15 months

I took Mead to the doctor today for her 15 month check-up. Everything looked good except that she came down with a mild fever last night. The doctor thinks it's just a virus, so we'll wait and hope that it goes away quickly.

Mead is 25-50% in her weight, 50% in her height, and 75% in her head compared to most kids her age. Not too bad! She still seems small and cuddly to me, even if she is growing bigger. The doctor discovered two molars coming in up top - thankfully teething has never been a major problem for either of our girls.


Mead started walking a few weeks ago, but she's still a little stiff on her feet. She's finally decided that's her primary mode of transportation though, so she'll be moving fast in no time. As the pictures suggest, Mead is our reserved and cautious child. It's so amazing to see how two children in the same family can be so different! We love you, Mead!!

Princess slippers

Laine has been working very hard lately to receive a reward that she wanted... some princess slippers. She and I were out shopping a few weeks ago, and she came across this bag of dress up shoes that she really wanted. So since I needed some help motivating her to do a better job of using the potty, I decided to allow those slippers to be her reward.

Yes, the potty training is still in process. Hard for all of us to believe! Anyway, she has been making progress, and I think the princess slippers played a large part in that.

Here's a glimpse of two of the four pairs that came in the bag. She has hardly taken them off her feet since she got them. She brought them to school the day after she received them for show and tell. And she's been wearing her princess outfits, crown and all, even more than before. What a beauty!

We're proud of you, Laine! Keep up the good work!!

Obsession

Mead has a new obsession... brushing her teeth. She often walks into her bathroom, grabs her toothbrush off the sink, and parades around the house with her toothbrush in her mouth.

Meanwhile drool is dripping all down her face and clothes. It's actually quite adorable! Here's hoping she'll have good dental hygiene as she gets older too.

Botanical Gardens

It's spring again, and the gardens are in full bloom. My mom was in town this past weekend, and we had a great time enjoying the flowers and playing in the children's garden on Saturday.

Not sure how I captured so many funny expressions on Laine's face!

Laine was especially excited that the "floaty things" were back in the pond (the big glass bulbs behind the girls).

The azaleas were gorgeous! And the girls enjoyed climbing on the sheep.

Daddy and his girls

Aren't they all so cute!

Our garden

Penny and I are attempting a fruit and vegetable garden this summer for the first time. We've talked about wanting to do one since we got married, but we never got around to it. This year, thanks to some wonderful coaching from friends at church, Penny has been busy building garden boxes, planting seeds, watering, and tracking the growth that we have.

Really, I've done nothing except for buy some seeds and water the dirt occasionally. I've been so impressed with how hard Penny has worked and how motivated he's been. You're the man, Penny!! Here's some pictures of our progress so far.

Here's how the garden boxes started out - Penny built them in the fall, and they sat empty all winter. This spring he got some compost and started filling them up.


We also planted some blackberry and raspberry bushes at the edge of our yard. Laine's has been a big helper in watering the bushes with us.


All the boxes are full with compost and about half full with seeds. Penny built a wire fence around one of the boxes, and he will fence in the others once he finishes planting seeds.


Here's a glimpse of some of our little seedlings popping through. On the menu this summer will be broccoli, lettuce, zucchini, green pepper, cucumber, potato, carrots, corn, watermelon, pumpkin (for Halloween), tomato, strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry. So exciting! Thanks for all your hard work, Penny. Can't wait to taste the delicious results.

Spring is Here!

We've been enjoying many beautiful days outside. Mead is still not walking, but she's gotten really good with the walker. Here's a few shots from one of our recent afternoons.

Finally enjoying some sunshine and green grass! So exciting!!

Small Spaces

The girls have been playing together a lot more lately... and getting each other into all kinds of crazy things. Here's where I found them recently - hiding inside one of the bathroom cabinets!

Dying Easter Eggs

This was our third year of doing Easter eggs. Laine knew what to expect, and was ready to go!

We introduced our friends Caleb and Ruby to Easter eggs - both Laine and Caleb decided to try eating the dye at first. Notice the "rouge" on Laine's lips.


Once dyed, we painted the eggs with glitter paint. Laine was very focused and did a great job!

Snuggling

This was Mead relaxing with Daddy the other day. So cute!