swim-float-swim

the girls have been spending the past few weeks going to swim lessons everyday. they are taking survival swim classes. emma was returning for another year of refresher courses as she took the survival swimming a few years ago. isabella has been taking the class for the first time. she is doing great with swimming and is now focusing more on the float. it's a lot of work and time, but it's SO worth it. check out the website for more info (www.infantswim.com). i highly recommend it for your child. as someone i used to work with whose children also took the class told me . . . it's not for the "faint-of-heart parent", but the end result is totally worth all the hard stuff. after watching emma take the class and seeing how well she swims now (WAY better than me!!), i can only say great things about the course. here are some pics of the girls swimming and floating.

10 years

a few weeks ago, tom and i celebrated our 10 year anniversary. i cannot believe that 10 years has past since our wedding day. (and, we've now known each other for almost 19 years!! more than half my life!) we enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing weekend in asheville at our favorite bed and breakfast, cumberland falls inn . the breakfasts are wonderful . . . and they know all my food allergies and restrictions and they make everything so that i can eat it. we walked everywhere, just relaxed, and had an in-room massage one day! it was great, such a perfect way to celebrate our friendship and marriage . . . and where we've come from and where we are now 10 years later. enjoy our photos of us . . . then and now.

Father's Day Fun

we took pappa out for a picnic, to the playground, for a swim at the pool, and out for a yummy dinner. it was a great day celebrating our pappa!

Into Everything

isabella has discovered what a great climber she is. after attempting emma's little chair the other day, i found her a few days later sitting in her little activity table. i also caught her standing on emma's little stool in the bathroom . . . i haven't caught that on film yet.she's still not fully walking, but she is taking more and more steps. i was able to get a picture of her taking a few the other day.

moving on up . . .

earlier today i had walked out of our family room to get something in the kitchen. when i walked back into the room, i found isabella on one of emma's little chairs. she had climbed up on the chair by herself. i missed getting a picture the first time for fear that she would fall and get hurt. but i kept the camera close by and sure enough, she decided to do it again a little while later. here are some pics of her on the chair.

tea party . . . in the bathroom!

today i went into one of the bathrooms upstairs and happened to walk in on a tea party that emma had set up. it was so funny and cute . . . she had set up several of her animals and had given them all a "treat" as emma explained to me. (the treat was a stacking cup from the bath filled with some of her hair bows!) and, i'm not sure if you can tell or not, but several of the animals have some of her headbands on . . . she got them all dressed up for the tea party. it was adorable!

two steps . . .

isabella walked yesterday! she took her first steps on her own. i almost missed it as i was fixing emma's hair for school. i happened to look up and realized that isabella had let go of the coffee table and was taking a few steps on her own! i tried to get her to do it again last night so i could get a picture, but she hasn't tried again yet. i know we'll have lots of pictures soon though, so stay tuned!