Get ready for a ton of pictures of our little 1 year old. She is the funniest baby, except the scream she has developed when ever things are not going her way. She says hi, mom, dada, boo, oh, owee(like when you get hurt, not sure how that would be spelled). She plays peek-a-boo, patty cake and thinks Alexis is seriously funny, she walks everywhere and loves to push her new stroller around, hugs and talks to her babies. She is very serious though when people talk to her and intently watches them. She loves to feed herself, but still won't drink from a bottle, straw, every once in awhile a cup. She loves to be outside and doesn't complain about being in a stroller if it means she gets to be outside. Megan loves to get into the bathroom cabinet and Alexis room. Her party was a blast and the weather turned out perfect a bit chilly so Britt started a fire and the kids roasted marsh mellows! Love this baby girl and can't wait to see her grow this next year! We also taught her to hold her little finger up and say one! She claps at everything and waves hi and bye, She will not wave bye to me though and if I am near the door she will cry thinking I am leaving.

Bad

Sometimes I feel bad for Megan. Being the second child I have forgotten things that I should be teaching her. With Alexis she would hold up 1 finger when we asked her how old she was, haven't even thought of that with Megan. We also had her pointing to parts of her body when asked, Megan just started with nose, today. I feel like Megan is still a little baby. I think the difference is Alexis started walking at 9 months and was cruising around at 1, while Megan is just starting to walk. I am repenting and as of today will be educating my youngest child. She does say hi, mom and dada, bampa(grandpa), and bah. This morning she looked at daddy and said "hi dad." So I guess I am not completely slacking, I just like to hold her and hug her tight. She also does most of the actions for patty cake and dances when I sing other songs. Such a silly thing since I have taught and worked with so many kids through the years that I slack on one of my own kids.

What a difference 4 days makes. Today is 1 year from her due date and she is walking all over the place. It is so cute and exciting. She walks about 20 feet without falling and will crawl over to something stand up and do it again. She hasn't figured out how to stand from a sitting or crawl. I just love being a mom! I am in a bit of mourning though that my baby is walking and will be turning one in a week. We are working on going to sleep without nursing down, it is lots harder. I am not done nursing I just need more freedom in the evenings...Britt needs to be able to put her down too.

Alexis has been such a great helper lately and I am doing my best to thank her each time, she is relishing the positive attention. I love that she is self-correcting her behavior now. I am not asking her if that is the right or wrong way as much, so nice! She plays her last soccer game on Saturday, not sure what we will do with her next dance, gymnastics, swimming who knows but I am sure it will be exciting! Alexis is the best at remembering to pray and is always willing to "help" in primary. If one of the assignment chairs isn't occupied when she feels it should be she will ask if she can do it. I love her willingness to serve and want to encourage it as much as possible.

Megan is still not walking full time. She does take a bunch of steps toward something she wants and then sits down to crawl. Crawling is much faster. I consider her a semi-walker, she walks really steady when it suits her. It is funny though when she is unsure of depth, her little face gets a panic look when she doesn't get to something when she thinks she should. Alexis is done with preschool, sadly they didn't have a program because her teacher got sick and is moving to Utah. She has improved so much this year. They do a kindergarten placement test and Alexis scored 88 of 100. Her teacher said that is what they hope kids score leaving kindergarten. We are going to work hard on sight words and start teaching her to read this summer. I am kind of nervous about this because I have never worked with kids past preschool, so kindergarten is a new thing for both of us. Should be a fun summer. We just got back from her reward for learning to control her temper and behave at school, Great Wolf Lodge! We had a blast, fun times!

Playing songs for me! The high chair is the perfect height.

Megan loves to take things out so if I want to keep her busy I just put stuff in a basket or bag and she will entertain herself for awhile.

Alexis is trying to earn money to buy Megan a birthday present. It is so sweet. She already has it picked out and will have to earn 16.99, so she is helping me a lot more. Sadly it does make simple tasks take twice as long, but I welcome the time it gives me to hear the cute things she thinks and says.

This is how we all look right now as I post. I was fixing my memory card and so I snapped some pictures to see if it was working. Get ready for the rare picture of me! Alexis is watching Barbie so Britt is watching a movie on his phone, although he did watch Barbie with her last night. Gotta love the toys all over in the back ground, I have decided it is the mark of children having fun and not a messy house.

Mmmmmm right from the carton.


Cutting banana's and eating whip cream on Mother's day.


We have had so much rainy and chilly weather and Alexis begs everyday to go swimming. If the sun peaks out for even a second then it must be time to swim! So I put some water in the pool and let them play. Alexis actually quit before Megan did.

Fell asleep while I did dishes and cleaned the kitchen up.

First little hair cut by Jaclyn. It was just a tiny bit off the front so that she wasn't looking through the fringe anymore. She didn't want to sit still.