What is more exciting than a cardboard box???

A cardboard box with a hole in it!!!
The other day I bought a Swifter Wet-jet mop (because seriously a bucket filled with water + an 18 month old = a huge mess) The bow had a plastic window in it and when Mark flatten the box for recycling, Megan picked it up and started walking around the house like this. It was so funny watching her try to walk around objects because she couldn't really see the ground or what was on it.

She does this on are house windows too! I wonder what the neighbors think about her squishing her nose like that!?!

Yeah, she's a goofy one! I think just after I took this picture she started blowing "raspberries" on the window. She tried kissing us like this to and laughed hysterically when we tried kissing her back! It just goes to show you, that all kids need is a box (with a window in it.)

Little Ladybug

This winter we have had a couple extra things living in our house. It seems like every winter all of the ladybugs get together and somehow manage to get inside our house. They used to just be entertainment for Baron, but this year Megan has become fascinated by the ladybugs. She is always the first to spot a ladybug and will stare at them until it crawls or flies out of sight. Then she will continue to ask for the ladybug. (her version of asking is to put her hands out palms up and shake her head with a puzzled look on her face)

When I have a chance I will pick up a ladybug to give Megan a closer look. Most of the time once I picked one up it would either just sit there and not move or it would fly away. But on this night this one ladybug must have been training for the ladybug Olympics because he was moving all over the place! I picked him up and he booked it up my arm. I had Megan put her arm close to mine and he just crawled right onto her arm. When he did stop moving I asked Megan to say "hi" to the ladybug. It was so cute seeing her trying to wave to him, but he was sitting on the hand she would normally use to wave, so after a few tries, she figured out that she needed to wave with her other hand. Too cute!

Big shock...the next morning Megan found her ladybug crawling across the kitchen floor. (her finger is pointing straight to him) What can I say, she loves her ladybugs!

P.S. To Kelsey- take a look at the pj's Megan is wearing, they are covered with polar bears and every time I put them one her I tell her "Oh Kelsey would love these pj's" And she points to the big polar bear every time she goes by a mirror, she love polar bears!

To Conary- On a totally different topic...I made pancakes this morning and I accidentally poured too much vanilla into the batter and I thought of you! I said that you would love these pancakes, too bad you're in Canada (I don't think they would taste very good by the time I mailed them to you)

A Year and a Half...already!

Over the last week a lot people have said that Megan looks taller. It's hard for me to notice, but she has finally started to grow out of her 6-9 month clothes. Since today marked 18 months for Megan, I thought I would go back and take a classic elephant picture. It was fun when I was taking her picture she got very excited to see her elephant come downstairs and she couldn't wait to get her white shirt on. The second I put her in position, I told her to stretch her legs out and she did. She was having to much fun unlike her 12 month pictures when she wouldn't lay still at all.

Doesn't she look sweet? She has been a great baby/toddler, Mark and I still wonder why we got so lucky. Twice in one day this week people commented that they were shocked that she could just sit an wait while I was running errands. That is true, she will sit an wait when I ask her to. But, when she goes out in public she is quiet and studying everything, so really it's just because it takes her a few moment to open up. Trust me at home she hardly ever sits still for more then 5 minutes and she is really starting to repeat a lot most of the words we say (or at least tries too)

12 month Photo

1 Month Photo

Everyday things that make us laugh

Megan has always been into books, but lately she just sits and flips through book after book by herself. She used to march books over to have us read them over and over again, but now she will flip through the books herself and you can see that she is studying what is on each page. She is very cute when she "reads" too, her legs are always straight in front of her and she will rest the book on her legs as if they are a little table. In this picture the cuteness factor was amplified because she is wearing her "Super Megan" cape!

So when I asked Megan to smile, this is the face she posed with. That's right I didn't just catch her being silly, she posed for the camera being goofy! Oh, you'll also notice that after she has flipped through a book they end up all over the floor. Sometimes they get dumped on the floor in the process of her searching for a specific book. But for the record, she does put her books away when you ask her to help clean up.

I don't know if this is considered Megan being silly or me being silly. It just happened that Megan was wearing baggy clothes and I was putting away the ball pit...add the two together and you get a picture of Megan being stuffed with balls from the ball pit. When she walked she looked like a body builder with "muscles" everywhere. Yeah, everyday life is so much fun at times!

The Ringman Wedding

On February 13, 2009 Benjamin and Angela Ringman celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows to one another. They wanted to have the wedding they didn't get to have the first time. I was asked to be a bridesmaid and was thrilled to share in their special day.

As you can see this was a very special wedding. All of the men you see here are/were stationed at Fort Campbell (Army) and have served at least 2 tours of duty in Iraq together. All of them just returned home in November 2008 and this wedding allowed all of them to celebrate together. It was truly an honor to stand next to these brave men. Although they really knew how to celebrate, they are the nicest bunch on men you will ever met. Thank you guys for all that you have done and it was a pleasure meeting all of you.

Both of us together in our party dresses.

I love when we can get a picture of the 3 of us together, it's a bonus when we are all dresses up! I loved that Mark was able to bring Megan to the church and to the reception, but I'm really thankful that Mark took Megan home so she could have a decent bedtime. Of course I stayed to dance the night away and make sure that all of the guests got home safe.

Do you think she has grown a little since she wore this dress that last time? Plus it didn't help that she had a accident in Mark's truck on her way to the reception so she couldn't wear her pink shorts anymore. Combine those two, and she ran around the wedding looking like Cindy Brady, oh well!

Megan made countless trips around the reception hall, I think she liked being able to walk in her bare feet. Sometimes she would stop and run around with the other kids, but other time she just wondered off on her own path. At one point she grabbed one of the programs and was walking around reading it, it was very funny.

Bath Time = Bubbles!!!

Anyone who lives in Michigan knows about dry winter skin. I try my best to keep Megan's skin moisturized and when she takes a bath I add a moisturizer to the bath water and it happens to makes bubbles. The first thing Megan plays with are the bubbles in the water. This isn't the best picture, but this was the first time she realized she should do things with the bubbles. She had a beard but before I was able to have Mark get the camera she "ate" half of her beard. She loves it when I scoop up a handful of bubbles and blow on them really hard so they go flying around the tub! She laughs so hard it's adorable.

When we aren't using the bulb sucker things for a stuffed up nose, we use them in the tub to squirt water. Megan likes to play with them, but luckily she hasn't figured out how to squirt them yet. When she does, we might rethink them as bath time toys :) Her splashing gets me wet enough!

"Cheese!"

Her very own ball pit.

One day last week I pulled out the ball pit that came from the Coyne family at Thanksgiving. I have been holding off on getting this out because I wanted to wait until we really needed a new toy. Since we are in the middle of cold weather, I pulled it out to give her something new to do. I set it up during her nap and when I brought her downstairs after she woke up, she didn't even want to eat her snack she just wanted to check out her new toy.

Leave it to Megan to find the one ball that isn't like the others!

Yes she was saying "cheese" as I was taking this picture.

Megan was having so much fun in the ball pit I was laughing so loud at the funny things she was doing. I wasn't going to take any videos, but just the squeals and giggles coming out of her, I have to get it on film.

You'll notice towards the end of this video, Baron steals one of the balls. It wasn't until after I went to get the ball back that I realized why he picked that ball...when he was a puppy one of the first toys he had was a squeaky basketball. Of course Megan found the squeaky basketball right away, but I knew that it would be an endless battle with Baron over this ball, so it is now his. I took the basketball over to Megan and told her that Baron had one like his when he was a puppy and I asked her if this one could be his. She said "uh-huh" and that was that. The only time she tries to take that ball is when she wants Baron to "chase" her, it is funny to watch. I'm just amazed as how much she can understand when you take the time to explain things to her. Now I understand how frustrating it must be for toddlers to know what they want but not have a way of telling us. Thank goodness for sign language! The few signs that we have taught to Megan have come in handy!