The girls are having a lot of fun outside lately, and enjoying spring while it lasts! On Saturday we went to an Easter carnival at a large church up the street. The girls wore matching outfits that a family friend had given to us (when Molly was still in the womb! Finally they fit and it's the right season.). Here they are eating their snacks outside...

And last week, playing in the front yard... Again, we're eating snacks!

And playing in the back yard... It's amazing how much fun a few large straws and a couple pieces of tupperware with water in them can be... This was entertaining for quite a while.

More soon!

This morning we took Lydia and Molly to play tennis! It was Lydia's first time to play. She was super excited to go! At first she just wanted to run around and do her own thing, but later she became more interested in trying to hit the ball with Oliver. Next time, maybe she'll be ready for "level 2".

Here are a couple of videos. The way she "hit" the ball off her racket to Oliver is very funny. She sort of just places the ball next the racket and then tosses it!

Wow, 2 posts in 24 hours! Amazing.
Yesterday the girls and I went to the park. Love these pictures...

Lydia got a haircut yesterday, also. Each time we go she is better and better about it. And each time I'm thankful that we don't go to the expensive kids' place anymore. I love Supercuts and their coupons! She was so grown up this time. She did everything the stylist asked her to do, and never complained. Good girl, Lydia! My almost-4-year-old!

Also, I want to share these recent pictures of the girls with their cousins, Warner and Miles. So they're not all looking and smiling...but at least we got them together for a picture. They're all growing so quickly!

So basically I've posted here a handful of times in 2012. Oh my goodness! I'll try to get back on track. Here are some recent pictures and updates on each of the girls.



Molly is having fun being one! I'm amazed how quickly she learns things. She surprises me every day with something new. She has so many words now that I've lost count. Many of them don't sound exactly like the real word yet, but she tries hard and she's consistent with her own version of it. My favorite right now is "ca ca" for car. If we even go near the garage she thinks we're going in the "ca ca". She says "a-el" for apple (sound like apple without the p's). She says "bael-buh" for belly button. Her best word which she pronounces perfectly is "Hi". She's all about "hi" right now. Yesterday I took the girls to Chick Fil-A to play on the playland, and every time a child would come down the slide she would say "Hiiiii!" (It has this cute tune to it.) She's such a sweet little girl. We are enjoying her so much. (understatement)



Molly is all teeth right now. She has 11, I think. All of a sudden she has 3 molars! I'm shocked! That makes it even easier to eat one of her new favorite foods... fish sticks!

Last week I took the girls to the Frisco Library. We checked out 6 books and then had lunch outside. It was fun!




Last week was Lydia's Spring Break. She took a mini-vacation with her Omi and Opa. Opa works in Denison, TX (about an hour away), so we packed her suitcase and Lydia got to have an overnight at the hotel there with her grandparents! She had a great time! She even got to go swimming with Opa in the indoor pool! She loooooves swimming!


Lydia is doing great. The best thing I can say about her is that she is so full of life! She has so much energy and joy all the time and lights up any room! (Unless she's throwing a tantrum about something... that happens too.) I can't believe she's going to be 4 in a few weeks. That's unbelievable! She does seem more grown up to me lately.

Her favorite activity is to pretend with babies. They don't necessarily have to be baby dolls. Sometimes it's a baby doll, sometimes it's a plastic cow...doesn't really matter, she'll take sweet, loving care of anyone who's laying around!

More to come!

I appreciate all of you who have checked our blog on a regular basis, only to find NO updates for several weeks. I just need a break from it sometimes, I guess. But I'm gearing up for some new posts very soon! For now, we have a very special message for a very special little boy:
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, MILES!
Yes, the girls' cousin Miles is officially one today! Yay!
Video, below.

Molly is having fun being one!
Here she is reading one of her favorite books about farm animals. She has developed a fondness for cows, and now she even says cow when she sees one! Actually, it's "Tow" (like cow, but with a t). She's consistent in calling the cow puppet and other cow toys/pictures "tow" and it's very cute.

Here's a video:

Her other favorite thing to do lately is to play with wands. (as in Princess wands) Lydia is VERY VERY into wands and all things princess right now, so Molly has quickly learned to enjoy them, also. We have at least 7 or 8 wands around here, plus plenty of spatulas, melon ballers and other random things which serve as wands from time to time. The routine is to say "zap!" and wave the wand. When Lydia has a wand, Molly points and says "wa" and lets us know that she wants one, too. She then throws her arm down with it and says "yah!" (her version of "zap!") So precious. Here are the girls with their matching wands (thank you to Wal-Mart for their very cheap pack of 5 party favor wands).

Molly also says MaMa and DaDa. For awhile it didn't seem directed to us, but lately more and more it seems that is talking to us (she'll say MaMa repeatedly from the other room, for example, and stops saying it when I appear). Even if I'm not 100% sure she's intending to call me MaMa...I still like it!
Molly learned to crawl just before Christmas, but didn't prefer to do it very often. Now, she crawls a lot, and is enjoying her ability to roam the house. This week she has learned to crawl up the stairs by herself, which is wonderful...but also means it's time to get out the safety gate and watch her more closely. She can stand independently and has taken a couple of steps, but otherwise she's still just cruising and not quite walking, yet. Unfortunately with her new ability to stand independently while playing with toys, she also falls backward a lot more. Hopefully this stage will be short-lived as her balance improves. She loves to dance, and cannot help but shake her hips and booty every time she hears music.

Video:

Now that Molly is one, she drinks regular milk. Lydia loooooves milk, too, so we go through a LOT of milk very quickly around here!
That's 14 cartons of milk! Last week, Kroger had a great sale on their store brand milk that we typically buy, so we stocked up!

We've been busy around here with fun activities. We attended Liam's birthday party this weekend, and we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters! More to come soon.

Family dance time! 4 Fun dance videos ahead! Plus, a bonus clip of Lydia just sorta checking on something for her baby sister...

I guess we were all winding down after a day of work and play. Check out Molly's awesome dance moves!







And then we broke out the strobe light and it became Club Barron!


Someday Molly may not be happy with me for posting this...

Ok, so I guess I took an unofficial vacation from the blog... Now, I'm back, and finally with a few more pictures from Molly's carousel birthday party! Thanks to my friend Shannon for sharing a lot of her pictures with us!

Like the cake? I made it! And matching cupcakes. It was fun. She took a huge fistfull of cake from the side of it, tasted a bit, and then lost interest. :)

Molly liked riding the carousel, but she preferred the bench to the horses. All in all it was a fun party! And since then... Molly is really enjoying being a 1 year old! More posts soon... :)

Today was Molly's birthday party! All of the planning and errands and cake-baking and cupcake-baking and organizing, etc etc...was totally worth it. It was a fun party. We had it at the Carousel at the mall, and all of Lydia and Molly's cousins and good friends were there. We are so blessed to have our families here and such great friends. The girls' grandparents were extrememly helpful this morning (thank you!) and everything turned out great.
Here's a preview!

Well, we just got back from Molly's 1 year check-up at the Doc's office. The bad news is she cried and cried following her 4 vaccinations and finger prick. The worse news is she vomited all over me as we were leaving the office (probably wasn't the smartest idea to give her MILK in between all the crying). The good news, however, is that she is now clean and sleeping soundly in her bed. And the GREAT news is that she scored high on the developmental questionaire and she is a healthy baby! Here are her stats (and how they compare to Lydia's at this age):

Weight: 25 lbs (Lydia was 26.5 lbs)
Length: 31 in. (Lydia was 30 1/4 in)
Head: 18 1/2 (Lydia's was 18 1/2 also)

So, they have the same size head, but Molly still comes in a little bit smaller and taller. But really there's nothing small about our babies around here! Molly's height and weight today place her in the 95th percentile for babies her age. :)

Guess who's ONE year old now?
Miss Molly Joy! Happy Birthday, sweet Molly!

Yes, New Year's Day was her birthday! I can't believe it has been a year already. Oh Molly, I remember every moment of that perfect day, and I would re-live it again and again and again, because it was sooooooo wonderful to meet you! You are such a joy to my heart and a perfect blessing to this family. What would we do without you?? Mommy and Daddy and Lydia love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, Molly! Congratulations on the big O-N-E!

You're learning so much, so quickly these days. It's really fun to witness you exploring and discovering and communicating. Keep it up, little peanut! You are having SO much fun cruising, and boy are you good at it! You're pointing (somewhat randomly, but we like it anyway!) and babbling and making up words for things ("Tah" is how you reference several things, but we've also got MaMa, DaDa and Ba-Ba). So cute! You like upside-down kisses, dancing, baths and music. You're a pretty good eater, and seem to especially like meatballs! You haved 7 teeth, and 2 or 3 more coming soon. You're silly and fun and smart and sooooo pretty, Molly! Next weekend we'll have your birthday party. Can't wait!!! XOXO

Video...

We greeted her with a song on the morning of her birthday! (She's looking at us like, "hey, are you going to get my out of my bed already??")

It's time for Christmas catch-up! This was Lydia's 4th Christmas, and the first time we really played up Santa Claus and presents. She had a lot of fun this year, observing the Christmas lights around the neighborhood, Santa Clauses everywhere, and most of all...singing and dancing to Christmas music! Boy does she love it! Meanwhile, it was Molly's first Christmas, and although she doesn't "get it" yet, she had a lot of fun, too!

On Christmas morning, we greeted Molly with a song for her first Christmas! (video, below.)

Remember what Lydia asked Santa Claus to bring to her for Christmas??

He brought it!! She must have been a REALLY good girl this year, because her new dollhouse is taller than she is! It's very cute, and very detailed. It came with wooden furniture, and has so many sweet details. "Santa" spent a lot of time putting it together. (Thanks, Oliver.)

She was actually kind of timid at first when she came down the stairs to see it. She was clearly happy, but didn't know if she should go touch it or not. She wasn't sure what to do! Videos, below.

She also got Princess dolls, a Baby Alive doll, a real Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner (junior version) and lots of other fun stuff. What a blessed kid she is!

Molly had fun opening presents, too! Video, below.

I love this picture of the girls with 2 of their cousins at Omi and Opa's house! So cute. (Molly, Lydia, Warner and Miles)

Here is our top 10 moments of Christmas 2011! Enjoy!

10. Grammy had knee replacement surgery on December 14th and is recovering really, really well! Lydia visited her at the hospital with me a few times and was such a good girl. Grammy has been home now for over a week, and she is doing great! Grammy had been in a LOT of pain leading up to this surgery, so we're so happy for her to have a new knee!

9. Lydia wanted to listen to/sing the same three Christmas songs over and over and over. We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells and Silent Night. She walked around the house singing them, and danced anytime Christmas music was playing was on the stereo.

8. We had a great time taking the girls to visit Santa Claus and we love the picture we got!

7. Molly looked SUPER cute in her first-ever Christmas dress (the same dress Lydia wore for her first Christmas - pics coming soon).

6. Lydia fell in love with the Nativity scene figurines at my parents' place. Although they're made in Italy and they've been in the family for a long time, they're pretty indestructible, so Grammy let her play and play and play with them. Each time we went over there, Lydia would leave with at least 2 of the figurines. Boy did the wise men and baby Jesus have fun at our house!

5. Lydia enjoyed Omi's special homemade Christmas cookies, and really loves her Nutcraker music display!

4. We took many walks to see a special Christmas display in our neighborhood. A few neighboring families have joined forces to display approximately 25 or so of those large blow-up Christmas decorations. It's pretty spectacular for kids, and Lydia loved it.

3. We had 2 absolutely perfect Christmas celebrations with our families. On Christmas Eve we had the Kreutz Christmas with my parents, my sister and her boys. It was so much fun! And on the 26th we had the Barron Christmas with Oliver's parents, brother, sister-in-law and their boys. It was a perfect night. As for the 25th, we had our own Christmas morning and then a special dinner for Omi and Opa at our house (Grammy and Poppy were invited, too, but it was too soon following Grammy's surgery.).

2. Rather than Lydia waking us up on Christmas morning begging us to open presents, Oliver and I were up before her, eagerly waiting by the Christmas tree with coffee and cameras so we could see her reaction to the dollhouse!

1. A few days before Christmas...Molly started crawling! This kid has NOT wanted to crawl! She LOVES to cruise, however, and definitely prefers it. We have some fun crusing videos that I'll have to share here soon.