Still Little

She's still finding small spaces to crawl into!

Summer Vacation

We love visiting Port Huron to see the Faust family. We stayed a few nights with Grandpa and Grandma then moved over to Aaron and Sheri's for a few days. We enjoyed walks, bike rides, a birthday party, a Mexican Fiesta party, and a fun Father's Day BBQ. Kayla and Cassidy played and laughed and reminded us yet again how we'd love to live closer together. Here, Kurt got to test out his new bike trailer (Father's Day gift) with the girls in tow.

The girls enjoyed their meals together at Kayla's little table and chairs in the kitchen. I made lunch for them one day and asked Kayla if she liked quesadillas, lima beans and applesauce. She said she didn't like any of that. She did, however, eat Magic Beans, Cheesy Triangles and Saucy Apple Cups. It's all in the phrasing! What cute little gals we have.

Travis spent most of his vacation trying to crawl.

Swinging with cousin Caitlyn on Grandpa's backyard swing

Celebrating Kayla's 4th Birthday

We kicked off our Port Huron vacation at Kayla's 4th birthday party. As usual, the Faust family was blessed with perfect weather for her outdoor party! Here are the girls checking out Kayla's new princess castle.Daddy and his "mini-me"Cassidy dove right in to playing with Kayla's new computer. Grandpa's little buddy

Father's Day comes early this year

Since before Cassidy was born, Kurt has wanted a bike trailer for our kids to ride in. They are really cool, but the cost was holding us back. Now that we have two kids, we've been talking about it a lot more: we'd use it so much, it would really be an investment in our family, the kids could ride in it until they're six, etc. But our last conversation about it ended in a decision to wait until Christmas and ask for money toward it. I wasn't able to find any really great deals on a good one. At least that's what Kurt thought. I secretly started my research. I knew what we were looking for and stalked out a phenomenal deal. It was so fun surprising Kurt with his early Father's Day present, and he was thrilled to get it! "Best Father's Day gift...EVER!" were his exact words. Here's Cassidy decorating the box it came in right before we surprised him with it.Today we put both kids in for a test drive. It can also be used as a jogging stroller, so we used it that way just to see how they'd ride together. Would they like being next to each other instead of front-and-back like they ride in our stroller? They scoped each other out...

...and it was great! They loved it! They both have plenty of room and the padded seats make for a very comfortable ride.

The first ride went perfectly. Now, on to biking!

Re-creation

One of our favorite pictures is this one of Kurt and Cassidy, snuggling on a cold wintry morning:And now we have one with Travis too:

Crib twins

Cassidy should start watching out. Travis is gaining on her, and fast. Just five pounds separate them in size. At 7 months, Travis weighs more than Cassidy did at 18 months. Side by side, they don't look 23 months apart to me! Here they are, again playing together in Travis' crib after his early morning nap. What a pair!

The Lookout Treehouse

Cassidy is so excited about her new slide. Throughout the day if we're inside the house, she climbs up to look out the windows and make sure it's still there, shouting "slide! slide! cool!" This afteroon we spent some time outside on the new toy. Sliding down "The Cassidy Way".
Anyone who knows her will not be surprised that this is the way she chooses to slide down!

You'll just have to trust me

I'm just not great with our camera and I don't know how to switch settings quickly so that it will take pictures fast enough to catch that "perfect moment". So you'll have to use your imagination a little while I tell this story. First, let me set this up. Cassidy didn't exactly jump for joy when we brought Travis home. For his first two months she ignored him as much as possible. Then she acknowledged him but still wasn't overly excited that he lived with us. And now she's just plain jealous. She always needs me or wants to hug me or has to show me something, every single time I'm tied up with Travis: feeding him, changing his diaper, playing with or loving on him. Occasionally we've seen signs that they'll someday be great friends. He completely adores her. She has recently started handing him toys and has for a few months excitedly run down the hall with me to get him up from his nap. And she's even patted his head a few times. But today, the best thing yet happened and Kurt and I were both there to see it. They were playing together in Travis' crib and Cassidy sat down in front of him: Then, without prompting, she reached out and gave him a hug! Here is the beginning of it:And then, the best part! She leaned in and gave him a KISS! She made the *mmmmwah!* sound and everything! Notice the stunned look on his face: So, yes. There's hope for Cassidy and Travis. May this be the first of many, many loving moments between the Jensen siblings! Amen and hallelujah!!!

My Boys

Two super snuggly, easy-to-love guys!