4th of July week

This week seems like it has just flown by. Malaina and I went to a paint your pottery place and had a blast! She was so into painting, and was very detailed and deliberate. We went to lunch afterward at our favorite Mexican restaurant. A fun Mommy/Malaina day :) We get to pick up our pieces tomorrow. Can't wait to see how they came out!

We celebrated the 4th by first going to a 4th of July festival in Windsor, then played at the park there. It was full of kids and a little dog Maren just fell in love with. She is following her big sister in her love and obsession of dogs. Maren just shouts out "DAOU", points excitedly and begins to follow the dog around. (though I'm not sure if she is more excited about seeing a dog or that she can say the word and have people understand her :) We then went to my brothers house for a big BBQ. We spent the day swimming in the pool, enjoying friends & family, feasted on American fare, and a homemade special 4th of July cake for the occasion. Later Malaina and I ventured out to watch the fireworks. We got lucky and found a primo spot with an excellent view. It was the best and most amazing firework shows I've seen! The crowd was amazed and went wild afterward. We had a fun night! Today we had a mellow park day and Grandpa took out all his girls for ice cream. (well sorbet really :)

Malaina has been blossoming at gymnastics! She is usually a bit on the timid side, but she is just going for it in class! Jumping on and off BIG jumps, tumbling, & tricks on the balance beam, she is doing it all, on her own. After her last class she came running out all red faced and sweaty saying "whew....that was hard!!" but just smiling ear to ear. She has also been enjoying being a big sister lately. She and Maren have come up with some games they play together, and Mal is just loving teaching Maren new words and helping her walk everywhere. They are just amazing together!

Maren's vocabulary is just impressive! It seems like just one day she started talking and has so many words that she knows. Her very favorites at the moment are "up, dog, hot, juice, MayMay (for Malaina) and Uhh Ohh" for anything that falls on the floor. She is still content to have help to walk, although when she is preoccupied she takes steps without realizing it. She is ready, she just doesn't want to yet. Those 4 teeth she has painstakingly been working on are finally though. No more gummy smile just a big toothy one now. In the pictures you can only clearly see one but they are all there. She is a constant source of laughter for us all.