Eight months old

Avery is growing up right before our eyes! I really cannot believe she's 8 months old already. She hasn't been weighed in over a month but has to be about 13 pounds now. She's wearing 3-6 month clothes and ready to graduate to size 2 diapers.

She loves to sit up (and spit up too :) ), she can't do it on her own yet but with support, she loves it. The girl loves to smile and "talk," all you have to do is look her way to get a sweet response from her.
She doesn't always take long naps during the day, her best ones are in her swing......BUT she sleeps ALL night long! (Wish I could say the same for Caroline) AND since Father's Day, Avery has been sleeping in her crib at night, no more pack n play in my room, kind of sad :(

She's really made a lot of progress when it comes to tummy time. She's not always crazy about getting on her tummy, but in the last few weeks she has really started picking up her head while on her tummy.

And Caroline still can't get enough of Avery, she likes to be by her side (or in her face) all the time, and I think the feeling is mutual most of the time. Avery watches every move her big sissy makes, just taking it all in.

Sisters snuggling after church in Caroline's room.

Most recently Avery has started joining us at the table. I got out the high chair for her although she's not eating yet, but she enjoys being at eye level with the family rather than in her bouncy seat on the floor during meals.

And below is Caroline showing off her catch from a Father's Day weekend fishing trip with her Daddy. Travis and her took off to Lake Waccamaw for the day and caught all these fish. Caroline even learned to put them on the stringer (yuck!) She had a ball and even saw some alligators a little closer up than Mommy liked.

Caroline turns FOUR!!

Caroline turned four years old Thursday and was very excited to say the least! She's growing up so much and has become a very loving great big sister to Avery, and her energetic fun personality attracks lots of friends. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of our big girl!

We've been celebrating her birthday for a few days. Below is her birthday supper at Chuck E Cheese's Thursday night with a few good friends. Earlier that day we had cupcakes with her friends at day care and then went to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2. It was her first trip to the movie theatre, and during the previews she whispered to me "I love the movies!"
Grandma and Grandpa got her a new bike since she's already outgrown the one she got just last year. I'm hoping she'll ride a lot in the weeks to come and take off the training wheels this summer.

We went to the beach with her cousins last weekend after her birthday party. Here she's showing off the swim mask she got from Brayden. It was a big hit at the beach among the children and the daddys.

Madeline and Caroline playing with their fish.

Brayden loves plaing this guitar when he comes to our house.

Caroline took time out to eat some lunch at her birthday party this year.

Blowing out the candle on her Toy Story cake.

We set up some water toys this year to keep everybody cool during the birthday party.

After cake we played Pin the Tail on Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story). Madeline assisted me in organizing this game for the little ones.

Garden

Travis planted a rather large garden this year for the first time. He's put a lot of time and hard work into it, and it's starting to pay off. He even got a new toy for working in his garden the other night - a used rotatiller found on Craigs List, it's older than we are but it's built to last and he's already put it to use.

A few huge cabbage plants, we've picked and boiled a couple of heads of cabbage already and they're good!
Neither of us really like tomatoes, but he planted 3 tomato plants anyways, so we'll have plenty to share with all those tomato lovers out there.

Can't have a garden without corn, it's getting tall.

Strawberry plants are starting to produce now, just in time since Lewis farms is running out of them.

From left to right - stawberries, beans, leaf lettuce, potatoes, heads of lettuce & carrots, corn, tomatoes and more corn, onions, cucumbers & squash. He's also got pumpkins, watermelon, and zuchinni in other areas of the yard too.

We've already had one squash casserole fresh from the garden, and now we've got enough squash for another one plus some.

Cucumbers have taken off since this picture was taken, Travis brought in 2 good sized ones tonight.

The bean plants were the hardest to get going, he had to re-plant most of them, but they're finally starting to produce.

Caroline helped pick the first batch of potatoes, she was picking them of all sizes, some a little too small probably, but they all tasted good!

Caroline showing off some squash from the garden.

Not unlike the vegetables in the garden, Avery continues to grow too. She's about 11 1/2 lbs now! All that growing is hard work which can make her sleepy as shown below. :)