Bath Time and Bubble Blowing

It's always fun for me to just capture life as it happens.  It's my very favorite thing about photography.  When people are interacting together or the light is streaming in, or both, it makes me smile and wonder at all God does.  So, when we had visitors and the opportunity to do just that presented itself to me, how could I say no?

Nighttime can be awfully snuggly and fun in our house.  And when Grandma finally got Emma to let her read a bedtime story, it was definitely a camera grabbing moment.

Aaron loves being a part of reading to Emma at nighttime.  It's one of the many things that makes him such a great big brother.  He might even like to just sit with her and snuggle too.  But, shhhh!  Don't tell.  It might ruin his tough guy image.

And with the weather nice over the weekend, blowing bubbles seemed like the thing to do. Our girl is still learning, so we had lots of spills, but how can you go wrong with sunlight, bubbles, and whispers with Daddy?

Letters!!

It seems clear in my life that the teacher in me will never die.  Our son started randomly recognizing letters in the world at just under 2 years old.  By 3 months after turning two, he was reading small words independently.  Our girl didn't seem to have the same interest.  She started to pick up on them, would occasionally say a letter, and sometimes she was right, but it never seemed to stick.  She is more of a coloring, dancing, singing child than Aaron ever was - which is the perfect match to her persona.  So, I chalked it up to kids being different and we watched Sesame Street when we could.  Earlier this week, our girl started pointing at letters and telling them to me.  She then decided she was going to take apart our little A,B,C puzzle and could put 75% of them back when asked for a specific letter with very little assistance.  I was dumb founded.  I made sure we spent some time that day playing with letters and letting her show me what she knew.

Our wooden letter puzzle.  I loved that she would take cues about turning the pieces or matching pictures to their letters.  She did so great!!

Letters on the fridge.  She loves trying to sing her A, B, C's!  And this toy is the new version of the loved one Aaron learned his letters on.  Gotta love Leapfrog.

Letters in the bath!!  She knew everything you can see and more!  It's so fantastic to see her getting bigger and smarter everyday.

Turning Two

What I love about my family is that simple things like birthday mornings can be sweet and intimate and full of joy.  I will forever adore those sweet moments of life.  Moments of wonder and excitement.

Emma's birthday morning was no different.  We started out with just a few presents for her to enjoy throughout her special day.  She is a big Daniel Tiger fan, so the tree house was a big hit!

Later that day, I pulled up some pieces from my photo items and did some official birthday pictures of the big girl.  We got to have some fun with her new birthday goodies.  I love how expressive she can get!

We finished off the day with playing, showing my parents her tree house via video chat, taking pictures with her amazing big brother, and opening the rest of her presents.  One thing everyone seems to agree on is that it's so hard to believe she is two!