Jake & Lilly's Big Beach Adventure

Jake and Lilly had their first day at the beach in Galveston today. Well, technically their first time to the beach was back in March when we visited San Diego, but since the weather was a bit chilly, neither really got to truly experience the water, waves, and the sand in between their fingers. My friend Charla ("G3" to Jake and Lilly) was brave enough to join me on this beach adventure! Both kids had so much fun splashing in the water, digging in the sand, and eating their picnic lunch on the beach. Lilly has no fear.... walking in the water, chasing sea gulls down the beach.... she had a blast! Jake was not completely sure of the waves, though he was starting to warm up to the whole ocean thing right as we were getting ready to leave. He hated getting salt water in his eyes, but he loved getting dirty in the sand... such a boy! I'm pretty sure more sand ended up in their mouths than anywhere else. They both loved the feel of the wet sand in their hands, but like everything else these days, it had to pass the "taste test."

Here is a shot of me trying to pose with my two little beach bums....
a much harder task than you would think!

Playing in the sand...

Lilly watching the seagulls overhead...

"Oh, no! More salt water in my eyes!!"

Here is a great shot of Lilly right after she tried to eat the sand.
(I promise it's not a booger... just a big glob of wet sand!)

Jake getting dirty...

G3 playing with Jake and Lilly...

Happy First Birthday, Jake & Lilly!

Jake and Lilly had so much fun at their birthday party this past weekend. My friend Shanna made these adorable shirts to match the "owl" party theme.

This is Jake's owl cake. We had to cut it and eat it fast before all the frosting melted off, thanks to the July heat!

This owl had a blue bow just like the bow in Lilly's hair!

Plenty of cupcakes for all! (Thanks to Auntie Bri for decorating them!)

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, Jake & Lilly,
Happy Birthday to you!

Yummmmmmm! This is delicious!

A new hat for Jake....

A baby doll for Lilly....

Farm animals, sea animals, bubbles and more!

Uncle Dave & Jake with Poppy & Lilly

Grammy, Jake & Cody

Noni, Poppy & Lilly

Lilly wants to walk everywhere now that she's a big girl!

We had such a fun time with friends and family! After cake and presents we all cooled off in the pool! Some of us even rode the paddle boats and canoes. Both kids were exhausted by the time we got back in the car to head home!

One Year!

It is so hard to believe that our two little ones are one! What a whirlwind this first year has been! And I am sure that this next year will fly by even faster!

Jake and Lilly had an exciting birthday this past Friday, and got to spend lots of time with family over the weekend.

These are some of Jake and Lilly's first year pictures. Birthday party pictures are coming.....

The Best Swimming Pool Ever

This Memorial Day Weekend we took Jake and Lilly swimming. They had a blast splashing in the kiddie pool! Lilly was determined to get her whole head under the water, while Jake was a little more reserved. My parents (Noni and Poppy to Jake and Lilly) were in town for the weekend. My mom saw how much fun they had in the pool that she had to buy them their very own pool for our house so they could splash around all summer long. We found the perfect sized pool for both of these water loving kids… and the best part… it came with over 50 brightly colored plastic balls!! Now the kids can enjoy playing inside and outside! It’s funny how much entertainment they got out of a $12 blow-up pool! In their opinion, it is the very best swimming pool ever!!

Having a blast throwing the balls inside...."Mmmmmmm....tasty!"

"Brrrrr....this water's a bit chilly!"

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!