Being big girls

The last two weeks (after my wisdom teeth were out) were wonderful.  I finally get to spend as much time with the girls as I want.  Though I have to say, if the days were more like yesterday I wouldn't like it, no one wanted to eat or sleep.  Mostly we hang out, dance, read, and play.  I also spend a lot of time making sure the girls don't feed Heidi.  They like to pick her food out of the bowl and bring it to me or give it to her.  Not the worst thing, they could eat it, but still not great.

Running around the duck pond at Duke Gardens

This was a lot of fun, it rocks like a boat.

 The girls have been working hard to be big girls, especially Catherine.  They like to feed themselves with forks. Catherine actually would rather eat this way than eat with her fingers.  Catherine also has tried on my shoes and carries them, and anything else with a strap, like a purse.  She makes the most ridiculous faces, I think simply because she knows they make me laugh.

 

They look so pretty in their dresses, though I didn't realize how white Catherine was until I put her in a black dress. Samantha likes to open drawers and get out ribbons and play with them.  Samantha is great at closing the drawers when she's done with them, and she even brings me things to throw out or put away, keeping things clean.  I wish she would do it with her books, they're everywhere!

Samantha being so studious.

Samantha and Nana

Catherine and Grandpa

They help me with the laundry.  Not the greatest thing I would have them do, but they are occupied and as long as it is stuff I haven't folded yet, no big deal.  We also played in the pool.  The first time Catherine was cold, so the second time we put her in a long sleeve suit but she was still shivering.  That is, she was shivering until she discovered the slide.  Then there was no taking her, or Samantha, out.

 

 Time to go inside!

The Zoo

Dave loves to go to the zoo, and because he is working on Father's Day, we went today.  The girls seemed to like it, even though they didn't sleep well on the way there.  Catherine especially liked when the animals were at her level.  There was one bird in the Sonoran desert exhibit that kept running back and forth and had her captivated.

 

Samantha would look at the animals, but instead loved to just walk around and touch the plants.  Every time she came to a grate that went across the path she would bend down and touch it, then go slowly over it.  I think she thought it was a door jamb, like at Nana's house, and she didn't want to trip.  There were also circular grates that put out warm air, and they had a lot of fun standing on them.  It made their hair blow and their shirts puff out.

            

The ostrich was especially cool because it came so close to the side.  The lions and baboons and chimpanzees were also exciting, but I'm not sure how well the girls saw them, though we held them up.    I was so proud of them most of the day.  Lunch was a little hectic because they didn't want to sit anymore, and a lot of food ended up on the floor.  We let them get out and walk around as often as we could and they really had fun.  There was a lot of squealing in excitement.  For the most part they stayed close to us and listened when we called them back.  We were very proud of them for doing so well on such a long day.

Learning about lions

Catherine leads the way

Daddy shows them the gorillas

Just to keep Samantha close

This is what they look like when it is time to go home.

A day at the park

We got a new ride last weekend and Grandpa come home from NY so we all went to the park to celebrate.  (p.s. don't we look pretty in the dresses Great Grandma bought us?)

We ran around and played in the grass and dirt and, as Nana said, had a grand old time.  Even Heidi enjoyed herself.  She loves the park because she gets to do her favorite thing in the whole wide world: play with the ball.  We love the swings, the was the best part of being at the park.  We both cried when it was time to get off them and go home.  We did have a good time though.  We got to ride on these things, whatever they are called.





Meanwhile, we are having a lot of fun at home during the day.  We laugh at each other and make each other laugh.  Reading books and playing music consumes a large part of the day, though we do take breaks to make Mommy or Daddy chase us through the kitchen, attempt to eat Heidi's food (or feed it to her) and take the cookbooks off the shelf.  We climb onto the couch and screech with laughter and try to pull the leaves off of Mommy's violet.  Then we do it all over again.

Catherine and Grandpa

Catherine is definitely into making noise.  She talks so much and her inflection sounds just like a sentence, but Mommy and Daddy don't know what either of us are saying.  Catherine also is still kissing people  like Heidi does, with her tongue.  She needs to work on that.  She's beginning to love her stuffed animals, snuggling and hugging them.  She's starting to each like a champ, too!

Samantha and Daddy

Samantha has figured out that velcro is a lot of fun, which means her shoes end up on the floor of the car a lot.  Oh!  I didn't tell you about the car.  It is huge and we have our own seats and music and fans and it is perfect for when we are big kids.  We're going to take it to NY and to the zoo and the beach and we can't wait!  Anyway, Samantha loves to tell Mommy when it is time for a nap and we both know when to go upstairs for naps and baths.  We're getting very good at knowing what Mommy and Daddy want us to do, like go upstairs or come to them or bring them things, or stop doing something, though sometimes we don't want to.  Then we get in trouble.  But, really, we are good little girls.