Splash Park

Last weekend we found that there was a park close to Meena's house (so about 10 minutes away) that had a little splash park/pad where the girls could play and get wet, splash and run around. When we walked up with the girls, Taylor took off straight for the water....she is def the little fish. Ella took a bit to warm up, but then it was difficult to get her to leave! Can't wait to visit that park again soon!

Huntley Discovery Zone Park

We found a new park in Huntley and went there two weekends ago. It's an amazing place with pretend fire trucks, barber shop, school bus, musical instruments and spots that you step on that play music too. The girls had a great time, but we weren't able to stay long b/c it was so hot out that afternoon. We will certainly be back there soon!

Taylor the peanut

When I was pregnant with Taylor, Fisher and I met up for lunch at Maggianos and she brought me a gift for "Greta" :) Finally at 15 months she was able to wear the size 6-12 month outfit. It fit her perfectly and she looked like a little model.

Saturday morning - Healthfair and Carnival

Saturday morning after breakfast at home we headed out to Huntley for the Centegra Healthfair. It was a free day full of fun activities, but the major reason we went was because they had free bicycle helmet fittings and free helmets for the first 400 kids. We got there about 40 minutes before the event started and there was a line in the parking lot and it was already almost 90°. J got in line right away and I got the girls sunscreened and situated before heading to the line. Fortunately the lined moved rather quickly and we got the girls free bicycle helmets that hit them.

We headed out shortly after getting the helmets b/c the girls' school was having a Carnival in the school parking lot. They had an awesome inflatable slip and slide that the kids all really loved (was a bit too scary for Taylor though), Carnival games, a jumpy house and free lunch made it a great time. We were able to snap a few pics...

Poo-poo; Taylor and her potty

On the weekend of July 4th, Taylor came over to me and said "Poo poo" while holding her tummy. I checked her diaper and it was empty. She walked away for a few minutes and when she came back to me, she said "poo-poo" again and she had just filled her diaper. I was shocked and surprised that she understood what was happening, so when she did it again last week I brought out the little potty to get her familiar.

The day I brought the potty out, Taylor told me "poo poo" again, but by the time I got upstairs she had already gone a bit in her diaper. Then she sat on the potty for a minute and did nothing. After that she walked over to bathroom and peed on the floor :) I'm not ready to start the potty training just yet, but I feel that we will definitely be starting earlier with Taylor than we did with Ella.

"I wanna wear a pretty dress"

One thing that hasn't changed with Ella lately is her desire to only wear "pretty dresses" to school everyday. Lucky for her she is outgrowing quite a few of her clothes (pretty much all of her dresses from last summer are too short), so we have had to purchase a few more to keep up with her dress obsession.

I loved this dress on her so much that I immediately put her hair into two braids and took pictures before school. When J saw her that night he asked where her hemp necklace was because he thought she looked like a little hippie/flower child.

Oh, and she got new glasses last week. Her prescription didn't change much, but she was in need of a new pair because she had to be able to have a spare pair in case something happened to the ones she wears everyday. Surprisingly, she picked the same glasses that her friend Kendra now has, and so she has a twin at school everyday :)

A bunch of 4th of July cookouts

We had quite a busy 4th of July weekend full of cookouts at various locations. We had a lot of fun and Nina and Brian's house, at Mark and Brandi's house, at Rebecca and Michael's house and then at Aunt Colette and Uncle Ralph's house. Of course I only managed to take pictures at one place, but that's better than none :)

Here are some pictures of the girls playing with Kyan and Jenna.

Fireworks with Bri and Morgan

On Friday 7/2/10 I took Ella out to Pingree Grove for fireworks and to meet up with the Sigrist crew. Ella was really excited to see Brianna and Morgan again, and we were happy when we finally found them! We had thought about talking Taylor with, but since fireworks didn't start until 9:30 and Taylor's bedtime is 7:30, plus she had her shots that day, we opted to let her stay at home with Papa.

Ella was a bit scared of the sound at first. They must have talked about it at school quite a bit because while we were looking for parking, she kept telling me how it was going to be very loud and that she could cover her ears if she wanted to.

Here are pictures of the girls dancing after the fireworks.

Taylor's 15 month appointment

We took Taylor in for her 15 month well child visit on Friday July 2nd. She was a very good girl for the doctor and the doctor also said that everything looks great. She was talking so much to the doctor that she said even if Taylor were 6 months older she would still think everything looks great :)

Then the mean nurse came in to give Taylor her three shots. Typically the nurses are super speedy when it comes to shot time, but this time her nurse was kind of slow and Taylor was not happy. Of course a few days after her shots she got a cold and is now being treated for a double ear infection, but she is getting back to being her happy self.

Things have definitely changed since her last appointment 3 months ago. The girl doesn't stop talking! She is very opinionated and will tell you exactly what she wants and when she wants it! She had a lot of words in her vocab now and she uses them perfectly: Up, Down, More, Please, Thank you, Ella, Mama, Papa, Paci, Cup (pronounced Pu), bite, baby, dog and will repeat anything you ask her to say. For example, after spending the night with Meena, Taylor can now almost say her name except that it sounds like Beena or Nana :)

My little peanut is 21 pounds (barely) and 31" long. Here's a picture of her rockin' her Barbie band-aids.