rayna's 2nd birthday

only one month late (okay, month and a day), here's some pictures from rayna's birthday :)

the happy birthday girl (she refuses to smile unless you tell her to say cheese, and i guess we forgot to use the magic word :)

a few of her favorite presents:

a bike helmet to go riding with daddy

really cool sunglasses (2 pairs!) and some puzzles:

and her favorite, two new "phones" that are actually walkie-talkies, so she can really talk on them, assuming she can ever figure out how to push the buttons :) ... doesn't really matter tho' she loves them anyways!

popcorn trees

background: a few months ago, probably mid-to-late march, afton was really sad about the end of spring. i was sad to see spring fade to summer so fast too, but mostly just because it's so hot here in texas... either way, i was surprised by this sentiment from a 3-yr old. she explained it was because she liked the popcorn trees in the spring and didn't want them to go away (cute!)



so a week or two ago, she made a discovery, and she's been commenting on it ever since:

crepe myrtle trees

"look mama, popcorn trees in the middle of the summer!!!

"that's so funny, it's the middle of the summer!"

silly times

we love to laugh...
long and loud and clear...
we love to laugh...
and it's getting worse every year!

here's a picture rayna took, she loves taking pictures, and afton loves posing :)

afton also recently made this "costume"

it's NOT a diaper box (she said), but i'm not sure what it is ;)

rayna & i got malachi to smile this morning (he's been smiling really well for about a week now, but we haven't gotten many on camera)

this makes ME smile, though i don't think they were being funny intentionally. afton's wearing her turban (blankie), and the kids were all sitting in a row unposed... it just makes me laugh,

and this shows rayna's true character :) her belly-laugh never fails to make me smile, no matter how tired/grumpy i am :) hope it makes you smile too!

family T-ball

some fun times with family t-ball last tuesday night... the girls are really getting better fast, though it's still pretty funny to watch. we love the nights when daddy's home to play with us most! rayna's not too confidant yet (she can barely keep the bat up if she doesn't have help, let alone connect well)

afton LOVES t-ball, i think she gets it from her grandpa williamson :)





malachi wasn't too excited yet :) but i'm sure his time will come!

my babies

what's not to love?!

(can you all tell which is which? --pretty easy, right?)

a few more pictures

my little man :) (sunday 13 june) so big! sitting by himself (18 june)
beautiful girls!
silly kids rolling around on the floor :)

fun last saturday

(again, i'm a week late with my posting, but heck, i'm ONLY a week late :)

last saturday we had tons of fun playing with dry ice :) we made sparkling apple juice

we held smoke in our hands:

mama had fun picking on malachi and putting him in rayna's baby-stroller

(which he did NOT like!) and rayna helped make her bed into baby-chi's new baby bed (she's finally sleeping in the toddler bed we've had set up or the lsat three or four months, evidentally all she needed was a reason to make the switch, i thought she was hesitant about it, but i think it was just a habit, because she hasn't had any trouble since)

happy saturday!

need to vent

just me popping in to say... i need to vent, feel free to ignore this post, or offer sympathy, advice or babysitting :)

actually, "vent" is probably the wrong word, but i'm so brain-dead i don't know any of the right words right now. i guess most people need help when they have a new baby, it seems pretty logical, you've just gone through a major physical/emotional/etc experience and have the right to be tired! well, i seem to get a pretty good rush of something (probably not just adrenaline, but in part) that keeps me going for 5-6 weeks, then i hit a brick wall and just get tired. i'm tired. unfortunately this also seems to be the time i decide i live in filth and need to deep-clean everything in my house, and it also is the time when paul's back to full-time work (roughly 60-70 hours/week... that's really full time!). i remember all this happening when both the girls were born too, though now there's three kids... it's always one more ;). anyways, i hate how tired i am, how i feel like i get nothing done, and how i snap at people (especially paul and the kids). grrr... and yet it feels like i can't really control it. hopefully this will be just like the last two times and work itself out in the next week or two (that's about how long it lasted before), and everything will get back to normal. until then sorry for my snappishness and general lack of brainpower (forgetting stuff, not being able to think of the word, etc).

on a positive note, malachi's begun smiling at me :)

more malachi pictures

now that these are a week old, i'm finally getting them on the blog :)

here's my favorite onesie. can you read the star?

(ps, the front of the shirt says "i love mommy")

Malachi's cord stump finally fell off when he was exactly a month old, so this is directly after his first real bath (i wanted to take pics of the bath itself, but i missed it... oops). hopefully he'll like it better soon :)

a sunday shot, in his adorable plaid outfit (thanks mom):

"i wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-and" :)

and yes, he is even bigger this week than in those pictures :)

what do i title this post?

the last few weeks have been fun, and i'm trying to get up-to-date with my blogging, so here's some pictures i just wanted to post, but they dont' really necessarily go together :)

the bean bag works great as a boppy or bouncer chair

(i never would have thought of it, it was all afton's idea, but kinda brilliant and definately fun :)

rayna did her own hair! (brush and spray bottle)

LOVE this pic of my girls :) they're HAPPY!!!
(in fact, instead of saying "cheese" they were saying "happy girls!")

we love going bike-riding (afton rides her bike, rayna goes in teh toddler seat behind daddy's, mama stays home with the baby and rests--ideally at least... otherwise she at least has it quiet while she gets the dishes done or some such boring thing :)

for treat one night we had strawberries and pudding/cream. it was "mummy"

and finally, what fun is summer without playing "cinderella?" is that cheating? oh well, i'll continue :)

actually, i probably should keep 'em at it 'til they figure out how to do a good job at it... wonder how long that'll take?

Memorial Day

we had a wonderful memorial day this year. the highlight was a picnic in the park with the dallas symphony orchestra preforming and a fireworks show. the food was fabulous (though perhaps i'm a bit biased, seeing as how i made two of my favorites :), the company was great (we've got good friends!), and the show was tremendous!

malachi in all his red, white and blue patriotism (how many people do you know that attended their first symphony concert at three weeks old?):

we've gotta try for some kind of family photo, though i must admit, the circumstances were far from ideal (hot, HUMID, and the end of a long busy day)

afton, naturally, was at least as interested in the ladybug as anything else :)

bunch of friends staking out our claim for the show

dancing:

i wanted to include one more video, of rayna marching around to the music, but i think you get the idea, and it's faster to just put up one (you may also note i tried to get afton's friend in the shot too, he was actually dancing for a minute, but then he switched back to his traditional racing)

and finally:

you can tell how much the kids loved the fireworks:

(i should have taken a picture of chi too... he was sound asleep in his stroller through the whole (VERY LOUD) fireworks display!

and just in case anyone's worried, afton also told me she LOVED the fireworks, she just didn't like that they were loud. rayna's mentioned a few times (with no provocation or reminder) "fire work loud." oh well, they're getting preped for the fourth of july!

conversation with rayna

perhaps a little paraphrased, but seriously people, where did this kid come from?

r: i want yogurt

me: we'll have treat in a few minutes, then you can pick yogurt or ice cream

(elapse few minutes til treat time)

me: who wants treat?

r (and a): MEEEEEEEEE!!!

me: who wants ice cream?

r: yogurt!

me: really? not ice cream?

r: YOGURT!!!!!

me: okay... you can have yogurt...

weird.

rayna's birthday zoo trip

we had a great time (last week) visiting the zoo for rayna's birthday. she had a blast, and took a great nap, so i think it was all worth while :)

we all particularly enjoyed the new "giants of the savannah" exhibit, so we got a bunch of pictures there:

daddy and the giraffes (which licked the girls' hands)

the girls with a (new) lion

afton and an elephant (they have 6 elephants now, before there were just 2, and the enclosure is a lot bigger and nicer)

of course we spent lunch and a good long while playing in the children's area with the water :)

afton loved the water too, "falling down"

we also visited the butterfly area for the first time this year. this is afton pointing at a caterpiller. both girls can quote eric carle's The Very Hungry Caterpiller (it's one of rayna's particlar favorites)

the pygmy goats are new also, the girls loved petting them (this picture also serves as proof that we took melissa with us, thanks for joining us missy!)

and last, but not least, proof that baby malachi was there too :)

so fun! we love going to the zoo! unfortunately i forgot my camera for the rest of rayna's birthday, so i don't have any pictures (by the way, if you have any to send to me mom, i'll probably add them to the post :). but we went up to grandma's house to go swimming and have dinner and cake there. i think we all had a great day. we're sure grateful to have rayna in our family :)