As I looked at these pictures of Rheya and her adorable pigtails, I came to realize that she just looks so much more grown up!

I still can’t believe that Rheya and Vaughan share the same genes because they couldn’t be more different.

Vaughan was always so cautious and rarely took risks of any kind. It took him a long time to feel comfortable enough to leave my side when we went to public places like the library or the playground and he tried out new skills very slowly and with much encouragement.

Rheya, however, is a completely different story. She wanders off the second her feet hit the floor. She goes right up to other kids to play with them, and now…she has discovered climbing! The other day in the bathroom she got up on Vaughan’s little step stool and gave me the proudest look I’ve ever seen. It was cute, but terrifying all at the same time. Then, at the park, she climbed up four stairs on the playground equipment. Yikes! Then, today, she climbed up on the rocking chair in the bedroom and might have climbed up onto Vaughan’s bed if I had given her the opportunity. Will I survive this?

Here are the kids just before bedtime the other night. Rheya had some serious “bed head” going on, but she hadn’t even gone to bed yet!

Here’s Vaughan just relaxing and putting up with the camera in his face…again!

When we were at Michael’s the other day, I saw these cute little mosaic projects using little, tiny, pre-cut foam pieces. I figured it was something Vaughan might like, so we got a couple and tried it out. In reality, I ended up doing more than half of it, but he had fun and it kept him entertained for almost an hour!

I’m so glad that Vaughan has gotten to the stage where he will actually cooperate with me and do some poses for the camera. I’m practicing my photography skills and he is not only handy, but he is also an adorable model! Here are a few in our backyard with some cool Photoshop actions applied to give them a little extra pop.

Rick and I had a much needed break this weekend as we got in a little R&R at a beautiful bed & breakfast in Estes Park, CO. It was called The Black Dog Inn and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice place to stay in Estes. We relaxed, did a little window shopping, had a nice dinner…and did I mention that we RELAXED?

Here are a few pictures!

A small herd of elk came to visit us for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Lunch in downtown Estes.

Hanging out on the porch of our suite…after it had stopped raining.

Dinner at The Stanley Hotel.

Here I am drinking a “Redrum Punch”

We had a great time and we owe it all to Grandma, Nana, and Grandpa for watching the kids so we could take this little break!

Rheya is the messiest eater. When Vaughan was her age, he was pretty neat and tidy and rarely made much of a mess at mealtime, but Rheya generally requires a bath after some meals. This pasta and vegetable dish was a particularly big disaster. She seemed to enjoy it though!

For some reason a little, tiny girl carrying around a great big basketball was just too cute to resist taking a few pictures.  :)

In an attempt to entertain Vaughan for a little while and give him a chance to work on some fine motor skills, I had him help me sort all of my buttons by color. I have A LOT of buttons, so it took about 45 minutes to get through all of them. It was a very colorful sight!

Vaughan took this picture of me with my big, heavy DSLR camera. I thought it was pretty good considering he doesn’t even look through the view finder to see what he’s doing!

I have been taking a lot of pictures lately, but I haven’t been very good about adding them to the blog. It’s that darn Facebook! Anyway, here are a few miscellaneous things from recent weeks.

The kids playing one afternoon…

Easter Egg Hunt at the park with our playgroup…

A fun little photo shoot in our living room…

Some fun at the Children’s Garden at the park and some more fun in our own backyard…

And Rheya’s first ever pig tails!