God Bless America!

Loved the 4th of July taking up an entire weekend! Friday, we had the Benson party! Andlie wore her flag shirt. (She ended up in her nothing but her bow and her diaper due to the very entertaining pool that was set up.)

Sunday we went to church. Andlie wore her cute new dress.

Monday, we posed for a patriotic picture.

Then me & Andlie went to the parade. (Bryan had to work.)

Thank goodness that Andlie got her balloon! She wanted one so bad and was so happy when Mandy & Mindy ran down Main Street chasing the balloon man.

And, of course, my Dad really wanted to climb up to this window sill and sit in the shade. Mandy said, "Dad, you cannot climb the Police Station. You are 50 years old!"

After the parade, we went and played at the splash pad! Andlie LOVED it and couldn't get enough! (Even though the water kept spraying her in the face.)

We ended up with one soaked baby girl.

After the park, we went over to Granny's where Andlie landed herself a whole bunch of ice cream.

We ended the night by watching fireworks!

Happy birthday, America! We are so thankful and feel very blessed to live in this great country!

18 Months?!

Stats

Height: 33 Inches (86%)

Weight: 21 Pounds, 12 Ounces (14%)

Head: 18.75 Inches (80%)

Favorites

Food: Blueberries, Strawberries, Pizza, Fruit Snacks, Cheese, Candy

Toys: Books, Colored Pencils & Notebook, Sock Monkey, Noise & Button Toys

Activities: Anything Outside, Swimming & Water, Walking, Running, Throwing Balls

Dislikes

Nursery

The Eel on "Finding Nemo"

Can Do

Say a lot of words. My best guess is somewhere around 50+. Favorites are, "Momma," "Daddy," "Be Happy," "NO!", "Please," (Peez), "Beep Beep" (her response to "What does a robot say?"), and "Thank You," (Ta To).

Climb up and down stairs.

Color.

Feed herself with utensils.

Drink from a cup.

Count to three.

Sing ABC's ("D D D D").

Make the hand motions for "The Wheels on the Bus."

Recognize a heart and a circle.

Say & point "No, no, no" to anyone.

Blow kisses.

Pucker for a kiss.

So much more! She's growing and learning every single day!

Andlie loves getting her morning cookie from the cupboard. We tried to hide them, but it was not a success so now she just gets her cookie and it's fine.

Andlie loves climbing! She climbs on everything!

Andlie is the biggest cheese I know!
We love everything about Andlie. She is the absolute light of our lives! There is not a day that goes by that we are not amazed at her. She is our princess. We love her to pieces.

We Went to the Mountain

The mountain is such a pretty place this time of year! We decided to take a quick trip up with Mand while Daddy was on a motorcycle ride with Grandpa.

We went on walks.

We smelled the "Caco Shells" as Mandy called them.

We threw rocks into the pond.

Andlie pointed at something very important across the lake. (Me & Mandy never figured out what it was. Unless she was very interested in meeting the strangers across the lake.)

We played with sticks in the water, but we were very careful not to get mud on our hands. (That freaks Andlie out. She hates dirty hands. Dorito orange fuzz, milk, juice, mud - doesn't matter. It needs to come off immediately.)

And we smiled for a picture with mud on our clothes, shoes, and faces!

What a fun trip! Yay for living so close to something so beautiful and peaceful! (Minus Mandy smacking her legs and arms every ten seconds due to her thinking there were bugs on her.)

Look What I Did!

Step 1: Outgrow the bow holder you made before your daughter was born.

Step 2: Cut wood to the correct size.

Step 3: Put wood together in the shape of a frame.

Step 4: Paint!

Step 5: Get chicken wire from your farm and staple to the back of the frame. (Maybe it wasn't my farm, but thanks to the Benson fam!)

Step 6: Trim the excess wire.

Step 7: Add picture hanger mounter things.

Step 8: Sand the edges so it looks cute.

Step 9: Transfer bows!

Step 10: Take cheesy pic with finished project!

Thanks to Bryan for performing steps 2-3 & 5-7. I'm so happy with how it turned out! I love it! Bryan says he's surprised it wasn't in our bed with us last night. I might have stared at it for a good while and bragged about how great of a job we did last night.

Someone Got a Pool

And she loved it before we even went outside.

Andlie was so excited!

And she LOVED every second. She was going crazy jumping into the pool and plopping down and spinning around on her bum and "eating" the water and sliding off the chair and giggling.

This pool was a good purchase. Worth every one of the 700 pennies. And we love summer.

"Smile!"

This is what Andlie does when you ask her to smile.

She's so cute.

Allen Sibling Night

We played Settlers of Cattan. Fun game. I messed it all up when we were done. I couldn't help it.

Tony's organized mind didn't like that.

Yay for game night!

Us girls are the most mature of everyone.

What a fun night! Horray for all of the Allen sibs being together!

Paul & Jenny Got Married!

Congratulations, Paul & Jenny! We love you both!