Ohhhhhhh

Micah is so funny.  We really do laugh at him a lot.  He loves to point at things, babble, and say "ooooo" and "ohhhh".  So cute.  I wish I could put these moments in a bottle to play over and over as he outgrows these adorable phases. 
His new words are, "up" or sometimes said "bup", "boppy" for ball, "whadat" for "what's that", "doggy", and "hieeeee" for "hi."  He is 13 1/2 months old.

A Weekend of Goodbyes

 Friday night, some of the Morans, and Switzers came over for dinner and dessert along with our family, Linda and Larry, and Jenna and Justin to say goodbye.  It was fun and sad all at the same time. I do love this picture of the kids snuggling with uncle Pat.  Elli, Aria, and Josh.

 Larry was taking in some sunshine with three buckeye pretzels waiting patiently on the railing:)

 Jenna came back over on Saturday with Aria for some girl time.  She gave pedicures to Elli and Linda.

 On Sunday, we went to mom and dad Dodson's for an Open House of goodbyes.  Jess and Don were a huge help.

 Aria and her grandpa enjoying some smiles.

 Picture with Nana and Grandpa.

Brent was golfing, Kyle and Meg were out of town, Devin is still in AL, and Lance and Lana in Germany.  At least some of us were around for a picture at the Open House.
We are so going to miss this family.  Just cannot put it into words.

Pool day with friends, Thursday July 18

 Micah got a whole peanut butter and honey sandwich to himself.  He was so excited!

 Jeni, Sherry,  and Julie pictures here.  Nikki was also there.  We went to the pool in Bellbrook that they are members of.  It was a great day for it!

 Madilynn came home with us and went to gymnastics class with Elli.  Look at those back bends!

 Elli got to do a back flip using the help of the roll mat.  Good job, baby girl.

 Friday morning they wanted to play in the sprinklers.  Love those simple pleasures of summer days.

Madilynn, Elli, and Emilee, with her helper Micah, enjoyed a game of Candy Land:)

Pool day at Heather's, Wed, July 17

 Jenna and Aria playing in the water.  Aria was very adamant that she do it herself:)

 Francine giving us adorable smiles with her tongue sticking out.

 Gloria loves playing with her mommy, and cousins. 

The crew of cousins.  Gloria was on the go so Heather joined the picture too!

Tuesday, July 16th

 Lunch time at The Greene

 Elli has been begging for a snow cone all summer.  I finally got to the Greene and let her get one.  She picked caramel green apple.  Yum!

" OOOOOOOO"

 Gloria sporting adorable shades.

 Madilynn and Elli enjoying the water.

 Olivia, Landon, Bekah, Madilynn, and Elli all playing in the fountains.  Fun day!  (I think that may be Andrew and Jack in the background)

 Super cute kiddos

 Sweet friends

 The Masters kids all match:)

Walking!!!!!! and other adorable things

 After making it all the way to daddy, 22 steps away from mommy, he gave this huge smile!
On Friday, Micah took two-three steps between Brent and I. Saturday 5 steps and Sunday 10 steps.  Now it is Monday.  He started the day with 22 steps and has just kept getting better.  He even walked away from the couch twice today to get to me.  Oh man!

 Concentrating on not falling over.

 Sideways smile( that gets me laughing) as he walks towards me.

Going from Emilee to Elli in 33 steps:)  See how Elli is coaching him on?  He loves it and squeezes her neck like crazy when he gets there. 
Gloria thought we were playing a game on Sunday as Micah walked between us, so she joined in saying "Yay!" when she would get to me, then she would turn around and walk to mom, like we were doing with Micah.  It was hilarious:)
Micah also has new words like "boppy" for ball, "hi", and "upbupbup" for up:)  He makes a sound that sounds similar to car, "cacaca" and said it today while pointing to a plane.  I thought that was pretty cute.  He points to lots of things and pretends to tell you all about it with his little babbles.  So sweet.  He is growing and changing too quickly.
Elli had a funny today.  She was playing coffee shop with me and gave me a drink.  She said, "Here's your crappuccino!"  I told her I didn't really want to drink it:)  She didn't know what was wrong with what she said, so I told her I thought she mixed up frappuccino and cappuccino.  We had a good laugh.

Pool, Golf, Ice cream

 Chillin at the pool!

 Golfing with daddy.  Actually, we all went to the driving range.  Micah crawled around everywhere, in and out of the carts, trying to play with as many golf balls as he could.  So, it was a little busy

 Micah zonked out on the way home, but Brent and Elli went into Kone Korner to get some ice cream for us.  Brent says he finally was able to get some good soft serve!

Micah started making car noises on vacation so when he plays with cars now he makes vroom noises:)

Eat Mor Chikin

 Heather and girls, Leah and boys, me with kids, and mom all went to Young's on Friday.  I left my camera at home but hope to upload some pics  from others.  We were all tired afterward so we sat and had a milk break!  Heather actually went home because Gloria fell asleep in the car, something that never happens!

 Later that evening, we dressed like cows for free food at Chick Fil A!  Love this day of the year.  It was crazy but fun:)

 Leah and mom ordering and pretending Luka is not in the middle of the floor throwing a fit!

 Trying to find a place for all of us to sit together was a little crazy but we did it.  Of course, the kids were a little tired and grouchy so we let them go to play while we enjoyed our dinner!

Dad joined when we got back to my house to love on his grand babies.  Oliver was thinking about crying here, but soon changed his mind and just snuggle a bit:)

Good Morning Moments

 So sleepy and so precious.

Sweet snuggle time with his sister.  Love how he tucks his arms in for more snuggle.

Gymnastics

 Elli has been asking to try a gymnastics class for a while now.  So, I signed her up for a 6 week course at the Xenia YMCA.  She jumped right in and did all that was asked of her.
Back bend

 She was the best at cart wheels!

And even managed to jump onto her feet from the spring board onto the vault, though not in this picture.
She was doing so well and having a lot of fun.  Since she was not taking this class with any friends, she told me she was asking God to help her make a friend.  Sure enough, she made a friend:)

Jenna and Elli Celebrate birthdays

 While we were on vacation, Elli was beginning to fully grasp what it meant for Jenna and Justin to be moving to Cote de Voire.  She asked Jenna if she would be coming to her birthday parties.  Well, needless to say, there were lots of tears after that innocent question.  So, Jenna and Elli went out for yummy cupcakes to celebrate birthdays that will be celebrated from abroad for the next several years.

 And while Elli is away, Micah will play...with the castle.  He tried to climb those steps and fell over.  He was not happy about that!

A Must Share Story

I will post pictures of the last few days later, but I have t write this down before I forget.  Tonight Brent, Micah and I, mom and dad, and Heather, Gary, Gloria and Francine were at Heather's pool swimming.  Heather walked out in a cute swim suit and I said, "Heather I really like your suit." At that moment, Brent went to throw Micah to me, but Gloria was kicking past, slowly, with an innertube around her waist and Gary said, "Look out for small water craft."  So, dad took in both of those comments and said out loud, "Do you need a boat license to drive that thing?"    Gary was silent and then I said, "Dad, Gary was talking about Gloria, not Heather!"  Dad lost it, as did we all because he thought Gary was poking fun at Heather, so he joined in.  We spent quite a bit of time laughing and going after dad for this one!

July 9th

 He looks like such a big boy standing here and playing with the magnets.

 Elli and Madilynn waiting patiently for the pop corn.

Almost done!  Madilynn came over for the day and we had a lot of fun playing.