(Grandpa) Rick's Peaches

Megan LOVES "Rick's" (she won't call him Grandpa Rick, just Rick) peaches from his peach tree. We brought a few home tonight, and she ate one whole and a half of another peach. Then she asked for more! I'll have to admit...they're some of the best peaches I have ever eaten. I ate one too! As soon as she was finished she said, "Sticky...Megan sticky." She was covered in juice.

"Big Mouse"

Megan and I were invited to "test drive" a new playgroup today, and they met at Chuck E. Cheese. I was a little apprehensive about it because it's been about 15 years since I'd been to one, and I didn't remember there being much for a toddler to do. Well in this fancy one they have a whole toddler section with a climb area, a slide, little rides, and many other "little people" things to do. Megan had a blast! We ate pizza and watched the Mouse dance. When we got too close, the clinginess and meltdown began. It was a fun day.

Break in the rain

It stopped raining long enough for us to play sidewalk chalk and splash in the pool. Daddy came out and showed Meg how a cup can be shot into the air with the sprayer. That was a big hit! Thank goodness we got to play outside...we've been cooped up in the stuffy house!

Cousin Day!

We've been keeping a pretty low profile this week thanks to all the rain. But today was Cousin Day! The sisters-in-law and I are trying to get the six kids together once a week while Taryn is off for the summer. It's been tricky with puking, snot, coughs, naptimes, etc, but we made it this week! All six kiddos got together and played hard at our house today. They had SO much fun. Big kids chased little kids, little kids poked other little kids, toys were grabbed and thrown, but no serious fights or injuries! We had sandwiches for lunch and Papa came in with - Twinkies! Grandparents can get away with just about anything. Megan is pooped, and it looks like she's down for the afternoon.

Snack

Conversations with Megan

Megan: Talk
Mommy: What do you want to talk about?
Megan: Ellie
Mommy: What about Ellie?
Megan: Play

Megan: Uncle Scott
Mommy: Do you love Uncle Scott?
Megan: Kisses
Mommy: Uncle Scott is out of town. Do you miss him?
Megan: Miss it

Mommy: Mommy needs to take a shower because Mommy stinks.
Megan: Mommy stinks
*Later, while I was in the shower, said to Daddy who didn't hear our conversation about Mommy stinks...
Megan: Mommy stinks

Megan: Ball
Mommy: Do you want to play with the ball?
Megan: Get it (not telling me what to do...she wanted to get it)

Megan: Cheeto
Daddy: How many Cheetos do you want?
Megan: Five Six

Las Vegas

Sorry to post slide shows back to back, but I take so many pictures...

Meg and I went to Las Vegas to help Aunt Krissa and Rylee, but I'm not sure how much help we were! I won't bore you with the airport details, but we landed in LV at 9:40 p.m. and didn't make it to the hotel until 1:30 a.m. - between luggage and a car rental fiasco, it was crazy! The girls enjoyed playing with each other, but as many of you well know, Megan is constant! It is one of the things I love about her but in small doses! She wanted to be ALL OVER the hotel room, and the 100 sq. feet of space just wasn't enough for her. On the last day, when we were planning to go to the Strip (we thought the girls needed a little culture), we all came down with a stomach bug! Vomit everywhere. To give you an idea, we had to have the bed sheets changed 4 times on Wednesday due to puke.

We're sorry, Aunt Krissa, that we weren't more help. And, we're sorry we didn't get better pictures, but hey, we did what we could with what we had!!!

Father's Day/Surprise!

Jamba Juice

Nuts over Jamba Juice just like her Mommy!

Daddy Day

I am chopped liver today! Megan doesn't want to have anything to do with me. She keeps asking for Daddy to do everything. We're usually still asleep when he leaves for work in the morning, but today we were awake (maybe that has something to do with it). She went to him and wanted him to hold her. Since he left it has been "Daddy" everything! I normally don't ask her this stuff, but today it's funny. I keep saying things like, "Do you want Mommy to get you some milk?", her response, "No, Daddy!"; "Do you want Mommy to change your diaper?", "No, Daddy!" ETC. The response is always, "No, Daddy!" with emphasis on Daddy. Whatever.

Carnivore

I've heard toddlers can go through picky eating stages. We're living that right now! Megan's favorite food these days is "meat." She asks for meat at every meal. Tonight, she actually picked the pasta out of the meat sauce! Apparently everything must touch a spoon, too.

Outfit

This is how Megan insisted on going to Library story time today. She had to wear the new frilly princess tutu that Gran made her. I was lucky to get a pair of pants on underneath!

Play group

Our play group met at the pool yesterday (yes, just a little behind in the posting). Megan was very excited to see her friend Ellie. They swam for a while, but the two girls were more interested in having snack time together! They managed to down a bag of blueberries, some goldfish, and some teddy grahams. I have other pictures of them playing in the pool, but the moms are in the background. I don't need to be booted from play group for posting pictures of moms in bathing suits on my blog!!!

BGB, part 2

Yes! Only 2 parts to the first night in the big girl bed. She slept all night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I went in to get her this morning, she and Baby were sitting in the middle of her bed singing the ABCs. I wonder what naptime and tonight will bring...

1st night in BGB, part 1

Well, here goes nothing. We did the bedtime routine of bath and milk, and then Megan and I crawled into her big girl bed to read bedtime stories. I read 3 books, gave her a kiss, told her I'd see her in the morning, and left the room. Holy moly...I was not prepared for the massive screaming fit that occurred. We heard screams that we had never heard before, including the use of "mommy" and "daddy". Before tonight, we were always mama and dada. When she is lying on the floor, screaming out of the crack under the door we are mommy and daddy. I went in once to put her back into the bed; Jeremy went in once after that. After about 20 minutes it got quiet. We figured that she probably fell asleep next to the door, but when we went to peek (we HAD to), she was in her big girl bed!!! Okay, so that was only about an hour ago and the night is still very young...wish us luck!! (For those of you that have seen her room, the bed is where the crib used to be...cold turkey!)

Big Girl BED

Climbing. First it was onto the couch, then onto the coffee table, closely followed by the kitchen table, and now the crib. I walked in the other day to find her straddling the crib rail and consequently decided to start the toddler bed process. We started with a book from the library about a big girl bed. She LOVES to read it. Aunt Joan offered us a bed several months ago, but we weren't ready at the time. She said whenever we were ready to give her a call and she'd deliver it. Sure enough. She brought it, and many other accessories, over yesterday. We are so excited! It's very close to the ground, and she already knows how to get in and out of it. I'd rather her not know how to get out but oh well. The best part is that it grows with her. It starts out as a little squatty, square bed but grows into a twin bed. She didn't sleep in it last night because we got home so late from the Rangers game, but tonight's the night! Wish us luck!

Mud!

It made me cringe to watch her, but I let it go. There was a really cool pool, toys, and a water play stand for her to play with, but what did she choose to do? Dig in the mud! She sat there for at least 15 minutes and managed to get mud where the sun don't shine. It's okay though...Daddy taught her how to wash her dirty hands in the pool!

Dress up world

Megan loves to play "dress up." She finds clothes, shoes, hats, etc, lying around the house, so she puts them on or begs me to put them on her (she says "open" when she wants something on her). As you can see, she inherited my lack of fashion sense...Daddy's ankle socks, her tank top, her princess bib, and American flag hat.

Camping Trip!

We braved nature and took Megan on her first camping trip. We went with our friends Chris and Karen to a state park. By my reference chart, we roughed it: we didn't have electricity or water, but we were within walking distance to the bathroom. Megan tried to become one with nature by eating it. She ate several rocks, a few sticks, and probably some critters. Every time we turned around she had something other than teeth and tongue in her mouth. I tried to give her a carrot to eat instead but that was short lived. We started saying, "No! No! Eat Nature." Funny...now that we're home she says that when we talk about camping. She had meat, part of a foil dinner, and smores! Lucky! She is pretty fond of her bed at home, so we had quite a struggle with bedtime in the tent (or maybe it was because of the marshmallows...). She kept asking for "Grandpa Rick" and everything else she could think of to distract herself from falling asleep. Grandpa Rick sweetly took a call from us at 11:30 p.m. or so and tried to help calm her down. Once she fell asleep, she was out! This morning we ate breakfast and went swimming in "that pool" (what Megan called the lake). We had a great time! Chris and Karen were so patient with us! We hope they want to camp with us again.

Megan had such little sleep and such a short nap this afternoon that I have no idea how she was still going at 9:30 p.m. tonight! Daddy and I are dragging! Off to bed...enjoy the pics (for captions, click on the slideshow and keep your mouse on the pics. to speed it up, press the plus sign)!

Congrats Aunt Lisa!

After many hours of hard work, Aunt Lisa graduated from the University of Washington with a Masters in Social Work! We are so proud of her, and wish we could've been there! Not only did she graduate, but she did it with a 4.0 GPA....something I could only dream of! Enjoy your time off, Aunt Lisa.

Dollar Hot Dog Night

Dollar hot dog night was a big hit! We told Megan that the hot dog was a big turkey stick and then she ate it just fine. I threw all caution to the wind....she had a hot dog, ice cream, and cotton candy (just a little piece from the cute little twin boys sitting behind us that fell in love with her). The last picture is her tasting cotton candy for the first time. It wasn't as good as it looked. As you can tell from her face, Rangers Captain (the horse mascot) was an even bigger hit!

Uncle Matt's funny face

When my brother Matt was here a few weeks ago, he taught Megan a funny face. She still remembers it, and will typically do it on command. Today, she walked around the house saying, "Matt funny face" and made the face with a big grin. I got it on video the other night along with some of her new words.

Hat day

Megan designated today as "hat day." She wore every hat she owns, and other pieces of clothing as hats, around the house. She would put one on, walk to the next one, put it on, find another one, etc. The "hat" in this picture is actually a skirt. But don't bother telling her...

Summer Reading Club

Megan is participating in the library's summer reading club, which started on Friday. She already listened to 20 books and filled her first reading log. We turned it in today, and she got a certificate, a coupon for a free ice cream, a free Rangers baseball ticket, and a little pirate rubber-ducky (the theme is "Sail Away with Books!). She can also now attend the library swim party in August if her Daddy will allow her in a public pool. We are so proud!

Magical Fork

For months and months Megan has refused to eat vegatables. I can sometimes get her to eat vegatable soup but not very often. I've decided to give her veggies and meat first, and then follow up with peaches and other sweet fruits after she's eaten at least some veggies. Well, tonight was a stand-off of sorts. She wouldn't really eat anything other than the meat, and then out of the blue an idea popped into my head. "Megan, do you want a fork?" Suddenly the peas, carrots, and potatoes had a different taste - plastic fork! She ate almost all of her dinner!

One good thing about all the rain...

We were stuck inside during all the rain, but it sure has helped our flowers and tomato plants. I've got about 20 tomatoes growing on 3 patio plants. It's fun to go check them everyday. I was afraid that one plant was going to die, but it actually has blooms now! So far I've only killed one gerber daisy plant, so this is a good year already!!! (I don't have a green thumb.)

"Hey, could you please come get her?" says the Daddy to the Mommy

Break in the rain

While there was a break in the rain, Megan and I decided to make use of the neighborhood pool and playground that we pay so much for each year. We went to "that pool" and played on the steps. It was very fun. Megan got brave and went to the second step, but she lost her grip....head first into the water. That was very traumatic. We went to the swing set to dry off, and Daddy surprised us by coming to play!