Little Cub is 1

 It's so crazy to realize that my sweet Little Cub is already 1 year old.  It seems like she was just born.  She has grown so much this last year.  We had a party for her that included family and her CC (caregiver).  Before we ate, our pastor led us in a dedication.  We dedicated Makayla to God and us to parenting her in a Christian home.  I'm so glad we did this.  Our church had a dedication Sunday where a whole bunch of families were dedicating their children.  I wanted something more personal.  He did a great job and gave us a suggestion to write Little Cub a letter that she will receive when we send her off to college or leaving our home for her own adventure.  I need to start writing it.  The letter will include how we made our home a Christ-filled home, how we prepared her and us, how we considered her a gift from God, our hopes and our prayers for her.  I think it will be tough to write.  I need to write one for Little Bear too.
I went with a monkey theme since her room has jungle animals in it.  I found some cute party supplies online here.  My cousin and her husband who own Wooten's Sweet Cakes made a fabulous cake.  I thought they did an amazing job.  My mom made a few cream-filled cupcakes too.  We had tacos for lunch which Little Cub devoured.  When it came time for the cake smash, she was a bit hesitant.  With her first taste of frosting, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.  But, she went back for more.  She mostly played with the frosting.  I had to dig into the cake part for her to get her to play with it.  When we opened her presents, she was more interested in playing than staying in my lap and opening each gift.  The party was a success and I'm very thankful for those that came and celebrated our Little Cub!!!

not really sure about the cake

She finally dug into the cake

She wasn't quite sure about all the excitement

Checking out her presents

I think she's a bit worn out from all the partying

Colorado Trip

We drove to Colorado over the 4th of July.  We were a bit nervous about the long car trip with the kids.  I searched Pinterest for ideas to keep toddlers entertained.  I had a container of all sorts of snacks and another container full of different activities to keep Little Bear happy.  But, I wasted time on the activity container because as long as we had the movie Cars playing, Little Bear was pretty happy.  We watched that one a tone of times.  He watched a few others too.  I felt bad for Little Cub because she still has to face backwards in her car seat.  I had a bag of books and toys for her.  Overall, she did well.  She screamed some for a while, but nothing that I wouldn't expect.  We spent a few days at a YMCA camp near Winter Park for a family reunion.  It was a great time, but just a bit exhausting.  Little Bear refused to sleep in his pack-n-play and insisted on sleeping with me.  Little Cub woke up ever hour and a half to two for 4 nights.  We did a little hiking and even did a little canoeing.  Papa Bear rode the zip line.  I'm glad we went and got to see a lot of family I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was a nice time away from the normal routine.  It was nice to get back home and sleep in our own beds thought for sure.  

The only way we could keep him still when we needed him to be - watching Cars

He had so much fun playing in the dirt.  He wore those boots the whole time without socks - stinky!!!

My pretty girl

Sitting with his cousin watching daddy zipline.  She did such a great job keeping him calm.  He was scared to see Papa Bear up so high.

"Hiking" to the lake.  I'm looking forward to doing some real hiking with them in several years.

playing in the mountain lake

Little Bear just had to stop and pet all the dogs

building a truck with Papa Bear

Painting the truck he and Papa Bear built

I printed this map before we left to keep track of all the different license plates we saw.  By the end of the trip we saw all but 9 of the states.  We even saw Alberta Canada

He always wanted to play this piano - so cute.  I hope he will take lessons in a few years

Just chatting with her cousin

practicing rowing

She enjoyed crawling around in the sand

Little Bear was so worn out after hiking he fell asleep in the car with his head hanging down on the way back to the cabin

roasting marshmallows with Papa Bear for the first time

11 Months Old

Seriously?  She's 11 months old already?  Only 1 more month and she will be 1 year old.  Crazy!  She's walking really well now.  She's sleeping better too - wakes only once a night.  I'm loving that for sure!!!!  Little Cub loves to "read" her books.  I can often find her in her room rummaging through her box of books.  She still loves her Momma Bear and lately has had more stranger anxiety.  She doesn't like me to put her in the stroller and would rather I wear her.  However, with the hot days lately, that's not very comfortable for me.  She enjoys the swimming pool.  She and Little Bear are taking swimming lessons.  Today was a breakthrough for Little Bear and it made this Momma Bear proud.  Little Cub did well too and even swam under water to me.  It's so important to me that they both learn to swim.

She barely stayed still for this pic