Happy Girls

I have a lot of catching up to do, but here are some of the latest pictures of our happy girls.

 

 

 

Summer Fun at the Beach

So Much To Report!

A few weeks ago we took an amazing trip to California to visit Grandma and Poppa Kaplan. It was a long overdue trip and I cannot express how wonderful it was for all of us. I can start by saying that Jonathan did not have to work the entire time we were there, which is truly the longest break from work he has had in months. It was divine.

Grandma prepared for our visit. We were all so comfortable and cared for it was wonderful. We also got to spend time with Seth, Kari and Eliana. How lovely! I am so overjoyed that we all had such a great trip. I wish you could have all been there to see how the girls took to California and being with their California family. They were so happy. We wish it could happen more often (but without the plane rides there and back). The girls were good, but it was frankly very exhausting. Here are some photos from our adventure.

One of Aurelia's favorite toys at Grandma and Poppa's was a shape sorting toy that Grandma taught her how to use. Here she is enjoying some incredible time with her beloved Poppa.

Both girls loved every minute they got to spend with Grandma.

Here is Vivi and a very happy Grandma.

Vivi with her Aunt Kari and Uncle Seth

Aunt Kari with cousin Eliana

Aunt Kari and Jonathan took the girls on a walk after a rain one day.

Aunt Kari rescued several worms from drowning.

Aurelia was ecstatic and still talks about the rescue to this day.

The girls with their grandparents

Reli in a beautiful hat she got from her Honey,

modeling her favorite chapstick

(also from Honey).

As promised, here are the retrospective photos from our amazing trip to Odessa to see the girls other grandparents. We are so fortunate to have such incredible people in our kids' lives. Grandma Becky went out of her way to make sure Reli and Vivi had a wonderful time. They did, I can assure you! Here are some pictures from our visit.

For weeks we had told Aurelia that on New Year's we would get to have donuts - a tradition Jonathan and I have started.

Here we are enjoying the long-awaited donuts.

Story time (Ian's face describes how we all felt after

reading/hearing the same story many, many times).

Grandma Becky introduced Reli to the beauty of ornaments.

Reading books with Uncle Ian

The entire West Texas crew:

Grandma Becky and Papasita also took Reli to the mall and she got to ride on the carousel three times! She kept asking for more and they were more than happy to oblige. Fortunately, they had plenty of snacks to sustain our girl on her hour-long outing!

(She has been talking about riding on the carousel for several days recently.

A lasting memory with her grandparents).

Back at home. What happy girls we have!

In other news, Vivianna just turned 4 months old. We had her checkup today and she weighs 13 pounds, 11 ounces and is 24 inches tall. What a healthy girl! She also started sleep training a couple of days ago and said goodbye to her pacifier. She is doing great! What a big girl she is already!

The proud and tired parents.

Two Years Old

We just celebrated Aurelia's 2nd birthday on Saturday. For 2 incredible years she has been in our lives. We all marvel at what an amazing child she has already become. She is bright, cheerful, loving, kind, sensitive, intuitive and almost unbelievably verbal for a child her age. She speaks in paragraphs. She knows her books by heart. She can sing all the words to at least 10 songs. When I come home from work she asks "How was your day Momma?

She says that she is sorry if you tell her that she hurt you or hurt your feelings. She says please and thank you. She gets her own dishes for snacks and meals and brings her dirty dishes to the sink when she is all done. She washes her own hands, puts on her own panties, pants, jackets, shoes and sometimes her socks. She can zip up one of her vests and she loves to practice. She can buckle the top part of her car seat buckle. She can melt you with a smile and can leave you breathless with one of her hugs. She is an absolute miracle.

She is also very strong-willed and sometimes two hands full, but she is the most wonderful first child we could have ever expected. Parenting Aurelia has been an almost unbelievable journey. We have so much to look forward to and so many wonderful memories to cherish.

Here are some of our memories from these past few weeks.

For her birthday, I asked Reli what kind of cake she wanted. She told me in detail. Here is a video from 2 nights before the big day:

Here we are singing to Reli on her birthday. There were over 20 people present. She loved it. Reveled in it. She even chose to sit at the head of the table. I have never known a 2 year old to enjoy their birthday party. Reli had a fantastic time. She enjoyed it all. I am so proud of her.

Aurelia loves happy faces so I got some temporary tattoos for her party. The girls loved them.

Henna and Koruna got matching Rainbow tattoos.

Honey have Reli a guitar for her birthday. She LOVES it. Aurelia "playing the ditar!"

Here are the girls watching Reli's favorite video:

Bouncing is such a fun activity. Here are the girls having a blast:

Getting a picture of me and Aurelia is sometimes a challenge. She loves me, but she does not love taking a picture with me.

Reli with her Auntie Berry:

The Mommas and surrogate Mommas:

Aurelia has been showered with gifts from her friends and family near and far. She has more wonderful books and toys than any kid could ever hope for. In true toddler fashion, her recent favorites have been a bar of soap that Grandma Becky gave to me and the two lipsmackers chapsticks in a tiny purse that she got from her Honey. She has enjoyed all of her new gifts, but those were some standouts. She also adored a box of large crayons that she spent days ripping the labels off of. (Note to future gift-givers: spend less money, you have already won her over with your love).

Here we are reading with Reli one morning. Keep in mind, this is a library book we got less than 2 weeks ago. She memorizes what you say. Beware!

Here is Vivi being enchanted by our friend Brendo:

We have had many adventures since my last post. Over New Years we went to Odessa for Papasita's 60th birthday surprise. Boy, was he ever surprised. Aurelia was in heaven following Grandma Becky and Papasita around. They could not leave the room without Aurelia constantly asking where they were. She has come to understand the love of her grandparents and has charmed the pants off each and every one of them whether grandparents by blood, adopted or chosen. Thank you to each and every one of you - you know who you are.

I will have to do a retrospective post of our Odessa fun. Coming soon to a theater near you!

Kaplan Family Photo Shoot

A couple of weekends ago, we had our first official Kaplan family photo shoot. The weather was not cooperating (very cold), Reli was being her almost 2-year old self, and Vivianna was ready to take a nap when we got started. Those of you familiar with Shana Berenzweig's (www.shanaberenzweig.com) work will already expect great things from this post. For those of you who are unfamiliar, well get a load of what Shana can do under some pretty extreme circumstances to turn our family photo shoot into a phenomenal success.































Don't worry, I have already uploaded these images to Walgreens so that you can order prints of your favorite Kaplan pics. We got 7 high resolution images that can be printed to 5x7 or 8x10. We bought the entire gallery at low resolution images which can be printed to 4x6 or smaller. I created two separate albums on the Walgreens site for each of the different resolutions.

For 5x7s or 8x10s click here(or paste the link into your browser):
http://photo1.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8986161004/a=27058939_27058939/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

For 4x6s click here(or paste the link into your browser):
http://photo1.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8986163004/a=27058939_27058939/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

Love to you all!