July 4th

We moved to Maryland on July 3rd of last year. We drove across country and we were pretty exhausted on the 4th of July. We were tempted to sleep in, but we heard about our new ward's Independence Day pancake breakfast and decided to attend. This year James was in charge of the event and we arrived at 7:00 am to set up. While daddy cooked pancakes I played outside with the girls and took pictures. After the breakfast we came home and everyone took a nap, then we headed into Columbia to wait for fireworks.










This picture made me realize the girls have similar looking profiles.

















We waited for 4 hours and Addi was pretty bored by the end. But it was worth the wait because they both loved watching the fireworks.

Enjoying our backyard

Discovering a little turtle in the grass.









looking up at the swaying leaves on our tree.




Just chillin at the YW campout

Father's Day and gumnuts

For Father's day we enjoyed an afternoon picnic at Patapsco and a barbecue at the Brower's home. Patapsco is a pretty State Park about fifteen minutes from our home, and the Browers are a wonderful family we became friends with in Australia.




















Every three months we get together with some of our friends from Canberra who have also moved back to Maryland. It's fun for us to all reminisce about the good old days in Oz. :) This visit was especially fun because the Brower's recently returned to Australia for their son's wedding and they brought back some Tim Tams and also some special goodies from our Aussie friends.



Yum! These Mars Pods are delicious! Thank-you Holly.



Another type of Pods-beautiful gumnuts from my wonderful friend! I became quite obsessed with gumnuts while living in Canberra. From the over 700 species of Eucalyptus, there are so many different gumnuts in various shapes and sizes. I still love them and use them in decorations throughout our home. I have fond memories of gumnut hunting with Johanna and I was so happy she sent some to me. We shared the gumnuts we found and she knew that I had never seen these kind before.



I love these and have a fun idea for how I want to display them. I hope it works out!



I was so excited about this handmade little gumnut family! One of my favorite treasures I brought back from Australia are a couple of old books from artist and author May Gibbs. I first found the "Wattle Babies" book and later "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie." I love May Gibb's work because to me she captures with great imagination the essence of what I love about the bush. Anyway, you'll notice that this gumnut family resembles May Gibb's little bush babies with their lovely long lashes. I think they are so cute and I had to share. This might be a boring post, but I'm missing Australia lately and these made me happy/sentimental.


Addi grabbed the smallest one and said, "This little one is perfect for me!"






Addi in Canberra with a wattle bouquet.





One more picture since this started out as a Father's day post. James is truly an amazing father and he sure does adore his cute girls! Adelaide has become a daddy's girl and I think Torah will be the same. :)

Adelaide hasn't been jealous of Torah, but sometimes I find her doing funny things like trying to squeeze into her bumbo chair (I can't believe she fit in it!) and lounging in her bouncer. She's also becoming more protective of her toys now that Torah is more interested in them! I look forward to when they're old enough to really play together.

Six Months Old

Sometimes she is happy.




Sometimes she is sad.



Sometimes she is hungry.



Sometimes she is so hungry that she tries to eat her toes.



Sometimes she gets tangled in the unexpected.



Sometimes she likes to explore the world around her.



Sometimes she learns from watching her big sister.



Sometimes she thinks her big sister is just too out of control!



Sometimes she learns new tricks like sitting up on her own. She's growing up too fast! I can't believe that today she turned six months old!