Maryland

We left the wonderful state of Texas almost 4 weeks ago now. We left May 15th and got here to Maryland on the 17th. It rained the ENTIRE time we were on the road and got everything in our mini trailer soaked. I worked so hard washing and organizing our clothes into 2 giant duffle bags to stick in the trailer just to get into our house about 5 days later to find everything soaked and smelly. We bought a washer and drier that day and as soon as it was delivered I spent a day and a half rewashing EVERYTHING! But, despite the rain, Mina did very well in the car for 3 days. The third day was the worst day for her which was understandable. She screamed so much that day that her voice went hoarse for a few days after. She was very content with her books and toys in the back and with an occasional snack and bottle she was wonderful. We really can't complain too much.

She loves her books.

She'll just sit and "read" out loud to herself for good amounts of time. It's so cute.

When we finally arrived to Maryland, we were shown a house and ended up not liking it. The housing people were supposed to have had another house on hold for us, but they didn't. So, after finding out that there was no temporary housing for the night and that we wouldn't be able to get into a house for a couple of days, we called our friends, the Whites, who we knew from California. They had gotten here a couple weeks before us and graciously let us bunk with them for a couple of nights. They have a CUTE little baby boy, Regi. He and Mina really like each other though Regi is about 6 months younger than her. Mina just loves little kids and babies.

Isn't Regi a cutie pie?

We finally got into our house and the movers came the same day to deliver our stuff. We haven't taken pictures of the inside yet because we haven't finished unpacking and setting up. Once we finish that we will share some pictures of the inside of our home. For now, here is some of what we get to enjoy right outside our house.

There is a beautiful rose bush just to the side of our front door.

There are quite a few four leaf clovers growing in our yard.

If you know me well enough, you know that I'm obsessed with finding these and really good at it, too!

Directly to the right side of our house is this swing set. I love it. Dru loves it. Of course, Mina loves it.

Every time we go outside Mina wanders over to the swings.

We love taking her out there and watch how much fun she has.

Mina also loves to pick the flowers in the clover patches.

She'll come in with handfuls of them.

It's so cute to watch her pick them and play with them.

Finally, Dru bought me a really nice camera just before we left Texas. This is just me being a little artsy fartsy with Mina's feet.

Best cousins forever

Mina was rocking some pigtails this day and as Meagan and I sat in the office, Mina wandered out to the living room where William was playing. They found a container of cheerios and sat next to each other to share them. It was the cutest sight to walk in to see. Of course, the dogs wandered over because they know how much Mina likes to feed them. It was just a tender moment to witness.

Mina's FIRST birthday

Mina turned 1 on May 5! I can't believe how incredibly fast this first year went by. I can't believe how much fun it's been either. Mina has been such a joy and has brought so much happiness to us and everyone she meets. She has grown so much. She is so smart. She's beautiful and she's funny. Well, we celebrated with practically all of her family living in Texas. Both sets of grandparents, all of her cousins, quite a few of her aunts and uncles and even some friends were there to celebrate with her. We all had a blast and I know Mina enjoyed all of the attention. We had cake, ice cream, cookies, presents and even a slide show.

This was Mina's cake and her smash cake below. We decided to buy one because Albertson's gives a free "smash" cake if it's your child's first birthday. We thought Mina would love it, but she proved us wrong. I have absolutely no idea why she didn't like making a mess of her smash cake. Oh well. We got her a cute jungle themed cake, because Mina does an impression of an elephant and this cake had an elephant. I hope I can get her doing her elephant impression on camera at some point. It's so cute.

My best friend, Jennifer and her family got Mina this adorable yellow dress for her birthday. She looked absolutely adorable in it at her party.

This is my friend, Shantiel's, baby Zoie. Zoie is a few months older than Mina and had a lot of fun helping Mina enjoy her new presents and partake of cake and cookies. What a cutie pie!

Grandpa Duncan actually smiling in a picture. Guess cute grandkids will do that to you!

Mina likes to "put on" all of her clothes by herself. So, as she opened presents that were clothing, she proceeded to try them on. She'd just set them on her head and proceed to opening more gifts. She got a couple of toy cell phones, some books, clothes and a few other toys. Mina just loves cell phones and loves her toy ones for the most part. She does know the difference between real, working cell phones and toy or dead cell phones. She does prefer the real thing.

She was very interested in the flame on the candle and tried to touch it. Dru put it out just before she was able to touch it. Then we tried to entice her into diving into her smash cake. She just wasn't having it, though. Again, I have no idea why she wasn't interested in it. Oh well. What can we do?

Oh yeah, Larsey's puppies attended the party and partied just a little too hard.