Afternoon at the park

We headed to the park on Sunday. The playground is being renovated, but we had fun just soaking up the sun and watching the dogs and airplanes. I also got to take some nice pictures of the girls.

My two little sweeties.



She's my brown-eyed girl...



Lovely Lucy

Bright-eyed Clara

Our good friend Alainie made her the super-cute hat!

Lucy is uniquely gifted at getting Clara to crack up!

And here's a video of the two of them laughing together.

Crawling, Standing, Dancing!

The girls have been up to a lot lately! Clara got the hang of crawling last week, and immediately after she mastered that skill, she started pulling up on things. She can already balance while only hanging on with one hand. Meanwhile, Lucy is as spirited as ever, keeping our lives full of fun and excitement.

Here are a few videos- Clara crawling and pulling up on the kitchen stool, and Lucy dancing.

Clara at the beach- she really is adorable!

Lucy's first day at preschool. She's been having a great time with her new and old friends.

Here Clara is pulling up on her play yard. Standing is her favorite position these days.

The hurricane blew down a tree at my grandparents' house. Lucy was quite excited about her new climbing structure.

My favorite recent picture of Matt with the girls.

The girls in action

We've been having fun with our two sweethearts. They are interacting a lot more together, with Lucy giving Clara kisses, making her laugh, playing peekaboo, etc. Today Lucy and Matt were coming downstairs and Clara craned her neck in the direction of their voices, then twisted her body around as they got closer, and then exclaimed a happy "ehhhh" once she saw them.
If you magnify this picture you can see Clara's two front teeth, which she's had since late June!

Lucy has been taking swimming lessons the past week and a half. She's learning lots of skills, like kicking and scooping, back floats, front floats, blowing bubbles, etc. She has a blast with the teachers and other kids.

Grocery bag girl!

Running at the ocean.

Clara is sitting up really well these days. She's also working on crawling- she can get onto her hands and knees and then rocks back and forth, often clearly frustrated that she can't move forward.

And now for a few videos Silliness with Lucy.

Lucy dancing at a fair in my aunt's town last weekend. The bluegrass music was awesome.

And here's a longish video of Clara talking/banging. She's so expressive.

4th of July and Papa Jack fun

We had an awesome 4th of July, at a celebration in my aunt's small town. Lucy took part in her first ever sack race and water balloon toss, got to ride in the parade with her decorated tricycle, and went on a fire truck ride.





Clara had a great time too.

The girls have been enjoying the new kiddie pool on our back deck. Lucy was washing Clara with a sponge here. :)

Clara is loving solid foods. So far she has had sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, avacado, peas, applesauce, peaches, and pears. She likes them all, and often it's a full body experience, as you can see below.

We've been having a great time at the local lake- Clara likes the baby swing.

And Lucy loves splashing (and climbing) in her new ballerina swimsuit from Auntie Caitlin.

Papa Jack stayed with us this past week- it was so great to be with him. He was such a big help and the girls had so much fun with him. Here are two pictures of them in his hat.

One of the highlights of Papa Jack's visit was going kayaking at the lake. Matt stayed with Clara on the shore, while Papa Jack, Lucy and I explored the lake. It was a perfect day, and Lucy loved helping to paddle.

And finally, here's a video of Lucy and Clara. Clara thinks Lucy is the funniest person, and laughs at her often, even when she's just doing something normal, like coughing.

Home again

We had a fabulous time with my parents. It was a wonderfully relaxing vacation after a challenging few months. Lots of sleep, beautiful weather, delicious food, tons of help with the kids, fun adventures. I'll post some pictures of the visit soon. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the girls since we've been back.

Clara has gone through quite the developmental spurt over the past few weeks- she now sits up really well on her own, rolls over both ways, and has 2 new teeth! She loves her rice cereal, as well as the recent addition of sweet potatos. She is a very smiley girl and loves grinning at new friends. This is her "kung fu" pose.


Our two beautiful girls. They're getting along really well- Lucy has an amazing ability to make Clara laugh.

Lucy had her last day of preschool last week. She's growing into such a bright, motivated, creative, beautiful girl. Here is the picture from the first day of preschool in September.

And from the last day of preschool, this past week.

Fun times

We had a great time with my sister and her family these past few weeks. This is sort of a random posting of pictures, as we're about to leave in a few days to visit my folks! Here we are all together (minus Matt and John)- it's impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at once. ;)

Lucy and Sam really hit it off, and had lots of fun being silly together, pretending, and playing chase.

Clara got lots of love and attention from Sam and Jeff. Jeff especially was so excited about Clara, always exclaiming "baby!" when he saw her.

I love this picture of Jeff.


Lucy loves holding her baby- she often calls her, "you silly my little baby".

Clara is lucky to have 2 wonderful big "brothers".

Clara is such a roly-poly, happy little girl these days. She smiles and beams at us, and is very content in general. We've started her on rice cereal, which she likes- Lucy helps to feed her too. She's a big fan of the exersaucer, loves grabbing onto toys and making pterodactyl noises. It's so fun to see her exploring her world.

Lucy is often in motion these days. She loves challenging herself with new gymnastic moves she invents. Recently she's started getting ready for bed by herself- the first night she surprised me with it when I was talking to a friend. She was beaming when she came down the stairs, having brushed her teeth, gone potty, and put on her diaper and pjs.

And one last picture of little Clara.

Spring smiles

Life with two kids is busy! Sleep is still in short supply, and we're working on finding a rhythm of life with the four of us, but hopefully things will settle down sometime soon. Our two sunshines continue to bring us great delight in the midst of it all.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Judy last month. She helped so much, playing with Lucy, holding Clara, cooking, cleaning, etc, etc. We miss her a lot!

Matt's cousin came up for the weekend while Judy was here- it was so great to see her and to get to introduce Clara to her.

The Frank clan.

Lucy and Grandma Judy had lots of fun together.

Holding her newest grandbaby.

Here are some more recent pictures of Clara. She smiles a lot now and has even almost laughed a few times.

Clara in the bumbo chair. She can sit up with help now, and likes looking around. She's also found her hands and loves sucking on them. Special time with Great-grandma.