Penelope is 2 1/2!

Pen is now 2 1/2 and I can't believe how much of a "big girl" she is becoming already. 

I am truly loving this age. Its so much easier to explain things to her and rationalize with her. It makes for far fewer tantrums too. ;) It's so cool being able to take her all over town and do big girl things, like having a snack on State Street, or going to the movies or a trip to the toy store. It is soooo much fun! Ever since Pen was a baby we have always been "on the move"- so now just like her mama she loves getting out and about, or as she likes to call it "go in the beep beep." Her vocabulary has really taken off and now she is forming full and complete sentences, so for instance when she used to say "milk" now its "I want more milk." Of course we like to encourage a "please" with that as well. ;)

Its funny when the baby is crying and Penelope will start singing "twinkle twinkle" to her. Its become her new go-to for fixing anyone's ailments.

One of Penelope's favorite things to do is put diapers on babies. I think everything stuffed in my house now has a diaper on it. If that girl can find a way she will! She spends most of her free time figuring out how to dress and undress her dollys. She also insists someone chalk draw Mickey Mouse when we're outside. Other faves of Pen's include digging for "pokeys" aka, roly poly's, going to the movies and restaurants, Mickey mouse, music class and her "baby sissy." Penelope absolutely loves her baby sissy and is the first one to make sure that baby sissy knows who the real boss around here is. Boy are we in for some good times. :)

Pen insisted I hang out in this house with her at her Growing Times Class-there's my head in the skylight.
She wanted to look for pokeys.

girl after my own heart

getting some quality time with Nana

digging for pokeys at school

her school sent me this pic as well- she could do this for hours!

 playing Piano with bud Sammy

playing piano with sissy

kickin in at the beach with sissy

all the baby toys have become popular again!
She fights for a turn at this every time her sister is in it!

Violet Mae turns 7 months!

Yay! Violet Mae turned 7 months on May 16th.

Here is a little recap of what she's been up to the last month. 

Violet started scooting and wiggling forward over the last few weeks and in recent days has accomplished full military crawling status. I am very happy for this new accomplishment because I know Violet has been dying to play with her sister. She watches her all the time and cracks up at Penelope's funny antics. No one could have prepared me for how wonderful it would be to watch the two of them interact and play. 

Violet Mae has always been very vocal, but on May 11 I woke up to the sounds of her babbling in her crib. She has using consonants in her babbles so they sound more like "da-da" "ba-ba."

She also loves to make a funny spitting sound with her lips. I will have try to get a video of it because there is no real way to describe it, but its so funny because she will just play with her toys forever and crawl along the floor making this funny sound, as happy as can be. So silly!

Violet continues to be very grabby- anything and everything in sight has potential to become Violets~

Here is what she currently loves:

-bathtime with sissy

-sissy

-chasing after her pink squishy ball

-any toy she can get her hands on

-sweet potatoes and butternut squash

-ripping moms glasses off

-peek a boo

-laughing

-sissy- (oh yeah I already listed that, but hey she is Penelope's biggest fan)

Her last check up was April 19 

and at her appointment she weighed 15 pounds 8 oz and was 26 inches tall.

at the doctors

still at docs-she is so silly!

hiking with bud Brody

 playing with sissy

 babbling

Mommy lunch

Today has shaped up to be a great day so far. The morning started off by taking the girls to a fun mommy and me class where Pen got a chance to play with some really cool toys and sing songs. After that we went to her preschool, the Learning Den for a Mother's Day lunch. They served us pasta and subway sandwiches! Yum! It was so cute-- we sat at the little kids tables with each class and they even decorated the tables with flowers for the occasion. After lunch Penelope gave me my mother's day gift she's been working on in class. Its a super cute picture cube that has pictures of her playing, a special painting for mommy, her handprint and a sweet poem. I know I will cherish this keepsake forever. She was so cute when she gave it to me- very excited and said "open it mama!" After lunch I took Pen to swim class where she swam with the teacher for the first time! Big Girl!

So Mother's Day weekend is off to a great start.

Happy Mother's Day!

some of the moms hanging out at the Learning Den

Pen's buddy Weston with his mommy

Pen's teacher Ms. Jennifer- she is so sweet!

Weston's class made painted flower pots for their moms

she even decorated the gift bag- so sweet!