Trying new things...

I guess you could say I'm a bit of a picky eater which I'm realizing is not a good thing with kids because they eat what you eat. So we were at the store the other day and I was picking out some strawberries when I turned around to find Mckell had taken a huge bite out of a peach and a plum which she absolutely LOVED!  Guess I need to start branching out and buy things that I don't like for her to try... and maybe start trying them myself so she will like them and not be picky like me! ha

Kell eating some eggs and a peach under daddy's supervision.... 

She kept saying, "Mmmmmmmmmm, yummy in my tummy!"

And the aftermath, Kell's a VERY messy eater- especially when daddy's watching her.

Kell is very into reading books lately. She has me read her the story and then she says, "I read it" and reads it to her babies. It's pretty cute to hear what she remembers in the story when she 'reads' it out loud.

Loves her baby

Kell's definitely a girly girl- she's always accessorizing with hats and jewelry.

Such a little poser

and face puller..

Poor picture quality because it's from a text of Courtland's. The guys in his office went paint balling one morning for an incentive- looks like they had a good time and he had the welts to prove it!

Jason is 3 Months Old!

I can't believe Jason is already 3 months old! He is such a fun little guy and full of smiles! My favorite is after Kell goes to bed, Jason and I have our own special time together and coo and cah back and forth- I love it.

 GQ

 You can really see his baby blues in this one- his one feature from mommy

 He's definitely much chubbier than Kell ever was and I love it!

 Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks!

We sure love you Jason and are so blessed to have you in our family!

The sweetest park

I found the sweetest park for Mckell to play at and it's only about a mile walk, wish I would have found it sooner!  It's huge- the biggest park we've ever been too and is going to be the place for hours of entertainment and fun for the rest of our time here.

 10 weeks old (already 12.8 lbs- he's a big boy)! And full of poop! ha- the joys of motherhood!

 Jason is loving his play mat and batting at the animals

 Love my little munchkin!

 such a sweet little sleeper

 11 weeks old, cuddled on mamma's bed

 Daddy passed out on the couch, such a hard worker- I sure do love and appreciate all he does for our family!

 Jason sucking his thumb

 full of the giggles

My current favorite lines of Kell's....

"mamma I try it" (then does task) "I did it, good job!"

"I love you soooooo much!"

"tummy hungry"

She's getting to be quite the little talker and over exaggerates pronunciation- it's pretty darn cute!

Diving for Dollars

Courtland's office does lots of competitions throughout the summer to help motivate the sales reps and this one is always my favorite. Courtland was the top rep for the competition so he got to jump in first- one minute before the rest of the guys. They threw $1000 worth of $1 coins into the swimming pool and the guys got to grab as many as they could. 

 Courtland going at it before everyone else- go babe!

 After we stayed and swam in the pool for awhile- Kell loves swimming with her daddy!

 Kell's friend Sebastian with his dad Justin

This is our 4th summer doing summer sales and it is our last. I have really been enjoying this summer, mainly because we live in such a fun place, but I hate being away from home especially because I'm missing when all my brother's and their families go home to visit.  Hopefully we can stop to see them all on our drive home (if I can talk Courtland into making 3 extra stops- 2 in TN and 1 in IL)!

Manners

I think it's so fun hearing Mckell say manner words. She's been saying them for a long time but I need to document some of my favorite moments.

1. For the past few months Kell has been confusing which manner word she should say and when. For example, when she wants something and I say 'what do you say?' She would say thank you instead of please. But she has finally figured it out and now when she wants anything she says "pleeeeeeeeease, please please please!" It's pretty dang cute and super hard to say no to.

2. When she wants something REALLY bad and in a hurry and can't remember quite what to say she just rushes and says them all "peas, thank-you, welcome, here go!"

3. Anytime she gives anyone anything she always says 'you're welcome!' no matter if they say thank you or if they even wanted whatever she's handing you.  It always makes whoever it is laugh.

4. Whenever Kell drops something, bumps into anything or anyone, or does anything she feels she needs to say sorry to she always says 'sorry' in the sweetest little voice- I love it.

5. Mckell hasn't figured out when you say you vs I vs me. So whenever she needs your help she says "help you" instead of help me in the most pleading voice.
6. One of my favorite times of the day is putting Kell to bed because she always gives me a big 'oooh tight' hug, kiss, and says "I love you!" She likes to tell me about lots of things she loves throughout the day. Today at the store she insisted on holding a box of tampons (sorry if that's tmi!) and kept hugging the box super tight and saying "I love it!" It was pretty hilarious and made a bunch of people laugh throughout the store.

Mckell is just the sweetest little thing and we just love her to pieces. I love seeing her personality coming out more and more every day.  I can tell she's going to be a little bit of a sensitive girl because anytime she sees someone that looks sad she runs her fingers down their face and looks sincerely concerned and says 'ok?' And when other little kids are mean to her or if people won't say 'hi' back to her she looks like her little heart just broke in half.

Happy 4th of July!

We started the day off going to the pool for some rays- Kell always has to have a popsicle on the way.

 Even though Courtland had to go to work early, he got to come home early for the only time the entire summer and we loved it!  His office had a little get together party- we had a fun time eating and chatting with everyone.

 Then we went out to the middle of pier village to watch the fireworks. They didn't start until about 9:30, which is a hour after Kell's bedtime so we let her bring her binky and blankie. She loved the fireworks- clapped, 'ooooh', and 'aaah' the whole time.

 Josh, Jessica, and Maddie

 Justin, Dana, and Sebastian

Crazy girl

Jason was of course really good even considering Mckell accidently stepped on his head right before the fireworks started! Poor little guy, I felt so bad for him and have never heard him cry like that before.  But he was fine a few minutes later and just snuggled with mama.

Biggest Loser

So guess who lives right next door..... this past season's biggest loser contestants father and daughter couple- Jay and Jen. When we first moved here we had heard how they lived here at pier village and some people had seen them around. But the other day when we were getting in the elevator Jay and his dog got in with us and I watched him after we got to our door and found out he lived in the apartment right next to ours! So there you have it- we live next to some reality tv celebrities! Kind of cool I think and probably the closest thing to famous I'll ever get- ha!

 So after the 4th of July fireworks we were waiting for the elevator to go up to our apartment (we live on the 5th floor) and who joins us..... Biggest Loser contestants runner up of this past season Hannah and on the prior season 10's Mark. And they were holding hands- so there is your celebrity gossip at it's best! They must have been visiting Jay and Jen because yes I watched to see where they were going and they went into the apartment next door as well.  And in case you were wondering- Jay, Jen, and Hannah all look the same as they do in their after pictures (but that was only like a month ago) but Mark looked more like in the middle weight wise of his before and after pictures. Anyway- this post is for all you Biggest Loser fans out there. I'm not really that big of a fan of the show personally because I think the episodes are way too long but I had seen enough of the past two seasons to recognize the contestants.