18 month photos!

A friend of ours is a photographer and she took some awesome 18 month photos of our little lady. Shout out to Justine for being a rockstar photographer, by the way. Makaela didn't sit still for more than 5 seconds and was more interested in the pinecones and the lake than the camera.

I'm amazed at all the moments she was able to capture. XoXo.

 

On Facebook these profile shots seemed to be the fave :)

I'm happy she shared with us some of her sassy face photos as well. She directs this look at me several times a day. Don't even talk to me about the "teen years."

And this is her famous "Where'd he/she/it go?" 

I love the angle on this one. 

And this friends, is real life. Hahahah. How DARE WE put her in a chair!

Hey Makaela, where's your nose?

Do you have a fave? I change my mind every time I scroll through!

Pool days

The pool is open and we are l-o-v-ing it! Each time we go Mak gets more comfortable, and more courageous. She really enjoys the splash area, but also loves when Daddy or Mama takes her all the way in the pool to swim. Mak always has her eyes on the big kids. God, before we know it she'll be jumping right in.

Makaela is a true southern girl now and has all of the must-have essentials for staying safe in the sun, while still having fun. 

We really appreciate how easy going she is when it comes to wearing a hat, sunnies, and water shoes. She doesn't love the sunscreen application part, but at this point, she has accepted it, haha. 

Oh and we've tried a couple swim diapers - a reuseable one from the Honest Company - LOVE! Granted, she hasn't gone potty in it yet, so we might change our tune if that happens ;) 

Also, loving the disposable Lil Swimmers, but they can get a little pricey if we're using them often!

In addition to spending time at the pool, we along with our friends have started to bust out the kiddie pools and sprinklers. The kids are having a blast!

And we have a blast watching the silly things they do and snapping photos of the ridiculous faces they are always making...

Someone thinks they are hot stuff, I won't name names ;-)

Sensory Sunday Funday: Chalk it up!

Miss Mel got Lady M chalk for her birthday and we just couldn't wait to try it out!

The best way to create a masterpiece is shirtless, while in a deep squat position. 

At first she was mostly interested in hoarding the chalk. I showed her how to drag the chalk along the ground so that color "magically appears." She seemed impressed, but when she initially tried on her own she didn't put enough strength into it so the poor girl didn't see any color. Sad!

At that point she figured maybe chalk wasn't for coloring the patio, maybe it was for eating.  

Red and blue tasted the best. 

I encouraged her to rinse off her hands in her water table and she got the brilliant idea to drop a piece of chalk into the water. It fizzled. She laughed. I retired the blue chalk and brought out the green. 

She took a liking to that green chalk and wanted to get back to business, and what do you know she got it! She figured out how to color!!

Way to go Mak Baby!

So proud of our little Picasso and her masterpiece :)

First Time Strawberry Pickin'!

Monday afternoon we went on an adventure. We'd never been strawberry picking before and for whatever reason the idea of picking our own fruit sounds so much cooler than grabbing a pre-picked carton.

I am naive and know nothing about farming and actually attempted to visit this farm in November to go strawberry picking. Ha! Turns out strawberry season is March and April here. I was just anxious, okay?

Mak felt extra special holding the bucket.

But walking while holding the bucket wasn't really her strong suit, so I took over bucket duty while she ran free...

Then we told her to "find a red berry and pull it!"

The problem was, she wanted to pull it from the ground and IMMEDIATELY eat it. Mmm dirt. After some negotiating we got her to drop them in the bucket. She of course followed this with a round of applause for herself. 

Such an awesome family day at Country Best Farms. We got about a pound of beautiful strawberries (that I have yet to use, but that's not the point - haha) and plan to go back before the season is over. See I'm starting to understand the season thing now.

We finished off the evening at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Chili cheese fries, burgers and milkshakes? Yes please. Oh and lemons for the baby girl ;-)