Maryland State Fair

The first weekend in September we went to the Maryland State fair. Mina got to play her first carnival game, ride a carousel, pet a baby cow, see lots of other farm animals and help us eat a corn dog. Dru spent too much time trying to win a particular game with circle discs. And I just enjoyed watching them.

Yay! Mina caught a duck!

She got to pick a prize.

Mina just loved petting the baby cow.

She didn't want to leave it and, in fact, screamed when we did have to leave.

I see see! That's how Mina says I see you!

Her first time on a carousel.

She loved it!

Of course, it wore her out so she slept on the way home.

Mina is a nerd

Mina loves to wear glasses. She makes the cutest little nerd I've ever seen. She's super smart, too. She can draw circles and snakes. Her vocabulary is expanding tremendously through the weeks, she figures puzzles out very quickly and is a very good problem solver. She loves to sleep, so it's very easy when it's time for bed. She's started potty training. She just loves to learn new things. She's always on the go and really only ever slow down when it's time for bed. She's so much fun. Her excitement for life is truly evident and contagious.

These are the words, names and animal sounds I can think of that she knows.

bye, hi, nose, mouth, eye, baby, pupbuh (puppy), ball, baba (bottle), tay-tu (thank you), burr (plane or bird), mama, dada, night-night, boo (book), tat (cat), shoe, tee (teeth), moo, Jshee (Jesus), me, cookie (for both a cookie and Cookie Monster), cracker, Grandma, Becca, Meagan, Whitlee, outside, go, uh-huh, circle, bubble, bite, seat, toe, Mina, Maymee (Amy), Dru, juice, bear, snack, shoo (bless you), bath, byy (butterfly), home, wee-wee-home (as in this little piggy), two, uh-oh, ow, whoa, sssss (what a snake says), rarrr (tiger sound), meow (cat sound), ah-ah-ah-oh-oh (monkey sound), owf (dog sound), uuuhhh (elephant sound), pee, poo, yay, I see see (I see you), help, Dora, Elmo, so (horse)

Number 2

In August we found out we're expecting baby number 2 and we had our first ultrasound! This little blob will be entering the world sometime around April 3. We are very excited!

Meagan and William's visit part 2

We did a lot while Meagan and William were here, but I realized I didn't have a lot of pictures on my own camera. So, I just stole a few from Meagan and decided to post them. The first weekend they were here, we drove down to southern Maryland to see the Johnson's and Uncle Rick. Unfortunately, Candice was the only one there, but she took us to a really cute and fun water park. Mina and William loved going down the slides! At first, I let Mina go down by herself with Dru at the bottom to catch her. Well, she went so fast she hit her head on the slide, so we went down with her every time after that. She still loved it. Also, you'll notice Dru is wearing a shirt. It's not just for protection from the sun. Mina freaks out when Dru has his shirt off in the pool. It's really weird.

Dru, Mina, Candice, Meagan and William.

We also went swimming a few times at the pool in our neighborhood. The babies both had a blast. William saw Mina stick her fingers into those holes in the cement so he had to try it over and over and over again. What a goofball.

Mina loved the fountains and William loved the holes in the cement.

Dru has a friend whose baby had a birthday. They were having a picnic and invited us out. The babies enjoyed the baby toys and snacks while some of the adults played a fun game. Meagan and I kind of hid in the shade because it was incredibly hot outside. We both get kind of crabby when we're hot.

Checking out the baby toys.

Looking cool with her awesome glasses.

The babies knew how to keep cool. They played in the ice chest about 90 percent of the time we were there.

Sharing a seat and a snack.

Meagan thinks William really looks up to Mina.

Mina is always checking up on William.

I'm the cruel aunt who puts bows in his hair and hikes his pants up as high as they'll go. He loves me anyways.

Mina taught William how to draw on the chalkboard.

Meagan and I had a blast at Medieval Times. Our Knight won! Go Red Knight!

Meagan and William's visit

After Dru's mom left, Meagan and William came to visit for a couple of weeks. Stephane was in Afghanistan so I was able to convince Meagan that coming to visit would help pass the time away. And boy did the time fly by! We had so much fun shopping, visiting friends, going to Medieval times again, and just hanging out.

This was when they first got to our house. William spotted the toys.

So, he made his way on over to them.

William loved to play with the wheel on the stroller and it gave Mina opportunity to steal his bottle and sit on the stairs to drink it and watch him.

It was fun getting them all dressed up for church on Sundays. William is a stud!

I just love Mina in pigtails. Especially with big, cute bows.

I just can't resist this cute face.

We went to feed the ducks. Note to self- if you plan on taking pictures of 2 toddlers feeding ducks, bring an adult for every toddler plus one. It was so hard to try and take their pictures and chase both of them around.

Such a boy moment.

They are so sweet together and they just adore each other.

I'm super glad I was able to catch this moment of Meagan and William. They're so cute!

July

After my mom left, Dru's mom came to visit for a couple of weeks. While she was here the last 2 weeks of July, we visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and we drove up to Hershey, Pennsylvania. On the way to D.C. to go to the Smithsonian we came across a wonderful sight. This picture doesn't do the actual sighting justice. Driving along the highway, we drove around a curve and uphill and out of nowhere this is what we see appearing to rise out of the ground. The Washington D.C. Temple. It was awesome!

The Air and Space museum was pretty cool and Mina was pretty good. Aside, from losing Dru's mom and spending half of our time looking for her, we really enjoyed it. I actually chased Mina around most of the time, but she was having fun so I didn't mind.

A small glimpse of the museum.

This was how Mina decided she wanted to ride in the stroller. Goofy girl.

This was Mina's favorite part about the museum. The corners of the fencing around the planes. She would run to them whenever she caught sight of one, but she picked favorites even though they were all identical. We'd walked a ways away from one she favored and then she'd run off, and know exactly where to go to get back the exact one.

We rode an elevator up to the observation tower and Mina had a lot of fun looking at the airplanes fly by.

She also had a lot of fun making everybody laugh.

By the time we left, she was pooped.

The following weekend we drove up to Hershey, PA. It took a little less than 2 hours to get there. We went to the Zoo, the Hershey Museum, Chocolate World and the Hershey Gardens.

Mina just adores animals so she had a wonderful time at the zoo.

We did let her walk a lot, because she is very independent. It's a lot of work for us, but she enjoys the freedom.

This was at the Hershey museum. Mina walked herself around the museum and I followed her. This was her favorite part. A picture of a cow on the wall.

This was on a ride at Chocolate world. It was a little tour of how chocolate is made. Mina loved the singing cows.

Finally, this was at Hershey Gardens. There was a butterfly house. Mina had been asleep, so Dru and I walked through and decided Mina would love it so we went back out and woke her up. There were so many butterflies in there. It was amazing.

Mina calls butterflies, "bies."