Ahh, I just get so excited when it’s time to photograph Clara!  I cannot believe I met her at two weeks old.  And here we are at 2 years old already…time does fly too fast.

Clara & her parents met me at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis over the weekend.  It was a pretty sticky, hot day, but we made the best of it.  All the time we kept Clara going by promising her a look at the turtles in the Quiet Waters pond.  When we finally came through on our promise, she was thrilled!

Take a quick look at all the fun we had & at Clara’s wonderful outfits!

Why is Brooke giving Piglet at time out?  Probably because she just got done with her daddy giving her a time out!  Yes, all you Baby Roo (aka Brooke, Brookie, Brookie-boo) fans…she isn’t perfect!  In fact, Brooke is more of a typical 2-year-old than Emma was.  She is very very good when she is, but like the little girl with the little curl in the middle of her forehead, when she’s bad, she’s horrid.  And we love her for it.  This is one of many fits she’s had today.  I think it was she wanted to do something Emma was doing & just took it from her.  Yesterday she pushed Emma off the dining room step in to the living room for no reason – don’t worry, it was carpeted.  She’s just sowing her wild toddler oats right now, and time out is a new phrase in her vocabulary.  Now Josh & I do believe in spanking (hopefully I won’t get arrested for saying that), but not for this situation.  So after Josh let Brooke leave time out, she proceeded to play a bit & then Piglet was naughty and he got a time out and a “lecture” just like she did.  It’s funny how they mirror everything they see.  Don’t worry though, Piglet has served his time & is now free on bail for good behavior.

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Worley Arts.  I got directed to this site by Tasra Mar.  I was fascinated by their recreations of old paintings & movie posters.  Go check it out. The Gone with the Wind recreation is great!

Our littlest girl turned two over the weekend!  Brooke is officially a toddler as of 12:34pm on July 11th – free Slurpee day.  Thank you to all the family & friends who made it out to celebrate with us on Saturday.  We had a great time and Brooke really enjoyed all the things that you blessed her with.  She (and Emma) made Josh open them all after she got up from her nap later that afternoon.

And as happens every year around this time, Brooke has some doctor visits.  We’ll get her official “stats” in August on her 2-year check-up (I know, August!  Her doctor is that booked up!).  This week we’ll be getting her yearly chest x-ray, and next week we’ll be visiting one of her surgeons in Baltimore to read the results of that x-ray.  We’re praying that he’ll continue to once again see the glory of God through Brooke’s x-ray, lung growth, and recovery from her congenital diaphragmatic hernia repair.  I’ll keep you updated.

In the mean time, here are some quick photos I snapped of Brooke while my kind neighbor & friend, Laura, was keeping Emma entertained – thanks Laura!  I got a few smiles after some bribes with candy.  Happy Birthday Brookie!

Our first born has officially turned four!  We celebrated by torturing ourselves and having TWO birthday parties!  One for little friends, and one for family members.  Maybe we should just buy a bigger house rather than host two parties???

For Emma’s little friends party, we had a puppet show.  I wasn’t the best puppeteer, but we managed.  Luckily preschoolers and toddlers aren’t too tough.  Brooke did interrupt the show by taking my puppet off my hand, but other than that little fiasco, things went great.  Then the kiddos made paper bag puppets and played with the puppet theater.  By the way, this puppet theater belonged to my sister-in-law, Emily, and her siblings when they were little, so it’s pretty well loved!

After, we ate cake!  Here are some of Emma’s party pictures.  And, if you want to know some good gifts for a four-year-old girl, email me!  Our family and friends found the greatest presents!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did not make this super cute cake or cupcakes.  I took this year off from baking and went with my mom’s advice and got this cake at Shopper’s in Annapolis.  It was a great deal, and even better cake!