Helloooo Summer!

And we have taken on a few landscaping projects to kick off the season. Nick is obsessed with before and after pictures and scolded me for not getting a couple of the "befores" before they were "afters". Oops. Oh well, I have quite a few and will post them once things are completed. The short list of things includes: replacing the dead tree in front of our house, pulling out the dead tree in the backyard, pulling out the large ugly bush in the backyard and replacing it with an evergreen tree, creating a stone pathway in the backyard from the deck stairs to the gate in the fence, and mulching/edging under our deck. Whew. Lots to do!

Nick has his summer sports in place and will be starting games soon. He is doing softball and volleyball this year and forgoing golf league. I'm sure he will still golf on the weekends sometimes, but the league was a big commitment on top of the other two sports. And he has to be home to watch our little trouble maker get into trouble :)

We can literally see the wheels turning in her little head...we are just waiting until her motor skills catch up to the plans she has. She'll be sitting on the carpet in our living room and a dog will be laying a few feet away. She will stare at the dog and we can just see it in her intense little face that she wants to crawl over there, pull on his ears and tackle him. She still wants to crawl so badly. When she sits up now she'll lean waaay forward to try and get somewhere and sometimes she falls, bashes her head, and cries. Other times she can make a graceful transition from sitting up down to her tummy or side. Either way, it doesn't stop her from trying to get away again next time we sit her up. Sitting up is old news - way too easy for this 5 1/2 month old. Haha.

I also think that we have a thumb sucker on our hands, and there is nothing I can do about it. I really didn't want her to be a thumb/finger/anything other than a paci sucker but I'm not sure how to stop it. Any ideas?? We may have a "lefty" on our hands too. I'm sure it's totally way too early to tell but I watch her and she always sucks her left thumb. I guess we'll see! We also started carrots a few days ago and she gobbled up the whole container. So far I would say she likes green beans, and loves carrots and rice cereal. So far so good where food is concerned!

She was obsessed with my Dad's hairy arm. She kept grabbing and petting it like it was a kitty. Strange baby.....Look at those freaky little feet :) Her toes are crooked like piano keys!
Yes, little lady got a sippy cup for the first time yesterday! I put some water in it and gave it to her. She grabbed the handles and it stuck it in her mouth....I don't think she really drank much water but she liked the concept!

Mmmmmm....sucking on the feet but got her hand instead.