Anything for a laugh

Wednesday night was crazy hat night at our chior rehearsal. . . so I took the craziest hat I had - a genuine Wisconsin Cheesehead! The next day when i was going to put it away, Maggie started laughing and so I started playing with it and found I could make her laugh and laugh by throwing it on and off my head! By the time we filmed it, she had already done it 3 times that day so the reaction isn't quite as big in this video, but you'll get the idea. :-)

Look Ma! No hands!

Maggie started working on standing up without holding onto anything last weekend. Today she did it for the second time. For some reason this works best in the bath tub. . . we had to keep her hands busy so she wouldn't grab hold of the side of the tub. So she is clapping in this shot.

Ahoy!

Yesterday we had the chance to do something that we've been wanting to do since we moved to the coast. . . visit the USS Alabama! Ben carried Maggie on his back while we explored all over the ship.

We got to see how the men lived on the ship - I was especially surprised to learn they had a Soda Fountain (called Gedunk Stand) on board. . . ice cream every day!!! I decided if I had to serve on a Battleship that would definately be the job for me! We also got to go inside the turret of one of the 16" guns (those really big ones). The turret extends all the way to the lowest deck of the ship and inside they house the projectiles and powder and and it was very neat to see how it worked, although i can tell you for sure I wouldn't want that duty while those guns were pounding away every 30 seconds. There are nine of those on the ship and they can shoot a 2700 pound shell 21 miles. Wow!

Here you see Ben (and Maggie) trying out a 40 mm gun. Ben also got to visit a WWII Submarine which he said "made the decks in the battleship seem spacious!" All in all, we had a very fun day in the cool spring weather!

First Day of Spring!

We celebrated spring's arrival by having a picnic at the beach. It was Maggie's first time to put her fingers and toes in some sand (video link) and she did pretty well - no crying. . . although she never was quite sure what to make of the stuff. :-) I hope we can go back frequently and get her used to the beach. Maggie also got to try out a swing for the first time. . .

Veggietales!

This weekend our church hosted a Veggietales Premiere, complete with a visit from Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Here we are enjoying the day. . . what? You don't recognize me?

Learning to Walk

At 13 months old, Maggie is really starting to make progress. This weekend she has gotten much more comfortable with pushing around the walking toys we have. Click here to see a short video. I'm excited to see her progress - but a little nervous too . . . my little baby is growing up!

5th Anniversary

In February we took a trip to the beach to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. We stayed in a beautiful condo for 3 nights while Grandmother and Grandaddy stayed at our house with Maggie. I don't know what was my favorite part - the beautiful scenery, the great local seafood, or getting to sleep in for 3 mornings in a row!

We got to do some of our favorite things at the beach - Ben went with Heather to do some shopping. Heather went with Ben to the Naval Air Museum. We both enjoyed a trip to the zoo (ok, that was mostly for Heather) and a night of putt-putt. . . not to mention the fresh beignets every morning. Here, I am pictured with 2 baby camels at the Gulf Coast Zoo (the one featured on "the Little Zoo That Could" on the Animal Planet). Their names are Mac and Maggie. Of course I couldn't resist saying hi to Maggie.