Walking and Talking

Walking and talking…that’s Lilly these days. She is on her way to walking since she took her first step a couple days ago. She catches herself by surprise when she realizes she is standing up without any assistance. Often, when she is balancing her weight and standing up, she’ll start clapping, so excited with herself. Of course, her enthusiastic clapping usually causes her to fall down! Her little vocabulary now consists of the basics: Mama, Dada, bye-bye,….. and dog. She is obsessed with dogs… if she finds a picture of a dog in one of her books, she pets it just like she learned to pet Hemi a couple weeks ago. She also loves to kiss the dog, getting the pages of her book all slobbery!

Speaking of kissing, that’s Jake favorite thing to do lately. We have caught him a few times kissing Lilly while they are playing. It is the cutest thing ever! I even got lucky enough to record one of his “smooch episodes.” Of course, I had to send it to the whole family! What everybody doesn’t know is that right after I stopped recording, the sweet little boy who was kissing his sister started pulling her hair…hard!! Needless to say, she was soon in tears and the moment had passed!

We are enjoying having Great-Grandma here. Both kids are not going to know what hit them when she leaves. They adore her! I also love having an extra pair of hands to help out. We are trying to take more pictures of her with the kids during this visit since the last time she was here (for six weeks in the fall) we only took one!!! But those were the early days… life has gotten sooooo much easier now that Jake and Lilly are older. We have a very nice routine that works out great for the whole family.

Here are a couple shots of Grandma with both kids. They love rocking in their rocking chairs! Except they both want to rock at the same time!

Lilly loves to rock on her own, and then when she decides she's had enough, she just puts her arms out and lunges forward. Whoever is near, better be ready to catch her because here she comes!

Jake is always making funny faces! I have a hard time capturing them, though, because of his fascination with the camera! I'm not sure what is going on in his little brain right here, but he looks like he is thinking hard!

Lilly loves brushes.... hair brushes, toothbrushes, etc.

And Jake loves hair bows.... Lilly's hair bows, that is! This one lasted only 10 minutes in her hair! If she's not pulling them out, he is!

Happy 90th Birthday, Great-Grandma!

This past weekend we celebrated Jake and Lilly’s Great-Grandma’s 90^th birthday. (Great-GrandPop turned 91 the day before!) My mother-in-law helped us surprise her with a beautiful photo quilt. She loved it!

Of course there was plenty of time to play with Poppy, Noni, Uncle Dave and Auntie Bri and Uncle Jay. Even Jake and Lilly’s other Great-Grandma from New Jersey was there to celebrate with us!

Both kids discovered Hemi, Noni and Poppy’s rat terrier! They loved crawling after her, chasing her around the house. I have never seen that dog run away so fast! She literally spent the whole first day hiding in my parent’s bedroom. By the end of our stay, Hemi would tolerate the kids petting her, but she was still not so sure about them invading her territory.

Every Day Is An Adventure

Never a dull moment in this house, as we now have two extremely curious and very mobile babies! Things we love: windows, blinds, stairs, doors, and everything we are NOT supposed to be playing with! Here are some pictures of them exploring new territory.

Lilly loves looking out the window! We have a bunch of low window sills that are right at her level!

Both Lilly and Jake are intrigued with the stairs. They can both climb up onto the first step, and Jake even surprised us by climbing up about 10 stairs last week. He is still learning how to come down once he's climbed up as far as he wants to go!

Whenever Jake or Lilly come across a door that is open, they think it must be shut immediately. I bet "closed" will be one of their very first words!

New Teeth

I can't believe that Lilly and Jake are already nine months old! Each time I look at them lately, I can't help but thinking how much they are turning into little people.

Both are crawling, standing up on every piece of furniture in sight, getting into kitchen cabinets, stealing each other toys, and talking to each other non-stop. They love to play peek-a-boo with each other, too!

Jake now has a pair of top teeth and a pair of bottom teeth, while Lilly has two bottom teeth and four top teeth! To celebrate, we bought toothbrushes last week. They love brushing their new teeth!

Our Trip To San Diego

Over Spring Break, Jake and Lilly took their very first plane ride to San Diego, California!
Here is a picture of Lilly looking out the window.

When we got to San Diego, it was time to explore out hotel room.
Jake discovered himself in the mirror on the closet door!

Both kids loved getting rides in the laundry basket we found in the room!

Here are a few shots of us at Lego Land. It was amazing to see entire cities made out of legos!

Jake and Lilly had fun making a splash at the pool!

We couldn't come all the way to San Diego without visiting the zoo!

We also toured the Air and Space Museum. Jake loved this little airplane he could sit in!

Here are some shots of us at the beach. The water was frigid, but so clear and beautiful!

We had so much fun exploring and seeing new things, but most of all Jake and Lilly loved spending time with Grammy and Pop, and their aunt, uncle and cousins!

Who Needs Toys?

Toys?!?! Who needs 'em?!

Jake was in heaven after we checked the mail this morning. This magazine kept him busy for about half an hour. He was thrilled to rip the whole thing to shreds!

Lilly was equally tickled to try out her "box car" Mommy made with the empty Pampers box.

Oh, to be that age again when life is so simple!

Baby Dedication

Jake and Lilly were dedicated this past Sunday at our church, Kingsland Baptist. Both loved getting all dressed up for the occasion.

Lots of family members came for the big day, even Jake and Lilly's great-aunt from New Jersey!

Jake had his shining moment when he started to sing during the pastor's prayer.
(We all thought his solo sounded beautiful!)

After the service, we had lunch at the house. Jake enjoyed playing with his cousin, Kiley.

Lilly loved spending time with her Uncle Pfeffer!

Dear Lilly,

You will always be our little girl. We have loved watching you grow from a tiny little newborn that depended on us for everything into a happy baby who is exploring her freedom more and more every day. We cannot wait to meet the person you grow up to be. We have so many hopes and dreams for you, but most of all, we pray that you learn to love the Lord and walk in His ways. He made you so incredibly special and has His own unique plan for your life. We love you very, very much!

Dear Jake,

When you were born you brought so much hope to our family. Named for your Great-Grandpa, you reminded us that God has a perfect plan for our lives. We can’t wait to teach you how you can serve the Lord just like your Great-Grandpa did for so many years. We already know that God blessed you with a sense of humor and a desire to investigate and explore! We can’t wait to see how you use the gifts God has given you. We are eager to teach you about God’s love and help you learn how to walk in His ways. We love you very, very much!