Nothing but love

So, Harper walks in on me while I am putting on my bra

And says, "Oh. Mommy, I didn't know that was how you put your boobs on."

If only it weren't so true...

Beaches, lakes, weddings, evening walks + seven-toed cats

We're having a fantastic summer. Harper's legs have grown about two inches in the last two weeks (no kidding) and Margot has developed a tiny curl at the nape of her neck. Harper and Aneliese were the cutest flower girls you ever did want to know and Margot is doing her best to perfect her blowing kisses and language skills.

Harper and Margot took their first solo road trip (with Nonnie and Poppie) to visit our SC family while Buster and I had a fantastic long weekend in Key West at Jamie and Hanley's wedding. We've still got another beach week ahead of us, plenty more evening family walks (one of our favorite summertime weekday activities), cook outs and firefly hunting left. Yes, we love summer!

Margot says "Hi" and "Ut Oh"

She also says "Mama" and blows kisses. Mmmwa!

Harper's FOUR!

It doesn't seem possible, but little Harper is four years old. She's such a hoot these days. She dances and sings and talks nearly all the time. She's obsessed with letters and how they sound and if my calculations are correct she'll be reading very soon. She asked me the other day if Pie (pine) cones were made of pie. She loves to tell people that she's four now, she used to be "free" and she will be going to pre-k next year where she will be completely grown up. She's still dating Ridge and she thinks Margie (0r Rocky Stone as she likes to call her - not kidding) is a great addition to our little family.
Now, here are some pics from her fantastic birthday party that took place the day the rain started but before we realized Nashville was in great danger so we all still had a really good time.

Well, I like cake...pretty good.

Margot's first birthday party was a success! She dove right into the cake and as you can tell, really enjoyed it. She also loved all of her presents and everyone starring at her and singing. We celebrated Margot's birthday on Friday, April 30 as that's her actual birthday with a party on the patio. The day before it started raining and nearly never stopped. Oh well. The gals didn't seem to mind at all.

Happy Birthday, Margie!

Happy Birthday sweet girl. You slept through the entire night (7:45pm-7:30am) for the first last night! Maybe one is your (and our) lucky number.

I'm so sorry that we've been so out of touch. We're so lazy.

For a very quick update, Margot started walking about two weeks ago and now she's off to the races! She cut her 5th tooth last week and is one of the spunkiest little gals you'll ever meet. She's a great eater and (other than last night) not a good sleeper. Gosh we sure do love you Margie. Happy Birthday, sugar bean.

Margot gets Daddy to sleep

This picture is from Christmas, but it's so precious I had to post it.

Happy Friday. More pics to come soon...

Happy New Year

So, it's 2010. It's been a great decade that started with two kids with very little responsibilty and ended with two kids with two kids.

Margot is turning into quite a little spit fire. She's a super crawler. Really has control over her little movements (thank you, Meghan). We are holding out hope that this means she's going to be a little less clumsy that her big sister who, according to her teacher, is the second clumsiest child at her school. She is also pulling up and walking while holding on to something. I think this is called "creeping" in the baby books. Anyway, she's doing it which is crazy considereing she just turned 8 months old. She's way advanced. She also eats like a small man. The only thing she doesn't do really well is sleep.

Harper is doing great. She has the vocabulary of an adult but still pronounces "three" as "free." She thinks that your shoe will rub a "blistard" on your foot and that some people would say that Rudolph's nose "blows." I love these precious little things about her and secretly hope that she doesn't figure out how to say them correctly anytime soon (maybe ever).

We had some pictures taken of the girls before the Holidays. See below and above and enjoy.

Here's wishing you all a very, very happy and healthy New Year. Love, The Phillies

Some things that are going on here

So, here are some things that are going on at the Phillips.
Margot is crawling! She started last week, about three days before her 7 month birthday. So, that changes things. She's taken to it so aggressively that she's rubbed her little knees raw. I guess she was really ready. Who would have guessed that she would be crawling before she was sleeping through the night. She's also waves to herself, which is really cute.

Here's a conversation from this morning that I think is worth noting.

H: "MOM! Daddy took my rabbit away!"
Me: "Well, why did Daddy do that?"
H: "I don't know! All I did was give Margot a high five on her face."

So, there you go. I know it's not much but that's a small glimpse into our lives.
We are also really excited to get our Christmas tree up this weekend.

Ariel and the Bee

Happy Halloween!

Margot and "Fea Bea"

Here's a picture of Margot and her new ugly doll, Fea Bea. They're big buddies. It's hard to tell in this picture, but they both have two teeth. Yes, Margot already has two teeth! In summary: Hair - zero. Teeth - two.

Walking for a Cure

This past week Harper and I (Dad here) went downtown to take part in the Light the Night Walk, a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's more than a little moving to see so many people come together to support those whose lives have been touched by blood cancers. Supporters walked with red balloons, survivors walked with white ones and those walking in someone's memory carried a balloon of gold. It was a sad and inspirational sea of balloons bouncing along downtown Nashville and in the mix of all those gold and white, to have little Harper Mae with me anchoring one of the red ones was a touching experience and one that made me grateful beyond words.

(She also carried a bag of Lays and a dirty piece of toy jewelry she found on the ground, but hey, she's three and it was nearly 8 pm...you've gotta keep em interested somehow.)

Anyway, I loved that she came out and took part even if she wasn't altogether sure what it was for. Here's to Harper and a long life of being there for others.

In other news, we accidentally washed Margot last week and didn't realize until we dumped out the laundry basket.

and the cute just keeps on coming

I took Harper to see my buddy Thad play in Nashville on Thursday. (If you like music, you should buy his new record.) Around 6:30, as Thad was starting, Harper got sleepy and asked to hop up on my shoulders. Midway through the second song she started tapping my shoulder excitedly. "Daddy! The music is waking me up!"

Life as we know it.

Wednesday's are water play day at Harper's school. So, naturally, today we sent her to school wearing a Dora swimsuit, Crocs and a towel in hand. I drove to school feeling quite proud of myself because I had actually remembered that today was Wednesday and therefore water play day without having to turn around half way to school. I like to give myself really big credit for really small feats.

Anyway, as the Phillies and I traipse into Harper's classroom looking like we could really use a shopping cart for all our loot (I am hauling Margot's car seat [ complete with Margot], Margot's bag of bottles, Harper's bag of extra clothes and Sleeping Beauty) I abruptly realize that Harper is the only child wearing a swimsuit. She turns to me and give me the classic, "MOM!" look as her teacher gently tells me that water play ended two weeks ago.

In other news, Margot is a complete insomniac. Honestly, I can't even begin to explain how frequently she wakes up through the night because no one would believe me. So, I won't. Thankfully she's precious so it's at least nice to visit with her all night long.

She also enjoys a little oatmeal cereal with carrots for dinner now.

A sister is a wonderful thing

Hey Look: Fresh Fruit.

Look at me!

Margot says, "Look at me! I'm four months old and as precious as I can be!"

Family shot from Cheekwood Gardens.

Watering the Plants

Harper posing in front of Laura Fern.

quick pics

Hey everyone. Here's us and all the girls (and the lone boy, George) and what we looked like when we were all in Rhode Island recently. All's well, I just wish my face were a little rounder and puffier. Happy waning days of summer wherever you are.