Happy Birthday to Riley...a month early!

This past Friday the Gilmore clan joined us for dinner and a hidden agenda to give Riley her birthday present (from our family and Grandpa and Grandma) early. Rumor had it, she had been invited to her first sleepover and would need our gift for the party. So we were more than happy to present Riley with her first "adult" sleeping bag!

Uncle Mark consulted the L.L. Bean website and selected a bag that can be used in temperatures as low as 40 degrees and has its own monogrammed carrying case. As you can see, we believe Riley found the sleeping bag to be rather cozy, as did the other 4 cousins. Now Riley is ready not only for sleepovers, but camping with Uncle Mark!

Puppet Show

We ventured out to the puppet show in downtown Raleigh with a few of Kate's friends this past Wednesday. The puppet theater was putting on "Cinderella," and seeing as how we are all about the "princesses," we couldn't pass up the opportunity. As you can see, the girls didn't pass up the opportunity to wear their princess attire as well!

Favorite Pasttimes with Grampy and Grammy

Grampy and Grammy (Rich and Carol) came to visit this past weekend and were kept quite busy by Kate and Lauren. Grammy had the pleasure of creating funny sticker faces with Kate, while Grampy spent his time reading numerous books, especially with Lauren. Sometimes Grampy would actually finish a book before Lauren replaced it with a new story. We all had a very nice visit and look forward to their return in a month! Thanks, Grampy and Grammy!

Happy Valentine's Day

One of my gifts to Mark this year was updated pictures of the girls. I thought I would share with all of you are two "beauties" in red. We discovered during the photo shoot that it was much easier last summer...Lauren wasn't mobile. Although she was on the go, we were still able to get some great shots. We hope all of you had a very Happy Valentine's Day!

At the ballet

Kate started her first dance class yesterday at the local community center. The class consists of both ballet and tap (her mom's favorite!). She was so excited to go and loved every minute of it! It's too early to tell if she'll follow in her mom's footsteps, but either way, it was a joy to see her have so much fun!

In a taste test...

Diet Pepsi would win out if Lauren was involved! On several occasions over the past couple of weeks, when Lauren has invaded the pantry in search of a treat, she returns with a 2-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi. One morning, at 8am, she not only produced the Diet Pepsi but also a bag of pretzels! Don't worry, I may give in on occasion, but when it comes to soda at the age of 1, I stand my ground.