6 months old!

Where has the time gone!?!?!?! My baby is 6 months old! I was able to take a few shots of her at my friends house while I was watching her little boy (thanks Stacy for having the "studio" all set up to use!) And here are some fun facts about Miss A

• Miss A enjoys eating anything she can put in her mouth - she just LOVES food!

• she rolls over - WHEN she feels like it

• she laughs SO much especially at her sister and for some reason when Miss M says - "you're a slippery baby - slip-per-y ba-by" (why she says that I don't know - but you should HEAR the way Miss A laughs at it!!)

• she LOVES her johnny jumper

• Loves the swings at the park

• going for walks, being outside in general

• she likes sitting and is really good at holding herself up - every once in a while she falls and bumps her head - I think she gets more upset that she is not sitting, then she does that she bumped her head.

• she is still good at going to sleep - and only gets up once during the night either at 1 am or 4 am depending on the time she has gone to bed
  

• she loves music and loves to rock to it

• she has started doing this move that we call the caterpillar - she lays on her back and scoots herself by moving her shoulders, hips pretty cute, unless you are trying to change her diaper - then she adds a kick in there and scoots right off of that diaper

• her lamby is the most important thing - good thing my good friend happened to have 2 of them! So Miss A now has three of them - she cuddles with ALL of them at night it is pretty cute

We love this little baby more and more every second!

32 and Counting

It's official, I am NOW 32 years old... I had a GREAT birthday!! I started the day by attending the morning session of General Conference IN THE CONFERENCE CENTER!! I was so so excited to be there for my birthday!
We had lunch at Cafe Rio - which I LOVED - so yumm-o!
Looked at bridal things with my sister, walked around the mall, and then hurried back to my mom's so K could go to the priesthood session of conference. I am SO glad he did because he ran into our good friend. After conference we met up with him and his wife. We ate at the Mayan with them and my family. It was great to catch up with them. We were also entertained by the divers at the Mayan - Miss M loved that! Just a note - if you eat there I would NOT recommend the mashed potatoes - they put cucumbers in them and it is not very appetizing at all! But they have this Mango pie dessert that is SO good!
Mostly it was just the great company, my family and friends that made my day so special!

Here are a few things that I have not liked about being 32 - and maybe it has nothing to do with 32 - but it seems like it to me...

• I have wrinkles - crows feet around my eyes
• I have had more zits/pimples/blemishes since I have turned 32 then I have had in my whole 32 years - its terrible and I am sorry if I sound snobbish about this, but I have always been proud of my nice blemish free skin and every once in a while when I would "break out" it would be one or two maybe three, (and the end of the world) but never more. Right now as I am typing this I have 23 on my face - I mean really WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!?!?!
• I feel more stressed (again don't know if that has anything to do with being 32, but it seems to have happened after I turned 32
• I have grey hair! not just the one or two that would sneak up, but its starting to appear in my root line and my side burn area - so much (to me) that I told K, I was ready to get highlights...
  
• I have less tolerance for people- yet I feel as though I am so much more calm with my children
• and I just feel older - I haven't felt this with other birthdays, but this one, I do

SO tell me, what do you do to have nice skin?

Do you have grey hair? Have you had an age that you just can't get into?

Utah - Church Museum

One of the fun things we did on our walks down to Temple Square ( my mom lives blocks away) was visit the Church Museum. We didn't see all the things there - our goal was to visit the display for the children - the I am a child of God exhibit. It was so sweet! Miss M and A had a great time as did my mom and me. Miss M's favorite thing to do was hang out in the nursery part of the exhibit. She loved playing with the dolls, washing them, dressing them and rocking them. They had a Tree of Life display, CTR rubbings of all different languages, dress up for a nativity and lots of other fun things. We spent two hours there, every minute wonderful. If you happen to be in the area, I recommend going!

Miss A standing by the Nativity -were you could dress up to be a shepherd, angel, or wise-man

Miss M doing a CTR rubbing

rocking the new baby

Miss A thought she would take a turn too - she was pretty cute in the rocking chair with a baby not much smaller than herself!

The Tree of Life display

Quotes of the Week

These all struck me at different times last week and so I saved them to share - then I thought, why not do them all at once, maybe one of these is what you need to hear today...

We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.

~Dallin H. Oaks

This was great to read after my week of being sick and having a sick baby and a husband out of town...

~Appreciate the preciousness of the present moment

(I found this on this blog here)



This is EXACTLY what I needed after my day with my "wonderful" neighbor

(I found this on this blog here)

Past Quotes Here

This is my ANGRY face part two

do you remember that post I did back in January - the one where I wanted to say so much about my upstairs neighbor but didn't... (HERE is the post) WELL, now multiply that by 10 and that is about how K and I feel about her today. (and now imagine me ranting and raving on and on about her...........GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......................AHHHHHHHHHH.....................................) thanks for listening I feel so much better!

Do you or have you had a neighbor that was less than neighborly??
Please tell me a neighbor story so I can feel Better!

Utah cont. day 2

Day two we woke up to snow snow snow! K had to catch a flight back home for jury duty. But we made it to the airport - and I made it home (my mom's place) even if I was "white knuckling" my mom's steering wheel the whole way back*.
I had not packed any snow clothes or heavy jackets. Not wanting to be completely "snowed" in for the day I borrowed my mom's boots layered the girls up and we made our way to Temple Square. Miss M loved looking at all the snow covered flowers, the water, taking pictures. We found a place for lunch (McDonald's - phew!) Then continued enjoying our walk. By this time all the snow was melting and we were taking off our many layers. Spring weather in Utah - who knew it was so unpredictable! Miss M and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon back at Grandma's house playing.
Miss M and A had most of my undivided attention through this whole week because I didn't have a cell phone, internet, cable tv or a car to drive. It was refreshing for all of us I think!

*I have driven in snow lots of times but there is something different about driving in a blizzard, no plowed roads and using your mom's new car

Come Thou Fount - Reflections of Christ

As I sit home another day (blast this cough!)- and today being Sunday it was especially nice to receive an uplifting e-mail from a friend. In the e-mail was a link to a beautiful slide show. The slide show is titled "Reflections of Christ" and it is set to my favorite hymn, Come Thou Fount - this was the perfect pick me up for my soul today. Click HERE to see the slide show (well worth the 5 minutes!) You can go HERE to see the entire website. Enjoy!

*The picture of the statue of Christ I took on our recent trip to Utah. This statue is in the visitors center at Temple Square. Miss M loves to go and see it every time we are there.

Aloha Friday

I took my girls to the park!!! It was BEAUTIFUL -the weather, the temperature, the girls...
We played for almost 2 hours.

Miss M was in Heaven!

We took pictures by the daffodils, we fed the ducks, we played on the swings, and the sand.

Miss A loves the sand - and I only had to stop her from trying to eat it ONCE.

Utah Posts Delays

SO, I was hoping to blog more about our Utah trip - but all my pictures are on my lap top, and K takes that to work with him...and well it just throws off my groove a bit. Someday I will post more about our trip - here is a little sneak peek...(I took these from my sisters FACE BOOK account that is why I have these pictures...)
While we were in Utah, my little sister Sarah had her bridal pictures taken...here are just a few of the many. Her photographer was great! You can check out Jessie Lynn's photo blog here.
And her flowers were gorgeous!

Isn't Wedding planning fun?

My Little Reader

Miss M just LOVES books.

She is getting better at reading everyday! She is a super speller too. (I really think it's because K works with her so much.) And I believe it is so important to read to your children daily. I am a HUGE reader and have been looking forward to the day when Miss M and I can read chapter books. My good friend sent me some classics all little girls should have when Miss M was a baby (plus a beautiful blanket she can snuggle up with while reading them). We haven't cracked open those books yet, hopefully soon - but we have read Charlotte's Webb and are reading Trumpet of the Swan*, not to mention she loves it when I read the chapter books to the Girls** after school. We have enjoyed the Spiderwick Series, Junie B Jones,and many others... but last Monday, library day, K and Miss M found Prince Caspian. Miss M is very excited about the upcoming Narnia movie and so they borrowed the book. We have been reading it faithfully every night (except tonight I left it at the girls house - Miss M was super*** sad!)

The best part is, Miss M is a little reader like her Mommy and we enjoy book time together!

I guess I should point out that I DO MOST OF THE READING in the big chapter books, she
is just finally interested in more than just picture books - but I am amazed at the words
that she is able to point out to me while we are reading...

*That is until we started reading Prince Caspian
**I watch two girls in the afternoon
***I think SUPER is my new favorite word to use, it keeps popping up in everything I say or write!

Do You Have a Favorite Child Hood Classic?
Or Just ANY favorite book?



(thanks Kelly for the ** idea! -
and RH for the questions at the end idea - I've seen it in other blogs, and I'm glad
you are doing it!)

My New Project...

BEE PREPARED

I've been working on a new blog for our ward's emergency preparedness. (It's kind of been slipped into my calling of the co-enrichment leader longer story but I wanted to help out!) I have to say so far it's been easy because our church's website already has most of the work done!! This is more to give weekly/monthly tips (depending on my ambition) and the items of the month that will be available for purchase to add to our emergency home supply; for example we have had candles and masks so far... click HERE to check out the blog.... and ( thanks to this friend for the idea!!)

Do You have any emergency preparedness tips, food supply, or 72 hour kit tips???

The Hawaii Chair on the Ellen show...

My friend just sent this to me - and maybe it's because I am super tired or my allergies have just turned into a "man cold" but I laughed out loud watching ELLEN trying to use this chair! It kind of reminded me of a mechanical bull ride... go HERE to watch it : ) let me know if it made you smile...

Quote of the Week

I find as I go through my day that I come across quotes, song lyrics, poems, words in a book or scriptures, that I really like - here is one I found today - it came from a
LDS Living FHE lesson.

Happiness is not a place—it is a way of life.

~Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Green Bay or Bust...

I was going to post another blog about our week in Utah - but K took the laptop on his trip and all my pictures are on there...oh well, I really should be in bed! WE are leaving (the girls and I) for Green Bay tomorrow - we are going to celebrate my Granny's 90th - that's right 90th birthday!!
Plus we are staying at a hotel with a water park - smallish but just right for little kids.

hope you all have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Utah - day one

Sunday our first official day in Utah, I went to church with my mom. I LOVE going to her ward. It meets in the Joseph Smith Memorial building in Temple Square - it is SO beautiful especially walking through the temple gardens and seeing all the beautiful spring flowers!

Miss M stayed home with Daddy, her pink eye not better at all, and in both eyes...

While my mom, Miss A and I were enjoying Church, K and Miss M were playing with the fun toys my mom has - she is a kindergarten teacher and has lots of fun things to play with. One of Miss M's favorite was an alphabet puzzle. She really enjoyed spelling/sounding out words. Between one of the hours of church I called to see how she was feeling and she said "Great! I just spelled DUCKLING." And K happened to snap a picture of her telling me...So Cute. I am pretty proud of that little speller.

She also sounded out the word ELAPHANT - I like how she spelled it E-L-A-F-I-N-T!

Miss A was good during church - I think she loved all the attention from all the Grandma and Grandpa's in my moms ward - the average age in her ward is 75!

Miss M and A modeling their matching shirts...

After church, we came home and enjoyed my Mom's crock pot stew. Then we just enjoyed our Sunday afternoon visiting, watching videos and hanging out with my sister, K's brother also stopped in to say hello - and to meet Miss A for the first time...

Utah or Bust

(you can kind of see how Miss M's eyes look in this picture)

We made it to Utah - Miss A's first flight and she - we flew FIRST CLASS! (love the United perks! sometimes) They were both so good on the flight - and because I waited for Miss M to be on the pink eye - eye drops for 24 hours K made it home from Germany and we were all able to fly to SLC together! WOO-HOO!

I made it through security with no hang ups (I do this by myself because K can park our car in the employee parking lot for free - we are not employees and are not allowed
in the restricted parking area)

The TSA agents were so kind and helpful - Seriously! They zipped me and the girls right through. Miss M had fallen asleep on the way to the airport and was pretty upset when her beloved Ziggy had to go through the x-ray machine - the TSA agent on the other side noticed this and had her doggy waiting for her when she walked through. They also helped me fold up the stroller, get the car seat through, and when Miss A's lamby fell they ran after me to give it back! PHEW!!! I was super grateful for all their help!

The crew on the plane spoiled us - and after our flight my sister and her fiance were there
to pick us up. Even though it was after midnight.
And so our week in Utah begins...

5 Months Old 3/23/08

Miss A likes to eat - not just her bottle, but what ever she can get her hands on. She also likes to put anything and everything in her mouth. She enjoys eating baby food - prunes and sweet potatoes are her favorite. Drinking water from a glass. She loves Miss M - I know I have mentioned this before, but she just loves to watch her big sister where ever she is - and especially enjoys it when Miss M plays with her, sings to her, reads to her.

She likes it when I sing to her too. I was beginning to think something was wrong with her, because when ever she would see me or I would hold her she would start rocking side to side. Then my mom realized as soon as I would start singing "rock my baby" she would be even more happy - and rock even more. Guess she just wanted me to sing. It's amazing how well a baby can communicate! Since we didn't see a doctor this month, I don't have her stats. But sometimes after holding her awhile I feel she weighs 30 pounds!

She LOVES to pull hair! Snuggle, play in her jumper and her activity saucer...

Miss A can sit, grab at anything, and she can roll over!!!

She is quick to smile, loves to laugh - especially for Miss M! Love, I mean LOVES her lamby and is super good about sleeping in her crib - now if I could get her to not want that 5 am bottle we would be in business! We just love her more and more every day!

4 months
3 months
2 months
1 month