matrix baby

Lucy crawls!

Well, it's more accurately described as an army/inch-worm belly scoot/wiggle, but she can get from one place to another pretty well while doing it. She's been working toward this for a while, going from scooting backward to doing a swan dive face first in the carpet while tucking her knees and sticking her butt in the air. She can get up on all fours in a typical crawling position but doesn't quite know how to push off from her feet to propel herself forward. The one thing she has down is that she's GREAT at pulling with her arms. She's going to have some major arm muscles pretty soon :) Anyway, it's a huge milestone that I hope will make her happier as she's been a little cranky for the past couple of days.

Here are some pictures of Lucy "exploring" the area under her bouncer: :

Getting ready to go

This thing looks different from down here

mmm, tastes good

But this cracker is even better

(the ADORABLE green jumper was handmade by Kim's mom - I wish a had a picture of the front...I'll have to take some more when the weather is nice. I think this will be a favorite outfit this summer!)

Here are some from outside later that day:



And Maryn has been camera-shy lately (she won't even let me bribe her for pictures anymore!) but here are a couple of her in art-mode.

You can see she's still not too happy about me taking her picture

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

The day is almost over and I can't let it pass completely without a Happy Birthday blog post for my wonderful husband.

So here's to you, my guitar-playing, humor-loving, hard-working, theology blog-reading, philosophizin', history-loving, sheep-counting, storybook reading, back-rubbing, boo-boo-kissing, volleyball-playing, fantasy baseball-obsessing husband who takes on all these things and more in the course of a normal day and does them all well. I am so grateful and blessed when I think about getting to spend this lifetime with you. ok, I'll stop embarrassing you now :o)

Here are some pictures from the day:

Buttermilk biscuits for breakfast

Lucy liked her biscuit so much she threw a fit when it got "lost" on her bib. Who knew biscuits had camouflage abilities?

Chris' "cake" - thanks for the idea, Lisa! The recipe is here for anyone who wants to try it. I'm sure yours will turn out smoother than mine ;)

Maryn in a pretty garden

Chris and his girls

Mother's Day

Here are some photos from our Mother's Day outing to a nature park near our house. It was a beautiful, clear day - perfect for a walk. A friend told us about this park that has a great path with some bridges over a little stream. The park also has a frisbee golf course - we may have to go there again on Father's Day :)

This must have been Lucy's favorite facial expression for the day

CA - Part 2

I better finish this post about our trip before I start forgetting all the details!

Sunday was a great day spent visiting with Carol and DB's friends Paula and Chet and Chris' uncle Steve and aunt Debbie. We had a great lunch and the kids really loved hanging out with everyone.

The girls with aunt Debbie and uncle Steve

We decided to go down to the boat again that afternoon and had a relaxing time sipping wine and catching up some more. Once again, I could really get used to having a boat!

The Ballanti boys on the boat

Monday's adventure was visiting the Little Farm at Tilden Park. Tilden is a great park about 10 minutes from Carol and DB's house. They have a mini steam train and carousel, too, but those were closed during the week. The farm was more than enough fun for one day, though! Maryn got to feed a cow and Lucy got to see a real goose! There were also goats, sheep, chickens, a pig and some rabbits to keep us busy.

Windmill at the Little Farm

Maryn feeding a cow

Maryn's new best friend

Lucy having fun

Lucy was really into watching the animals

One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to hang out with Chris' sister Laurel. I wish she lived closer so we could spend more time together! The kids love her, too.

I got to hang out with some of her friends for Cinco de Mayo on Monday night.

Really blurry mariachi

And some other pictures from the trip:

Ballanti family photo

Maryn loves to cook with Grandma!

Lucy had fun with the mirror

Bath time in Grandma's big sink!