5 minutes but it could have been 30 seconds because he couldn't hear while he was in Camille's room with the doors closed.

Kids!

Pool fun!

The girls had a great time with Daddy in our enormous back yard pool:) Lily wore her ear plugs and head band without any complaints. Lily and Camille both think it was fun to press their faces against the back door glass.

Camille and Lily can really cooperate in play when they choose to, as with the hose fun in our back yard.

Lily's first experience with the hose

Lily loved playing in the hose for the first time at Grandma's house. She loved wearing her hat and even drinking water from the hose. She had a wonderful time!

Rollin'

We borrowed a bicycle from another family in our Sunday school class, and Camille is making great progress in learning to pedal. (In this photo she's riding in her gynmastics leotard). She had limited success with her tricycle because it would tip over easily, and her legs still aren't quite long enough for her Barbie big-wheel. Camille is just about too tall for this bicycle, but it's been good for practice. Her favorite part is the bell on the handle bars. Lily likes to ride in the stroller while Camille rides around the neighborhood. Lily always has to wear a hat too.

I had to include this photo of Lily because her overalls from Grandma and Grandpa are so cute. Horray for Oxyclean getting out some major stains after her first wearing to school.
Camille was truly a huge help to Matt when he put the trailer hitch onto my Honda CRV. Camille helped pump the jack and fetch tools for Matt. Matt put it on so we can attach our bike rack and possibly a small cargo trailer in the future. Camille was in a big hurry to put put it on the car. When Matt asked her why she was in such a rush to do the project, she responded "incase we get a boat!"

We love books!

Lily has really started to love books lately, though always on her own terms. She is always saying "read read" and chasing me around with a book. Camille and Lily were reading together in the chair last night.

In the mornings when Camille wakes up she has started to play alone upstairs until she hears us come out to the kitchen. Yesterday Camille told me that she put together a puzzle she found upstairs. She said that it didn't have any instructions so she had to just look at the picture. I assured her that's how we all put together jigsaw puzzles. I went upstairs and sure enough! She later convinced Matt that she did this because she couldn't sleep last night. I think she did this in the morning when she woke up. Camille often tells us that she doesn't sleep at night. She thinks she just stays awake all night. Isn't that funny?!