Chalk!

My sister's backyard in Pittsburgh the perfect place for the girls to play with chalk. They love how they can create artwork on a wall instead of just on the ground. Last October my sister took some pictures of them playing with chalk together, and yesterday I took some new photos of the girls having fun with one of their favorite activities. Looking at the pictures from October, it's amazing how much they've grown in less than ten months! I remember last fall they fought over toys all the time... they still fight sometimes, but now they get along really well most of the time. It's very cute watch them use their imaginations as they play now. Yesterday they pretended they were princesses and they kept saving each other from "falling in the river" and from a scary troll.







I love how they can barely reach the top- they were both so little!
















I think their matching expressions are cute.

Daydreaming

New Nephews!

We met Lyndon on our way back from Myrtle Beach in May. He was just a couple weeks old and was so cute and tiny. Torah looked huge next to him! We still had a 9 hour drive back to Maryland so it was a very quick visit. We wish it had been longer.









Tyler was born in California just over a week ago and on his parents' anniversary! I love this picture of him with his proud daddy, sweet older brother and beautiful sisters. We hope it won't be too long before we get to meet him.



My sister Akasha had her baby three days ago. I'm grateful I made it to Pittsburgh to meet Camden soon after he was born. Here are some pics I took at the hospital. He's such a handsome boy with his cute hair!













I love this photo Akasha took of Camden. He looks so peaceful and precious.

Berry Picking at Larriland Farm

Backwards scoot!

I love how exciting it is when out of the blue your baby does something new. Today Torah was playing with Addi's felt strawberries and after she scattered them all over she must have decided she wanted them back...only I wasn't nearby to help her. I returned to the living room and found her quite far from where I left her. I realized she must have moved herself and I quickly grabbed the video camera and imagined she'd do a little monkey scoot like Addi's. She found her own way to get around without crawling! I assume she'll learn to crawl the old fashioned way too, but in the meantime I think this is pretty cute. I sure love my sweet baby.

The National Zoo

Adelaide's first request was to see the lions! She actually asked see the giraffes first because they're still her favorite animal, (she has a stuffed giraffe her daddy brought back for her last year that she still sleeps with and carryings around everywhere) but unfortunately they don't have any giraffes at this zoo. They do have 4 lion cubs though (big lion cubs now) and it was fun to watch them play.






Torah is very interested in what Addi is eating! I'm sure she would have loved it if Addi shared, but I gave her a teething biscuit instead.


Yum! Addi never liked these teething biscuits but Torah loves them. Torah loves food in general! We're very happy that she is such a good eater.


Before we left Addi had to cool off at one of the misting stations.

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