First Steps

Mallory has been pulling herself up to stand for a week or so now. And just to give it a shot, I put her behind a stroller (a toy for early walkers) to see how she would do and SHE STARTED TAKING STEPS ALL BY HERSELF!!! Oh my goodness!!! I was so proud but so shocked!! Of course she is not ready for any unassisted walking, but I was just surprised that she just took off! Her legs aren't very strong yet, so I know it will be a while for a real walker, but still, it was her first steps!

Levi and Mallory are starting to play together more and more and I LOVE IT!!! Levi loves to wrestle with her and for the most part Mallory doesn't mind. They love to play on the bed (a bad habit that is COMPLETELY my fault!!) and jump around, fall down, and laugh. I just love to watch them play. Of course they have their fits with each other and Levi has hit and pushed Mallory a few times, but not many. They get along really well and I hope it keeps up throughout their entire lives! ;) As they are getting older it's harder to get good pictures of the two of them together. There are alot of opportunities, but never any good pictures! As you will see below, some are blurry, but at least it captured the moment!

Here's a picture of her first steps! Scott doesn't like her dress. He says it reminds him of an old lady's muumuu!

Here she is pulling herself up.

And trying to get on the bed to jump with Levi.

And here they are wrestling!

Just playin'!

Mallory's new favorite game - CLIMBING!! She loves this chair!

Touch A Truck

Hello friends and family! :) What a fun, fun summer we are having!! We recently went to an event called "Touch A Truck". It's sponsored by Indy Parks and it was such an awesome event. It was very low key and very kid-friendly!! Everyone loved it!! They have several different types of vehicles for kids to climb on. Levi LOVED it!!

What a fun day we had!! This was the look on his face when we were done and on our way out!
The first car he got in was the Red Bull car. Now I wasn't sure it was kid-appropriate, but I guess it's not anything bad. It's just not something a kid should recognize! I don't even think he thought the outside of the car was cool, just the inside where he could "drive".

Playing in the Hummer Stretch Limo!

Here's Mallory waiting patiently as big brother, Levi, plays in the limo.

I have to say, I think the school bus was his absolute favorite! He kept talking about it all week! The bus driver gave him a sticker, too. He loved that!

Another favorite was the fire truck! What kid doesn't love firetrucks!?!? There were soooo many buttons and levers that I think he was a little overwhelmed. And maybe the size intimidated him too! But he still loved it!

And lastly (as far as pictures go) is the military vehicles! Levi didn't really know what they were, but he enjoyed playing on them nonetheless!!

I'm really bad about not paying attention to the battery life on my camera or keeping extra batteries on hand. Thus, I missed pictures of many great vehicles. Like the Ice Cream Truck, the Off-Roading Trucks, the Book Mobile, and some other utility vehicles I don't quite remember the names of!!

Can't wait for next year's event! :)

My Little Chatterbox

Mallory has been talking SOOO much lately!! She's pretty much jibber-jabbering all day long!! Here's a small glimpse! And you'll notice big brother, Levi, in the background. He's eating his fruit snacks, so that's why he's so quiet!!

A Really Useful Engine!!

Anyone know who I'm talking about?? THOMAS!!! Levi has loved Thomas from the very first moment he saw him!! It was probably a little over a year ago and he still loves Thomas, maybe even more! He has all kinds of Thomas trains, thanks to my awesome cousin Trista who is letting us borrow them!! He immediately learned all their names and loves to play with the trains and watch Thomas movies. Every year the Whitewater Valley Railroad has a "Day Out With Thomas" in Connorsville, IN where Thomas comes to visit!! It's pretty neat and Levi had a blast! The Thomas train is HUGE and we got to take a 30 minute ride! The train cars were very old and I had never been on a train before. Super fun! Although the weather was super hot, we went on a Friday night so there weren't many people there at all. So we didn't have to wait for anything! Levi got to see Sir Topham Hat, miniature trains, animals, he got a Thomas tatoo, and of course, Thomas! When Thomas pulled up and Levi saw him, I got a little teary-eyed just knowing how excited and amused Levi was. Crazy Mom, I know!!

Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Levi Saying "Come on, Mom! Let's go see Thomas!"

Here's Thomas!! This is our first view as we were getting ready to board the train. All aboard!

Levi picked out his seat!

All of us on the train. It was sooo hot, so we stayed close to the windows to catch the breeze.

Poor Mallory, she was so hot! But she had alot of fun too!

Daddy with the kids. Scott had a fun time too!

Off the train and ready to finally meet Thomas!!

There's Thomas!!

Daddy, Levi, and Thomas!

Levi didn't want to turn around to take a picture because he didn't want to stop looking at Thomas!

Levi at the petting zoo....he ALWAYS loves animals!!!

Mallory is having fun while Levi pets the animals!

Bunnies

And the miniature train~ Levi couldn't stop staring. And they were even transporting tractors!

A Day At The Zoo

What an amazing summer we are having!! We have been so busy that we aren't keeping on schedule very often, but we are having so much fun! I've started going to jazzercise three times a week at 9:15am, which is right smack-dab in the middle of Mallory's morning nap. So, that has been a challenge, but I've just tweaked things a bit and she does fine. The kids love playing in the play room while mommy "dances". And I'm really enjoying it too!

We've been to the zoo twice already and are planning a few more trips! Thanks to Mee-Maw we have a family membership and can now go whenever we want! The awesome thing about that is that we can go for just a few hours and not feel like we've wasted money paying to get in. It's been great. And Levi absolutely LOVES the zoo. He talks about the zoo and the animals ALL the time!! He will tell you all about the animals, where they live, what they do, and if he got to see them or not. He's pretty into it. We are going tomorrow with Aunt Nicole and cousin Izzy and we are looking forward to it!

The kids are growing so fast! Levi is saying soooo many grown up things, it's crazy! Sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a teenager! The other day he was telling me a story about Izzy and he started by saying Lailah, and then he said, "no, not Lailah. She wasn't there, she was at her house. Izzy...." It was hilarious! Mallory is growing fast too. She is really doing well with baby signs. Today I didn't realize she was hungry when I was trying to get her to take a nap and as I was rocking her, she sat up and gave me the sign for "milk" and I couldn't believe it! Then I realized she hadn't had her bottle and then it all clicked! She's so smart! Then at dinner I turned to her and asked her if she wanted more without doing the sign (I usually always do the sign when I say the word) and she started doing the sign! I was amazed!! She is babbling all the time, and I mean all the time! She has 7 beautiful teeth and she has a gorgeous smile! I just love my babies!!