Floor Time Fun

Meredith loves her floor time and is on the verge of crawling and sitting up. She tries so hard to crawl, she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks. She has figured out how to reach any toy that she wants now, whether by scooting or rolling around.

"Hmm, this is an excellent book." ;) She is a bookwork already, just like her Mommy

She loves banging toys to make sounds

Such determination, any day now she'll be crawling all over the place :)

Swing, Baby, Swing!

It was a gorgeous, hot day today-it got up to 88-so I took the kids to the playground to run around. Meredith went in a big person swing for the very first time and just loved it! I was a little worried about her flopping around, but she stayed put and laughed the whole time. Matthew thought it was the funnest thing ever to swing with his little sister.

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Grammy's birthday was yesterday (yes, we have a lot of birthdays in September!) and we had a nice, quiet celebration. We were going to grill steaks, however due to the rainy weather Grammy opted to go out for pizza. Meredith was excited for Grammy ;)

Matthew helped open her cards and gifts

Yum-can't wait to try out her new panini cooker!

Matthew helped me bake her cake earlier that day. He was great with mixing the ingredients, spreading on frosting, putting on the sprinkles, and putting in the candles. We had fun doing all of those things together :)

Matthew got shy and closed his eyes while we sang "Happy Birthday" to Grammy

He opened them in time to help blow out the candles though!

Birthday's are always fun, but at this point I think we are all sick of birthday cake! ;)

Even More Great Grandpa

We all went to visit Great Grandpa this weekend. He was having a good day health and mental wise. It is so nice to see him happy and alert, and he just adores the kids.

He has a bird feeder on his window so he can watch the birds and it has become Matthew's job every time we go to make sure there is food in it for the birds.

I love my kids! :)

There is a nice courtyard that Matthew enjoys checking out. He makes a game out of looking for all of the bird feeders (we counted once, there are at least 10!) and this time he was showing all of them to Grandpa. It is cute how they are both walking with their arms behind their back ;)

It's hard work finding all of the bird feeders, so they took a rest on a bench. I wish Great Grandpa was able to get outside to enjoy the scenery and weather :(

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Yesterday was my Dad's 60th Birthday (well, he decided it was only his 50th ;) ). We had a relaxing day and a nice dinner to celebrate. Matthew enjoyed helping him blow out his candles.

Random Times

We have been having some nice times here still, enjoying the warm, sunny weather and spending time with each other. Matthew enjoys taking naps with Grandpa.

Meredith is as happy as ever and still loves her dolly

Matthew thinks it's the greatest thing on the weekends when Grandpa stays home to play with him

The Little Man was proud of his new Pumas and decided to put them on all by himself with his pajamas one morning while I was getting ready.

How big is Merebear? This big!

Doing yard work is still a favorite of Matthew's

Meredith loves playing with these drum sticks. She will bang them all over, on toys, the floor, even herself!

The Bean!

Yesterday was Julie and my 27th Birthday. We had a low-key day, which was what both of us wanted. We went to our usual Sunday morning Panera breakfast and then hung out for the afternoon and had a cookout. Matthew was a big help blowing out the candles and opening the presents and Meredith was a cute, happy little Peanut all day. Julie was there despite the complete lack of pictures (her choice)

Aunt Julie's Apartment Entourage

We went over to Aunt Julie's apartment this afternoon to hang out with her, which Matthew always loves, especially because of the mass loads of animals she has living with her. He likes her hamster, Maniac, even though it is a feisty old guy who bites-but he is very entertaining to watch while he is rolling around in his ball.

He enjoys bringing Wawi toys to play with, although most of the time he is just content to chew his bone.

It's always fun to play hide-n-seek with her cats. Here he found Oliver in the dyer, which to Matthew was the funniest thing in the world! She has another cat, Zach Attack, however he is camera/Matthew shy.

Aunt Julie even has super cool praying mantis that live in her walkway

It's always a treat to take the doggies for a walk

Matthew's favorite animal at Aunt Julie's is probably Natalie, probably because she absolutely loves Matthew and loves when he rough houses with her.

Natalie is a good doggy....according to Matthew anyway :)

Meredith is always mesmerized with all of the crazy animals running around and making noise-she loves it!

After playing with her pets, we met up with Nick for a couple games of pool. Matthew asked a few times where the pool was, which we had to tell him that we were playing on a pool table, not going to a swimming pool.

He liked when Nick showed him how to hit the cue ball with the pool stick