stellar afternoon

i went with my good friend sarah to the beach yesterday - it was fantastic. the water was warm enough for the kids (and for me), but it was hot enough outside that it was still refreshing, it wasn't over-crowded with a million people, and the girls had a blast playing together. a stellar way to spend the afternoon. some favorites from the day...

a new place for us, and i will definitely be back.



in other news, beth continues to get bigger and with that come new phases and stages. pros and cons of our current phase:

pro: she is much better at giving kisses than she ever has been
pro: she loves the water - especially natural water and will swim and play in it all day long
con: she is becoming a very picky eater
con: she still screams whenever you tell her no
pro:her vocabulary has expanded. i'm proud to announce that "no" is no longer the only word she knows. we now recognize thank you, milk, puppy, uh-oh (of course), yucky, and most recently, daddy. that one is the best one. she yells it when he gets home and smiles really big and it is so heart-warming
pro: she is very independent
con: she is very independent
pro: she loves slides and playing on the big kid playgrounds, especially now that she can climb just about anything
pro: she has become a really good cuddler
con: she has major separation anxiety - from whoever she's been with for the last hour. she cries and clings to me when i drop her off at daycare, and then kicks and screams when i pick her up. not sure how i feel about it... neither one is easy.

but i love the girl. she becomes a bigger handful everyday, but as a wise woman once said "well, that's growth. they're learning independence."

i guess we are all learning as we go...