{chapter closed}

I would like to announce that Paige has conquered the potty - insert cheers, applause and whoops here!!

It has been a long road that started back this past March. Which, really, isn't all that long...but, it feels like FOREVER to me.

About a month ago she finally started to go to the bathroom all on her own. She saw a friend of hers do it, and I guess she figured that she might as well give it a try. I truly tried to put the whole notion that she was near the finish line out of my head. We didn't speak about it. We didn't even exchange big smiles when she trotted off to the bathroom to go - all on her own. It's not that I wasn't happy - I was screaming happy, joyous things in my head - I was just so afraid that it was all some sort of dream, and my screaming would make it all go away.

Well, after one month of going all on her own, conquering the whole #2 thing, and nighttime dryness, I think it's time to shout from the rooftop. Skywrite it. Do the dance. whatever.

She. is. done.

And, yes, I said nighttime dryness....she wakes up in the middle of the night, gets out of bed, and goes all on her own....I can't believe it myself. It took Emily 1.5 years to do that!

Baby girl, your Momma is SO PROUD!

Now let's just have a bit of a break before the next hurdle please.....

{have a....}

great weekend....



from the lack of ANY commentary for weeks on end, i am guessing y'all are sick of really super-awesome pictures of my kids. so next week i will be featuring pictures of rust. try to contain your excitement.

{genetics}

So, if you know me, you know that I am not a sporty girl. When I was about Emily's age, I was asked to leave the softball team after getting hit repeatedly in the head with the ball. (yes, I know, it explains a lot!) And I was totally FINE with that - the leaving, NOT the head hitting. I only played one year of soccer - getting yelled at by my teammates for running the wrong way down the field with the ball was not exactly fun. At least I was way too uncoordinted to actually kick the ball in our own goal......

However, I was in marching bad. And before you tell me that this involves no coordination, YOU try playing an instrument in time with a bunch of other people playing their instruments WHILE moving around a football field in formation. Heel-toe baby!! My calves never looked better.

But that didn't involve a ball. Thank goodness!

Fast forward a few years, and I would like to present you with Allison 3.0 - a.k.a Paige Elizabeth. Allison 2.0 - a.k.a. Emily is partially afflicted with this same disease.

It's not for lack of trying....but my sweet little princess cannot catch or throw.



But she looks quite determined.



And maybe a bit scared of the ball.



Perhaps it the tongue.



We played catch with both girls after dinner last night. If you would like to call it that.

Eric and I practiced catching pop-ups in preparation for this summer's annual Bat Ball game on August 7th. I am determined to shed my uncoordinated self and catch at least ONE pop up.

Let me just say, Eric has his work cut out for him!

{more swimming}

In this heatwave that has hit our state, it seems like the only outside activity that is fun is swimming! That is, until Emily stubbed her toe running through the raindrops Wednesday night......but, she's all recovered now, and they hit the pool again yesterday afternoon.

{fourth of july 2010}

Just a small gathering to celebrate the fourth at our house.



But there were snaps. They were just as big of a hit this year as they were last year.





This year Eric bought some of those snake thingies. They stunk. Didn't work at all.



So we stuck with the classic sparklers.





And some legal fountain stuff.



That's HOT.



My poor husband. He did such a nice job setting things up, and setting them off. BUT, because all of the people around us have the big expensive stuff, we were a little distracted....he actually had to tell us to pay attention to our own stuff.

Next year, just sparklers and snaps and we'll watch everyone else's stuff.

{pool time}

We finally got the pool up - actually, we got a new pool since we could not determine if our old pool had a leak. Filling it up and then finding out quickly didn't sound so great when the new ones went on clearance at Toys R Us. A 20% off coupon was also a deciding factor as well - YEA for a bargain!!








These girls spent about 5 hours in the pool on Saturday. We had to drag them out. It was the coolest thing just watching them play together - major sister bonding.

They splashed, made waves, made a whirlpool, dove for torpedoes, chased each other....they had a great time. I don't think I had to break up one fight. Just add water right?







Emily even sprung for ice cream from the ice cream truck. SpongeBob for Emily, and Dora for Paige. Now that's a nice big sister!



And, there were also a LOT of costume changes....holy laundry!!! Every time they had to go in and go to the bathroom they changed their suit. I had to stop them when they went for their third suit!

It's supposed to be HOT all week, so I suspect there will be lots more pool time!

{dandies}

These wish blossoms were all over the strawberry patch. The girls could not resist.





As long as they don't do this in our yard, it's not a problem. Although, I think Eric will probably have anxiety just looking at these pictures.