Lots of "home" time!

The month of June and July have been filled with lots of time spent at home, so we've loved having the pool to relax in, but most of all, Abby and I have LOVED having daddy around to play with! We're still getting used to him being around SO much!! But its growing on us...hehe!

Miss Rolly Polly in our bed watching cartoons
Storytime with daddy

Watching daddy jump in off the diving board!

"Where'd he go?" and "There he is".... 2 of her new phrases she uses when something leaves and returns to her line of sight! Here she watched Mike dive into the water to disappear, only to reappear moments later from under the water! She's getting very good at putting her words together. We've been working a lot on the 2-phrase words, adding please and/or more to her demands.....and its working!

She has that finger point down pat!

This was a beautiful evening for an after dinner swim.

Chasing after her "hippo" toy as a reward for kicking.

Ahhhh....I hate when I squirt myself with my toys!! These aren't tears though, just wiping the water away!

Dora bottle!!

Grandma Donna sent Abby a package full of her favorite items.......anything "DORA"!!!

Her favorite item was the Dora water bottle. Thanks Grandma!!

Child labor at its best!

Abby is all about copying mommy these days! Mostly just excited to try new things!

I took advantage of her interest in the hand vac and put her to good use while I was cleaning house! I was surprised that the noise didn't scare her off.

Arizona Reiss Family Visit

We've had a wonderful visit with my Uncle Ken & Aunt Joanne and my Cousin Erin from Arizona. Erin brought her 7 month old son Andrew along for the fun too! Abby has had a great time interacting with "baby Andrew".

Floor time fun! Abby finally enjoying being close to Andrew. She is still a little hesitant to share her toys with him, as if he might take them! Too cute.

Loving on Andrew

Huh???? (Someone looks just like his daddy!!)

Two peanuts on the floor!!

Baby Bump-23 Weeks

Okay, so this photo came out a little shadowed, but it gets the point across! We went to a friend's wedding last night and got dressed up a bit! This is after an afternoon at the beach on a beautiful day, hence Mike's sunburned face! He wanted "a little" color, so thats what you get for being stubborn!! My baby bump is about 23 weeks! Just under 4 months to go!!

And then there's our munchkin who loves her "Mr.Potato Head" glasses and especially loves wearing two pair at once!

Being floppy silly with daddy

Abby and Mike flopping on the bed this morning

Swimming so far....

I don't have any photos to share, but Abby finished her 2nd week of mommy-and-me swim lessons yesterday (2 more weeks to go!), and is doing sooo much better. She cried and screamed through the first 3 days of lessons, and finally at this last one she relaxed and joined in the fun.

Yesterday she learned and successfully held onto the edge of the pool on her own and climbed out of the pool at the edge all by herself by swinging her knee up onto the ledge and pulling out!

I was a proud mommy to watch her since she had only learned how to do it 2 days before. I can't wait to see her progress in 2 more weeks.

Quiet times!

Mike caught us taking a nap on the couch yesterday! Abby woke up from her nap and was still sleepy and fell asleep right in my lap, so I decided to take advantage of the moment and get some shut-eye too! Roxy joined us to snuggle.

Here we are doing our bedtime routine, reading books. Abby wanted to say goodnight to her baby sister, and was rubbing on my tummy just before Mike took this photo. She is beginning to learn that the "baby" is in mommy's tummy, and frequently points to my belly and kisses it/her!

More Zoo Fun

We met my friend Julie and her daughters at the zoo this week. Abby and Emily had a great time following each other around and walked the whole zoo by themselves with barely any stroller assistance.

Here they are holding hands, walking together as we entered the zoo.
The bald eagle enclosure!

The girls are so cute! Emily is 10 months older than Abby.

BIG Uh Oh!!!!

This week we had our first ugly encounter with Mr.Crayola! He "mysteriously" showed up on our family room wall, which is Abby's playroom. I went into the room to clean up while Abby was napping yesterday and I actually gasped in shock and Mike was like "what's wrong?" He came to see what made my jaw drop and we both giggled for a while. We never actually saw her do it, but now she is on crayon restriction and may only color during supervised visits!

By the way, she even got creative and used two colors! So I figure she must have been standing there for a good while doing this. I guess I learned my lesson that silent play is never a good thing.

Just for fun

Abby decided to wear her new purse as a hat....cousin Emily joined in the fun.
Boots and a hat! All a girl needs!

I am finally able to get all of Abby's hair in 1 ponytail! Well at least for a few hours until the whispy sides start to fall out!

This morning before our swim lesson....goofing around

Oh....and the cake!

I almost forgot about the patriotic cake I made! Yummm!!!

More Smiths......

Emily, Jennifer, Dave & Matthew
Dave & Mike

Smith Family Visit

For the 4th of July weekend Mike's brother Dave and wife Jen and kids Matt & Emily came down from Pennsylvania to visit us at our new house! We had a wonderful weekend of swimming and eating and laughing!

Swimming with Daddy
Emily yelling at Matt to move out of the way

Emily & Dave taking turns jumping in

Emily, mid-air on a ball catch; she won the award for most time spent in the pool this weekend.....I don't know if she ever took her swim suit off....she actually slept in it at least one night!

Everyone in the pool!! Abby finally got warmed up to her "Panda Bear Floaty" that I bought when we moved in and let us push her around!

Laptop time with cousin Emily....they clicked instantly and had so much fun all weekend.

Reading books with her new best friend!

Slide time....With her new teddy bear that cousin Matt picked out for her while we were out shopping one day. She was loving on it the whole time in the store and was thrilled to get to bring one home! He made her day!

First caterpillar sighting in our backyard. Abby was amazed at the cute little fuzzy guy and not a bit afraid to get close to him!

Abby holding the caterpillar on the stick..such a brave girl!

Abby with her new "a" purse and webkinz Turtle that Auntie Jen bought for her!

Swimming with cousin Emily