We love the lake!

Another fun weekend at the lake! We spent the 4th on Lake Ouachita with our good friends, the Considine's and the Franks. The weather was perfect, the food was yummy, and the company was so much fun. The guys were way outnumbered in this group--9 girls to 3 guys! All the little girls had a blast tubing, swimming, snacking, and giggling while Harper and Emerie looked on with wishful eyes. It won't be long before we are trying to squeeze all 6 of them in the tube!

Micah and Hadleigh getting ready for the ride

Abby and most of the kiddos

We made s'mores for an afternoon snack. Very yummy and very convenient to wash away the messiness in the lake!

Enjoying her animal crackers a few minutes before she threw them overboard...guess she wanted a s'more.

The big girls, Micah, Madison, Hadleigh, and Maddie.

Hold on tight!

Captain Michael--you've never seen anyone parallel park a boat like this guy can!

Michelle and Harper

All suited up for a lake dive

Maddie and Hadleigh, good buddies!

Dancing Queen

Hadleigh had her first dance recital a couple of weeks ago and she rocked it! She was truly our Dancing Queen. She got out there and danced like she never danced before, literally. At every rehearsal she would freeze up so our expectations were pretty low for the recital. She totally surprised us and we are so proud of our little dancer. All the girls did amazing!

You can watch the 2 routines at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzc8H3ltw9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UVGvtMTGds

It's my Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Harper's 1st birthday with family and friends. She was a happy camper as usual. She watched with envious eyes as all the big kids ran around and jumped in the bouncer though she was perfectly content to sit with a few of her non-mobile friends and snack on anything they could get their hands on. She is all about food (except for cake)!
She didn't care much for her cake (probably because she filled up on too much other stuff prior to the cake cutting) so there wasn't much of a mess to clean up. We were so happy to have so many of our family and friend here to celebrate this special event.
Harper just had her 1 year appointment this week and checked out perfectly. She weighed in at 18lbs 6oz and is 28.5" tall. She was a champ for all her shots. She has 6 teeth and 2 are coming in right now. She eats almost anything you put in front of her. Her favorite food is probably blueberries (I'm surprised she doesn't have a bluish tint to her skin yet) and her favorite thing to do is swing. We have been so fortunate to have 2 great sleepers. Harper will sleep 12+ hours at night and will take one long nap in the afternoon. She's completely on whole milk from sippy cups now and we've moved her up to a big car seat, but she is still facing backwards until she is at least 20lbs. Each day she is a little closer to walking and talking up a storm.
We are so proud of our 1 year old!

Harper is 1!

Who can believe it?
A year ago today, this little ray of sunshine entered our lives and brought so much joy and happiness along with her. She has a smile that will melt your heart and a personality that will win over anyone. Though not quite walking, she can get all over the place on her own (though her preference is to be carried). She's saying a few words including "mama" and "uh oh" and blabbers many more words we just haven't translated yet. Hadleigh and Harper are the best of friends already. They are totally enamored with each other and Hadleigh is an amazing big sister. Hadleigh is so excited to be celebrating Harper's 1st birthday...we are so Blessed!!!
These are pictures from her celebration tonight. I wish I could say this was her first cupcake, but being the second child and all, she's been there, done that!

Gammy and Pops in town for the celebration!

This is why Hadleigh is so excited to be celebrating Harper's birthday...

Not so sure about her new teapot.

Sitting in her new chair

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you so much!

Bring on the heat

We have had our fair share of rain lately and at last we are welcoming summer and the opportunity to play outdoors again. We had our first pool day today. When Harper wasn't trying to drink the water, she loved floating around. She is definitely going to be our little fish. Hadleigh took her time easing into the water, but eventually had fun swimming with her dad. Hopefully as the summer progresses, Hadleigh will gain some confidence in the water and we will have 2 little fish on our hands.
May has been busy for everyone. We started it off with a family bout of the stomach bug---not fun at all! Christian headed to Nashville for a golf outing with some college buddies and nearly got washed away with all the flooding. I wrangled up the courage to leave the girls and headed to New Orleans for a relaxing girls' weekend. Of course they survived without me and had a blast getting spoiled by Christian. The girls have been to the drive-thru zoo, a baseball game, the park, the Farmer's Market, a concert at the Botanical Garden, the pool, Rick's Bakery, and several trips for ice cream. Needless to say, it has been a busy several weeks but thankfully, we are all sleeping well for the most part (with the exception of during thunderstorms).

Marlee and Harper chillin' (literally) in the pool.

Caught by surprise!

Scarlett and Hadleigh at the Farmer's Market

The girls at the baseball game

Hadleigh wouldn't get near Diamond Hog, but Harper had no qualms about it. Not sure who the random boy is who jumped in the picture!

My girls on Mother's Day

Kangaroos in Arkansas...

Adriene and Harper preparing to see some animals.

April means...

Time for the Spring football game, Doc's Birthday, trips to the park, field day, and lots of birthday parties. As usual, the month has flown by. Both girls are doing great. Hadleigh's social calendar has kept us busy. She has had several princess parties this month, which she LOVES, and has finally decided she loves the big inflatable bouncy things. It's near impossible to drag her away at the end of the party! Her school had a Family Fitness Day, which was essentially a field day for toddlers. She showed off her long jump, relay, and hula hoop skills and got to play in a real police car. The kids all had a blast and even Harper loved cheering them on. Harper has had a rough month, first with a ruptured ear drum and then a double ear infection. She is on the mend though and hopefully we can keep those ears healthy from now on. She is crawling all over the place now, pulling up a little, and has been eating lots of table food with her 4 teeth. She has played in the toy kitchen more in the past week than Hadleigh ever has. She loves taking the food out of the baskets and putting them back in again. She is definitely an organizer. Baskets and containers can keep her occupied for a while! Her sleeping patterns are still unpredictable and she frequently ends up sleeping in our bed. She's a great sleeper once she's cuddling with me, which I really don't mind:) Maybe once her ears are all healthy again, we can get some more long, peaceful, sleep-full nights.

Football time...

Maddie and Hadleigh enjoyed exploring the Discovery Museum in Little Rock together.

Doc's birthday bash...

Fitness Day...

Party time...

Park time...