She's a talking fool!

Maggie is saying new words every day. She pretty much says anything we say.

New signs: uncle, monkey (with sounds), frog, no-no, bubbles, cat, hat, Grandpa, dad, light, fan, duck

New words: uncle, aunt, Ethan now sounds like ET, book actually sounds like book now, cat, elephant (eh-puh), avocado (a-ca), "I know", applesauce (appa), flower (wa-wa), juice, pacifier (ba), Emma, Ella, Blake, papa, bird, quack-quack (ca-ca), elbow, tickle-tickle, balloon (boon), teeth (when she wants to brush her teeth), blanket, watch, wow and more!!!

More Gymnastics

Maggie is still in gymnastics! She is getting more active, which is great. We registered her for the second session with Ethan and Ella. This picture was too cute not to post!

Arizona!

We took a vacation to Arizona mid-July. Our flight there left Chicago at 7 am, so we were up very early! Maggie did well on the flight there. The first half of the flight, we had an open seat, so Maggie was able to play there. We had a stop in Omaha and the next flight was full. Maggie slept for at least an hour for the second half of the flight, which was great! When we arrived in Phoenix, we went to eat lunch with Elizabeth, came home and took a nap, and then played in a little blow-up pool in the backyard.

The next day, we woke up early and drove to the Grand Canyon. We stopped on the way in Sedona to eat lunch and shop. We ate dinner at the Grand Canyon and watched the sun set. It was a beautiful sight and we can't wait to take Maggie back when she will remember being there.

Visit to Wisconsin

The week of July 4th, Maggie and Mommy traveled to Wisconsin to see Grandma & Grandpa Miller's summer getaway. We stayed in Aunt Elaine's cabin with Maggie's Aunt Jessi and cousin Piper.

It was a long drive, especially because the road we were supposed to take according to the GPS was GONE!!! During the drive up, Maggie slept for about 30 minutes out of the total of 4 hours. She also read, played with her toys, snacked, and screamed!!! She kept saying "Emma" and "Bake" (for Blake) because I think she was expecting to see them since it was such a far drive. She even woke up in the morning saying their names.

We took a 2 hour long boat ride along the lake and Mommy got a little burned. Maggie helped Grandpa drive the boat, but wasn't really interested in the scenery. About an hour before we left, Maggie let Grandpa carry her around! Mommy was very excited to see this since Maggie is usually afraid of him.

Murphy 4th of July

We went to Grandma & Grandpa Steinmetz's house for the 5th of July to celebrate with the Murphy family. Maggie had a good time swimming, rocking on the bench, walking around, and playing catch!

Gymnastics!

Maggie had her first gymnastics class on Friday, July 2nd. She is in a class in Oak Lawn with 1 and 2 year olds that meets every Friday for 6 weeks. Her cousin Ethan and her friend Ella are also in the class. She had a lot of fun running around with the other kids. The teachers had the parents and kids sit down twice for "circle time", but not many of the one year olds wanted to sit for long!

Here is a picture of Maggie on the trampoline!

Happy 4th of July!

On the 4th of July, we went to visit my friend from high school, Stacy. Maggie was very comfortable with Stacy and her mom. We played in the house, played catch with her dog Isis, ate yummy steaks, blew bubbles, and watched the fireworks.

Here is a picture of Maggie trying to whistle at the bird, Nique. She's really getting good at whistling (which she started doing on her own a few weeks ago).

Aunt Natalie and the girls

Aunt Natalie loves her nieces, but they didn't really
participate with her in the picture. I'm sure the
pictures will get cuter and cuter every year!

I-phone wait

Since daddy is a technology junkie, he had to get the new I-Phone 4. He pre-ordered it and we went to pick it up on the day it came out at about 4 pm. We thought that would be fine and the lines would be down. They were much shorter, the wait was only 2 hours!!! Maggie fell asleep in the car and I sat there and read a book until she woke up.

Splash!!

After Father's Day, we went to stay with Aunt Dani. We took the kids to a splash park. They loved playing in the water. Maggie was mostly interested in crawling around, so she scratched her knees up quite a bit, but she didn't seem to care. I tried to take pictures, but my camera died!! Here's what I could get:

Father's day

Maggie gave Chris a grill for father's day! He has been so happy, he's been cooking out at least once every week!

On Father's day, we went to breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma Steinmetz, Uncle Erik, and Emily to Peaches and Pears. We gave Grandpa Steinmetz a bike for father's day. Hopefully we can all go for a bike ride soon!

After breakfast, we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Miller's house for a cookout. Everyone was there except for Uncle Jerriah and Aunt Brandy. The kids played in the yard and we gave Grandpa Miller a hammock. Hopefully he has a nice time using it!

Aunt Natalie comes to visit

Maggie's Aunt Natalie came to visit for almost 2 weeks in June! All of her nieces and nephews were super excited to see her (and so were here sisters). We took our 2nd trip to the zoo when she was here. It was another hot day! We visited the seals, the monkeys, apes & gorillas, and the elephants!

Walk to remember Matthew

Maggie participated in the 3rd annual walk for her brother Matthew. This was her 2nd year participating and she enjoyed it much more! She's not really a morning person, but because she loves walks so much, she was happy to be out and about. We had more than 80 people participate in some way this year! It's a wonderful feeling to know that so many people are still supporting us.