Swinging!

Since the weather has been less than scorching the past few days,

we have been enjoying playing outside in the back yard.

And Anna is big enough to swing on the outside swing now and she loved it!

Emma was excited too because she was able to do the big swing all by herself!

This was a first for both girls. What an exciting day!

Hooray for rain!!!

After an unbearable summer, with temperatures in the 100s for what has seemed like a solid month, we finally have some cooler weather (anything below 80 is cool compared to what we've been having) and rain!!! Emma was so excited that she finally got to wear her rain gear and splash in actual puddles!!!

Anna's First Day at Mother's Day Out!

Along with firsts today, it was Anna's first day of Mother's Day Out.

And just like Emma, I was pleasantly surprised! She did not fuss or cry when we handed her over to her teacher and left! When I went to pick her up she was asleep, but the teacher said she had only been asleep for 10 minutes and that was all she had slept the whole day. I dropped her off at 9:00 and picked her up at 1:30! She did sleep till 8:00 this morning at home. When we got home she took a 1 1/2 hour nap! I can't believe our baby isn't so much a baby anymore! She will be 10 months old in just 12 days. :( Where did the time go?!?

She is getting cuter by the day though and has such a happy and cute little personality.

Dressed and ready!

Say Cheese!

Oh how I love these girls!!!

Look how big!

Anna's nice new teacher, Ms. Valerie.

It's not a smile, but she's not screaming!

I would say it was a good first day!

First Day of School!

Emma started preschool today. I can't believe we have a preschooler!

She did so great! She did not fuss or protest when we left, she just smiled and said "bye!" I was shocked! When I went to pick her up she was actually asleep! And she said she liked school! Wow! This day went much better than I expected! Hooray!!!

This morning she got a new personalized placemat for a Happy First Day of School Present!

It has her name, the alphabet, and shapes that she can trace and wipe-off.

She looked so cute in her frog shirt to go along with the theme of her classroom.

Our little preschooler!

Love my girls!

9 months old

She's been scooting around for a few weeks now, but we finally put out

the bait to get Anna crawling. Just like big sister Emma, she

couldn't resist the home phone. Not to be outdone by her big sister,

she did it one month earlier!

Anna's Baby Dedication

Last Sunday we had Anna's baby dedication at our church. Everyone, including us,

were a little worried that she might scream when Dr. Pourciau held her. But she

surprised all of us and didn't make a peep! She enjoyed looking all around and only made a few

sweet babbles during the prayer. :) Emma was a proud big sister and did a good job too. She

enjoyed waving to all of our family sitting on the 2nd and 3rd row from up stage. We had a huge turn out and had to get a table for 20 (including us) for lunch afterwards! It was a very special day!

Deja vu

While we were out visiting Jason's sister at the end of May,

we took a picture like one we'd taken 3 years ago.

I was even able to find the same outfit for Anna to wear

and it fit!

Emma is 4 1/2 months old. (August 2008)

Anna is 6 months old. (May 2011)

And here is our whole family!

Emma is 3 years old. It is so hard to believe

3 years has passed and she is a big sister!

4th of July

Ballerina Emma

Last week Emma attended dance camp at Shreveport Dance Academy.

They did both tap and ballet. She LOVED getting the shoes and outfit to wear!

On the last day they performed a mini-recital to show the parents and grandparents what they'd learned. It was great! Emma was so focused and serious about her dance moves!

Summer is here!

I apologize to all of my blog followers for being so behind.

I'll give a brief update of what's been going on since my last post 5 months ago!

What can I say, being a mom of two is busy!

Emma turned 3 in April and had a ballerina birthday party, complete with tutus and twirling!

We took our first trip as a family to the beach in May. Emma loved it!

Anna turned 6 months old. She weighs 17 lbs now, can sit up by herself, and is trying baby food.

Although life with two is busy, I can't imagine it any different. We love both of our girls so much and they brighten each day with their beautiful smiles!

I'll try to post more often! Here are few pics from the past 5 months.

Anna 7 weeks old

The past week Anna has started showing us her beautiful smile! We love our baby girl!

Merry Christmas!

Too Sweet!

Emma is such a great big sister!

She loves helping out by bringing us diapers to change Anna and putting the dirty ones in the diaper pail!

She has been so sweet to Anna and loves to give her hugs and kisses.

So far she has shown no signs of jealousy and only seems to be bothered when Anna cries:
"It's loud!" she says! :)

Welcome Anna Kate Nichols!

I realize I'm a few weeks late with this! But I was having trouble getting pictures uploaded.

Welcome Emma's baby sister: Anna Kate Nichols!

Born November 18, 2010
1:50PM
7 lb 9 oz
20 1/2 inches

We are so blessed by both of our beautiful girls!

Click here for more pics

Our Girls

Our Christmas gift this year!

We had the wonderful opportunity to have Catherine Gikas take pictures of our beautiful girls.

Check out the link above to see a sneak peek of some of the great shots she got!

Amazing!

Pumpkin Patch

Emma had lots of fun at the pumpkin patch.

It was a perfect evening for it; nice weather and not too crowded.

We picked a nice big one to carve, a little one for decorations, and a turbin.

Pig tails and sunglasses

Emma loves to wear her hair in pig tails,

and actually it keeps the hair out of her face better

than any other hairstyle we've tried.

She also loves to wear glasses!

Sunglasses, reading glasses, and daddy's safety glasses!

I can see a dress up trunk in the near future!

Poor daddy... no boy toys, just princesses, tea parties, and dress up!

Big Sister in Training!

Today we went to visit my friend Heather and the

newest addition to the Berry family, baby Abrahm.

Emma was so cute holding him!

She's going to be a great big sister!

Beach trip for Mommy and Daddy

We had a great time on our couples trip to the beach!

It was the most relaxing vacation we can remember taking!

We went with 3 other couples from our Sunday School Class:

2 from Shreveport and 1 from Colorado Springs.

We had a blast just hanging out and having uninterrupted

conversations, sleeping in, eating out with no high chairs,

and staying up late playing games!

Of course we missed Emma and were excited to get back

home to see her!