Summer is here!

So Summer has hit South Florida. We are coping (and not so well I might add) with the horrible hot and sticky weather and the three o'clock torrential downpours everyday. Earlier this week God gave Lorelei her very own pool as our backyard flooded. We are now just keeping our fingers crossed and praying very hard that there are no hurricanes (I know, I'm not supposed to say that word!) this season.

Last weekend was Lori's last gymnastics class for the Spring and then I went ahead and signed her up through the summer. She has so much fun and gets so excited, I can not help but want her to keep going. Here are some pictures Catherine took for us:

Lorelei is a monkey bar queen.

She holds on to the rings and swings until her little arms can not hold on anymore.

Once she falls and lands on the mat she jumps up and points to the monkey bar again. She grunts at you until you put her back up there.

And I'm so proud of her, there are no tears when she falls!

At her very first class she learned forward rolls.

Now she is big enough to practice her rolls on a balance beam. This one is very close to the ground so she doesn't fall off.

She is so little still I have to help her flip her bootie. She can't kick over yet.

She has gotten very good at staying on the "big girl" balance beam. She will only walk about halfway across before she quits though.

This is a "Mommy and Me" class, but half the kids have both their mom and dad there, a quarter have just daddy and a quarter just mommy. So, usually, Bryan and I both take her to gymnastics. Here Bryan is trying to hold onto her as she waits her turn for the big trampoline. Patience is not a virtue my child has learned yet, so it is hard to hold onto her squirming body.

Once her name is called she runs to the middle to practice jumping. She can not get off the ground yet, but she bounces her bootie and tries really hard. Here she is bouncing!

We are excited about our trip in the next couple of weeks up to Wisconsin for the fourth of July and Great-Grandpa's birthday. I can't wait to see everyone and to meet Kim's newest little one!

Happy 1st Birthday and Happy Easter!

I will start with a quick recap of Lorelei's first birthday party that we had almost 3 weeks ago (it was actually on the 28th - her first birthday!). It was a great party with lots of people, even more food, and even more presents. I had told people not to get her gifts because she is already so spoiled, but no one listened to me.

She lasted through the first three presents, but then was uninterested in opening any more. It took me, Aunt Michelle and Aunt Tabby a solid 15 to 20 minutes to open the rest with all of us going at once.

She was not as big of a fan of the birthday cake. She ate a little bit of ice cream and then wanted to get down and play.

Her favorite part of the day was a balloon from Aunt Tabby. She carried it all around the house with her and would not let go. Mommy had to pry it out of her hands.

Then this past weekend we celebrated Easter by going to our churches Sunrise Service on the beach. Then we had Easter Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Kelley and Great Uncle Dewayne (Glenn's brother).

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Lori's first First Birthday present!

Lorelei received her first birthday gift in the mail yesterday courtesy of cousins Nick and Nate (but really Kim and Serge).

She loved the "CD Player" and managed to tote it around the entire house while bopping to the music. I had to pry it out of her hands to get her to eat dinner.

Once she saw the present in the box she started squealing and trying to take it from me. It took all of her patience to wait till I had opened it.

Once mommy got it out of the box:

You can't tell, but she is dancing in place:

Getting ready for bed (she wouldn't give it up!):

Thank you Aunt Kim. (She will send her own crayon drawn thank you card soon!)

Oh my gosh. She is almost 1!

And so the countdown begins.... Lorelei will be one on the 28th and we have so much planning to do to get ready for her first birthday party.
I can't believe its here already. It's amazing how fast time flies.
We went to a party this past weekend for a couple of our friends who got married (and whose little girl is due in June!) and Lori had a field day with the wedding cake. We got some really cute pictures and I will post them when I get home.
Other than that we have just been really really busy. Its amazing how much there is to do with a house and a baby and jobs.
It never seems to end...
:)

Lorelei is walking

I got video!

Some more big news (but still a short post)

I know that I have been extremely delinquent in posting recently, but we have been super busy. Let me just say that I have had only 5 days off in the month of January so far (4 of which were spent in Wisconsin). We are so crazy at the museum, this being the height of "Season" for us, and we have our gala event tomorrow (so yes I will be working another Saturday- and for the record I have only had like 2 Saturdays off since before December... geez).

With that being explained I will mention my big news:

Lorelei started walking on Monday!

We were in our now completed Library and she walked all the way across the room and then turned to go to Bryan down the hall. I am so proud of her! She is so cute when she gets going too. Lori loves when we clap for her so she will stand up and take like 5 steps then sit on her butt and stare at us until we start cheering.

I do want to clarify that she will still crawl when she wants to go somewhere fast, but she is getting better and better about walking about the house.

Another big announcement: Bryan and I are going to Hawaii on our "Honeymoon take two" next Friday. I will give more info on this in a future post. I have to get back to work now...

Real quick...

So much to update on (since I havne't posted since November), but for now all I have is this:

Lorelei wasn't a huge fan of Santa.

And this is now my all time favorite picture.