Pool Party!

Jake and I have been debating about getting Mary a little pool for the backyard to play with. I have been wanting to get one and Jake hasn't (he doesn't think we'd use it enough). So I found this tiny pool for $5 and thought it was a good compromise. 

At first Mary didn't know what to do with it. She just looked at it and walked around it. I started playing with the measuring cup and that was quickly taken from me so she could play with it.

Then she started trying to drink out of it so all the clothes came off and I switched her shoes to her sandals (you can't see them in this picture). Then I thought - that diaper is going to get really full of water as she spills down her front, so....

 Off came the diaper. By this time Jake had come home from work and thought Mary was being funny. So he dumped water on her head - mind you it was FREEZING hose water. Mary froze for a second and then started laughing. She then no longer wanted to drink the water she kept trying to pour it on her head. Then Jake set her in the water and she didn't know what to think about that, but she liked it after a while. It was really fun to watch her play! She DID NOT want to go in.

And just in case you thought you'd dive into a 30" wide 8" deep pool here is your warning not to...nuts!

The other day Jake got some wax for the car and started working on it. Mary kept begging us to play in the car. So we let Mary hangout while Jake worked. She was very interested in what he was doing. She's so funny.

 Daddy's girl!!! She loves to snuggle with her Daddy. It's very sweet to see her give him loves.

Death by Lightening...almost

So I went to girls camp this last week and had a blast! It was great camping, getting fried by the sun and almost getting hit by lightening. Yes, you heard (or technically read) me correctly I got a big fat sunburn. Ha ha! Well, my face was pretty bad and is still peeling, but that's besides the point. I'm sure you all want to hear about the lightening. So...lunch was getting over and we were all sitting underneath a tarp because it had started to rain. I will mention here that I was sitting on a metal chair - not the smartest idea. Well, the leaders had just asked everyone to clean up and move to their next rotations and while this was happening we heard a huge "CRACK!!!!!!" and when I said huge I meant HUGE, LOUD, extremely startling! EVERYONE jumped (and many screamed) and turned to see chunks of wood falling from a tree that was abou 30 yards away. Then we started smelling the burnt wood. It was really cool!!! At this point all the leaders started yelling for us to get inside...hee hee! Where we stayed for about 30-45 minutes until the rain/hail stopped. That's the story, no one got hurt, but it was pretty awesome to be that close to a tree that got struck by lightening. Here are some pictures of the tree. The lightening wrapped around the tree, it can be hard to see in the pictures. 

Northwestern Girl

So, we have decided that Mary got my Northwestern gene. She LOVES the rain. We opened the back door and she was ready to run out in it. I held her in it and thought that would be enough. Nope. As soon as I took her back inside she screamed! It was kind of funny. So we put shoes on her and let her out. I thought she would be out there for about 5 minutes, but 15-20 minutes later she still didn't want to come in. We finally had to grab her and put her to bed, but she was having a great time getting soaked. Here are some of the great pictures. I hope the video works, if not it was Jake running across the yard with Mary on his shoulders. Yeah, she convinced us all to go out and play with her in the rain :D 

She's just a little soaked...ha ha ha!

So sweet! She was getting tired, but still wanted to play. I love my family!!!

Playing and Playing and Pants!

We have been having a good time around the Beckstead home...well mostly Mary. We have fun too, but there isn't much of our fun to tell. Mary's more fun to write about.

She has learned that she really likes playing in her room. She creates some awesome messes in there (we just shut the door and pretend it's clean). I thought it would be fun to get a picture of her in front of her amazing crib. She even smiled for the camera.

 Mary loves to play Peak-a-Boo. But she doesn't really know what "Peak-a-boo" means. We always say "Where's Mary?" and that's when she plays with us. It's really funny to see her try and cover her face with her tiny little hands. In case you were wondering I was about to change her, that's why her clothes are half off. But then she started playing and so I grabbed the camera instead!

Mary has learned that it's fun playing with Dad's toys - that he doesn't put away. This is his yoke for the flight simulator. She loves pushing the buttons. I don't know how much Jake loves it, but Mary does!

In this picture Mary has combined two of her loves...adult chairs and sunglasses. She loves learning how to get on chairs and then just lounging there. This is the rocking chair in her room. She carry books and toys over to it, climb up, throw the items off and do it again. She's so silly!

Mary LOVES the park - if you couldn't tell from other posts. And has learned to LOVE slides! I thought this was so sweet of Jake and Mary. 

Here she is taking care of the rocks so the toys stay clean. She thought it was really fun to let the rocks fall down the holes. 

So, the other day I took Mary to the park and took her to the swings. She shook her head and pretty much ran away! She wanted NOTHING to do with them. So we played on the slides and other toys for a while. Then she say the big kid swings and wondered over to them. At about that time a kid came over and started to swing, oh was she mesmerized! She just watched and watched and then begged me to put her on a big kid swing, so I did. After about 5 minutes of that I took her back to the baby swings and put her in it. And for, literally, the next 20 minutes I couldn't get her out of them. She LOVED them!!! As you can tell by her smile. After that she would go play somewhere for about 3 minutes and then go back to the swing. It was so funny! She loves them!!!

She's so darn cute! I'm not sure where she came from!!!

We went over to my sister's house for swimming and a bbq. It was lots of fun! Mary didn't like swimming so much...ok, at ALL!!! But she did have fun on the trampoline and playing with her cousins. She and Isaac had fun eating together. I love Isaac's face. 

She doesn't like swimming, but she loves the goggles. She's such a goof!

I really wish this one was in focus :(

Oh my mess maker! I'm already dreading the terrible twos!!! Yesterday she kept getting into EVERYTHING! It was driving me nuts! I turned to Jake and said "I can't imagine her terrible twos!" and Jake said "Well maybe she'll grow out of it by then." Yeah, I just laughed, as I'm sure you just did.

Mary has discovered a new toy! We've had this sit-n-spin for quite a few months now. It just sits there never played with. Well the other day Mary found it, hauled it out in the middle of the floor and asked for help (she signs help). So I put her on it, turned it and couldn't get her off it. I took pity on her and put batteries in it so it plays music now. She LOVES it! This picture was taken right after she woke up. She didn't want breakfast, she wanted to play with it. It only took her one night to figure out how to turn herself all the way around it. She's so stinkin smart!!!

Mary has a new habit (as if nail biting wasn't bad enough). She has started sticking her right hand down her pants and then she'll just walk around like that. I don't think she's trying to take off her pants or anything, she just likes it. She's such a goof!!!

Thought I'd end with her new way to wear sunglasses. I think this style will catch on pretty quick!

We hope you all have a wonderful week!!!