Playdate with Collin!

Today Angie and I took the kids to Bay Beach. Macayla and Collin LOVED the rides. At first Macayla wasn't too sure, but it didn't take long for her big smile to appear! It is nice having cousins close in age...9 months apart to be exact! After Bay Beach we came back to our house for lunch and more playing. It was a great day!

16 1/2 months old

Macayla has been changing daily lately. Below are some of the latest things that she is doing:

• climbing on and off furniature
• signs please
• rides her bike
• pushes around her stroller
• wants to be fully independent and does NOT want to hold mom and dad's hand
• loves to go swimming...not new but she is doing so much more independently in the water
• New words include of course in her own way:

grandma (maaama)

grandpa

cracker

thank you

up

Derek (Der), the little boy at the sitter's

Collin (coo), her cousin

• she is starting imaginative play
• likes coloring
• LOVES bananas!
• continues to learn more and more dance moves
• is more conversational in her "babble"
• climbs down the stairs, with us very near by of course
• "reads" her books
• is very good at sharing and taking turns...well, when she is in the mood!
• very interested in babies
• can act like a monkey..."what does a monkey do?"...she puts her hands in her armpits and says "ooo"
• can "moo" like a cow
• Shakes her head yes when we ask her a question
• points to exactly what she wants and pushes our legs to get us to move towards what she wants

And like always, I'm sure there is plenty more of new things she is doing but that is what I can remember for now :).

A few more bedroom pics

Macayla's room is FINALLY complete!

Jason's parents made beautiful wood letter's of Macayla's name, painted them dark brown and put pink ribbon so they could be hung. In addition to the letters we finally hung the 12 photo picture frame. From the time Macayla was a newborn I took pictures of her every month through 11 months. By having a 12 photo frame we are able to see the subtle changes in her looks over her first year. The room is painted with cocoa brown on the bottom and sage green on top. We wanted to keep the wall colors somewhat neutral. Of course I was able to bring in tons of pink in the decor: curtains, rug, hamper. Jason's dad also made wall decors, pink and brown dragonflies and butterflies. The play set you see is Elmo's restaurant. My mom and I found it at a garage sale for $5! AND it still had good batteries in it!

15 1/2 months old!

I feel like we just had Macayla's first birthday and yet it is already

More Memorial Weekend Pics

Memorial Weekend in Minocqua

Over Memorial Weekend we went to Minocqua. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the lower 80's and gorgeous! Jason and I were able to get out on the boat a couple of times. On Saturday we went to the campground that Angie and Dave (Jason's sister) was staying at and spent the evening with them and Jason's parents. Macayla got her first lake experience that night and loved it! There were minnows swimming around everywhere. Macayla kept trying to reach down and grab them. On Monday we were able to go to Torpy Park. This is a place that I had several birthday parties growing up.