Out with the old and in with the new...but a little less cool

We finally said good-bye to Erika's 1994 Honda Accord; the first car she bought used back in 2001 (or was it 2002?). Even though it hasn't been the most reliable car and aside from the fact that the speedometer hasn't been working for the past four years or so and $1,000 worth of brake work needed, it was still a little sad to sell it. However, it's been replaced with a brand new mini-van (wait, did we say mini-van?)with an all-inclusive working speedometer and brakes! While we never in a million years imagined the Carlson's driving a mini-van, we have to say that it's totally wonderful having all the cargo space. Now if only they could look more like a sports car and less like a mini-van....!


Saying good-bye to the Honda....a little sad


Introducing our new ride to the neighborhood. One day while driving the 'van,' Erika asked Tim how she looked in the drivers seat. "Like a mom" was his response. Ouch. That hurts. All cool factor has been forever lost.

Baa-Baa Black Sheep Have you any Wear?

Ella's newest addiction is reading nursery rhymes out of her "Mother Goose and Friends" book and as a result, not only have we personally now added to memorization 47 nursery rhymes but Ella too seems to be retaining the words. You know it's over kill when we catch ourselves singing "Three Blind Mice" to ourselves in the car or "Hey Diddle Diddle" in the shower! Aside from this, we've really enjoyed testing Ella's knowledge and have been amazed at just how many rhymes she has memorized. For example, we'll start her out with the first line from "Sing a Song of Six Pence" and she will complete the second. We'll continue this through the entire 5 or so versus of the rhyme and now it's become a game to us to try to stump her. Even on rhymes that we barely read to her, she seems to know the words. But what's even cuter is that she'll sing some of them but the words are not exactly right; does the black sheep have any wool or wear to sell!???! :) And speaking of expanding her verbiage, Ella's response to Erika about needing to go poo-poo was "Mommy, I don't want to talk about this right now." Oh.

Before we could get the swimsuit on, Ella decided that an afternoon in the neighborhood was totally fine just being minimally dressed. Besides, if you're going to paint and play with side chalk AND take a dip in the pool, aren't clothes over-rated? And frankly, we thought it was pretty darn cute, too!


A picture from one of our first trips to the pool back in May; she loves the water!



Interesting combination of dress-up clothes. Hmmmm.....nevertheless, she was pretty darn proud of herself! "Look at me, mommy! I did it all by myself!"



Taking a ride on Pappy's boat!


In June, Erika took just Ella to a local farm for the afternoon so she could have mommy's undivided attention for a few hours! Here is Ella looking at the pigs but enjoying the breeze from a barn fan - it was hot that day!


A little nervous at first, but she finally got brave to hold the sparklers from July 4th!

Sitting is so yesterday

Just recently, we were forced to pull the gates out and begin to baby-proof our home since Caroline has decided that crawling and cruising is so much more interesting than sitting in one spot and playing with whatever was given to her. Unlike Ella who we remember was more hesitant and seemed to take a few weeks to master the crawl, Caroline didn't seem to need so much practice or encouragement (and trust us, we were not pushing the crawling thing!). One evening, she was just up on her knees and crawling away, almost as if she'd be doing it for weeks beforehand! And not within one week of crawling was Caroline pulling herself up on furniture and in her crib. In fact, Erika was quite startled to go into her room one morning to find her not laying down, not siting up, but proudly standing up and grinning from ear to ear. We've also noticed her take a new interest in some of her toys; she's understanding the concept of putting items in and out of containers or boxes and seems to grasp the idea that objects can stack as witnessed with one of her toys. Plus, she loves to clap her hands and will do so quite often to tell us she is happy! Music moves her too - she'll rock to the beat and pump her arms in the air to any and all types of music (including Erika's singing, which definitley isn't saying much).


This was the extent of her practicing...as much as she would lean forward, she never made it fully on her knees until she decided it was time to officially take off!


Here she is (6/30/10)on one of her first crawling adventures; we love how she sucks her lower lip as she learns to maneuver her new capabilities!


Now, when she's not crawling on the floor, she's crawling out of pools....


...and up the stairs or really anywhere she can go!


This was a sweet surprise! Look at me, she says! Good morning, I can stand!


And finally, she can join big sister Ella at the toy kitchen. Life doesn't get much better than this!




Say cheese!