July 2012

The girls dancing with Esme!

What a busy summer we've been having!  Most recently we've had fun with sleep overs at grammie & pa's house, a day trip to Burlington, play dates with Gigi & Cami, and a visit to the TimeQuest Park to feed some farm animals.  Stella has discovered she has the ability to be defiant which is making things interesting around here!  Claire has now taken four steps in a row, and has two more teeth coming through.  She's getting so big too fast!

Claire & Cambria playing sweetly.

Stella & Gigi taking a break.  Play dates are tiring!

We want to thank everyone who supported our fundraiser on behalf of the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington, VT.  We delivered a $525 check this past week.  It was so nice to see some house staff and have visits with Caroline & Esme and nurse Julie and Carmon.  We are very appreciative of everyone who helped us make a contribution to this great charity in memory of Trey.

Stella feeding the chickens at TimeQuest Park

Another Week of Summer Gone

These hot summer days are passing fast!  We can hardly believe it's the middle of July already!  Our NICU picnic invite arrived in the mail this week and Stella got so excited when daddy told her about visiting the animals at Shelburne Farms.  This will be such a fun party for us to start wrapping up our summer at the end of August!

Claire is still working on taking her first step.  She's not there yet but she's getting herself where she wants to be.  She would probably climb the curtains if we let her!  Stella has her 2.5 year check-up this week and we have a sleepover planned at Grammie & Pa's.  Never a dull moment around here!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today we celebrated Randy's birthday at Grammie and Pa's house.  It was a great day together!

"I'm getting in this thing with or without mommy's help!"

Claire is progressing well and is changing so much!  She has two teeth, has learned how to fall onto her bottom well, is scaling across furniture, and is trying to climb (into the sandbox, up the stairs, on Stella's furniture, etc.).  She's a little monkey!  She's also learning how to use a sippy cup, and is doing great trying out some solid foods.  Stella is progressing well too with using the potty.  We are proud of both of them!

"I love this Floppy hat my 'uncle' Jane made for me!"

We want to thank everyone who supported our Ronald McDonald House fundraiser.  We are still tallying the grand total but it's looking like we'll be able to bring them a check for just over $400.  We hope to plan a day trip later in the month to make the donation in person and see some of our Burlington friends.

Our 'patriotic' dress at the Zender's Annual 4th of July Party!