We borrowed Elena’s really cool purple hat! Thanks Elena for sharing!

Julia is hanging out with Daddy!

Our side of the square had an extra dancer.

Go-Bubbles-Go!

We had our annual church Barn Dance and Chili Cook-off. Last year Emily loved dancing and didn’t want to quit even when Mommy’s arms were tired. This year she liked the dancing, but was far more interested in playing outside with the other kids and toys. Julia had a blast riding around in the front pack. She did some dancing with Mommy while Daddy and Emily played. Emily could have chased bubbles for the whole evening if she had been allowed to. The only sad note from the evening was that we didn’t get any photos of Emily and Daddy dancing to the hokey pokey. They had a blast even though Emily didn’t quite get the idea of sticking individual body parts in and out of the circle. Her favorite was the whole body and hopping in and out of the circle.

We took the girls to have their photos taken yesterday. For Julia, it was time for a six month photo, and we also wanted to have some photos taken with both Emily and Julia in them.

Emily, being two years old, doesn’t relish the idea of sitting still and looking at the camera these days, so we’re learning to be creative in our attempts to get her to pose for photos. While Julia was having her individual photos taken, Emily was busy scouring the studio for all the most interesting toys. One item Emily took a particular interest in was the set of alphabet blocks, so we used them as a prop to get Emily to sit long enough to get a photo taken with her sister. Actually, as you can see in this photo, both of our girls were quite entertained by the blocks.

We mixed up our nighttime routine to have a little fun tonight. Doesn’t it look like fun!!

A smile at the camera is such an unusual thing these days. What a joy to have this one!!

I love it when I figure out what Emily recognizes on her own. It is not hard to understand what they are because she is more than happy to shout out when she sees anything that she recognizes. She recognizes our house as demonstrated one day when we drove past it on the way to drop Granddaddy off and she started repeating ‘home, home, home’. She knows the road our house is down too. She points out all of the parks we drive by along with every Papa Johns she sees. One of her favorite foods now days is pizza! When we go to Mother Goose and pull into the parking lot she announces ‘Ma Goose’. And my favorite of late is her pointing out the hair shop where she got her haircut.

Speaking of her haircut, it must have been quite memorable for her. She recently told Robby that he needs a haircut in an effort to go and get a haircut of her own. For her first haircut, we had Robby demonstrate what would happen and how you sit quietly in the barber chair. She must think for her to get her haircut that Robby must get one too. Maybe that is not a bad thing.

Emily is ready to eat dinner in her new booster seat at the table and be like her parents. Her old high chair is behind her, and she didn’t even give it a second look. We put the step stool next to her seat, so she could get in it herself, and we found her in it several times that evening. I guess reading books on the table is more fun.

I would have loved for Emily and Elena to look at the camera, but then they wouldn’t be two. This photo turned out sweet anyway.