Hope and her Badger Rattle (and growing Gracie)

Perhaps our daughter Hope is taking after her mom and dad and aspiring to attend UW-Madison when she grows up. She is now grasping at objects and seems particularly enthralled with her Wisconsin Badger rattle. Enjoy the show!



Not to be outdone by her slightly larger sister, we wanted to show off a new cute pic of our Gracie Girl as well :)

Celebrities!

When you think of celebrities, some may think of Hollywood superstars like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston (ok, perhaps they are a little dated, but bear with this less-than-TMZ and Extra! literate blog writing dad). Others, like myself for example, might think of my beloved Milwaukee Brewers players as local celebs... CC Sabathia, Ryan Braun, JJ Hardy, Prince Fielder... those dudes.

What I never really anticipated was that our daughters would become local celebs. As the girls continue to grow and develop, we are starting to take them out in public more and more. Last weekend we had the chance to take them to a fund raiser at my school, the Christmas and Holiday Show. As a family-related "extra," some kind parent volunteers organized a pancake breakfast, and since my Student Council students were helping out, Jeni and I thought this would be a perfect time to bring the girls in for the first time. Jeni, who has been out and about with the girls much more than I have, warned me, "We're never getting out of there in an hour." I could have listened to her, but what do I know, we've got a couple of sweet babies, but they aren't celebrities. I was wrong.

I ate about two bites of a pancake and had a sausage at the breakfast, as we were literally mobbed with happy parents and students who wanted to come and see our little lovelies. Jeni just smiled softly as Proud Dad answered questions about his girls. We then went into the Christmas and Holiday Show, and what we experienced at the pancake breakfast was multiplied by about ten. Jeni, who was on a mission to get special gifts for the grandparents, went about her shopping business and allowed me to dote over the girls. In so many ways this was so awesome! Everyone seemed to know the girls by name (in many ways thanks to this blog, which several people referenced), and just were so overjoyed to meet them. My mom and Jeni had gone to the Christmas and Holiday Show a day earlier, and even some of the vendors at the show left their booths to see the girls and ask about how they were doing.

Like any good celebrities, Grace and Hope ate up the attention. They cooed, gooed, made little noises, smiled and looked wide-eyed at all of their admirers. Like good celebs, they attracted paparazzi (well, in this case our paparazzi was our good friend who was lucky enough to borrow a camera from another friend and take this adorable photo).

Reflecting on this experience, I cannot begin to describe how truly blessed I feel, to have so many people delight in our girls. We believe in the power of positive thinking and prayer, and perhaps the girls' public performances are just their way of saying thank you for the support of their many admirers. Perhaps their mom's and dad's ear-to-ear grins tell the same story.

Silly Times & Brown Eyes

October is a time when many kids (large and small) get excited and silly thinking about Halloween. As fifth grade teachers, Jeni and I can see this in the students that we work with every day during this time of year. As new parents, there must be something about the crisp, cool, autumn breeze that brings out the inner-goofball in all of us (including Hope and Gracie).

The girls are becoming increasingly social and silly. In the picture to the left they are dressed in another Halloween outfit, with these onesies reading, "Mommy's Under My Spell." I think that sentiment can be applied to both Mommy and Daddy. Hope and Gracie have become increasingly vocal. Hope will carry on for up to a half hour at a time with her coos, goos, and babbles. Gracie, too, is getting more vocal, although her latest thing that she likes to do is roll over during tummy time. While both girls first did this back in June, it is becoming much more regular these days. The girls are also sitting in their "Bumbo Chairs" and lifting their heads up more.

Enjoy some fun family shots of our girls getting bigger.

Daddy enjoys hugging his girls after a long day at work.








Hope enjoys a game of peek-a-boo with Mommy as Gracie Girl watches on, mesmerized by the blanket







Contrary to popular belief, it was Mommy, not Daddy, who dressed Hope in the outfit to the left. Truth be told, Hope had a few too many spit ups, and with laundry in the dryer this was the best we could do. I couldn't help but showcase a baby "what-not-to-wear" moment, however, as I am often the one who has challenges matching the pants to the girls onesies.

Despite the outfit, one other thing in this picture stands out- and that is Hope's beautiful brown eyes. It looks like she has inherited some of her mommy's beautiful features, and one day will dance around at Badger games and Jimmy Buffett shows when "Brown Eyed Girl" is played!