8 months!

 Where did the time go?  Miss Allison is up to a whopping 16 pounds! (I know, she's not all that big, but we're catching up!)  She's an incredibly social little thing...as long as I'm the one holding her.  She loves to smile and flirt with people, but not be held by them.  And I'm okay with that.  She babbles constantly, and now only says "Mama" when she sees me or wants my attention.  That makes me happy.  She's not crawling yet, although the last couple days she's been enticed onto her hands and knees, usually by the cat being just out reach.  Once she gets there, though, she's not sure what to do with herself.

As per her usual, Erin wanted to join in out photo shoot.  Which meant Patrick did too.  And this is seriously the best shot I got of all 3.  Oh well.

long walk

The van is in the shop at the moment, so I'm carless.  Since I needed a couple things for dinner, I decided we'd walk the 1.4 miles to the nearest grocery store instead of sending Matt to get them on the way home. We stopped by McDonald's for lunch, and then headed back home.

Patrick occasionally wanted to get out of the stroller

Erin asked to stop by the park on the way home.

Allison was asleep when we arrived, but I heard a coo and looked over to see this

So I let her have some play in the dirt time.

When we got home it was snack time while I loaded the dishwasher.  The girl LOVES graham crackers.

And it's apparently Coco's birthday today (all I knew was the last week of April last year, so I showed Erin a calendar and let her pick the day), so we gave him this tunnel and feather toy.  He's loving it.

Sprinklers

It was warm enough today to bring out the swimsuits.  Erin was SO excited

Patrick was a little less impressed

Allison liked the mist, but not getting any closer

And I couldn't stay out long since I burned myself pretty good yesterday.

 We've been here almost a year, and I still often think to myself just how grateful I am for a yard.  Being able to go out and play in the water without it being a major production was so nice.