What have we missed?? Happy Birthday to Daniel, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Birthday to Carly, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to Jen and Kate, Happy EASTER and...happy Memorial Day!

Well, most of you have probably given up on our little blog at this point but for those of you who, after 9 months of our silence, still check to see if we have posted anything...here is your reward!  I'm not entirely sure where the time went or how these two girls have grown up so fast but we are here in June 2011 now...that's just crazy. A brief catch up...

Carly is a pretty grown up 4.5 year old now! She is responsible, looks after her little sister, looks out for her friends and is very considerate of the feelings of others.  She is such a 'little mommy', willing to mother just about anyone who is willing to be mothered. Kate, of course, is on the receiving end of much of Carly's mothering. Sometimes she loves it and other times...not so much.  As grown up as she is, Carly is definitely still the complete goofball that we have known and loved!  Carly loves drawing and is doing a great job learning to write her letters and numbers and is working on reading as well.  She loves to ride her bike (with training wheels) and randomly taught herself how to snap about 3 weeks ago. Just today she learned to tie her tennis shoes all by herself!

She is such a little helper and does many things to help me throughout each day. One day a few months ago, we were getting ready to go to the park when I got a phone call that briefly postponed my preparations for leaving. I did dishes while talking on the phone and assumed that Carly and Kate were just playing as they came in and out of the kitchen and the living room on their way to the playroom.  When I got off of the phone, Carly said, "Ok, Mommy. We are ready to go to the park." I said that I still needed to get drinks. She said she had done it. As I thought through the other things I needed to gather I found that Carly had done them all-- she had gotten drinks for the girls AND me, gotten granola bars for snacks and put the backpack in the stroller as well as a pair of shoes for Kate, whom she had buckled into the stroller.  Who needs a nanny?!

A few weeks ago I was getting the girls dinner, trying to get them dressed and out the door for an event and they were going completely crazy.  I stopped talking with them for just a moment so I could collect my thoughts and have a breather...Carly very carefully looks at me and says, "Mommy...are you about to lose your mind?"  I laughed out loud and said, "Carly, I think God gave you to me to make me laugh." She says, "I think so too."

Carly has been taking ballet this last school year and just a few weeks ago we had her recital.  She had a great time dancing to "God's Love" from VeggieTales with her classmates. Our video didn't turn out very well but we're hoping to get a video from friends so we can share it with you all. Despite enjoying the ballerina life, Carly still says that she wants to be a firefighter or a chef when she grows up!

Preschool just finished up for both girls and I think that they will miss it over the Summer.  They are both SO social and thrive around other people. Carly often says, 'So where are we going TODAY, Mommy?'  She is not impressed if I tell her we are staying home by ourselves for the day.  This was Kate's first year of preschool and she loved it.  She made many little buddies but her favorite was a little boy named Garrett whom she lovingly called 'Carrot'!

What to say about Kate? Kate is so 2! She has an attitude the size of Texas (Everything's bigger and better in Texas, right?!) but thankfully has a gentle, cuddly side too.  She loves to jump around, yell, throw things, growl like a lion to scare us, tease and kind of be a hooligan. However she is also such a girl! She wears the little princess high heels a majority of the day and can run and jump in them with such proficiency (I, however, can barely walk in high heels).  She insists on wearing a tutu almost every day now and I have mostly given up trying to pick out her clothes because she has a definite opinion about what she does and doesn't want to wear! She usually gets dressed and twirls around saying 'princess' (as in, 'I am one').  Kate so badly wanted to be in ballet with Carly but she was too young this year so we just got her dressed in a tutu and she pranced around anyway.

Just as Carly adores Kate, Kate totally adores Carly, though she goes between harassing her and defending her (like all good sisters, right?).  Some days, like today, Kate just pesters Carly- she will take her toys, mess up her creations, run over to hit her then run away, etc. Then she will turn around a few moments later to cuddle up with Carly and if Carly is crying Kate will often say, 'You 'kay, Cahwy?' A few months ago we were over at a friend's house and our girls were playing under the kitchen table ('cause they can). Their little friend (age 3) took a toy from Carly and Carly said 'HEY!' Kate looked at the friend, stared her down and snatched the toy back out of her hands. The funniest part was next when Kate held eye contact with said friend while giving the toy back to Carly...kind of like 'DON'T mess with my sister'!  Recently when Nana was in town, she was chasing the girls around like a monster. The scaring and chasing and scaring had been going on for a while when Kate stepped between Carly and Nana, shook her little pointer finger and said, 'No, no, not funny, dude!'

About 6 weeks ago we moved Kate to a 'big girl' bed, pushing the day bed and trundle together to form a King. She absolutely adores her big girl bed but likes testing the boundaries by getting out of bed multiple times. We left the crib up for such occasions and tonight just happens to be one of those occasions! She will soon 'get it', I'm sure.  I have been telling her that the 'dummy (pacifier) fairy' is coming soon to take her dummies and give them to little babies who need them while leaving her some presents. She always says, 'and cake!' The girl is working it, huh?  Carly can still tell you what the dummy fairy brought to her 2 years ago but I have a feeling that it may not be quite the same easy, positive experience with our Kate! Shortly after the dummy fairy comes...potty training (cue suspenseful music)! Yikes!

 In August we will be heading off to visit our friends and 'family' in Australia.  Though we are not so excited about the long trip over with the girls, we are totally excited to see everyone and what was our home for 8 years!  A few months ago we mistakenly mentioned to Carly that we were going to visit Australia.  She was SO EXCITED she immediately retrieved her suitcase, threw in her toothbrush, toothpaste, blanket, bear and underwear, zipped it up and declared that she was ready to go.  She was pretty crushed when we explained that it was not time for us to go to Australia yet but she insisted on leaving that suitcase packed and slept without her blanket or her bear for about a week. We told her she at least had to unpack her toothpaste and brush to use it every day. So she would go take them out, brush and put them right back in the suitcase when she was done. She did eventually unpack it all but she still asks when we are going! Yes, we have learned our lesson. Poor kid!

Instead of trying to fully catch up on great photos since last September, I am just including a few recent ones. Enjoy! Hopefully more are to follow. =) We love you!