Family Pictures and Updates on the Girls

Check out that frown! This pretty much sums up how thrilled Pepper was for family pictures

Our friend Emmy took some family pictures for us! Of course we picked the one day in the midst of weeks of beautiful weather that it was FREEZING cold outside!! It was around 40 degrees and we were not prepared. I seriously had no idea it was so cold because it had been warm all week! Anyway, we were freezing and my girls were not happy! Emmy is awesome and is going to do single shots of Story and some with both girls later. We did get some good shots (or at least where all of us are looking at the camera!) in spite of it all! I think next time we'll do pictures in the summer!

There were a lot of cute ones of Pepper actually. I had a hard time choosing which ones to put on here! Maybe I am just a biased Mom and think every picture of my kids is cute!

Here are some updates on the kidlets:

PEPPER

I raked a bunch of leaves this morning in the front yard and had Story in the bouncer and Pepper was playing with sidewalk chalk and just running around. I felt a little bad for Story just sitting by herself (this is not an uncommon occurrence and I always feel bad! I try to give her lots of toys to hold, things to look at, etc!!!) so I told Pepper to go talk to Story and say hi. She stayed by me for a minute and then said, "Go say hi. Story." and proceeded to walk all the way around the yard (on the sidewalk...couldn't cross the grass?) went up to Story and said, "Hi Story!" and then came right back by me. ha! Kind of had a longer interaction in mind...but it was nice of her to go say hi!

At lunch today I was telling Pepper the story of Goldilocks and the three bears and using different voices for Papa, Mama, and Baby bear. After lunch, Pepper was playing with toys and I could hear her saying, "Someone eating my porridge!" over and over in different voices. Cracked me up!

I LOVE this stage Pepper is in. She is so fun! Her eyes light up with excitement at the simplest things! And sometimes the silliest things - like a hat or shoes or a letter magnet! She is so full of joy for life and its so so fun. Its so fun too to talk with her. We just have little conversations and it is fun to hear what she is thinking. Not to mention convenient. She can communicate with words everything she needs, which is so nice! I don't realize it until I am around other kids her same age who can't really speak at all - other than a few words - and I feel really grateful.

Things she loves to do these days:

Wear necklaces. If they don't fit over her head they make GREAT headbands.

Wear shoes. She tries on lots of pairs, switches them often, and sometimes even carries around an extra pair. She is super good at putting them on by herself and usually gets them on the right feet...but not always!

Wear hats. (Are we sensing a trend?!) She will also change this frequently and carry around TWO other ones...one for each hand. Never know when you'll need to change your hat...

Clean up. This may sound weird, but she is really conscious of things being in their place. Not like she always puts all her toys away or anything, but she is good about cleaning up when we ask. And often she does do it on her own. This morning after playing with some straws (for sippy cups) she was about to go upstairs and she stopped and excitedly said, "Oh! Put dem away!" then turned around, put them in the drawer, and then went upstairs. Things like that - she does it all the time! Mostly, I think it is awesome, but a little part of me hopes I am not raising a neat freak! :)

Watch people and things (like garbage trucks, squirrels, dump trucks...whatever) She is still really observant. She frequently surprises me with the things she notices and the things she remembers.

Sing. This is new and really fun! She is getting pretty good!

Color.

Jump. She is getting awesome at this! Maybe because does it ALL the time! Both feet get off the ground pretty far! And her jumping is not restricted to the ground. Her bed is also a favorite jumping spot. She will grab different toys and put them on her bed and then jump and watch them bounce. "I jump ah hippos!" "I jump da bear!" So fun. Everytime.

Run around in circles and laugh. Love this. She also will run and say, "run run run! run run run!"

Read. She LOVES books and I often find her sitting down with a pile of books around her just "reading." And of course, I read a ton to her and we frequent the library often.

STORY

Story is 6 months old! She is becoming more and more of a little person each day and is so fun. Things she loves to do:

Spit up. No really, it is her favorite thing and she does it ALL the time. She (and consequently me as well, thank you so much) nearly always is wet and smelling like spit up. Good thing she is so cute. We change clothes a lot and use lots of burp cloths!

Hold on to things and suck on them and drool all over. She is getting really good at reaching for and grabbing what she wants and taking it right where she wants it. Her mouth.

Smile! She is such a happy smiley baby. We love it!

Suck her thumb. But, mostly just when really tired or falling asleep...this is improvement!

Stand. Sitting? Not so much. Although, she IS getting much better and tonight she actually sat in the boppy without falling on her face for a couple of minutes!

Watch Pepper. She is pretty fascinated and amused by her older sister and often smiles and laughs when she is near. It is getting more and more fun to watch them interact. I can't wait for them to be best little buddies!

Notice the spit up?!