BA.....BA....BA

Madeline is talking up a storm! She is saying lots of words such as baby, mama, dada, water (wawa), airplane(pa every time one flies above), duck, and ball to name a few! She LOVES to play with a ball of any kind. Yesterday after work, Chris and Maddie were playing and they just kept saying "ball" back and forth, back and forth. She never got tired of it. Then she gave her daddy a nice kiss! I was finally able to capture her on video without her stopping to come over to the camera, so sorry it's so long.

Walking! (well sort of)

I find it very funny that Maddie does certain things at my parents' house when I'm at work that she doesn't do in our house. One of which is to play in their cabinets. They have childproof locks, we don't yet. The latest though is a good one. She figured out how to push the chair around the kitchen and walk! She created her own push-toy it seems. Here's a video of her pushing the chair and dancing again with her new maracas from Great Aunt Lorraine. They are great!



Here's another one of her walking with the chair. This time, she stops at a picture of herself with Great Grandpa and gives it a kiss!

We're all wondering if Madeline is going to be walking at Geordie and Mary's wedding. We'll see.....she's certainly practicing!

Our New Screened-in-Porch

The latest home improvement project in our house has been the addition of a screened-in-porch on one side of our deck. It is sooooo sunny in the back of our house and we didn't use our deck enough. So we decided it was worth it to screen half of it in. We hired somebody instead of having Chris help our friend (like the deck) because we wanted it done quickly. Now we can enjoy the summer out back. This past weekend was GORGEOUS here and the porch was about finished, so we were able to break it in a little. Maddie loved the open area to crawl around in; but we had to contain her in the exersaucer because she got very dirty within minutes (they hadn't power washed yet)! Here are some pictures of the porch and Maddie hanging out there! There are also some pictures of her watching the guy work and playing with his dog through the glass door. Apparently he kept finding sticks and bringing them to the door hoping Maddie would play fetch with him.

Dancing Queen!

Now that Maddie knows how to stand, she's also been dancing! When we say "Maddie dance" or when she hears music, she gets going. My mom caught her on video one day at their house. Every afternoon they listen to kids' music and Maddie loves it!

This is dedicated to Nora!

My friend Mia's daughter Nora used to always do this with her exersaucer. I'm always amazed at how Mia will tell me something that Nora is doing and then a few months later, (Nora is 4 months older) Maddie will do the same things!!! So here's to you Nora and your "spaceship"! Who knew it could be so much fun to climb underneath it?

Standing Up!

In the last month, Maddie has been standing like crazy. She has mastered the art of pulling up. I'm actually surprised that I don't have more pictures of her standing, but every time I get the camera out, she gets down and crawls over to me. So these are the best ones I've taken.

Weeeeee!

We hung a new Fisher Price (that's for you Uncle Mark) baby swing under the deck. Maddie loves it! She has one at Nana and Grandpa's house too. I took these pictures and told Chris he could pretend she's a boy! Even though she's a girl, I think he'll keep her!

Memorial Day at the Lake

All ready to go to the lake!

We had a great Memorial Day this year. We went to Lake Anna and stayed at our friend's parents' house (Dre's family). They have a big house on a beautiful lot with a beach, a boat, floats, etc. We spent the days in the water playing with Maddie or lounging in the hammock or on a float while she napped. Then we spent the nights around the campfire relaxing. It was like a mini vacation. Maddie loved splashing in the water and was definitely entertained by the older girls.

YUMMY!

First "jet ski" ride (well not really, but how cute is that float?)

Marissa and Kaitlyn

Baby Livia catching some zzzz's