Visit from Mimie and Pappy

Mimie and Pappy flew up for Memorial Day weekend to visit with Maggie, and incidentally saw us as well since we live here too. We ate well, spent some quality time together, picked some mulberries, visited the art museum, and celebrated our beagles' 10th birthday. Maggie was upset when we dropped Mimie and Pappy off at the airport, so we cheered her up with a dip in her personal size swimming pool / log bin.
-Will

"You're pretty funny old man, but you'd better keep your paws off my chalk!"

"What chou talkin' 'bout Pappy!"

"How does your flower stay in your hair like that? Mine always falls out."

"So I said 'Huggies!? I wouldn't use those things to wipe off my tricycle!'"

"Yay - we're all clapping, AGAIN."

"No, no - reach higher. I want the good ones!"

Blah blah blah blah blah blah,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah,
Blah blah blah blah Snoopy blah Lexi,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah!

"Okay Mimie, you can keep my plastic ones and I'll hang onto this shiny one - deal?"

"Yeah - I picked it out myself."

"Oh - THAT'S what 'cold' means!"

"Duckies are nice, but I'd really like a ball. They are round, about this big - ringing any bells?"

strawberries!

Maggie loves strawberries and has picked our plants clean this season!

first steps...finally!

Well, Maggie finally took her first steps last night! Here is a brief video that Will took while she was practicing...we'll try to get some better video soon. Later in the evening, she walked all the way across the bedroom floor.

mini-sandbox

A few months ago, I took Maggie over to the full-size sandbox at the church playground just down the street, but she didn't like it at all. So I thought I'd try again, but this time with a teeny-tiny mini "sand-platform" in the backyard (thanks Ivy, I stole this idea from your blog!). I think she likes it! :-)

"oh boy, it's sand!!!"

"dare me to touch it?!"

"it's so gritty!"

"okay, I'm done with sand"

chicks, man...part 2

We brought home our 8 baby chicks on Sunday (am I the only mom who got baby chickens on Mother's Day??), only they aren't really babies anymore. They are 6 weeks old now, have feathers, and are about a third to half the size of our older hens. We were really afraid that our 2 older ladies would peck and torment the babies, but so far it hasn't really been too much of an issue. The big hens do peck whenever they get close to a little gal, but the little ones are so quick that they are able to get away pretty easily. What is funny is that the little ones are definitely working on sorting out their own pecking order when the big hens are out in the yard (we have a short wall that allows the big hens to come and go as they please, but keeps the little ones in), but when the big hens come back into the run, the little ones all turn into timid little things and hide out together.

Here are some pictures from Sunday, right after we brought them home. By the way, Maggie loves the chickens!! We've been spending so much time out at the coop watching them the past couple of days. And sometimes when she's eating strawberries or blueberries, she'll hold one up and say "bock bock", meaning she wants to go out and give it to the chickens. Too cute!

a week's worth of Maggie pictures

Maggie had her 15-month check-up this past week, and as our pediatrician says, "she's perfect". She now weighs 23.5 lbs and is 31.5" tall, but I think she's currently going through a growth spurt b/c she's eating pretty much anything and everything you put in front of her...veggies, fruit, bread, meat, cheese, pasta, you name it, she shoves it in! Her current favorite is fresh strawberries from our strawberry plants outside. She's also saying a bunch of words - mommy, dada, book, milk, cheese, more, "Soups" for Snoopy, "Lex" for Lexi, bird, key, blue, two (guess she just skipped over "one"), car, "cheer" for Cheerio, piggie, cookie, "owsiii" for outside, and of course the very popular no or nope. She can also make the sounds of several animals (meow, bock bock, moo, baa, neigh, quack, and woof woof). Anyways, here are some random photos from the past week. (Also, since I didn't really give any information in the last post, yes, we are expecting our 2nd child and I am due late October/early November).




bee on a Baptisia flower

Maggie giving the bee the "evil eye"




(this picture is actually from about a month ago, but I forgot to post it - yes, that is a real key and no, I didn't teach her how to do this)

Maggie's big news

Here's a clue...