4th of July and Ow-eees...

July has been a busy month for the Broges (hence the lack of blog posts). The girls are learning more everyday and in this past month their vocabulary has increased ten fold. It seems they are learning a new word every other day. One of Parker's new favorite words is "oweee". And she has had so many in the past couple of weeks. I don't have a picture of what she currently looks like, but she looks like she has been in a bar fight. The most recent injuries have been the corner of a picture frame to the forehead and somehow (I still don't know how this happened really) ramming her cheek into the corner of a stair. Parker points out where her oweees are multiple times/day. They are very stressful to her. Not to be left out, Emma Jane has some pretend oweees which of course need bandaging too. The other night I put steri strips on Parker's forehead and Emma Jane would not rest until she had a steri strip as well. I asked her where her oweee was and she pointed to her nose...

Parker's oweee (its right before bedtime... thus the sleepy face)

Emma Jane's pretend oweee

We also had tons of fun on the 4th of July. The girls got to hold their own popsicle for the first time and they LOVED it. It was of course quite messy but well worth it.

Here are some pictures of Emma Jane and Parker's fourth of July dresses and of them eating their most favorite fruit- watermelon!

I repeatedly told them not to eat the green part... then I realized they were doing it as a joke....because disobeying is funny :)

They were watching a video which is currently the only way I can get them to sit still next to each other!

Anyway, despite some injuries and illnesses (Parker had roseola with a fever of 104.5 while we were in a hotel room in a city where we didn't know where anything was) we have had lots of fun this summer!

Water

The girls are funny.

Well, that almost goes without saying.

But specifically they are funny about water.

Oh, they like water, but they like it in significantly different ways. Both of them like bath time, but when it comes to various outdoor water activities they are night and day. We ran into a perfect example of this the other day at the kids park in the botanical gardens. Somewhere in the midst of the labyrinth that is the kids area is a sort of splash fountain.

Now I am sure the rest of you in America know what this thing is actually called, and have seen a million of them. But being that this is the first summer where we can go places and explore with the girls, I really haven't seen this sort of thing before and have absolutely no idea what it is called--hence the term "splash fountain" Basically this is a big area for kids to run through and every so often water will splurt up out of nowhere and get the kids wet. It kind of reminds me of the fireswamp in the Princess Bride--but, you know, without the fire and death.

Anyway. The girls ran in to check it out. At first both of them seemed fairly delighted by the sudden spurts of water. But it didn't take Emma Jane long to rethink her decision. Before we knew it she was climbing up the walls to get away.
Meanwhile Parker was taking the "soak me" approach, choosing to run up to each of the splurts and try to get wet.


The funniest part was when Parker would try to get a drink out of the splurt. She would see one come up and run up to it with her mouth open, but ineveitably get there too late to drink. The water would dissapear at the exact moment she thought her thirst was about to be quenched. She would begin to look around dejected and confused, stepping forward just a little bit, and then, of course, the next splurt would come right up her....

well...

it was funny.

All this might give you the impression Emma Jane really doesn't like water, except that at swim lessons its pretty different. She's the one floating along and kicking, while Parker is holding on for dear life like we are going to let her go and see if she drifts off to the grey havens......not going to happen.

This is the point of the blog post where one might expect to discover the point of all this babble. If you are one of those people I have some sad news for you. No point. Just some observations

blessings

Graduation

On May 21st, Jason graduated from Concordia Seminary. This was a HUGE momentous occasion. I am so proud of him. He has worked so incredibly hard these last few years at school, and has worked, and has been a fantastic father and husband. We had lots of family in town and had our wonderful St. Louis friends over for a party on Saturday. We love you Jason!!!

Jason's graduating class

Parker waiting for the ceremony to start

Emma Jane also waiting... growing more impatient as each second passed

As one of our friends said... Jason looked like he was glowing through the whole ceremony

Jason finally got his hood

This is the latest the girls have EVER stayed up... it was past 9:00. The pacifiers were out in full force. We are all so proud of Jason!

Ryan and Jason

Matt and Jason

And for bonus... here are some pictures of the girls at the party the next day

Emma Jane "talking" on the phone

Parker had literally fallen and couldn't get up... at first she wasn't too happy about it but then she laughed and laughed :)

outings

The other day Jason went to the Botanical Gardens with some friends from school (Mary Jane was at work). George brought along his camera and while most of the shots he took were botanical in nature (fitting) he snapped these shots of the girls.

"Yes, I'm standing here...what ya gonna do about it?"

Parker "helping"

Emma Jane with Kobsy

snack time: emma jane is having "see"food; the monkey is eating a banana

The Little Things

Time is going by so fast. The girls are growing up so fast. It is hard to believe in 4 short months they will be two... holy cow!!!! We post so many time about events that sometimes the little things get missed. So this post is a tribute to that.

(To steal a phrase from Jason, my heart always feels like it is going to burst with happiness and joy whenever anyone ask me about the girls or I get to talk about them)

Parker:

- To begin with Parker loves fruit... all fruits. But her favorite is blueberries. She crams them in her mouth- as many as she can get in there before chewing and swallowing. Its to the point where the fruit comes out last or all she will do is sign "more, please" for fruit and nothing else.

- Parker next favorite thing after fruit is accessories. You will rarely see her without her necklace which she puts on herself like a sash. She also has a "purse" that she carries around everywhere and says "bye" and waves to me. She tries to carry my purse alot but alas she usually can't. Actually anything with a handle is a purse.

- Parker's new favorite word is "up-e" which is short for "up please". The great thing about Parker is that when she learns a new word she really explores what all it can get her. So not only does "up-e" mean up, it can also mean down or just move me from the place I can't get out of. She has also learned "thank you" which she says at random times for random events. Its quite funny.

- Parker loves her blanket and recently her monkey. She carries it around with her or drags it behind her and its just so cute I could die. When the girls were in the NICU and all we could do was sit, pray, and cautiously dream, Jason always pictured Parker carrying around her monkey. His wish came true.

- Parker is usually a very happy girl who loves life. She isn't quite the daredevil Emma Jane is but so many little things make her happy. She loves to water the flowers outside, eat sand, or drink water out of anything she possibly can (yes, even gross things). She loves to color and I think she will be the more creative of the two. When she gets upset though, the whole world will know. She has the highest pitched scream/cry ever. It could break glass. She wears her feelings on her sleeve for sure.


Emma Jane:

- This girl is a daredevil. If she could spend her whole day climbing, getting into really high or small places- she would. Her favorite activity is to climb up on the back of the couch and look out the window. And then slide off the couch and do it again.

- Emma Jane is the smaller of the two and the more picky eater. She loves loves loves baked beans of all things, and meat. But she is definitely the typical toddler - one day she eats alot, and the next day she eats nothing. Boy oh boy is that frustrating, but normal (I remind myself).

- Emma Jane LOVESSSSSSSSS Jason. She is a Daddy's girl through and through. The sheer joy and delight she has in her face when she sees Jason is amazing. If she could attach herself literally to his side, she totally would. However, she is definitely a people person and quite friendly. Generally she loves to meet and greet. I am pretty sure all the check out people at Target know her. She will just go up to random people and say hi. She is not however such a fan of men, and recently being dropped off in the nursery or at the Y...

- Emma Jane is also a talker. Most of the time I have no clue what she is saying but she has whole conversations with us. She also pretends to read books which I just love. Its so cute.

- Of the two Emma Jane is the leader. That girl is stubborn with a capital S. She knows what she wants and will do what she has to do to get it. If anyone is familiar with the children's book "Gossie and Gertie"- Emma Jane is Gossie. Parker (Gertie) usually goes where Emma Jane goes. I am sure in the future Emma Jane will make up the rules and Parker will happily follow along.

- Emma Jane's favorite past time activity is electronics and talking on the phone. It doesn't matter what kind of electronics- she wants it and will usually not rest until she finds a way to get what she wants. Oh and Emma Jane is also rarely seen these days without the same necklace (yes we have two luckily) that Parker loves. Those necklaces were the best dollar I ever spent.

In Summary:
We have two amazing little girls. Life is an adventure everyday. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

P.S. Last week the girls had their HUGE developmental testing at the hospital and we passed with flying colors. Developmentally they were slightly ahead of the adjusted age but not quite caught up to their chronologic age (no one expected them to be though). You just can't ask for better than that.

Emma Jane climbing on furniture

Parker and her accessories (she might be a closet hoarder)

Emma Jane didn't enjoy painting as much

Parker LOVED finger painting

She wants the camera.. and she has food on her mouth

A beautiful smile

Easter at the Broges 0.5/ Jason's Birthday

This post has been slightly delayed due to busy schedules. But Jason's birthday was March 30th and I think he had a pretty good birthday... Here are pictures of the day.

Parker demonstrating how you don't need hands to drink out of your cup

Parker is always willing to share her food

Emma Jane isn't so eager to share sometimes

1. 

The sleepy but happy birthday boy

The girls can hold up one finger when you ask them how old they are but for this particular picture Parker is five, Jason is one, and Emma Jane chose not to participate

Easter at the Broges Part .75

What would Easter be without an egg hunt?

Just like every other easter I've ever had.

But this one was different

because

we had an egg hunt

or rather our church had its annual Easter "Eggstravaganza" the day before Easter, and this was the first year we had little ones who could participate. And as you can see, participate they did.

Where am I supposed to put it?

No, bring it to me

Okay....I've got some, now what am I supposed to do with it?

this one really doesn't need a caption