Cara Cuteness

Look at those blue eyes!

I'm not really a fan of food on the face pictures, but this one isn't too bad. Cara has moved on from baby food and is on soft, finger foods now. Her reflux is not improving and the colored spit up from baby food was more than I could handle. So, thanks to a tip from Beth, whose son also had reflux, I switched her to finger foods and have mostly eliminated colored spit up from our lives. The formula still comes back up, but the solid food doesn't. Yay for small victories! Cara has taken to finger foods like a champ; her favorites are blueberries, bananas, peas and Cheerios, but she has liked all the foods she has tried.

Swim Lessons

Lila is doing so well in swimming lessons that she moved up to the next level this week! She had her first "Turtle 1" lesson last night and did really well. She does most of the swimming on her own now and is working on doing the arm strokes along with kicking her legs. She was the only one in her class last night so she swam for the entire half hour without a break!

She loves swimming and asks to go to the community pool almost every day. On Sunday when we were there, we were asked by another family where we took swim lessons because they were so impressed with Lila's swimming!

(I apologize that the pictures aren't a little better, I took them on my phone.)

Ian's Birthday Party

Ian's 13th Birthday party with his friends was on Sunday. They went out to Famous Dave's for lunch and then to play laser tag. Thankfully, Chris and Tim took them and I got to stay home with the girls. The boys had a blast, but I think Chris and Tim had had their fill of 7th grade boys for awhile.

Apparently at lunch all the boys did was spit spitballs at each other and hit each other with coasters.

Renaissance Faire

Mom and Dad took Ian to the Bristol Renaissance Faire as his birthday present. Ian had a fantastic time and has already asked if they can go back next year.

Ian brought his friend Christian.

Ian got TWO new swords as souvenirs.

They ate turkey legs for lunch (EW!!).

And spent a lot of time sword fighting.

Later they had a free for all sword fight, the Persians (kids) vs the Spartans (adults) which Ian thought was the best part of the day. Mom said he spent a lot of time rolling in the sand and she was worried he would get trampled at one point, but he survived the fight with no injuries.

Ian got called up on stage during a juggling show and got to hold a stick that held a spinning plate.

8 Months Old

Cara is 8 months old today! She is really funny and is learning that if she does something funny everyone will pay attention to her. She has added new finger foods to her menu and now eats bananas, peas, and black beans in addition to Cheerios. And so far, she's been a fan of all of the baby foods.

She is really starting to enjoy being read to and her favorite book is Peek A Who?. She LOVES her big brother and sister and gives them huge smiles whenever she sees them. She is still working on crawling, but keeps going backwards instead of forwards which makes her really mad. Today I am pretty sure she waved hi for the first time! She waved back to me a couple of different times, but then stopped, so I don't know if she was bored or if it was a fluke.

Who doesn't love baby feet?

Funny

Lila: I'm getting bigger every day.
Chris: Yes, you are.
Lila: Are you getting bigger every day?
Chris: No
Lila: Why?
Chris: Daddy's all done growing.
Lila: But you're so short.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a nice 4th of July weekend. We stayed pretty low key on Saturday although we did go to the local pool in the afternoon. On Sunday we went to a local fair after the girls' naps. It was less than impressive, but there was music, a magic show and a park so all three kids had fun. Then last night Chris and Jim took Ian and Lila to watch the fireworks one town over.

Showing off their holiday outfits.

Cara's first 4th of July.

Jim figured out that they could see the fireworks from the mall parking lot. Genius idea because they could go right before the show started, sit in the car and avoid the crowds. Lila was scared of the booms at first, but after that she had a great time! I stayed home with Cara and watched the city's fireworks on WGN.

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving

That's a movie quote...anyone know it? Last night I also went out to celebrate my friend Emily's 30th birthday which kicks off a long stretch of my friends and I turning 30. Getting older is definitely not fun, but we had a blast last night!

A Teenager in the House!

It seems impossible, but Ian turned 13 yesterday! I'm not sure I'm ready for a teenager in the house!

Gift card from Erin

New Wii game from Chris and I

We learned long ago that the holiday weekend makes it difficult to get people together, so Ian's birthday parties are next weekend. But, Mom came up to spend the day with him and took him out to lunch and to a movie. He also opened his cards and presents yesterday afternoon as well.

Ian is very in to all things medieval, especially swords, he loves drawing, playing video games and watching things on YouTube. He also likes to go for bike rides and hang out at "the HQ" with his friends.