Double bath

Katie and Ellie took their first bath together a few nights ago! Katie loved being in the water, as usual, and Ellie loved having her sister in there (even if it did cut into her splashing radius and other mayhem). As long as Ellie can remember to be careful around Katie, I'm looking forward to letting them take baths together more often so that we can get it all done at once and start feeding into a nighttime routine for Katie. Both our girls are such fish-babies :)

Camping "trip"

 Brian and Ellie went camping one night this past weekend... all the way out in the back yard. It was a trial run since we're hoping to camp later this summer when we drive out to North Carolina on a family vacation. Ellie did pretty good -- much better than when we tried to camp with her last summer and had to abandon the venture close to midnight because she refused to sleep. She still stayed up later than normal, but did get some rest in the tent and had a lot of fun!

 Marshmallows may have been her favorite part. They're mom's favorite part of camping, too!

 And Katie enjoyed hanging out on the camping trip until it was time for bed. Then she and I went back inside to let the adventurers have their daddy-daughter time :)

Exersaucing

 Katie recently tried out a new 'do (the itty-bitty pony tail).... and she took a spin in the exersaucer. She's a bit too small for it still, as you can see by the foot picture below, but she loves to be upright these days and see what's going on. We let her use it in small bursts, and when she's not in it Ellie makes sure one (or 10) of her stuffed animals are giving it some use.

Random cuteness

Katie taking her first (short) ride on daddy's shoulders :)
And, below, I discovered Ellie sitting in Katie's bumbo seat the other morning and keeping her company while she napped in the swing. As you can see, Ellie also tossed some of Katie's toys into the swing in case she needed some entertainment when she woke up from napping. So sweet.

 

And here's Ellie reading to Katie. I adore this one. 

Big box

Brian's new chair at work was Ellie's gain, since he brought home the HUGE box to become her first backyard fort. She invited Katie in all on her own. I forsee many more years of being banned from the kids' clubhouses :)

She did let me get the paints out so she could decorate the box. It turned out pretty awesome.

Train ride

In the middle of an impromptu rain shower last week, we hit the park and went on our first (of many, I'm sure) train ride of the summer. Katie's first!

Choo-choo!

Smile, laugh, hiccup

Finally got some smiles and sounds catalogued from Katie... She is SO happy first thing in the morning. I love it! Though her excitement brought on a bout of hiccups at the end. Oops.