Are you listening to me?

Last week I turned 29 (even though I still look 19- how is that possible?). I always joked that I needed a "birthday week" when I was younger, and this year I really got a whole week of birthday celebrations! Lunch at my grandma's house on Thursday, a birthday dinner on Sunday with my family, and a morning of shopping and a nice lunch in Petoskey with my mom and my girls on my actual birthday, which was Monday. In 29 years I've traveled the world, been married for 6 1/2 years, and have 2 beautiful girls. My mom always says flowers bloom in my path, and I couldn't agree more. If I were to order a life, I'd almost certainly order mine. I don't think there are many people who can say that.

We were up north again last week, and FINALLY had a campfire down by the lake. We enjoyed smores and a rainbow-- it was the perfect evening! Construction is in full swing for the barn- they have poured cement and put up some of the metal structure. It won't be too long before the house gets started! It will be my mom's field of dreams- if they build it, we will come. All 4 of us kids (5 with Paul!) love Up North, and have such great memories of it from growing up. We will come. And we won't mess it up. We promise.

Katherine is 3 months old and is blowing every benchmark out of the water. She is the happiest baby, always smiling and laughing. She will try to sit up if you lean her against a pillow- she's a very independent and active little lady! She isn't rolling quite yet, but I think any day now she'll be on the move. The pediatrician said when she was born that she was "lean and strong" and has continued to assert that she is one of the strongest newborns he's ever seen. She has perfect head and neck control- which opens the world of front facing carriers pretty soon!

Evelyn continues to be hilarious. She catches me off guard by repeating things that I'm not even aware that I say! She was putting her baby doll to sleep the other night, and she said, "I've had enough! Put head down and close eyes!" She has also been known to whip out the, "are you listening to me?" every now and then, which just makes me laugh. She loves the pool and the outdoors- I don't know what she's going to think when it starts getting cooler and we can't play outside every day. Until then, we're enjoying every minute of the sunshine that we can!

Summer is flying by...

Ok, so there went my intentions of updating this blog regularly... it's been almost 2 months since I last wrote! I'll try to catch everyone up: Ev's 2nd birthday, pool, grandma and pops' house almost every day, zoo, air conditioning, library, Orchard Lake, Up North, Michigania, pool again, more A/C (the heat wave trapped us inside almost as much as a snowstorm!), and more Up North.... got it? That pretty much sums up the last 2 months for us, we've done a lot and been surprisingly on the go for having a 2 year old and a newborn!

Evelyn's favorite place is "gaga's up north house" where she plays on the beach, runs around the gigantic church camp complex, watches the snorts dig up the dirt (yay, the new barn has finally started!), and just enjoys being with her family. She loves listening to the loon, and picking blueberries and raspberries. The water is warm and full of fun things like minnows and frogs. She's a little freaked out of nature, but then again, this is my child who was afraid of strawberries last week...

Evelyn turned 2 on May 23rd, I can't believe it. I know everyone says that, but really, I CAN'T believe I have a little walking, talking friend. Emphasis on the TALKING, this girl can already chat your ear off. She is a constant stream of consciousness, and is so hilarious, I want to write everything she says down. Here are some gems... We were walking at Greenfield Village and she stopped in her tracks and said "uh oh, I no have seatbelt on." Everything pretty or new she says, "ooooooooh, wooooow loooook mammmmmaaaaa" in the most dramatic voice possible. I asked her what was fun at gaga's up north house- "pops". We're potty training using M&M's as a reward (the child will do anything for "cocoa candy") and she saw my uncle coming out of the bathroom at Michiganina and said, "yay, you get cocoa candy now!" She handed me one of Kate's diapers and said, "awww tute (cute) mama, a little baby diaper!" She's practicing her French and will occasionally say Bonjour or merci beaucoup instead of hello or thank you. SO cute. We saw a garbage truck on the way to Grandma's one morning and she said, "ew, yucky truck. Me like nice and clean." She's a total clean freak! And, finally, to prove she's 2, upon entering her room after her nap the other day she immediately crumpled and said "NO! MINE!" I laughed and said, "are you 2?" She stopped yelling and smiled and said, "yep."

Katherine Laura was baptized on May 26th, and it was a beautiful service. Full of love and well wishes, I was so proud to have such beautiful girls. My family is the best!

Michigania is always a highlight of the year for our family, but increasingly so as Evelyn gets older and is more able to enjoy it. They have activities for every age, and every interest, so life there is never dull. It is a wonderful opportunity to see everyone and to get some ceramics cranked out. Evelyn and Kate were surrounded with love and attention- Kate bounced from one person's arms to the next, and Evelyn always had someone to come with her when she started looping about "show me" (when she needs to show something to you). We had 17 people in all, and everyone had a great time. Uncle Pete is on staff again this year, and Uncle Joe wishes he were again. We had a nice week- week 1- with a few torrential downpours, but mostly sun and perfect temperatures. We're already looking forward to next year!

This is Kate at 2 months old. She continues to grow and change all the time... which is I guess what babies do :) She is smiling, even laughing (we call them Sheldon laughs, if you've ever seen the Big Bang Theory, you know what I'm talking about) and she is so engaged in everything. She is the BEST baby, and is currently sleeping through the night (10pm-5am pretty consistently).

She's fascinated with her swing, and looks up at the birds and "talks" to them. She loves her lion and her panda on her other bouncy seat-- she could sit there all day enjoying life. My mom said, she's good, and then she falls asleep, then she's good again. You'd never know she was there, apart from the squawk if she's hungry, or the giggle at one of her toys. Evelyn will come up to her, squish her and say, "awwww she loves me!" Judging by Kate's face most of the time, she doesn't so much in the moment, but they're already developing a strong sisterly bond.

Life with 2 girls continues to be challenging and amazing. If you've gotten this far, thanks for caring, and I'll update again before another 2 months go by!