- McKinley just started saying her name well last month but now she's got it down and says it constantly. Except it's not just McKinley, it's ALWAYS McKinley Marian! Jordan and I both love hearing her say her name like that :) She also likes to call Madison "Madison Marie" now. Sometimes she tries to be funny and change all our names around too.
- She desperately wants earrings! Every morning when Madison gets earrings put in, McKinley tells us that she wants earrings too. Hopefully one day soon Mom and Dad will be able to afford it :)
- She knows all her colors now and definitely prefers blue. I don't know where that came from, but there's no doubt. I guess Madison's plan to make McKinley love purple didn't work out :)
- This girl is a total water baby! She LOVES to swim. She's totally happy just hanging out with her ring floatie in the pool. She especially loves to twirl in circles and is getting very good at kicking to get where she wants to go. She also likes to slide down our play slide into the little kiddie pool.
- Just like Madison loves the orangutang at the library, McKinley has fallen in love with a yellow butterfly puppet. So now we bring two friends home with us!
- Daddy taught her how to take noses, and it's now her favorite game. She doesn't always give you your own nose back though - she likes to switch around everyone's noses.
- This girl is a serious binky baby, way more than Madison ever was. It's not a battle I'm ready to fight until after we move, but I think it's going to be an epic showdown! She knows that binks are for bed, but she thinks that as long as she's laying down with her blanket, that counts as bed. So now she makes "beds" all over the house and asks for her bink. I'll admit that sometimes we give in if it means extra snuggles!
- She's a great cheerleader, especially when it comes to Madison. McKinley is always saying "Good job, Madison!" at anything Madison does, big or small.
- She also likes to show off and is always saying, "Hey Mom, watch this!" and then doing something crazy!
- Jordan's Mom gave us the Frozen soundtrack when we were there in May and we listen to it in the car all the time now. But it's not Madison who is obsessed with it - it's totally McKinley. She seriously has all the songs memorized and belts them out in the car. She definitely has favorites and is always making requests from the backseat. I can't believe how well she knows all the songs. She's only 2!
Madison
- Of course, Madison's big adventure for the month was getting her teeth knocked out. But she came through it like a champ! She loves to show people the hole and tell everyone about the Tooth Fairy coming. Her new favorite thing to pretend is Tooth Fairy. I honestly am so surprised how well she handled the whole thing. She's seriously a total whimp. The slightest little scratch or bump prompts screaming, crying, begging for bandaids, etc. Just a couple days before the tooth incident, she looked down at her arm and saw something red. She immediately started crying and telling me how much her arm hurt and begging me not to touch it because it would hurt more. It turned out to be a piece of strawberry from her lunch. So the fact that she did so well through her first real accident is kind of amazing!
- Madison seems to be pretty average for height with her peers but is still on the skinny side. It's gotten to the point where strangers are constantly asking if her and McKinley are twins. McKinley is pretty tall for her age and definitely a little chunkier than Madison, but I still think it's pretty ridiculous that people think they're twins. But I seriously get asked that question at least once a day when we're out and about. The unfortunate part is that when I tell people that they're not twins and that Madison is 4 and McKinley is 2, EVERYONE responds the same way: by pointing at Madison and saying, "Oh, she's pretty small then." Madison hates this. She usually doesn't respond to whoever says it but she always turns to me after the fact and insists that she's a big girl. I always feel bad for her! She's definitely a big girl in our eyes!
- She's getting better and better at reading and writing. She wrote Dad a card that said "I love you Dadde" Seriously cute :)
- She's been working hard to teach McKinley to say her personal prayers. It's so cute to see them kneel down together next to McKinley's bed. Madison tells McKinley word by word what to say and McKinley says everything. The truth is that McKinley can say prayers on her own just fine now, but it's so awesome to see how much she loves Madison and wants to do everything her big sister says! And I love the pride Madison takes in teaching McKinley. She's the best big sister we could've hoped for!
- She can now buckle her carseat by herself. Hooray!! This always prompts a "Good job, Madison" from McKinley :)
- Madison bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting for the first time! She first asked to do this last November and we've been working on it ever since. We've talked a lot about what testimonies are and worked to help her develop her own instead of just repeat things we tell her. I also started incorporating testimony time into the end of my weekly Sunbeam lessons to help all the kids start to learn. She went up completely on her own and said:
* I know the Church is true
* I know the scriptures are true
* I know the Church is true (Yep, she said this one twice; she may have been a tiny bit nervous, but I think it was just because it's so important ;) )
* I know I can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again someday
* I know Heavenly Father and Jesus are always by my side
I may have cried :) She was so proud of herself!! We definitely love our big girl and the incredible spirit she brings into our home!
The Rest Of Us
- Honestly, there's not much to report here! We're just trying to enjoy our last days and weeks in the South and not stress too much about all the packing and cleaning ahead of us!! We're looking forward to our new adventure but will definitely miss all the wonderful things and people here! I know Jordan is looking forward to a new externship. He's definitely done with The Eye Center!!
Two cute girls
The girls got to meet Ronald McDonald at a library storytime. Neither was particularly impressed :)
The only way to survive a trip to Wal-Mart
Two helper girls doing the dishes
The weatherman from the local Fox station came to the library to teach the kids about storms. Obviously McKinley's not a huge fan of strangers :) This is also a good picture of the girls with Butterfly and Orangutang
Haven't you heard that life jackets are totally in style?
Sleeping on Mommy and Daddy's bed
Baby (on the left) has to go everywhere and do everything we do. McKinley always places her carefully on the backseat and has recently started buckling her in too. On this particular day, Madison's baby and Butterfly came on an adventure with us too
We set up a little gymnastics competition in the living room complete with Madison's mattress as our jumping floor, a masking tape balance beam and a pretty sweet forward roll station.
"Oh no, a storm is coming!"
We got to watch Dad play soccer at the stake tournament. He's pretty good :)
Diva
McKinley almost never sits still for our nightly story, but she loves to read to herself!
Looks busy, busy to me!
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