Lisa, Gracie, Anna and Tim

(Gracie holding Anna for the first time)

I am blessed to have two darling girls in my life- Gracie and Anna. We get to spend all day together and we have a lot of fun :) Gracie is a wonderful big sister and loves Anna. From day one she was excited to have Anna as part of our family. Sometimes I would go somewhere only taking Anna and when I came back home Gracie would race to the door and say "Anna? Anna?" She wanted to make sure I didn't leave here anywhere :)

Now that Anna is getting bigger, Gracie is starting to want to play with her. At the hotel Anna would be lying on the bed and Gracie would climb up there to be next to her. Sometimes it was enough to be near her, other times she wanted to share her toys with Anna. She has a wooden magnetic doll (like new age paper dolls) and she loved to play with it with Anna. She put all the clothes on top of Anna then wanted her to put some on the doll! Anna didn't necessarily love being covered with the clothes, but it was adorable to see my little girls starting to play together!

Gracie is learning how to be more and more of a helper with Anna. She is first on the scene if Anna is crying and frantically looks for her binky, then tries to put it in! Sometimes I put Anna on the floor to have tummy time and frequently I will look over to see Gracie laying on the blanket with her simply talking to her. Other times when Anna is upset I hear Gracie parroting what she has heard me say time and time again "it's ok Anna" "calm down Anna". Or if we're in the car "oh Anna" "almost there". She's a great big sister!

Here they are ready for a walk! I can't believe Anna can sit up in the bumbo already, time is flying by. Another thing I love about Billings is the abundance of walking trails through neighborhoods. I guess the city opted for sidewalks trailing through neighborhoods instead of the typical sidewalk on the side of the roads. Well we love exploring them- usually I have no idea where I'm going or how to get back, but it works out!

Random photo...I have a confession to make...Occasionally, when there is only a little bit left in the milk carton, I will drink straight from the carton. Unbeknownst to me, Gracie had been watching when these rare occasions and got some ideas of her own...She wanted a drink of milk and got Tim to open the fridge (he was distracted with something else in the kitchen and not paying a whole lot of attention to her). That's when I came by and saw this. Quickly I got the camera and tried not to laugh too hard as I took the picture!