The babysitting gig

This video was taken a little while before Carolyn, Brent & Kate left for the dance recital. I had curtsied to them and you can see that Carlee is attempting to curtsy several times during this clip. In case you don't recognize the song, it's "You Are My Sunshine", loud.

Carlee was very upset when she realized they were going to leave without her. I called to her to come into the house while they were loading up, whereupon she gave me a very angry look and waved her arm quite rudely at me. Carolyn asked her if she would like a prize for staying with me and Jax and her attitude did an instant about face. She got her little tube of SweetTarts and we sat on the couch and watched Barney while she slowly ate her prize.

Jax wouldn't go to sleep without being held, so I held him...hey! what could I do? Of course, I had my cell phone handy and took about 15 pictures of him. Don't worry, I won't put them all on here. Most of them look pretty similar.

Carlee had on a little tutu skirt that Aunt Robin brought from New ICM. Then she found the hat that Brent got her last week and put that on, so I got a couple of cute pictures of her. The one with her hands on her ribs (probably meant to be on her hips) isn't focused, which is a shame, because it's so cute otherwise.

I only have one picture of Kate in a costume at this time. I took it when then got home. Kate was finishing her post-recital treat. I don't know why I took it with my phone instead of the camera, which I had with me.

The little dancer

Kate has been taking dancing this year and it's finally time to see her in action! The dance recital is Saturday evening. I was planning to go, but had a moment of clarity and offered to babysit Carlee and Jax instead. I suddenly pictured Brent & I with Carlee and Jax while Carolyn tended to getting Kate dressed. It wasn't a pretty picture. Carlee probably would not like being still for that period of time...and who wants to take a 4-week old to that sort of thing?

I suggested to Carolyn that she try to video Kate's dances during the dress rehearsal, which was this afternoon, instead of at the recital. It was under consideration.

About an hour after the dress rehearsal started, I had another moment of clarity when I realized I could have gone to the dress rehearsal and watched her then, as they were taking the other two to Patsy & Frank's. Dang! Hope the video is good...although, Carolyn did tell me that instead of dancing Kate spent the rehearsal time waving at people in the audience. I'm not sure she did any dancing at all.

It's all about Carlee

Carlee had her 2-year check-up this week. Carolyn, Brent, Carlee and Jax drove to Sugar Land to a pediatrician there while Kate was at school.

Carlee weighed in at 31 1/2 pounds and was 35 1/2 inches tall. She was at the 75th percentile mark in both weight and height. It's been said that you can double a child's height at age 2 and predict how tall they will be when grown. This would put Carlee at about 5' 11". Carolyn likes that for her. She likes being tall herself, (well, I guess 5' 8" is not that tall, but it's taller than average) and wishes she were taller.

They had scheduled a visit with a photographer for after the check-up, so that was next on the agenda. Carlee doesn't particularly like to have strange men talking to her, so she wasn't happy or cooperative at first. Once they got her talking about familiar people...Cookie and Pop, NaNa and Pa, however, her attitude changed and they got some really cute shots. Here are a few of them.

Brent dashed into the mall while Carolyn, Carlee and Jax waited in the car. While there, he picked up the hat that Carlee is wearing in one of the photos. He also got a matching one for Kate. Isn't she a stylish little lady?

Memorial Weekend 2009 Photos

I never know where these photos are going to end up in the post, so here are some brief descriptions you can attempt to match with the photos. Clicking on a photo will open it in another window. It will be really big.

1. Carlee and the phone
2. Carlee, Kate, & Claire Crowell with Rebecca Crowell, Katherine Sellers and Wendy
3. Kate & Carlee eating lunch
4. Cookie trying to encourage anyone to fall asleep by reading to them. Don't know where Carlee was. It didn't work...no one went to sleep
5. Kate & Gage playing a card game...probably "War"
6. Brent & Jax
7. Wendy & Carolyn
8. Brent, Kelly, Gage, Zane, Kate & Carlee in the water
9. Brent, Kelly, Kate & Carlee at the beach
10. Brent, Kate, Carlee, Gage and 2 UIK's (unidentified kids)
11. Carlee, looking cute and suspiciously innocent
12. Dee, trying to keep Jax from flinging his head against her shoulder

A Day at the Bay

Carolyn, Brent, Kate, Carlee and Jax arrived at the bay on Saturday. They only intended to stay for the day, which they did.

As soon as they arrived, they got the girls in swimsuits and sunscreen and Brent, the girls, and I headed to the beach in front of Janie & Billy's house to join the group of adults and children who were already there. Carolyn stayed at the house with Jax.

The water was nice all weekend, like glass at times. So, the little ones were able to play in it without us worrying that a ginormous (to little people) wave would knock them over. They played in the "sand" and in the water for quite a while, until hunger got the best of them and we all trailed back to the house for chopped beef sandwiches.

Carlee found the telephone which was conveniently located low on the wall. It was almost perfectly placed, except for that danged table which made it hard for her to hang up after her "conversations". Wayne hadn't arrived yet, so he was the person she would "call." "Hello, Pop!" she would start out and then go on to have quite a conversation with him. Her best call was one I didn't get on video. In that one, she would pause as if listening to Pop and then she sometimes said, "Oh" apparently in answer to what he said to her.

They left after eating pizza with us that evening. None of the kids had napped, except for Jax. Kate and Carlee have a nap every day, but they were way too keyed up to nap on Saturday. They expected them to crash as soon as they left the bayhouse. Carolyn texted me when they were almost home. She said Kate was asleep before they were 2 miles away. Carlee, on the other hand, had finished watching "Mary Poppins" and had watched half of "Annie" and was singing something about Sandy.

Carlee is 2 years old!

Carlee celebrated her 2nd birthday on Sunday. Family and friends gathered at her house and had fun watching her be a typical birthday honoree. She didn't want to cooperate when it was time to blow out the candles, but she settled down when she got her slice of birthday cake.

Brent bought a "Big Cupcake" cake pan at Williams-Sonoma, so Carolyn did the baking and decorating of Carlee's cake. It was really cute. Luckily, Carolyn believed what people had written about using the pan and was prepared to use 2 cake mixes. The pan doesn't look like it could possibly hold that much, but she only had enough batter left to make 5 small cupcakes.

Carlee got a see-saw, a slip & slide, and other water toys. She also got books and coloring materials and other fun things that I can't remember. I was in charge of Carolyn's video camera until it ran out of tape, then I took a short video of my own. Every time Carlee opened a gift, she would say, "Ohhh!" She definitely enjoyed it.

She gave hugs to everyone, several times over. All in all...a very happy little girl!

Photo ops

Virgie and Bo were on their way to the bay and stopped by to meet Jax a few days ago. So, here's a photo of that meeting, along with a few other pictures.

It's sliding time again!

Carolyn and Brent set up the waterslide for the first time this year. The kids loved it and had a great time racing up to the top and sliding down. Gage and Kate were the fastest, of course, and slid down together much of the time. Zane took his time climbing up, and slid down more quietly. Carlee is too little to climb up, so Brent had to lift her as far as he could reach. From there she scrambled the rest of the way. She loved sliding down, too, and probably wore Brent out from all the lifting he had to do.

They had water guns and we heard ourselves saying something we never thought we would say, "No sliding with guns!"

Kate, Carlee, and Jax

Here are some photos taken recently of Kate, Carlee, and Jax. Oh, and me. How unusual!

Pajama party

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Robin came over to help me with Kate and Carlee while Carolyn, Brent, and Jax were getting to know each other last week. She brought a big pile of pajamas for Kate and Carlee to wear while we shot photos. Some of them might end up in the I-C catalog.

Robin took one photo with her camera and then realized the card was full. So, a lot of the photos were taken with my iphone. Taking photos of those two is like taking photos of hummingbirds...you have to be ready and take the shot whether they look perfect or not. Chances are they will move during the fraction of a second it takes to push the button, so they'll look different, anyway.

Robin said to tell the dinner group that there are lots of new things in the Tom and Jerry shop at I-C. I stopped by there briefly yesterday to drop something off for Robin, and could see lots of pretty things, but didn't have time to shop.

Kate and Carlee had 7 or 8 sets of clothes that they put on, but I guess I only took photos of the 2 sets here. Don't know where all the rest are...Robin must have made some room on her card. It was frantic and we were all exhausted when we were done.

First meeting of the siblings

Kate and Carlee met their brother for the first time in this video. As you can see (and hear) they were very excited to have him (and Mommy & Daddy) home.

Expressions

You have to really like to look at babies to watch this video. Jax was sleeping, but his expressions kept changing in the short time I shot this. He went from contented to agitated to a "smile" and back to contented.