Heartbroken

Roy - Thank you for filling the role of 'brother I always wanted'. Thank you for welcoming me into your family with open arms and making me feel a part of it from day one.  I have yet to meet anyone else in this world who can apply a quote from Friends to any situation... I finally found someone who understood each and every one of my references.  I will never forget "Roy and Sarah's Weekend of Fun" and our discovery of the greatest salad bar ever.  We are very similar people, which is why I think we got along so easily.  Thank you for teaming up with me to pick on your brother.  I will miss you... I can't believe you are gone. 

Maya and Laurel - we will never let you forget your Uncle Roy, our memories will become stories that you are told often.  He loved each of you more than you will understand and was so proud of every milestone you reached.  He cried tears of joy the day each of you were born.  He carefully chose a special outfit for you on your birthdays, making sure it never included pink.  Although we are devastated that you will not be able to get to know him further as you grow up, we know he will forever be in your hearts. Our wish is that you will always be able to feel his love.  Hug your t-rex tight, Maya.

Two!!

There is a completely different mentality when your second (and probably last) child is growing up.  With Maya, we were so excited as she moved forward with each milestone and even pushed her along to reach them a little faster.  With Laurel, I find myself trying to keep her a baby as long as possible.  I am losing though... she doesn't want to be a baby anymore and she is making that perfectly clear.  Watching her relationship with Maya become one of equals has been incredible, yet at the same time makes me a bit sad to be losing my "Baby Laurel".

She is a healthy growing girl.  Still petite and is almost the exact same size Maya was at this age... same height and only .8lbs bigger.  Although her head is still huge :-)

- Her nickname, Lo-Lo, has stuck.  When she started to say her own name she wasn't able to say Laurel and called herself Lo-Lo.  Now we all do it.  Although, Maya says that since she is now a big 2 year old we should start calling her Laurel instead of Lo-Lo. 

- Her language skills have truly exploded in the last few weeks.  She shocks me every day with new words and phrases.  And it cracks me up how she casually adds it in as if she has always said it.  One of the girls' favorite games in the car is for Maya to say a new word and ask Laurel to repeat it...  "Laurel can you say [x]?"  Giggles, giggles, giggles.  They will do this for ages.  I think it has also made it a lot more fun for Maya when they play together.  They play these elaborate make believe games and now Laurel can partipate instead of just follow Maya.

- She wants to be just like her big sister.  She repeats phrases and expressions that Maya says.  She wants to wear a "pretty dress" every time Maya wears a dress.  If Maya is doing it, she wants to be doing it too... no matter what it is.

- Her new favorite phrase is "I do", which can mean everything from Laurel will do it, Laurel wants to and Me too. 

- Her personality is a big mix between Rey and I.  She is shy like me and takes time to warm up to situations.  But, at home (or once she is comfortable somewhere) she is a crazy, goofy, spitfire of a kid.  She wears her emotions on her sleeve and will let you know exactly how she is feeling.  She loves to laugh and she loves to make other people laugh.  I can't wait until she is older because I think her sense of humor is going to be a whole lot of fun. 

- Although she loves to color and read books, she is not as interested in sitting still and learning as Maya is.  She would rather run around, dance and play outside.  Which is probably why, if asked, she still says all colors are blue and the only number she says when counting is two.  These things just aren't her priority... which is perfectly fine with me.

- She is the type of kid that throws a complete fit because I won't let her shine the flashlight in her eyes, the type of kid that jumps off a high play structure without fear or caution and the type of kid that colors on the walls.  I will not be shocked if we end up at the Dr one day because she has shoved something up her nose just to see what would happen.  She keeps us guessing and we love her for it!

A Birthday Party for Laurel

I really can not believe my baby is two.  We had a family birthday party to celebrate and she LOVED being the birthday girl.  She picked out her own pretty dress from the store and walked around singing Happy Birthday all day.  She really is proud to be two!  Luckily the weather cooperated and Laurel got to spend her birthday doing what she likes best... playing outside.

The girls pre-party.

There was lots of bike riding...

Picnic dinners...

 



An easter egg hunt...

And present opening (with a lot of help from cousins).

Here she is enjoying some of her new gifts - a butterfly chair...

and a new baby and puppy.

Mommy and Laurel.

Easter

We had a very fun Easter this year.  The girls loved their Easter baskets - which the Easter Bunny forgot to hide (and I forgot to take pictures of).  The weather was fantastic and we spent most of the day outside playing with bubbles, looking for easter eggs and playing with cousins.  I have said it many times, but I will say it again, the girls are so lucky to have cousins close in age who they get to see all the time.

Bubbles!  The greatest kid entertainment ever invented.

Searching for eggs.  Laurel caught on very quickly and she searched high and low for as many eggs as she could fill her basket with.

 

More egg hunting.

Checking out the loot.

 

The little girls gardening in their Easter dresses.

Shocking - but we managed to get a decent picture of all five cousins.  I am pretty sure this is a first.  And guess what, no tears for Laurel!!

Tumbling and Yoga

The girls both take a tumbling class at school and last week the theme was animals.  Here they are showing us what they learned - the crab walk and how to hop like a frog.  Yes, this was taken last week and yes, they are both wearing Christmas pajamas, I see no issue with that :-) 

 

It has been very interesting to watch Laurel tackle this tumbling class.  She is very much like me and does not particularly care for new situations with new people and needs some time to become comfortable.  She cried the first class, then for the next few she stood back and observed all the other kids doing their tumbling.  Eventually, she started to participate, more and more each week.  Now, she is one of the first to try something new and she is never ready for class to end.  Her instructors have had so much fun watching her come out of her shell.  I think this is going to be an internal battle for her along the way - she is really active and has so much fun with these types of classes and activities, but in order to do so she is going to have to deal with new teachers and groups of kids.  I am curious to see which will win out along the way!

One of Maya's teachers has all the kids in class do yoga right before naptime to help them unwind and relax.  She loves it and is often teaching us all the yoga moves she learns.  Laurel has stated to join in and Maya has taken to the role of teacher quite naturally.

Love these girls

Some recent pics of the girls, enjoying apples after a day at the beach.  Growing so very quickly.

So rarely does she smile for the camera... I've given up trying.  She sure has her share of facial expressions though.  You can tell exactly how she is feeling and what she is thinking just by the look she gives you.

This is Maya's new smile for the camera - lips closed tight, squinty eyes.  I can't believe she is approaching four.  She is turning into quite the young lady.

Kauai

Last week we headed to Kauai with the Jones family and man, do I wish we were back there.  The girls LOVED the beach, which is where we spent most of our time.  Especially Laurel... we would have to drag her away from the water and sand.  We rented a beautiful house which allowed for a lot of room for the kids to play both indoors and outdoors.  We explored the island, snorkeled, built sand castles, watched seals on the beach, enjoyed a date night and had an overall great vacation.

Our view from the house.

The girls fishing in the pond with Uncle Brent.

Our daily trek to the beach looked a little something like this... kids come with a lot of gear!

We rented a boogie board with a window on it so the kids could ride and watch the fish below.  They all loved it. 

We found a couple beaches that had rock walls blocking off the big waves.  This created a shallow, protected area for the kids to play in.  They were quite the little fish by the end of the week.

And we were able to relax a bit while they waded and played.

Surfing!

Watching sea turtles ride on the waves and exploring the tide pools.

The kids played and played and played in the sand.  We made castles with moats, dug giant holes and looked for buried treasure.  Each and every one of them loved it. 

Surfing on our sightseeing drive around the island.

Cousin love.

Movie time before bed on the very last night.  I think we successfully wore them out.

Beautiful Kauai shoreline - can't wait to go back.