skating & Summer fun

We have been having lots of fun already this Summer!


Backing up a bit... Hannah went ice skating for the first time right after Christmas, and she has gone ice skating 2 times since then (the last time was a week-and-a-half ago).

 Here's Katelyn during Hannah's 2nd time ice skating.

Aunt Nina with Hannah. Hannah loves ice skating with a walker! 

Three adorable Olympians. :)

Maelie was a super cute spectator. 

Melissa and silly Rylan 

 Hannah in her skates, pretending to be shy. I don't buy it. :)

 



Faithy poo! 

 

Back in March, Hannah went roller skating with her Reyelts cousins...

Cute little roller skater! 

 Hannah with her roller skating walker.

 



The Reyelts bunch!

Hannah's favorite part of roller skating was being able to reach this drinking fountain in her skates.

Fuzzy-haired Maelie with Joseph.

Hannah also loved the bounce houses there.

And she loved eating ice cream with her cute cousins.

Fast forward to 2 weekend ago...

Our first bonfire of the season. Fun!

Hannah the goofball!

Hannah and Maelie with Faith, Cole, and Clay.

Hannah loves marshmallows, but she told us that her s'more was yucky. Silly girl.

 Maelie LOVED her first taste of chocolate that her daddy gave her.

 

Hannah and Clay ice skating again.

Pretty Faith.

Hannah took a few breaks.

 



This is still her favorite picture pose. Kooks.

Handsome Cole.

Cutie Clay.



 

 

Good times at Summerfest this last weekend...



 



Hannah loved riding on the boats! She went on this ride 4 times and picked a pink boat every time.

  

Hannah loved the Carousel.

Giddy up!

Maelie wasn't so sure about the Carousel.

Hannah also loved the bumble bee ride. Scott tolerated it. :)

Adorable sisters!

 

We finally went swimming in our pool a couple of times...

Hannah loves swimming!

Maelie is warming up to swimming. And she's adorable.

 



Hannah is getting braver in the pool--trying to float on her own and jumping in from the side.

Yummy post-swimming burrito! :)

Stacey holding Maelie during her first fireworks ever at Summerfest. Maelie actually loved them, so I'm not sure why she looks like she's crying. Silly girl.

Hannah wasn't a huge fan of the loud fireworks and eventually went inside with me to watch them through Stacey's window. Boom boom!

 

We LOVE the Summer!!! I'm SO ready for the Owlz baseball season to start in a few days...

a memorable Memorial weekend

We had a great trip to Colorado last weekend for my oldest nephew's high school graduation. Once we finally got on the road (we had to leave our condo ready for our realtor to show while we were gone), the rest of the trip was really fun and stress free (well, minus the crazy rain and Maelie crying tons near Green River). We stayed at the La Quinta in Rifle (which is by far the nicest La Quinta we've ever stayed at), but we spent most of our time hanging out with all of my family (only one of my sisters didn't make it that weekend). Hannah and Maelie were in cousin heaven!

The pics...

Joseph was chosen to be the co-valedictorian of his class. He gave a fabulous and funny speech!

 Joseph played his saxophone in the band, and Sierra sang in the choir.

 

Joseph receiving his diploma. 

Handsome Joseph! 

 Joseph and his familia.

 Joseph with his saxophone and Rylan.

 

Joseph and his Clayson grandparents. 

 Joseph and the Nielsen fam.

Joseph and our fam. 

 

Jospeh and Jana and Saul. 

Maelie got a lot of love and attention all weekend. 

Hannah loved wearing Jason's funky hat. 

Hannah and Katelyn helped clean to get ready for Joseph's open house celebration. 

Cutie little cleaner! 

 Joseph with his co-valedictorian and the salutatorian

 

We all went swimming at the hotel pool. 

Crazy cousins! 

Maelie was not a fan of swimming. 

Aunt Lissa is a hottie! :) 

Scott played a lot of chess with the nephews and nieces. 

Hannah and Katelyn loved playing together. 

Peeps were doing puzzles galore! 

Sierra is SO good with the girls. 

Hannah Banana with Jana Banana. 

On our way home on Monday, we stopped by the cemetery to visit Braydon's grave. 

 Sad and still surreal.

 

What a fabulous weekend! Congratulations, Joseph! We are so proud of you!!!

11 things about Maelie!

Yesterday Maelie turned 11 months old! So, in celebration of her 11 months of life, I'll share 11 things about her...

1- Maelie's nicknames are "Mae Mae" and just "Mae." Hannah gave them both to her when Maelie was a few months old. They quickly grew on me and Scott, and now we have been using them for several months.

2- Maelie loves books! Reading books to her is one of the few ways to get her to actually hold still. :)

3- Maelie is a major scavenger these days. She loves to pick up every tiny crumb or piece of lint she can find and quickly put it in her mouth. Needless to say, I have become a much better sweeper.

4- Maelie has been pretty darn grumpy lately, thanks to teething. She finally got her 3rd tooth (1st one on top) a couple of days ago.

5- I started weaning Maelie 2 days ago. I figured it would be rough, seeing as how Maelie has refused to take a bottle since she was 2 months old and will only suck on her binkie or on me (she just chews on sippy cups of any kind). The 1st day that I reduced her breastfeeding by one time was a nightmare. I tried for almost an hour-and-a-half to get her to drink milk from a bottle or sippy cup or cup with a straw. But she only wanted to drink from a regular cup, which resulted in very little of the milk making it inside her body. I resorted to using a medicine syringe, but she only put up with that briefly. Needless to say, I was thrilled when she miraculously took a bottle yesterday and again today. Hallelujah! And thank you, Dora, for the distraction for Maelie! (I'm a bit excited to be done with breastfeeding--Maelie is way too social and easily-distracted to nurse very well these days.)

6- Maelie is one active little baby. She crawls (normally and also occasionally army-style) all over the place, pulls herself up to a stand wherever she is, walks along furniture, and gets into absolutely everything she knows she shouldn't get into. Bless her cute little heart. :)

7- Maelie has the cutest laugh in the Universe, and no one can get her to laugh as hard as Hannah can. So adorable!

8- Maelie's awesome fuzzy hair is getting a little less so as it grows longer. It makes her look much older.

9- Maelie loves music and dancing, especially if Hannah is around to dance with her. Maelie really loves to rock out to Shakira lately.

10- Maelie loves to comb Hannah's hair. The first time she tried it and every time since, she has known how to turn the comb the right way and has been able to get it through Hannah's hair. So smart and funny!

11- When Maelie is excited, she bounces and snorts. It's super adorable!


Yesterday I took a few pics of cutie Maelie and her adoring sister...

I tried to get some shots of Maelie alone, but Hannah was having none of that. :) 

Mae Mae and Little Miss Crazy Eyes! 

I'm pretty sure Hannah is thinking, "Someone should really cut this baby's fingernails!" 

This adorable baby has really thinned out, but she still has those chubba chubba cheeks! 

They seriously love each other so much. It melts my heart. 

I love how well Hannah and Maelie play together (most of the time). 

They're also really good at making messes together. :)

We absolutely love our Mae Mae and can't believe she'll be one year old in just a month! Crazy!!!