Birthday Girl!

The time has come for the classic elephant photos, to see how much Megan has grown in the last few months. The last set of pictures were taken when she 18 months old, and the latest pictures are of Megan at 2 years old.

We went to the doctors today, and he said that Megan was growing perfectly, and that everything about her looks great. Plus the nurse said she did a great job during her shots and lead test (pricking of the toe and squeezing to get blood out) I think the nurse told me about 3 different times "You did a nice job of distracting her, she did great" That always makes you feel good. But then again, I did bring Megan's favorite monkey, night-night (burp cloth) and knowing that she was going to have some shots I brought along "boo-boo bunny" So I'm going to thank boo-boo bunny for Megan's great behavior!

Megan has also bumped up into the 50th percentile for height and weight. 33 1/2 inches tall and a whopping. 26 pounds! (just shy of a 4 pound increase and 2 1/4 inches in 5 months! Impressive eh?)

18 Month Photo

1 Month Photo (aww)

Look at that beautiful 2 year old smile, so sweet! I took these photos right after Megan had breakfast, and she was so excited when I pulled out the tan blanket and brought her elephant downstairs. She knew exactly what was going on. This was by far the quickest "photo shoot" yet...5 pictures total!
All of the cousins/grand kids at Grandma and Papa Schutte's house.

Not wanting to have a big party, I still wanted a little something fun for Megan's birthday. So I thought the kids would like decorating cupcakes. They had a lots of fun, or they were just excited to put on as much frosting and sprinkles as they wanted. Either way, it was fun watching them create.

This is Conary decorating his cupcake. The lesson here is: gel pens...when added in high volume to the top of a cupcake, it will stain your teeth! Moderation is good when it comes to gel frosting.

Crystal and Caila taking a break to look at the camera.

Kelsey Bells was kind enough to decorate Megan's cupcake. Do you think Megan was excited to eat it?

Umm, yeah she was.

(insert thought bubble over her head) "Oh that was the best blue cupcake I've ever had"

What is a birthday without gifts?

On Megan's actual birthday, we went to the Lyons Den with Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma-great, Aunt Lynda and Uncle Jim and Beth. Megan loved seeing everyone, I think that might have had something to do with the gift bags they were holding :)

Megan's mermaid complete with a book of Mermaid stories. To limit the amount of friends in Megan's bed, I had to set a rule that Mermaid gets to sleep in the closet/reading nook. Most nights Megan will tuck her in, if not that is my job. Then the next morning, Megan wakes Mermaid up after breakfast. The whole thing is very cute, and Megan loves to take Mermaid shopping!

So as you can see Megan had a great birthday! But by far, the best gift was that we sold our house! Then after a few days, we bought our dream house. So we are looking forward to a lot more memories in our new house, but will never forget all of the great memories we have had in our "Budlong" house. It's only been 2 years, but I can't remember what our house was like before Megan. To me, that is a great feeling...I love being a mom!

Horse Camp (Kelsey and Morgan)

A few weeks ago all of my nieces and nephews were staying at Grandma and Papa's house. The first week, Morgan and Kelsey attended Horse Camp. They learned how to handle, ride, groom and various other horse things. At the end of the week they took part in a horse show, to show off their skills. Here is Kelsey Bells walking, then trotting with her horse.

Morgan's turn was next.

Kelsey Coyne

Then they got to show of their handling skills while riding the horse. They had to direct the horse around cones and over a log, finally they had to show off how to control their bounce when the horse runs (I can't think of the proper term)

Morgan O'Brien

The girls had to ride a different horse each day of camp, and then they got to pick which one they wanted to ride during the show. Both Kelsey and Morgan choose to ride "Biscuit"

Here's Cici, the Megan sized horse! Megan liked him from a far, but wasn't so sure about him up close. But even now she still says "Pet Cici horse camp" So I guess she wasn't too traumatized. But going down the big horse stables was totally out of the question. Megan wanted NO part in doing that.

Megan just waiting for more horsies. (yes I know this is spelled wrong)

The proud little horse campers! Kelsey Bells and Morgan, you both did such a great job and looked like you had a ton of fun doing it!

Take me out to the ball game!

One Friday night we joined a couple of the Bruggemen boys and went to go see the Detroit Tigers play some ball. We had 3 adults, 3 children and 4 tickets (kids 3 yrs and under don't need a ticket) so of course we had to start with the Tiger carousel.

Next stop was food for the kids before we got to the seats! Megan enjoyed ALL of her corn dog!

This is the smile you will get if you ask Megan to smile, she says "cheese" all by herself. I liked the fountain, but I couldn't get Megan to focus on the camera so this was the best picture I got.

Aren't these two baseball fans cute!?! The game we were at was SLOW and the kids did great but at 9:30 it was time to go. No one cried, but we didn't want to risk it. Shockingly, Megan stayed awake the whole ride home. It was a good time at the ball park, like always!

Ah, a day at the Spa!

After waiting patiently inside for me to set up the Schutte Spa, Megan brought all of her friends outside and sat down to wait for their appointments. Some were scheduled for minor surgeries (sawing on a hat or closing a seam) but all of the furry friends were waiting for baths!

Megan's stuffed animals were starting to look really dirty, and others needed to have things repaired. Since it was nice outside and I didn't want to do dishes, I decided to make it a fun activity for Megan.

Poor turtle had a hole in his head, so before any scrubbing was going to happen, I needed to fix his head.

Megan wanted to help clean her friends so she took the soapy wash cloth and started to scrub Monkey. She actually was doing really well at making sure everything was washed. (you'll notice that we have very original names for Megan's friends, the turtle is "Turtle" the monkey is "Monkey" etc.)

After mastering the wash cloth Megan took the brush away from me and wanted to clean Mickey next. I had to take over though because Mickey was filthy!

Now she is cleaning "Paws" but notice her wet hair and clothes, she took a break from cleaning her friends and decided to brush her hair with the soapy water. But I guess I should have expected that considering I was using her baby hair brush to scrub her animals (It was the only soft brush I could find) Once again, thanks to Paws' white Tiger jersey, I had to finish scrubbing the dirty off of him.

On to the relaxing wrap! Megan just wanted to lay in the grass.

Megan didn't want to pass up a day at the Schutte Spa, so she wanted to start with a pedicure (or splash in the water)

The classic "Cheese" face. Her manicure was next. I probably should have changed the water before she had her turn, but opps, I didn't. Oh well, but from the look of the dirty water that gives you a since of how dirty her friends were!

They wanted to relax a little more on the swing. AKA Megan wanted to put her friends on the swing.

The last appointment at the Schutte Spa was in the sauna. For the record, Megan did not visit the sauna.

So you might think I'm a odd mom for setting up a spa just to clean Megan's friends when throwing them in the washing machine would have been easier. but Megan loved playing at the spa, so the extra effort was worth it. But I make no promises for a repeat spa visit.

"One Great County, One Great Fair"

Last week we spent an evening at the Lenawee County Fair. For us that means, eating fair french fries, drinking yummy lemonade and walking around to see all of the animals. No rides or games for us (the games might be negotiable as Megan gets a little older) Our first stop was the Dairy Barn. Megan was all excited to see moo moo cows up close. But once she realized how big they are, she stopped walking and we had to pick her up. We moved over to the sheep and she was a little more relaxed with the smaller animals.

Can you see the fear in her body language? This moo moo cow's owner knew Megan's Grandpa so Megan was able to pet him. She made one very quick touch of the cows back and she was done. Yet still said "Bye moo moo cow" as we were leaving the barn.

Megan was a little fearful of the pigs as well. She liked oinking at them but didn't want to touch them, even after she had permission from a pig owner.

Hey this animal is smaller then Megan so she actually touched him.

I think she would have touched the goat if she wasn't starring at the person walking the goat.

Last stop, the ducks, geese and chickens. Megan wanted to get in the pen with all of the birdies. Somehow I have a feeling that if she would have been able to get in there with them, she would have been scared to death when they all started moving.

We ran into some friends of ours and their sons had balloons. Noah, didn't want his balloon so he gave it to Megan. She was so happy to carry that balloon around the fair. She hugged it and wanted to make sure it was close by at all times. The next morning she found it and got excited all over again. Then she bit it and it lost of the air inside. "Bye bye balloon" was muttered as she threw it away.

So all in all it was a great evening at the fair. Un-healthy food was consumed and Megan got to see and understand how big horses and moo moo cows are. It will be interesting to see what she says the next time we drive by horses or moo moo cows.