She was so funny dancing and twirling around!
My cousin Colleen and her daughter Sevrine live in Arizona so we don't get to see them often. So when I heard Sevrine was here in Salt Lake visiting her dad, I jumped on it! My aunt Karen and her daughter Natalie came along with me and the girls to see Sevrine, who we haven't seen since she was only a few months old! We asked the girls where they wanted to go eat, and they all yelled out "McDonald's" at the same time... yuck!! But how could you say no to cute little faces like these...
The kids played so well, and were hilarious together!! If only you all could have seen it. They kept us all laughing the entire time!
A little late on these. I took these a couple weeks ago (her birthday is only 2 weeks away!)
Maddie will tell me to "stop taking pictures" whenever a I try to snap a picture of her, but funny thing when I want to take some of Chloe, I can't get Maddie out of the way! Little Miss center-of-attention! :) Chloe does love her sister though! Her face just lights up whenever she sees Maddie! It's pretty darn cute to watch them play and interact together!
My birthday was actually this last Sunday, but we celebrated early and went up to Bear Lake. We had so much fun up there, and although we went up for the lake and the raspberry milkshakes (which I surprisingly only had 1 the whole weekend we were there... what was I thinking??) our favorite part was probably the pool! And even crazier... it was indoor! Why you ask? Not only did they have a regular sized pool, but they had a kiddie pool that was quite shallow so Maddie was able to jump and swim as she pleased with no floaties at all. She met quite a few friends while we were there. 
Even Chloe loved the pool! She liked to lick the water off her floaty. 
It was pretty embarrassing when it was time to go, literally dragging Maddie out of the water back to our condo. And she cried the whole way. That girl could have stayed in the pool all night if we'd let her!
We all were enjoying a nice evening outside (just before the 4th... I'm just a little behind!)playing with sidewalk paint and chalk and throwing the "pop-its", which Chloe LOVED... I tried to get it on tape, but missed it! She cracked up every time she heard the "pop"!
Maddie has been taking swim lessons everyday this summer, and she loves it! Each session lasts 2 weeks, and she has had a new teacher for each session. Her favorite teacher's have been the male teachers... big surprise! :)
Maddie is really getting good at her bobs, floating on her back and tummy, holding her breath under water, and kicking. She loves when they play their water games, her favorite being "Alligator, Alligator, what time is it?" 
On the last day of each session, for the last 5 minutes of class, they turn the "big toy" on. Maddie loves to go down the slide!
Chloe and I just enjoy watching Maddie swim!
One thing both preschool and swim lessons have done for her this summer is wear her out!
Check out the POLL to the right and cast your VOTE!
Thanks to my brother-in-law, Jarom, for fixing my camera cord, I can (hopefully--I haven't tried yet) load some pictures on the computer now! So... pictures to come! But for right now, I'm too busy trying to organize my house and the family reunion which starts in only 5 DAYS!!!
The night before we left for Bear Lake, Maddie was swinging around my camera cord that allows me to transfer pictures from the camera to my computer and smacked it on the gate and it broke, into a few pieces. I was not happy, to say the least! So, we won't have any pictures for a while! I need to get a new one ordered, but things like that usually take me quite some time! :)
Stay tuned... we'll have posts from Maddie's swim lessons, Bear Lake, and... can you believe it??? Chloe will be 11 months old tomorrow!!! I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast. I swear it was just yesterday that I gave birth to her! She has become a pro walking along things, such as the couches. She even stood all by herself while trying to reach for Mike's bag he was holding, for a good 10+ seconds! We were so proud of her! I think my excitement made her sit down, but she didn't even fall, just casually sat on the floor! She amazes us everyday, and we just love how happy this baby is!
Some exciting news from last Thursday, the most exciting news of the week... My little brother Ben (or Betsy, as I call him... don't ask! :)) received his mission call! He's been called to serve in the Oklahoma Tulsa mission, which covers parts of Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. He reports to the MTC on September 2nd. We are all so excited for him!!! It's going to be a little weird to have him about 5 minutes from our house (while he's at the MTC) and yet we can't even go visit him! But Mike drives past there everyday to go to work, so you know we'll be keeping our eyes out for him crossing the street to go to the temple or to workout, as we see the missionaries do now! And it shouldn't be hard to find him with his bright red hair!!! Congrats Betsy!!!
I should add some more "Maddie Says" on here, we've had a few I can remember...
*After we got home, we saw our blind man friend (I'm awful and can't remember his name) but we've given him rides to church before. He was walking home from church just as I was opening up the blinds in Maddie's room. I said, "Oh look Maddie, there's our blind man friend." She asked me why he was blind. I told her his eyes just didn't work. She said, "I know, he just needs glasses, mom!"
*As we were driving away from Bear Lake, Maddie said we needed to go to the Barber. I was interested in what she thought a barber was, because I had never taught her this, and had never heard her say the word. Who even says "Barber" anymore, right? She told me, we need to go to the Barber to get our haircut. I asked her where she learned that and she told me Henry needs to go to the Barber to get a haircut because he had a feather on his head. Henry is from the show Oswald, which she hasn't watched in maybe a week... but she remembered it as we were leaving Bear Lake!
*Maddie and I were running some errands last Wednesday while Mike and Chloe stayed home. As we drove past the "Missionary Mall" there was a big missionary blow up man on the roof of the building. Maddie asked me what that was. I told her he was a missionary, just like Jamo (my cousin who's currently serving in Sacramento, and Maddie just loves him!) She told me, "Ya, but Jamo's just a kid!"
*Maddie and I were sitting on my bed talking about Disneyland, happily, laughing, when she gets a very serious look and says, "Mommy? I'm really concerned about you."
*Maddie was helping me pack up clothes to go to Bear Lake when I handed her my bathing suit top and she says, "Oh, here's your booby top!"
*Maddie told me today that I have a baby brother in my tummy and his name is Tee-Dee and he's really funny, and fluffy!
*Maddie asked me if the baby was still in my tummy, I told her it was. She said she wants it to come out now and asked when it would be big enough to come out. I told her after Christmas. She put her hand on her head, thinking, and said very excitedly, "I know! How about if we go to sleep, and when we wake up, Santa will come and it will be Christmas. Then the baby can come out!"
I really need to start writing these things down more often because these happen on a daily basis, and this girl is hilarious!!!
we will be here... and I can't wait!
Mike's taking us on a little weekend getaway to Bear Lake for my birthday and I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my little family!! It's supposed to be a very warm one, so I'm glad we will be by the water!
Now, my birthday is still a couple weeks away, but this was all kind of sudden. Mike's parents have the Trendwest Condos and this weekend happened to open up in Bear Lake so Mike jumped on it and we got a 2-bedroom condo for the weekend for $200! Besides the lake, the condo has a pool too! I'm so excited for us to just be able to relax with the girls for the weekend!!!
I have a few pictures of this sweet little baby of mine and thought I'd post them!
Chloe now has 6 teeth! I just realized the other day that she had 2 more growing in on the top, I had no idea! She must handle pain very well... may help having Maddie as her older sister! She now has 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on top!
Chloe is very active and really moves around all over the place. She is a fast crawler, pulls herself up to everything, walks along the couch holding on, and has even let go a few times now and just stood there. I don't think she's way close to walking yet, she's not brave enough to take steps alone and I'm not sure she quite has the balance yet, but she's moving forward in that direction. I am actually excited for her to walk so her poor knees won't be red anymore from crawling all over the ground!
Chloe used to go down for naps so easily, but not so much anymore. She still is a very easy baby, don't get me wrong, but she plays these games with us. She thinks it's fun to stand up in her crib and throw her pacifier out and keep yelling for "ma-ma" or "da-da" until someone comes to give it to her and lays her back down to sleep. This could happen anywhere from 1-3 times before she'll finally crash. Sometimes we are lucky enough that she will just lay down and go to sleep the first time. I swear we're always on a pacifier hunt around her crib!
Chloe is such a fun and happy baby. It's hard to be mad or upset when she's around, she gives the best smiles and laughs and can make anyone's day!
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