Maria's Birthday Celebrations

On Monday, which was Maria's actual birthday, Gerry and I kept it low key by making her favorite dinner, spaghetti and garlic cheese bread. After dinner, Maria got to open her presents from us. Maria seemed very interested in her cousin Olivia's toy trucks a while ago, so we bought her some of her own. We also got her a Kai Lan watercolor paint book, and her very own big girl bike. It's actually a Radio Flyer Tricycle that has an adult steering handle on the back and a sunshade. She seems to really like it, although her feet can't quite reach the pedals all the way, yet.

After she opened her presents, we invited some of the neighbors over for cake and ice cream. Gerry got a cake on his way home from work and had them put Dora and Boots plastic rings on it. She got a kick out of that!

On Saturday, we had a family party for Maria. Instead of having a big meal prepared, we decided to have an ice cream party for her. We had chocolate and vanilla ice cream with a huge variety of toppings to choose from. Some of the favorites were heath bars, snickers, magic shell, brownie bits and cherries. Some people chose to have root beer floats and some had banana splits. Instead of having a cake, my mom helped us bake cake in ice cream cone cups, to go along with the ice cream theme. They turned out cute! Maria got a lot of wonderful presents including Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, Glo-Doodle, some Yo Gabba Gabba stuff, a lot of books, CDs, and some really cute clothes. The party was a blast!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MARIA!!!

Maria is 2 years old today! Wow! Although time has gone by fast, I can't remember not having her in our lives. The day Gerry and I got married, my life changed and it was amazing. But the day Maria was born, my life became complete. Raising a daughter has been one of the most wonderful and most challenging experiences of my life. She has brought so much joy to our lives. As I look back over the past 2 years, I can't help but think of all the times she has made us laugh with her sweet little smile, the way she would wave her little hand and say "Hi" a thousand times in a row until you would say hi back to her. I laugh out loud when I think of how cute she is every time the Ellen DeGeneres show comes on and she runs into the room so she can dance to the music, or how she shows that a giraffe has a "loooong neck". She cracks me up the way she dances around to techno music when we have dance parties in the living room! I will never forget taking her to Branson last year and watching her eyes, wide with excitement, as the horses ran past us at the Dixie Stampede. And I will never forget holding her tightly as she slept in my arms the day I found out I had skin cancer. I cried so hard and prayed that God would completely heal me so that I could watch my daughter walk down the aisle and be a grandma to her children. WOW! Being a grandma seems so far away. But I know time is going to fly and I want to remember everything! The last 2 years are filled with incredible, irreplaceable memories of Gerry and Maria...and now baby Naomi. I am one lucky woman! Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet girl -- Maria! I love you so much!

Naomi is 2 months old!

I know it's a little late, but Naomi turned 2 months old on July 8th, 2009. She weighed 11 pounds, 5 ounces at her 2 month doctor visit. She is 23 inches long. I can't believe how fast time is going. Naomi has turned into a great baby! She is sleeping 6-8 hours through the night and really only cries when she is hungry, needs a diaper change or is very tired. Her acid reflux seems to be under control with the help of medicine and chiropractic adjustments. She smiles all the time...especially at Maria. Maria loves to give her kisses on the head and snuggle with her on the couch. I feel so blessed to have healthy, amazing, beautiful daughters! I thank God every day for them!!!

Our Talkin' Toddler!

Some of you may know that earlier this year Gerry and I had been having some concerns with Maria's language development. We were worried that she wasn't talking as much as she should be at her age. We worked with her and tried to help her as much as we could but still felt as though she needed some outside help. So, we had her evaluated and she qualified for speech therapy. She has been going to a group called "Motor Mouths" every Wednesday for the past 6 weeks. We feel as though she has improved immensely! The group she attends has 5 other children in it. It is 3 hours long and they do so many neat things with the kids! Maria loves it...we tell her that she's going to school! She comes home with art projects and they give us a list of everything the kids do that day. Two weeks ago, they even went swimming. Everything they do revolves around language and oral motor development. Here is a little sample video of some of the new words she can say. In the past, whenever we would ask her to identify something or someone, her standard answer would be "dee-da." In the video clip you can still hear her say it sometimes, but then she says the correct word. We are so proud of her that we just had to show it off! Enjoy!

Fourth of July Weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun! Gerry was off on Friday so we were able to celebrate Thursday night at my mom's house. Jeff, Kelly, Hailey, mom, Galen, Uncle Marc and John were all there. Uncle Marc bought the kids an inflatable pool so we thought this would a great time to break it out. Maria and Hailey splashed around and then ran through the sprinkler. The food was awesome. My mom bar-b-qued chicken, pork and beef kabobs. We tried to get some good pics of the kids splashing, but Maria is near impossible to get a good picture of. She refuses to look at the camera. My brother was able to get a few good ones of the girls. When he emails them to me, I will add them to the slideshow.

On Friday, Gerry's sister Karen had her first bar-b-q at her and John's new home. Bobb, Laura, Olivia, Grandma and Grandpa G. were all there as well. Karen and John's house is so cute! We are excited for them! I wasn't able to get any pics, but Laura is going to email me some as well.

Saturday, Gerry and I decided to take it easy and stay home. We always have so much going on that we needed a break. At one point during the day, we were looking for Maria. We found her sitting in her room reading to Nemo. It was so sweet we had to take a picture!

Check back in a few days. I hopefully will have some more pics on here from this fun weekend!

Pool Party

Two weekends ago, one of Gerry's co-workers had a Pool Party/BBQ at his in laws house. It turned out to be a great time. Maria loved swimming. We bought her new floaties for the occasion, but she refused to wear them. She like playing on the pool steps and on the raft. Naomi was a little crabby that day, but we stuck it out with her. Here are a few pictures of Maria and her mom swimming.