Life has a way of being busy; a way of passing by without time to reflect and to appreciate all of the gifts that God has placed in my path. I have completely abandoned to idea of
scrapbooking to help capture my most precious memories. Hailey has an elaborate scrapbook of her first two years. (I figure that there are some definite disadvantages to being the oldest child and that having a pretty scrapbook might just be one of the few advantages.) Knowing that I could not have kept up with my
scrapbooking scheme, I took to the world of blogging nearly 3 years ago. I rely on my blog to record our most significant events, to track growth, to capture our life in still form. It is awesome for me to go back through older posts to prompt my memory.
Carter has now just over 2 1/2 years old. He has recently transformed into a big boy as much I as would like him to stay my little boy. He has captured all of our hearts in our home as he is just the nicest boy. He loves to play. His favorite things are: Lightening McQueen, dinosaurs, cars, trucks, and trains. He can entertain himself very easily especially when allowed to roam the garage, driveway, or backyard. Carter's sisters fight every morning over who gets to snuggle with him during morning cartoons, they fight over who gets to sit by him in the van, and who gets to sit with him at the breakfast table. They are so very attentive to his needs and Carter is pretty oblivious to the special treatment. He has always loved music and will break into dance if no one is watching. Carter has started some in-home speech therepy to help him out with his articulation. He talks a lot and can label anything, but most people are not able to speak "Carter". I can pretty much interpret everything that Carter wants, but our goal is to have him understood by everyone. He runs like a big boy, sleeps like a big boy, sits in church like a big boy, eats like a big boy, but the one thing that we need to work on is going on the potty like a big boy. Carter pretty much completes our family.
Taylor is now 4 1/2 years old and her official new favorite thing to do is swim. We have been frequenting the Bloomington pool this week and she suddenly has figured out that she can in fact float. In the past she has suffered from some great anxiety in the water and would only enter with a lifejacket--this was not entirely a bad thing, however it is important to learn how your body can work on its own in the water. She also has been getting better and better without training wheels on her bike; starting is difficult, but stopping has been mastered. Taylor's legs do continue to display abuse. She seems to find injury on a daily basis and I just don't know how to protect her from it. She is absolutely terrified of bugs and told me the other day that she likes winter best because there are no bugs. Taylor loves to be with Carter, to help Carter, to comfort Carter, to play with Carter-she LOVES Carter. Hailey and Taylor however seem to have entered a difficult stage of sisterhood. Frequent fights occur between these sisters and most of the time over the silliest of things. The other day it was over what day of the week it was. Taylor insisted it was Saturday.....it was Tuesday. The strange thing is that I can turn my back and they will be the best of friends snuggling in bed. She has grown up so fast and has shown us such passion for the small things in life, the details, the important stuff (like CANDY). She is my little helper; our second mom in our home.
It is hard to recognize Hailey these days since she cut off 6 inches of hair, grew an inch taller, and has lost three teeth in 2 weeks. Hailey has been transitioning into full time home life since the completion of 1st grade. She loved 1st grade and so did I. She told me that she plans to be a 1st grade teacher "so that I don't have to work and I just get to play all day". Hailey is in love with books and creating things. I think that I have her figured out: Hailey is not into the details of things like Taylor, but into the idea of things, the creation of things. Since she has been home this summer she has set up a candy shop, a carnival, an obsitcal course, a festival, and a habitat for her VBS animals. The set-up is her passion, but doesn't really play with the set up. Hailey is growing up and to fast in my opinion. She likes good humor and is never tired. She loves to swim, loves the Disney channel, and still is the one that comes in our bed during the night. Hailey has a list of 15 playdates that she wants to have for the summer, 3 camps, and plays softball 2 x a week. I am starting to feel like I had it easy when I only had preschoolers. Now I'm working around her schedule more than my own.
I probably will say this every birthday, but "I can't believe Hailey is 7!" WOW!
Taylor, Olivia, and Hailey
The sleep over crew. I said that she could have two girls over for a sleep over and it grew to five.....I'm exhausted.
Backyard sprinklers, water balloon fights, and a treasure hunt.
Golf Clubs from Daddy!
Taylor, Olivia, and Hailey
The sleep over crew. I said that she could have two girls over for a sleep over and it grew to five.....I'm exhausted.
Backyard sprinklers, water balloon fights, and a treasure hunt.
Golf Clubs from Daddy!
The girls were super excited to go for a spin in Julie's new 
