Some of Lydia's new words include: More, bite, Dad, Grandpa, Papa (she seems to like men these days), peek, book, belly, belly button, shoe, toes, all done, down, sit down, rock, row (as in row, row row your boat), pretty, teeth (as in brush her teeth) and whoa! I also think she said, "I see Dad" the other night, but she hasn't said it since, so maybe it just sounded like that. She rarely says, "Mom", which is kind of a bummer...but she can't seem to stop saying, "Dad!" LOL! Lucky Chad!
Makayla continues to learn new words and learn how the world works. I was reading the grocery store add this morning and I said, "Chad, ribs are on sale. Do you want to grill some ribs for dinner?". Makayla said, "I want some ribs!" I thought, "Hmmm...has Makayla ever eaten ribs?" Then Makayla continued on, "I want some ribs for my hair!" I thought, "ah, she means ribbons for her hair!" Later that day she got a lesson in what "ribs" are!
Makayla is quite the negotiator these days! She has learned to pedal her bike and loves to run outside by herself. We really have to keep an eye on her. Today, I told her to go wait in the garage while I grabbed my purse to go to the park. I came out the door a minute or two later and she had the van running and was trying to put it in gear! YIKES! I didn't realize the sliding door was still open from my trip to the grocery store. She must have hopped right in and grabbed the keys off the console, put them in the ignition and turned on the van! Chad and I will no longer be leaving the keys our vehicles! When we got to the park, Makayla was walking towards the slides and she said, "Mom, I'm excited!" It was the first time she used that word to describe how she's feeling!
Lydia continues to love to eat her oatmeal every morning. Some days she eats almost the entire packet of instant oatmeal. She has been a very picky eater until I realized she likes to take bites from the food on my plate! She's expanded her menu quite a bit since I learned to sneak in new foods from my plate! She is also very independent and watches everything Makayla does or has and wants to keep up to her big sis!
We took a trip to the N.E.W. Zoo, which is about 45 minutes from our house. The kids always love going to the zoo! On this particular trip, we had a picnic lunch in the back of the van, which the kids thought was pretty neat!
Makayla looked outside one day and told me it snowed! Check-out her snow-covered tree!
Lydia has figured out how to climb up onto things...here she was caught in the act:
We've been able to take our new boat out a few times. Here's a few pix out on the boat!
Lydia took a dip in the river on one of our boating trips!
The kids absolutely LOVE being outside! When we get home from daycare, they would both rather play outside than eat dinner! Here's a photo of Chad and the girls walking down the street! Makayla is very proud of herself because she can now pedal her trike and her bigger bike with training wheels!
Here's Makayla sliding down the slide on our new swing set. It's not fully assembled in this photo, but the kids didn't care!
Lydia just LOVES to swing on the swing set! I liked this photo because is shows Lydia doing her "where is it" sign! I think she wanted to know where Chad was because he stepped inside the patio door!
Here's Lydia trying out a few different positions to see what's most comfy...
Here's Lydia just havin' a good time!
Makayla thinks its very fun to push Lydia, but sometimes this makes Lydia very mad because she doesn't want Makayla to touch her! (The girls hate when the other one touches them. Sometimes Makayla hates it when Lydia looks at her!!)
The neighbor girls had their slip-n-slide out and Makayla was so excited to go over and slide on the "slippery slide" with them. However, once she got up close, she got very shy. She finally took a little slide on it, but since she didn't have much of a running start, Chad had to pull her across!
Here's a random picture that I thought was fun! This was taken when we were in Texas!
Memorial Weekend Up North
We spent memorial weekend up north at the Evers' Family cabin! Here's a photo of Chad, Kevin, and a bunch of the kids heading out in the boat to do some tubing! Even though it was pretty cool, Makayla was super excited to take a turn in the tube!
Here's Makayla after tubing! She never actually made it onto the tube, but she did get a nice snooze! There's a little heater that was sending warm air right under her towel! How cozy!
Here's Lydia enjoying a granola bar. She sat there and picked out every mini chocolate chip from the granola bar and then left the granola behind! :) She's our chocolate lover, for sure!
This is the new toy that Mom spoiled Makayla with! :)
This is the new toy that Mom spoiled Makayla with! :)
We also visited and stayed with one of Chad's college friends, Francis, when we were in Houston. Here's a photo of the girls hanging out in his backyard!
Here are the girls and I. Makayla wasn't a big fan of sitting on this lizard!
Although the lizard wasn't a big hit, this train was! Here's Monica, Jeff, me, Lydia, Makayla, and Chad!
Makayla got to milk a cow! 
Makayla also enjoyed the toy grocery store! She filled up her cart and then got to scan everything at the checkout!
Here's Makayla driving the trolley car! Lydia enjoyed climbing up and down on the seats! 
Here's Lydia and Auntie Monica!
Makayla also liked to be the "teacher" and have us all sing songs and do what she said!
Auntie Monica loved Sea World!! Especially petting and feeding the dolphins!
It rained one day, so we found an indoor bounce area to play at! Both kids had a blast! And I think it met Makayla's desire to go to a park!
This waterfall was one of Makayla's favorite things to see along the Riverwalk! It was right outside our hotel, so we walked passed it going to and from most walking trips!