Independence Day

Oh man, there is just something special about celebrating our Nations birthday in the heartland.  People embody the American spirit here.  They celebrate in true American fashion, BBQ (of course), honoring local heroes and service men & women, our nation's flag lines the major streets on either side and on the majority of houses.  It really is fantastic.

Last year Reese was so little and it was SO hot that we didn't do much in the way of festivities, not to mention we didn't know very many people or many of the community activities.  This year we decided to investigate a bit further and then decided to tag along with our very good friends Todd, Rebekah, Josie & Hank.  We went to the Village Fest which is the 4th of July celebration in the suburb of Prairie Village.  We had such a great time and the kiddos were worn out!

Cami and Josie.  I made the girls matching shirts..in hindsight I should have known to tack down the bow better...ugh

They are the cutest

Hank and Reese.  They love each other.  Until recently Reese couldn't say Hank, so she called him bubba.

Love my Family

"fishing"

Facepainting.  Did I mention I stood in line for 45 minutes for this?!?

Rebekah and I

 Wow we had a great time.  To our surprise everything was free.  They had puppet shows, petting zoo, bounce houses, climbing things, train ride, pony rides, zip lining, face painting ......  The only thing we paid for was the food.  There was great live music, so many things to do that we didn't get to try everything.  What a fun deal and hopefully a new family tradition.

Afterwards we brought the tired girls home for a rest.  We decided that we would enjoy the rest of the day at home.  Cami would have really enjoyed the fireworks at night, but it starts so late and since she doesn't nap anymore we thought we would have been pushing our luck.

Our grill master Matt fixed us a feast!

15-16 Month Comparison

One of the great things about having the same season and gender babies is being able to do pretty accurate photo comparisons.  The girls both wore this adorable flag dress about the same age.  I didn't get a great picture of Reese as she was exhausted.  But I think its good enough to compare.

Reese almost 16 months

Cami 15 1/2 months

They are so similar and so different at this age.  According to growth and development they are exactly the same height.  Reese had a recent growth spurt and grew 2 inches between her 12 month and 15 month check ups.  Cami at this age was 85th percentile weight and Reese is only 40th percentile, which equals out to about 3 lbs difference.  Cami had 9 teeth at this point Reese has 5.  Reese's verbal skills are off the charts, she repeats everything and talks up a storm.  Cami was verbal, but not as clear a speaker or with the vocabulary that Reese has.  I think it has something to do with listening to her now 4 year old sister constantly.  Reese's feet are smaller than Cam's at this age. Reese has less hair and it is lighter and curlier. Cami was a bit more timid and reserved.  Reese is a fireball and wants to do everything Cami does now.  Reese is definitely our rule pusher and breaker, not something we really saw in Cami until closer to 2.  Both are sweet, they intensely love each other and their family.  Reese is a Papa's girl.  She literally calls him on the pretend phone everyday.  Both are so smart, quizzical and full of energy.

Matt and I are so lucky that the Lord entrusted us to raise these two sweet little girls.  What a privilege it is to have a front row seat to watch them grow and change.

Golfers

Well, Golf has always been a big deal in this family.  Now our oldest is really getting into it.  We've signed her up for her very first golf tournament in a couple weeks.  We wanted to get her signed up for class camp or something, but all of a sudden the summer is half over and we never did.

But the truth of the matter is, she lives with an extraordinary golfer and it seems silly to pay for someone else to teach her.  So we have been working in the backyard and recently Matt took her to this great junior friendly facility.  They had such a great time.  

After work, they headed that way.  I packed them a picnic dinner and sent them on their way.  Of course I had to snap a few pics first.