Our neighbor, Chuck, mowed our grass yesterday afternoon and took some breaks to play with Liberty and Mercy. They loved it! He also left behind a present: he dumped our grass clippings into a pile at the edge of our property, and Liberty has claimed it as her own personal mountain. She runs through it, climbs on it, lounges in it, jumps on it. A whole new world of joy has presented itself to her, and she is intent on discovering every aspect.

She got into my sewing box on Saturday and created a "spider" out of my spools of thread. This black, blue, orange and cream spider has become her best friend, and she tells me often, "Sss! Spida seeping," or "Yook, Mommy, my bug is happy fins." (happy friends)

Mercy stood by herself on Saturday and TOOK a step! She balanced by herself for 0.7 seconds. [I counted ;-)] She's talking now, too. So far, I have heard her say, "I love you." "Uh-oh." "All done." and a few others that I can't remember now. I guarantee you, she's said a lot more than that, but it's all I can do to decipher those words. So the rest of what she's telling me just gets nodded at.