Baby Chicks

On Saturday we went to Grandpa & Grandma Prins' farm to see their new baby chicks! Justin's boss Brian, his wife Brandi, & their kids Evan & Adri came along too. About 100 chicks came in the mail Thursday making the Prins farm quite the local attraction!  Their period of "cuteness" does not last long before d-day in roughly 8 weeks!
Mara didn't know quite what to think of these soft, yellow balls of fluff. (neither did Kya!) She was more interested by their noisy "chirping" & soft bedding in the coop. It was giggles & smiles, however, until one of the chicks got a little too close & picked at her nose! They weren't so soft & cuddly after that:)
Grandpa & Mara

Adri & Mara

Evan & Adri

As you can see, Mara had a little accident last week on the deck. We won't say who she was with...but I think they felt worse than Mara looks!:) Now that she's walking, she's running into everything and has many bumps & bruises to show. I'm sure this is just the beginning of many more to come!

Shocking she didn't snag one up & put it in her mouth like everything else!

Evan :)

Happy Birthday Mara!

For Mara's 1st Birthday we celebrated with 2 parties--one @ each of the grandparents. Here are a bunch of pictures from the weekend!

Daddy & Mara

Mara & Mommy

Grandma Prins celebrates her birthday the same week as Mara!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Tearing into her lady bug birthday cake! I'm a pro @ this:)

She sure knows when she's the center of attention!

This is so much fun! I can't believe mommy lets me get so messy!

Grandpa & Grandma Prins gave Mara a pink John Deere wagon!

All the Prins cousins

The Birthday Girls :)

Taylor & Mara having a tea party

Sleepy girl. Snuggling with Sierra. What a fun weekend!

(for some reason my picture wouldn't transfer)

Happy Birthday Mara!

1 year old

  As you can see I haven't updated the blog in a LONG time! Hopefully this Spring/Summer we'll be able to do a better job!

 Mara turned 1 on March 19th. We can't believe how fast her first year went! So many firsts & many more to come! We often wonder what we did with our "spare time" before we had her. We're thoroughly enjoying our baby girl, laughing a lot & trying to catch everything on camera.  She has been such a little blessing to our lives!
 Some of the things Mara's been up to...
- Walking (practically running everywhere)
- Figured out how to open cupboard doors (and empties everything out!)
- Says: "bye bye", "mama", "da-da", "kya"
- Jabbers ALL the time :)
- Hates socks & shoes (the older ladies in our church usually have to comment on her bare feet!)
- Slowly growing more (dark) hair
- Tooth #5
- Gives high 5's, plays patty cake
- Best buddies with Kya--the 2 get into trouble already!
- Great eater! (she's not a picky eater like her mommy was)
I'm sure there's more...but I can't seem to remember all of them!

 We're loving the spring weather! Mara loves to be outdoors & cries when it's time to go in. I have a feeling we're going to be spending many hours outside this summer! The bad thing is she's constantly putting things in her mouth that shouldn't be.
 Happy Easter!

 Here are Mara's 1 year pictures! Taken by http://www.schoolmeesterphotography.com/

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7 months

Mara just turned 7 months last week! She had another follow-up appointment for her hips on Monday & the results were a great birthday present to mommy! Her hip/leg bones have been shaped correctly after wearing the braces & are maturing correctly. This means we don't have to follow up anymore! Thank the Lord for answering our prayers!
Mara has learned to be quite little miss independent:) She's pretty big stuff now that she can sit up all by herself! She's also figuring out this crawling thing--getting herself up on all fours & scooting back & forth. It's pretty exciting to watch your baby learn new things, even the simplest motor skills. Tiny points of multiple teeth have also made their appearance this week! Poor girl has some pretty swollen gumbs!
Here are some Fall pictures of Mara @ 7 months. Photos by Tom & Jessie Schoolmeester.