Course 1 Complete

Last night, I finished Course 1 of the Wilton Method of Cake Decorating. They even gave me a certificate of merit!

I am having a blast. Check out my final project. I thought it turned out really cute.

Course 2 starts next week and I'm going to learn the basket weave technique!

Swimming with Gam and Papaw

Last Friday, we went up to the McCord condo on Morse Lake and went for a swim in their indoor pool. My mom and dad were just relaxing their for the day, so the girls and I crashed the party.

They had a fun time playing in the water in their floats. Jillian was very fearless, splashing and kicking like a crazy lady. Lauren enjoyed splashing and liked to be pushed around the water in her float.

Notice how full the girls diapers are. I didn't have any swim diapers. It's amazing how much liquid those puppies can hold.

Hanging out

It's been so hot here the entire month, so we've not done as much outdoors as we would like. But, the girls don't seem to mind. They never seem to get tired of their toys. In fact, I think I'm more bored with their toys than they are.

Lauren's newest interest are books. She loves looking at the pictures and smiles when you read to her. Her favorite is a Baby Einsten book called, "What Floats?" I'm not sure why she loves it, but she truly does. This picture is of her with all her books, making the same cheesy face she seems to make every time the camera is around now.

Jillian also likes books, but still loves to simply bang toys together. She is such a silly girl. I love watching her funny personality emerge. She loves to get in Josie's bed still and will giggle when you come to get her out. I had put away their "Johnny Jumper" because they weren't all that interested in it a couple months ago, but now Jillian will jump and spin in it for the longest time.

The girls do a lot of mimicking lately, too. They mimic noises and now gestures - they're learning "hi" and "bye-bye." It's so amazing to watch their brains develop in new ways all the time.

Gearing up for the season

Last night, Andy and I enjoyed attending a preseason game against none other than the Chicago Bears. It was awesome and the highlight was our Uncle Steve Quinn (circled in red below), who sang the National Anthem. And did an amazing job, I might add. We were so proud of him!

Fair time

Last weekend we took the girls to the fair. There will be no memory for them, other than these few photos. We only stayed a few hours and they did so well. Andy and I enjoyed the fair food and we enjoyed being outside for a change (the weather was perfect!).

Spray park fun

We have several really cool spray parks close to home. Some friends invited us to play today and so we joined them.

It's been awhile since the girls have been out in the water, but Lauren really loved it and was more courageous than I expected her to be. She was crawling right towards the spray and was very curious. She even was leaning over a water spray and when it came on, it went right in her face (and up her nose). She wasn't very happy about that, as you can imagine.

Jillian had fun, too. But more by just watching all the kids and taking in the scenery.

You can't see her sweet face, but the third baby in the pic is our (sorta) cousin, Jacklynn. She's stinkin cute (check out her blog).

Lauren loves to splash!

Jenni: Cake decorator extraordinaire

I've wanted to take the Wilton cake decorating classes at Michael's for the longest time. I finally enrolled in the first class and last night was our second class and our first opportunity to decorate a cake.

I was sick, because after baking and icing the cake at home (to decorate in the class), I turned a corner and the cake slipped off the seat in between the seat and the door. I pulled over and luckily it was salvagable and I was still able to have fun decorating with the techniques we learned: stars, dots, zigzags, writing, outlining and the first step of rose-making.

I'm having a blast and I can't wait to make my girls birthday cake next month!

Mommy's Birthday Party

On Sunday, we celebrated my birthday at my mom and dad's house. Here are a few of the highlights.

Singing the birthday song.

Uncle Mikey!

Uncle Ryan and Uncle Jason - we are so loved!

Cousin Sophie is the best!

Gam (my mom) loves her grandbabies!

Happy birthday to our friends!

Our friend, Kai, turned one on July 31. We weren't able to stay at his party very long, but we heard he was pretty much a natural when it came to devouring his cake. So, the girls wanted to stop by the other day to hang out with him and ask him for some cake-eating pointers. Really they just played.



Then, a couple weeks later, our friend Landon turned one (Aug 11). We went to his birthday party and were so jealous of his cool monkey cakes. He also looked like he had fun with his cake.



Happy birthday, friends. And way to go mommies, Kelly and Crystal, for doing such a great job with your beautiful baby boys!

Just being cute

Finger Foods

Since about the time we returned home from our trip in North Dakota, Lauren has decided she no longer wants mommy to feed her from the spoon. A product of teething, I'm almost sure of it.

That means, these girls are almost exclusively eating table food. Jillian will still let me feed her a little bit, so she gets her fruit and veggies that way, since she can't pick stuff up yet as well as Lauren. They also will eat a little bit of YoBaby yogurt from a spoon, but that's about it.

Their current favorite foods include: turkey meatballs (a great recipe, I'm happy to share), ditallini pasta (perfect size and shape) with parmesan cheese and/or cream cheese, bread, wheat tortillas with melted cheddar, grapes, bananas, peas, carrots, graham sticks, beans (black, pinto), bagels with cream cheese, cheese cubes and of course, Cherios!

Happy Birthday to me!

It's official. Year 26 has come and gone. If you were to ask me the cliche birthday question, "Do you feel older?", this time, I'd actually answer, "Yes." Probably because my life changed so much this year. Andy and I were talking about it this morning and I was inspired to blog. I bet you can't wait.

It was a year ago, this weekend, that I wrapped up my role as communications director at Northview. I attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit Simulcast that day (Sat, Aug 12) and ate a cinnamon roll from Capstone (courtesy of my big bro) for breakfast. I savored every bite, especially since I was pregnant and it was completely excusable.

Then, Aug 12 to Sept 26 was a total blur. It felt like one LONG day. I remember week 32 of my pregnancy being the last week I was even a small bit comfortable. From them on, I lived on the couch - seriously. Slept there, ate meals there, watched TV there, cried there (a lot) and counted the minutes until each day was done. Quite depressing, but a sacrifice totally worth making, come late September.

It was the day I had been waiting for my entire life and fighting for for nearly three years. The day my beautiful baby girls were born. The day I became a mommy. The day I realized how much in love I was with my husband. The day everything in life took on new meaning.

Since that day, I've learned a lot about myself. In the beginning, so much of being a mom is motivated by pure adrenaline. Necessity forces you to make sacrifices you never knew you were capable of. Baby's gotta eat. Who cares if it's 2 am and your pain medicine has worn off.

But then, as your body begins to heal and you emerge from the fog, you start to realize that sacrifice now consumes your life. And it's allowed me to experienced brokenness like I never have before. Insecurity like I never have before. Fear. Gratitude. Love.

I think it's just the way God planned it. Painful, uncomfortable processes that allow us to understand his Grace and Sacrifice much more clearly. So what am I doing with it? I'm learning not to live for myself. To give freely, generously and joyfully. I'm learning the beauty of sacrifice. I'm certainly still a work in progress, but I feel like me and God took some pretty significant strides.

Plainly stated: It's been a good year. My babies are healthy and thriving, and so is my marriage. I've been to the Super Bowl, visited lots of far-away family and friends and lost 55 pounds (all baby, but who cares).

I guess all I can say is year 27, you've got a lot to live up to. No pressure.

Afternoon at the park

Sunday, we enjoyed an afternoon at the park. Just the four of us. We ate lunch and them played with the girls on the swings and the slide. Here are a few of my favorite pics.

Moving... FAST!

Now that the girls are both crawling, I anticipate I'm burning about 500 extra calories a day. They are moving all over the house. Their favorite new places are the kitchen and the entryway.

The nice thing about our house is if I shut all the doors, they can pretty much crawl anywhere and be where I can watch them.

This weekend's project? Babyproofing!

Newest family photo

Meet the Kellers. We saw a commercial this weekend promoting the new Simpsons movie with a website where you could "Simpsonize" yourself. I did the work of entering our pictures and customizing our features and Andy worked his magic to make this cool family photo.

I think Andy and Lauren are the most accurate. It was cute how they took Lauren's picture and came up with this little turned up nose (Lauren is the baby on her tummy).

If you've got some time on your hands, check out this website. It was fun to see what our characters would look like if we made a guest appearance in Springfield.

Simpsonize Me!

Silly faces and new discoveries

Since we've returned home from traveling, the girls are using their latest talent (crawling) to get them into rooms they never knew existed. They love coming into the kitchen and they've discovered how to open the cabinets.

I'm worried about them pinching their fingers, so I pulled some safe kitchen stuff out for them to play with. I can't wait to cook with my girls. It's never too early to start teaching them to stir and strain, right?

Have you met our new little puppy, Lauren? The girls like to get into Josie's bed and Josie is such a good girl that she doesn't seem to mind. Don't worry germaphobes, I just washed the dog bed.

But, the funny thing about these pictures is the faces Lauren has been making lately. She scrunches up her face all the time lately. I can't quite figure out why she's doing it, but it's so cute. When she's not scrunching her face, she's got her tongue out. Wednesday, I got their pictures taken and we could not get her to keep her tongue in her mouth. Silly girl.

This morning, I decided to try a pony tail in Lauren's hair again and it's getting better. There' s now enough hair up their to actually keep the rubber band in place.

Jillian's hair is still growing and is so beautiful. It gets in her eyes a lot, but I refuse to cut it. I think it will grow out so pretty. I just bought her some new barettes and she looks so cute, don't you think?

I also added these pictures, because these are the shirts that Nannie Joyce (my grandma) bought for them when we were in Kansas City last week. I wanted her to see them.

"Hi Nannie Joyce! We love our new butterfly shirts!"

Happy Travels

We're home now. At least for a couple weeks. But, we've had a great month and have seen and experienced lots of exciting adventures.

OKLAHOMA CITY

The weekend after we returned from North Dakota, I traveled with my mom to Oklahoma City for an Arbonne conference. In addition to the conference, we had a great time staying with my Aunt Connie and Uncle Bill. I was also able to visit with my soon-to-be, cousin-in-law, Crystal and her fiance (my cousin), Kyle. It was a great visit and I was excited to get all the details on Crystal and Kyle's upcoming wedding.

Back at home, Andy was on daddy duty and did a great job with the girls all weekend. I had to laugh at the fact that Lauren napped in the swing at Duane and Debbie's. I guess that's what happens when mommy leaves town. I'm sure she had a great nap, though. Andy is so awesome with the girls and it's great to know I can leave town and these girls never miss a beat.

KANSAS CITY/ST. JOSEPH

The girls and I spent this past weekend in my homeland and helped surprise my Grandpa Sonny for his 75th birthday. We were so excited to be a part of celebrating with him. He had no idea that we were coming and it was so much fun to get out of the car on Thursday morning and see the look on his face.

While in KC, we took the girls to my favorite mall (Oak Park Mall) where they rode the carousel for the first time. They were so cute.

Before we traveled home, I drove up to St. Joe to spend a bit of time with my best bud, Cassie and her girls. Lauren traveled home on the plane with my mom, so it was just me and Jillian.

I think she enjoyed getting exclusive attention from Cassie's girls and from mommy. In fact, since I only had one baby with me, Jillian got to ride in the cart at Target for the first time in her life. I think she thought that was pretty cool.

ESTES PARK, COLORADO

While we were in Kansas City, Andy headed even further west to Colorado for a camping trip with his college buddies. He had a great time, but we were all happy to be back together under one roof again last night.