Congratulations!!!

We got the scores back on Brannon's final set of National Boards (the ones he took in May) and he PASSED!!!! Now he has to apply for State licensure and take the State Boards (not offered until the end of August) and he will be open for business!

Brooklyn

Brooklyn has mastered the art of sitting up in about a week! I think she really enjoys sitting up and being able to see everything from a different perspective!

She is really trying to crawl and even making some forward progress - although it isn't a movement I would call crawling. She definitely gets where she wants to go though!!!

Baby Mockingbirds

There is a Mockingbird nest in one of the trees at Nana and Pop's house. There were four little baby Mockingbirds!

We went out to see the little creatures, being very careful that the Momma wasn't around (Momma Mockingbirds will attack you) and were able to get a few pictures (without touching the nest or the babies, of course).

Unfortunately, when we went out to check on them the next day all four babies were gone. Apparently, something got them as they were not old enough to leave the nest yet as they hadn't even opened their eyes. Nature can be so cruel.

Happy Girl

Bella smiles like this constantly, but I never seem to be able to catch it on camera! Here she was running to try and catch up with me outside!

Bella and the cupcake

We went to a birthday party on Saturday and they had cupcakes baked in ice cream cones! Bella enjoyed hers very much. The one she picked had red icing, as you can see in the pictures.

When she finished eating all the icing, she didn't realize that you could eat the ice cream cone as well, so she started looking for something to dig the cupcake out with!

Of course every time she got icing on herhands, she would say "EWWWW", try to lick it off and then have to get a napkin to clean them off.

Daddy's Girls

Just a cute picture of Brannon, Bella and Brooklyn...By the way, Bella insisted that she wear that big bows in her hair that day!

Taking out the trash

Bella loves to help me do things around the house and I am certainly not going to discourage it! Here she is helping me get the trash together on trash night!

Sisterly Love

As Brooklyn gets more and more mobile, she is able to "catch" Bella! Here she is doing I'm not sure what - it looks like she might be pulling (or gnawing) on Bella's ear along with pulling Bella's hair! As you can see from the second picture - Bella didn't seem to be enjoying it too much, but Brooklyn looked to be having a good time!!

Reading a book

Bella loves the Little People Pop-Up books (she has the farm, school and zoo ones) and it seems that Brooklyn is going to like them as well. Here Brooklyn is reading a book about going to the zoo!

Bella in her rain gear!

Bella loves to go outside, even if it is raining! Here she is in her rain jacket, matching (of course) rain hat and then her rubber boots (which unfortunately do not match her jacket and hat). Even though it doesn't look like it, she does have on clothes underneath the rain get-up!

Camera Hog

I was taking (or trying to) pictures of Brooklyn and Bella came over and sat right down in front of me and "posed" for a picture!

Too cute not to post...

Catching up on some current events

Brooklyn loves to grab newspapers and scrunch them in her hands. She has been known to taste a few as well - although I try to catch her before she eats the paper! As you can see from the pictures - she was having a good time with the newspaper!

Bella's Busted Lip

Bella was running around one day last week and tripped (on nothing) and fell and busted her top lip (it is the left side)...She didn't even cry when it happened - so we didn't know she had done it until bed time!! As you can see she was quite cooperative with us to take the picture!

Daddy and Brooklyn

Rainy Day

Finally we are getting some much needed rain!!!!

It has rained all day today, along with thunder and lightning! We had to run a few errands, so Bella got to use her umbrella when we went out today and here is a picture of her in the rain with her umbrella!

Since we couldn't go outside today, we built a Rainy Day Fort and had snack time in the fort and watched Charlotte's Web from inside the fort!

Almost there!!

Here are a few more shots of Brooklyn playing on the floor - she isn't crawling yet, but it won't be long.

Although the way she gets that one leg out in front and tries to stand up on her foot - we joke that she might skip crawling and just get up and walk! Let's hope not!!!

A girl and her dog

Bella loves Georgia and for the most part Georgia loves Bella (especially when Bella has cookies or any kind of food in her hand!). On Sunday, after Bella had her bath before Church, she was "loving" on Georgia before she got her dress on!

Blueberry Festival

Each year, Brewton, Alabama has a Blueberry Festival. It is basically an arts and crafts festival, but they also have live musical entertainment, lots of food vendors, and lots of blueberry desserts (blueberry cobbler, blueberry ice cream, blueberry bread budding, etc.).

This year's festival was this past Saturday (06/16/2007), so we took the girls for a couple of hours before it got so sweltering hot! Here are a few shot of the girls from Saturday.

Playing with Pop

In our house, you lay on the floor at your own risk! On this particular evening, Pop got on the floor to play with the girls and Bella proceeded to jump up and down on his back!

Brooklyn must be saying to Pop, "what is she doing?"!!

It won't be long now!

Brooklyn is now up on all fours and rocking back and forth! It won't be long until she figures out how to crawl! In the meantime, she gets where she wants to go by rolling around and around!

Bella in action

Bella started running from the couch, across the living room and back again, and finally crashing into the couch! Here are a few action shots of her!

Taking the dirty clothes to the laundry basket

Bella helping me get the dirty clothes into the laundry room! She has become quite the little helper!

More of Brooklyn Sitting Up

I tried to get some sequential shots of the process she goes through to sit up...

First, she gets her legs out to her side (in the splits basically).

Next, she will push herself up with her arms, this time with just one arm (can't let go of that toy she's holding)

Then she might decide to just lay back down for a little rest (it's hard work for a little girl).

Then, she will push herself up again, this time with both arms.

She might decide to pose for a picture!

And back down for another rest!

Lean on Me

Just a cute picture - not sure if Brooklyn is leaning on Bella or if she is pushing on Bella!

Brooklyn's new trick!

Monday night (06/11/2007), Brooklyn went from lying on her stomach to sitting up ALL BY HERSELF! This was the first time she had done this! It appeared to be quite a feat given how she went about it! I'm still not exactly sure of the sequence of events, but the end result was her sitting up!

Where's Bella?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a cabinet at Nana's house that Bella loves to climb into! She really is inside the cabinet with the door completely closed - it is not just a picture of the cabinet! She has the most fun with this. She'll "hide" in the cabinet until someone asks "Where's Bella?" and then she'll open it up and say "BOO"!! On this particular day - she had taken her little "remote control" puppy into the cabinet with her.

Sleepy Girl

Brooklyn must have been very tired. After she ate breakfast, she just fell asleep in her highchair! Poor baby...

Rainbow

Brannon and I snuck away for a movie Saturday afternoon and on our way home, there was a beautiful rainbow.