So the time has come to change things up a little, and so we have decided to move our family blog.
We hope this does not depress our avid fans who are fond of us, but not of change. We are sure there are just tons of you out there, grabbing your hankies, shaking your fists, crying, "Why???!!!!"
But for the rest of you we are happy to announce that we quite like our new little site, and it's posting capabilities are easier, its options more open, and therefore we are sure you'll make it through this.
Thanks and hope to see you round our new web page! Peace and love!
www.mcintoshphotos.com/familyblog
P.S. You're gonna want to go to this blog...Grand Cayman pics are coming and some of them are AWESOME! So...just a little incentive!
Once again life has been busy, busy. Despite our efforts to simplify and minimize things always get crazy. But that's ok, since most of what takes up our time is a lot of fun! For instance, check out our (third) post for the day, (yep, we had one of those chain-post things going on today)!
We were honored to attend Lia's preschool graduation. The most startling part of this evening was realizing Lia will be in kindergarten next year! So weird!
Elliot posed beautifully for a graduation card for Uncle Jared, who just finished his senior year of high school! Go him! (This is one of Melissa's favorite photos ever!)
Once again we invested in new camera equipment. Despite the fact that our wallets were hurting, we had a lot of fun practicing with our new gear...
...even to strange results sometimes...
...but hey...who ever tires of dramatic cat photos? (Heh, hem)
Elliot has been loving blocks lately. Used to be she just liked knocking them down, but she has since learned the satisfaction of stacking. She does pretty well keeping those towers up!
Yeah, this is our fault...our girl can be a total veg-head sometimes, (though the Curios George-induced-comas usually only last about 10min, then it's off to playing again!)
Matt has successfully lodged a love for pandas in Elli's heart. She was the one though to combine panda-time with scooter time. Way to pump as much fun as possible into one time-slot, Elli!
Our sister-in-law, Katie, created a monster when she told all her family where a really awesome, little nature trail is. We of course had to check it out, and we loved it! In the next few photos we are standing in the middle of some gorgeous sequoias...
...Elli would not let go of that California poppy.
There is a little pond surrounded by reeds at one point.
And Melissa really liked this. For a moment she almost thought she was in Oregon, (except that it was like 90degrees out in early June...then she remembered where she was). But still...very cool concept!
Elliot found out what clover was on our little trek. She kept trying to make Momma eat it, until Mommy hid the plant in Elli's pocket, (very confusing for little Elliot). Still, we loved our afternoon stroll!
Other than that, we have been hanging out with fun friends and family, doing our photography thing, (check out our new blog/portfolio by the way...it's pretty rad thanks to Matt. Just click the link in our sidebar), trying to keep cool...
...and being cute as ever!
For those who have not seen in person, let the records show that Elli can walk! She is actually doing much better since these videos were taken, even though they are less than a week old. But this will give the masses, (or Grandma and Grandpas), a little something to cheer about!
(Melissa apologizes for her interjections in this one, but Elli was being shy.)
The lighting in this video is terrible but she was just so cute we included it anyway!
And this is a two-for...a little walking, a little ball-throwing!
Yep, our kid is darn cute!
Feels like we were running around like mad for awhile, but, thankfully, life has slowed down a little. Elliot on the other hand is no closer to slowing down than an avalanche! Here is what our cute girl has been up to:
Up until this last weekend we had blue skies and warm weather like it was mid-July. So we took ourselves outside as much as possible. Elliot is starting to love our park adventures and tells us so all the time!
One of Elli's favorite things to do lately is climb up on our cat-scratch box. Sometimes she brings toys up there and just sits, for long stretches, and plays. Other times she stands and smacks the wall while yelling, which is what we captured a photo of here.
Even though sweet Elli has been able to get to standing from sitting down since late March, this is the first picture we've taken of the feat. Look how proud she is to show off her skills!
Something else Elliot loves to do, whether she has pants on or not, is "walk." Of course she has to have her toy that Billy, Katie and the McNuggets gave her, but with this contraption Elli can maneuver all over our house. Usually, as when this photo was taken, she is giggling the whole time.
The other day Elliot climbed into her toy drum. Surprising she could get her long legs in there, but she did!
When in the kitchen Elliot finds ways of getting around. What a mischievous little monkey!
On mother's day we went to a park with Matt's parents, Billy, Katie and the kiddos. Elliot was a little pooped from church, so we sheltered her from the cold, (yeah...it went from like 90 degrees to 40 in a day; crazy weather!), in a mound o'blankets. The rest of us enjoyed a tasty meal though!
Back inside at Billy and Katie's we celebrated Grandma's birthday, which also fell on Mother's day. Elliot wasn't too crazy about the party-wear...
...but everyone liked the cake!
Something Elliot did like on Mother's Day was a beach ball that she found at BK's. Never have we seen our girl so fearless...she threw herself on this thing, rolled off of it, bounced over it, and....WALKED with it! She went a whole three steps at one point, holding this ball up in front of her! Seems all she needed was a fun diversion to show her that she can in fact put one foot in front of the other!
Happy Mother's Day to Melissa, who loves being a mommy everyday, anyway. But she's thankful to her husband and Elli for her gifts and hugs!
Since Mother's Day Elliot has just been up to all the usual, including adding slime to our cupboard doors, (which are Plexiglas and for good reason). Yesterday she took around five steps, with no diversion, two different times! Looks like walking is in the near future. Some days it is hard to believe how fast Elliot is growing, but we just love her!
