By the way, we added a counter to the blog FOR THE THIRD TIME. I think that the other counters had accounts that had to be updated, and we never did. So...we have amazingly had over 300 visits in 4 days. Thank you all for keeping up with us!

My beautiful sisters visited Sydney and Abigail this weekend. Amy had her church Baby Shower, and it was another amazing showing of support from our church family. I happened to look at the calendar today--where we keep all of the daily to-do's and record the memorable events in our daughters lives before they make it into their respective baby books--and it reminded me of how important a day can be...

August 28, 2006 Sydney places rolling balls into container, dumps container, and repeats

August 21, 2006 Abigail, usually with book in hand, turns around and sits in our laps

July 30, 2006 Sydney takes 4-6 steps hands free

July 11, 2006 Abigail "runs" 8-10 steps multiple times

June 10, 2006 Sydney starts cruising

May 5, 2006 Abigail pulls up to standing

April 28, 2006 Sydney crawls!

March 29, 2006 Found out we were having 2 girls one year ago!

September 28, 2005 Girls visit Daddy at work

August 16, 2005 Original Due Date?

July 18, 2005 Sydney and Abigail come home

June 30, 2005 Abigail Kate and Sydney Lane born

Where has the time gone!!! These are just a few of the many cherished moments in our calendar, and we look forward to filling up the days with the girls' antics for years to come.

We notice the girls mature physically everyday, but it is the maturity of actions and emotions that amaze us most. As Rebekah prepared dinner tonight, she heard both of the girls giggling and found them chasing each other! Since they began crawling, we have chased them on our hands and knees, but this was a real treat to see them acknowledge each other as friends and playmates. It seems that Abigail will always run around in the house and Sydney will always sway when she hears any music at all--but don't blink an eye because these girls will surprise us everyday...

Nighttime Stories

Miranda was very helpful during her stay with us--this is a video of our typical nighttime story time. "Good Night Sweet Butterflies" became an instant favorite with the girls.

Girls With Miranda (6)

We captured Miranda's time with the girls in a few pictures--see flickr. She was here for more than a week, and now we miss her. I should have a video of the three of them later.

Bicentennial Mall

Sydney and Abigail had their first experience with the Water Spouts at the Bicentennial Mall today. Abigail ran directly in the direction of the water and was soaked in seconds--she was not afraid to jump right in. As you can see from the flickr pictures, Sydney was a bit hesitant but finally cooled off in the spouts. Brad was able to meet everyone for lunch at the Mall--so named because it is in the shadow of the state capital. Fun in the sun!

So You Think You Can Dance

Sydney really knows how to bust a move at this young age. It is always entertaining when a song starts playing and she "rocks"!

Students

Check out our studious little ones! Both Sydney and Abigail love to turn the page and see what is next. And the books that come in the mail each month from the Governor's Books From Birth/Imagination Library give us plenty of material. See the website at http://www.governorsfoundation.org/.

Self Actualization

Abigail and Sydney enjoy looking and waving at themselves in the mirror and into the video camera window. Show those teeth, Abigail!

Abigail's quick walk

To give equal time to our girls, we captured Abigail's quick walking Saturday morning.

Sydney Walks!

After witnessing Sydney gain confidence step by step this past weekend, we captured it Monday night in this video. Enjoy.