A Month of Firsts and New Favorites

It's been an incredibly busy month (and thus the delay in posts) but we've had a lot of fun and many new things to share.

Megan is now an avid walker who loves to explore and follow Hailey around. She is always carrying something around with her, loves to share her treasures with anyone who will take them, and has a fascination for putting things inside boxes, bags or other toys. She loves to beat the heat by playing in the water table, and had her first experience with the sprinkler this past month. She certainly wasn't shy and walked right in (literally) to stand where water was hitting her face.

She got completely soaked but loved it and kept coming back for more.

Hailey also loved to run through the water and sit on the sprinkler, but was very busy collecting water to full up the water table.

Hailey has also found another great way to cool off during the hot summer days with homemade popsicles. She loves to help cook in the kitchen and seems to enjoy everything more if she helped to make it.

Hailey has quite the imagination and loves to pretend play, having parades and birthday parties for someone around the house almost daily. She has been very descriptive lately and likes to tell how "beautiful" and "magical" things are. Hailey attended a summer session at her preschool and loved it. She was so excited to go to school and carried her lunch box into the building with such pride. Here's her official 1st day of summer session photo:

The theme of the summer session was 'Under the Big Top' and the last day, all the kids had their faces painted and went on a parade. Hailey still puts on her hat and parades around the house.

Megan has become quite vocal and likes to make sure she is heard. She absolutely adores Maddie (and any other dog she sees) and instantly starts saying "Daa-Gee, Daa-Gee" over and over followed by her version of 'woof' whenever she sees a dog. When walking around, she opens her mouth and makes a constant sound to let you know that she's coming.

She's also working on her aerodynamic pose to allow her to pick up speed and keep up with Hailey.

Our toys seem to go in and out of popularity, but both girls have found new favorite things. Megan will spend a long time taking on and off bead necklaces and making them just right. Then she parades around just to show off how pretty she looks.

Hailey has started a rock collection and currently has several rocks all lined up in a 'nest' that she made for them.

The busiest part of the past month has been packing up our entire house and making our first move as a family (more on the move and the new house to come). Amidst the craziness of packing, moving, and unpacking, we've made sure to get out for some fun. We went to the aquarium for the first time since Megan started walking where the sting rays and large tanks were a hit with both girls.

Of course Hailey had to check out the little pond outside and feel the water only to find out it was cold.

After the aquarium, we headed over to the Botanic Gardens where the girls loved running around in the grass.

Hailey initiated a game of peek-a-boo and said "come on little buddy" to get Megan to join in. It's so much fun to see them playing together.

It certainly has been a busy month, but a great one. We'll probably be busy for quite a while but we're sure to have a lot of fun along the way!