Pics of July 4

Kate and John were kind enough to open up camp for the Dicken's family on the fourth of July once again. We had lots of family, lots of dogs (5 - I guess we are a family of dog lovers as every car came with a dog) and lots and lots of food to share. I didn't get as many pictures as I would like, but here are a few snaps from the day. Here are Aunt Char, Grammy Susie and cousin Mark in the background:

I love that I caught Lizzie biting her bathing suit - I think this is the first time she has actually worn the suit and she wasn't in it for long - too cold for much swimming! Lizzie also began walking up and down stairs with help on the fourth as well. Yesterday she learned how to get up stairs on her own without help - she isn't quite ready for going down stairs on her own, but it is exciting that she is learning so much about her body right now!

Lizzie and I stayed close to home today - she kept asking to go outside so I would take her out and she realized it was raining so we would go back in - over and over again! Finally, I put her in some crocs, some warm clothes and put on her rain coat and we played outside in the light rain until Ryan got home. Just like her Daddy, a little rain will not stop her from being outside!

July 4

We were fortunate to attend Brian and Caitlin's wedding in Camden last weekend. If you look closely, you can see that Lizzie's Uncle Dan is one of the groomsmen. The ladies were beautiful and the men were handsome!
The three of us watched from a distance while Lizzie practiced her walking. She loves these red shoes - she kept lifting her feet up to look at them:

I also included these two random pictures of Lizzie - one to show how much she loves corn bread and another to show how cute she is in orange. Have a great fourth of July!

June 16

We spent a nice evening at camp to celebrate "Hi-Yah's" (what Lizzie calls her grampy b) birthday. Lizzie loooooves every kind of water (bath, kiddie pool, etc) and she and Ryan had fun at the edge of the lake. You would not believe the giggles that go with this picture:
Lizzie also had fun going down the slide - I think she is asking her TiTi for another ride:

A few nights ago, Ryan and I took Lizzie to the local playground - this is her first time on a swing! I think overall she likes it!

We have a good walker on our hands these days - and she now has 8 teeth! She really is a full-fledged toddler. She is having fun with new words - especially those with "L"s (yellow is lellow, etc).

June 8

Lizzie is really having fun with the "cheep cheeps" this summer. She is a big help to Ryan when he is feeding them (I am trying hard not to pass on my dislike of chickens to her - so far so good). They are growing like crazy!
Lizzie also loves to help her Daddy garden! While most of the gardens are in Newport, Ryan has a few raised beds here and they often spend time together digging in the dirt when he gets home from work. It gives me a few free minutes to get the feeling back in my arms from carrying her around :) She is starting to be a bit more courageous with the walking, so there is hope for my arms yet!

We have also started playing a little basketball at the local park. We are both terrible (very rusty!), but have a lot of fun! Lizzie pays a little attention to us, trying to figure out what we are doing, but quite quickly starts to pile all rocks and stones onto her blanket (I think she is cleaning the ground, she does lots of "cleaning" - it is an eye opener to see her copying us in that way). As you can see below, it is very important work and she has no interest in interrupting that work for a photo.

Though it isn't quite obvious in these photos, Lizzie seems so tall these days! Just this weekend she was able to grab something off of the kitchen counter! Every new thing that she does continues to amaze us!

June 1!

Happy June! Here is a cute pic of Lizzie in her tu tu (she says "tu tu" whenever she sees it!). She often completes the outfit with Mardi Gras beads. The tutu was actually from my first dance recital costume - I can't believe it fits her! I think she knows she looks good!
We are so excited about the new-to-us motor home! We are planning to set it up near Ryan's gardens so that we can spend a few nights a week at the farm and take full advantage of the summer sunlight while the baby is soundly asleep (she gets her own room in the camper!). Here she is helping Ryan on the inaugural drive. Ryan is sitting in what he calls his "captain's chair".

Also - we have chickens! I can't believe I live in a house with chickens (I am not usually a big fan of birds) but I do love the eggs! I think our neighbors will be glad to know that they wont be living with us in town, but out at the farm when they are a bit bigger.

More motor home fun!

This is where it will be parked this summer - near a nice shade tree and just a skip and a jump from the greenhouse (a good baby monitor distance, I hope). We will setup the awning , etc. soon so that we will have a full-fledged patio!

I hope to take some interior pics this week - stay tuned!

Apples

We have a lot of fruit trees on our small scrap of land - so you can imagine the blooms that we have this time of year! Below is a very old (and very tall - at least a storey taller than the house) tree that blooms for a few short days and then it feels like it is snowing petals on our lawn. Lizzie really loves to be outside and loves to play with grass and sticks, etc. She generally prefers to sit on a blanket when she is outside. As you can see in the picture below, she is sitting on the lawn with both feet lifted off the grass (I think the grass tickles her feet). She can sit like that for a very long time without complaint (though we don't usually make her do that - usually we have her on a blanket). She is a very strong baby - if you have ever tried to sit with both feet off the ground for any length of time, you know what I mean!

Update

Here are a few picture updates of Lizzie. She is doing really well - not walking on her own yet, but definitely mobile when she is holding on to furniture. The above is from today - we had a nice visit with family today to celebrate Bumpa's life. As you can tell, Lizzie had a great time!

The above is from mothers day - what a sweet hubbie and baby I have!

Lizzie is now in a front facing carseat. This is mostly a great change - she loves being able to see us - but we can't seem to figure out how to let her sleep without her head falling forward. Sometimes she uses her own body to prop her head up - smart little girl :)

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending Aunt Angi's graduation - what a great day! We are so proud of her!

This picture is from Lizzie's first time riding face front in the car - she has a bandaid on her finger (they drew blood for regular first year tests) and was so concerned about the bandaid, she didn't seem to notice the change at first.

UPDATE: I just did a spell check - I must be tired - hopefully I wrote in complete sentances because I definately had spelling issues :)