Violet is walking!

Violet is walking!  Last night we were at a friend's graduation party and Violet was playing in the grass while we were sitting at the table talking w/ friends.  From over Josh's shoulder I saw her stand up on her own (without holding on to anything), which she's been doing for a while.  Usually, she drops back to her knees or grabs on to something nearby, but this time, I saw her little head moving and said, "Is she walking?!"  So we all stopped talking and stared at her while she took her first steps!  Then, of course, we all applauded and cheered, surprising her so she dropped down.  But a few minutes later Josh got her to walk to him.  Josh feels proud that he's the first one she ever walked to.  Today we worked hard to capture this short video.  I'm sure we'll have a lot more footage soon enough of her walking, running, climbing... going to college...never mind.

Highlights from the past few months

Mommy and her princesses!  

It's been a long time since my last blog because we got a new camera (hooray!) but we had to clear quite a bit of room on our hard drive before we could load new pictures.  But I promise I haven't stopped blogging.  

So here are some of the highlights from this winter.  We've been enjoying our zoo pass from Great Grandpa and Grandma Wilkie.  Below the girls are having a close encounter with a snake in the reptile house. 

 One of Mom's favorite zoo residents is the Victoria Crowned Pigeon. 

Daddy and Evy are enjoying the elephants. 

 Every time we go to the zoo, Evy likes to play with this baby elephant. 

 At the "Free Zoo" with Grandpa and Nana.  We call Fresno State's animals the "Free Zoo."  We like to pet the animals and they like to lick us.  And we use lots of antibacterial gel. 

 Above, Grandpa took Evy on a date to Starbucks. 

Below, Papa Jim helps Vi stand up. 

 Evy and Nana decorated this gingerbread house. 

We had fun at the zoo w/ cousin Elly too. 

 

Here's Evy with her elephant again.  

Just a couple more cute pictures...

 Violet is apparently in an outrageously photogenic stage

 (Above) I love that face!  Don't you just want to kiss those perfect cheeks?! 

 What do you suppose Evy is doing in this picture?  She's sitting in Mommy's chair, wearing my nursing wrap, nursing her baby doll (her doll is under the wrap).  When she's done, she burps her and changes her diaper. 

Halloween

 We had a great Halloween!  In case you can't tell, Evy was a Zebra, Vi was a dinosaur, Josh was a Star Wars fan, and I was an angel.  I actually got their costumes at the same garage sale a year apart.  I bought Vi's last year and Evy's this year at the Huntington Blvd. Mile Long Yard Sale.  When we bought Vi's, I was pregnant w/ her but didn't know her gender.  It's sort of a boyish costume but I added a pink bow.  She was pretty delighted with her costume!  I think she knew how cute she was.  We started the night with some trick or treating on our street. 

 In the above picture, it's hard to see, but Evy brought one of her dolls trick or treating with her in her bucket.  Evy was really excited about all the candy she got for saying "trick or treat".  She wanted to eat it all immediately but she settled for two pieces before dinner.  Violet just loved seeing so many friendly people and being held all night.  

 

 Below are the candy buckets that Nanny made for the girls.

 Every year I face paint at our church's Fall Family Festival.  This year Evy came right up (cutting in front of the line) and asked me to paint her face too!  She wanted a kitty on this cheek and a turtle on the other cheek.  And she did such a good job sitting still for Mommy. 

 Vi smiling at her Aunt Sarah...

 Here are our candy buckets in the dark.  Daddy had to carry them because they were so full of candy (good job girls!). 

Evy feeds Vi

Tonight we discovered that Evy is just as capable as we are of feeding Violet.  It's a little messier when Evy does it, but she still gets it done.  

Fall

 Great Grandma Margaret made these adorable dresses for the girls. 

 The picture below is not only a great picture of Violet, but it's also funny because it looks like Evy is about to step on Vi (she's not; she's actually trying to sit on her pumpkin). 

 I love these two (above and below) pictures!  I can't believe we actually got them both to smile at the same time.  Josh took as many pictures as he could while I danced around clapping and singing "Down at Grandpa's Farm".  Teamwork!