Parties and piggies

Before we begin, Ida Jane has a few words to share, from her new big girl bed.



Now, the title of the post promises parties and piggies, so let's get to it. We had a great time at Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary this weekend. Poplar Springs takes in rescued farm and lab animals and provides them with happy, long lives. Ida Jane loves visiting her friends there. Here she is, making friends with a pig (whose name, we later discovered, is Suzie Q).



Other friends we met included goats, sheep, chickens, and a rooster who came up to Ida Jane to holler "cock-a-doodle-do" which was very impressive. She's been saying it ever since.

The other big event this weekend was our best friend Sofia's birthday party. Here's a "pre-game" picture, before we converted Ida Jane's crib into a big girl bed with rails.



Harper is quite the social butterfly, and got all dolled up for the big party:



She wasn't quite sure what to do with her party hat, though:



What a great weekend!

A birthday, and more

Amy celebrated her birthday last week. What better presents could she ask for than her two girls?




Harper is getting so strong! It's going to be hard to keep up with her once she goes mobile. Here she shows off her head strength:



And here she is, ready to join her sister at a pool party:



Ida Jane, at our neighbors the Smiths, is ready to jump right in!



Did we mention Ida Jane loves doing her hair now? Here she is with pigtails!



Harper likes to participate in all play activity, and, when she gets her own time in her chair, she prefers if Ida Jane comes over to help her learn.



(Daddy is experimenting - slowly - with some HTML changes to the site. It will improve shortly! If you haven't noticed, our blogroll has expanded a bit, and updates to show who's got the latest post).

Fourth fun

Ida Jane and Harper had a great time in Indiana and Ohio over the Fourth.

Ida Jane got to ride in the grandkid rowboat, custom built by Papa:


Harper got to spend lots of time with, and give lots of smiles to, her Nana:



Ida Jane enjoyed the bigger boats, too. And, yes, she knows she looks fashionable:



It got even better when Papa showed her how to honk the horn:



Harper met her Great-Grandma Gerber for the first time, and got lots of kisses.



What a fun time!