Meilani Begins Work as Stand-up Comedian

We've hit the halfway mark on our time here in Virginia. We have been reflecting on what it's been like so far. Each day holds a new adventure mostly because of this quality time we have with our daughter. Despite lots of changes in our plans and challenges along the road, Meilani always keeps us laughing.
Here's a list of some of our favorite Meilani moments:
1. A few weeks ago Meilani had a fever because of the new teeth that are busting out in her mouth. We took her temperature with a thermometer - the kind you hold under her underarm. Last week Meilani found the thermometer again. She ran up to Mama and tried taking Mama's temperature holding up Mama's shirt and poking the thermometer in Mama's belly button.
2. We talked before about the small deck of cards we got as a favor at Mary & Antonio's wedding. This deck of cards is our secret weapon for keeping Meilani entertained. Her newest endeavor is putting single cards between each of her toes and showing off her "foot of cards."

3. Meilani loves to dance! The funniest part for Mama & Daddy is watching her shake her hips to any and every kind of music. You name it - whether a cell phone ring, a car with bumpin' bass or hymns in church - this girl loves to show off her moves. (Where did she get that?)
4. On Fourth of July, Meilani discovered the joy of running down hills. With her typical no-fear attitude, she "went for it," during the fireworks show at Jan & Pat's place. She would bumble and fall and stand up laughing and wanting to do it again. Today, she went headlong down a hill at our new place where we're living. The problem was, this time she ate it and came up with a mouth full of wood chips.
5. This girl has also sent us into giggles on more than one occasion because of her extreme reactions to animals. She loves pointing at birds - ooh! ooh! Oooh! - but also dogs, groundhogs, horses and everything else you can imagine. Last night we caught her kissing a page in her COLORS book (see photo at top) with a black cat on it. Her face lights up at the sight of animals - even a metal chicken holding a sign that says "Eat More Beef" on someone's lawn near school.