Hitting the Road

Jeff and I decided to head up to Adam and Danielle's this weekend so I could attend her bachlorette party. Of course Mom was delighted to have Natalie stay with her for the weekend. We have never traveled with Julia, but I was ready for the challenge and ready to do something new!

Here we are getting ready to head out of town.



Here we are at our first stop, half way there. I love the new face.

Julia did a great job in the car and I was so proud. When we got there we decided to hang out, talk about the wedding and drink some wine.

The next morning we headed to the mall to do a little shopping. Because we didn't want to take everything we borrowed a stroller from Adam and Danielle. Just so happens we sold them Natalie's stroller so it was fun to see Julia in it!

While Danielle was looking for something to wear to the party, I told her I would watch the girls. I took this photo of them and I think it is just too funny. They both look like I caught them doing something really bad! Hmmm...wonder if I will see this same look in about 13 years?

We were at a great mall that had a Stride Rite, so we decided to get Julia her first pair of shoes. She has started pulling up on things, so I am sure that her first steps are not far away. It was hard to get a good photo of her because she wouldn't hold still! Silly girl.


After the mall we decided to head to Bass Pro Shop. Julia was wiped out from the mall, so she slept, but I think Jeff enjoyed it.


So after all the shopping it was time to head to the party! Here Danielle is in all her bachlorette glory. You know, all the silly stuff we asked her to wear. She was a good sport and everyone had a great time.


Before we left on Sunday we let the girls play together for a little longer. Julia and McKinley (15 mos) really enjoyed playing with each other. I am pretty sure they will be friends when they are older.

9 Month Photos

My Girls and Their New Tricks

The girls are always up to new tricks and this time I caught them with my camera.

This is Julia just being cute. That is easy to catch on camera!

This is Julia's new scrunchy face. She also makes this little piggy noise when she does it. It is so cute and funny. It reminds me of Natalie's cheese face.

In this photo she is making the same face, but you can see all the teeth she is getting in. If you click on the photo and make it larger you can really see them. No wonder she is having a hard time sleeping!

So, Natalie thinks that she can touch her nose with her tongue and I agree, she almost can!

Who's in the Pen?

So, I set this up as a safe place for Julia to play. Somewhere I could control what toys she had and knew that Natalie was keeping her distance from her. However, this is what usually happens.

Bathing Beauty

I just can't resist photos of the kids in the tub. There is something about them in there that just makes them so cute. I think it is all the chubby baby rolls and the slicked down hair. They are just too cute!!

Barbara Jane

At 10:05 on Sunday, January 16th, my grandma passed away. I was there with her and the minute after she was gone I was already missing her. It is funny how you take things for granted. I guess I just always thought she would be around and I would always have the chance to see her again. She was an amazing women who loved to cross stitch, hang out with her family and play cards. Some of my fondest memories include her. I remember staying weekends with her at the lake. She would send us to be in the camper and they would sit outside and listen to the Royals games and play cards. She used to let us roller skate in the basement. She let us eat the cookie dough and I swear she made the best fried chicken and toast. She always had cookies in the cookie jar. They were never the fancy kind, they were the cheap store brand, but for some reason they always were fantastic. She always made us go to church if we were there on the weekend. There wasn't anything my grandma wouldn't do for one of her grand kids or great grand kids. My grandma was a very devout Catholic. She had a bible that she kept all kinds of notes in. It was amazing. I am so glad that Natalie got to meet her. We have told Natalie about grandma's passing, but at her age I am not sure how much she understands. I am sad that Julia will never get to really meet her. I am worried about my grandfather. I hope he stays strong and knows that we are all here for him.

Here is a photo montage that I made for her funeral.

My Giggly Little Girl

Patty Cake!

Julia has just started trying to do Patty Cake and it is so cute!

Class Project

I love the projects that Natalie brings home from school. Below is her current project, an igloo. Of course she just wanted to know if she could eat it.

Mohawk Baby

Julia has been growing more hair, but it seems to be growing only down the middle. Sometimes she looks like she is sporting a little mohawk. So, to play it up after her bath the other night, I made it stand straight up. The really funny apart about it is every time we tried to get a photo we realized that there was something in the background that made it hard to see!

Another Year!

Last Friday I celebrated my birthday. Another year older. I remember being so excited for my birthday when I was little and now, ugg. The only thing that made it great, was my family.

Natalie and I after she helped me blow out my candles.


Natalie helping me blow out my candles.

The wonderful cake Natalie and Jeff made for me that included an entire jar of sprinkles. Yum. Red velvet with cheese cake frosting and sprinkles!

Julia just hanging out.

Me and my girls on my birthday. Natalie is holding onto the necklace, earring set and bracelet she picked out for my birthday. Jeff took her Friday night and this is what she got. I love it. It was too funny because she kept taunting me with the wrapped gift on Thursday night telling me I couldn't open it. She is such a stinker. I also scored some new PJ's and some wine. Overall, it was a great birthday and not a bad way to celebrate another year.


Natalie singing happy birthday to me on Thursday when they were baking my cake.

Really?

Ever since Julia got her two bottom teeth I have been religiously checking her top gums every morning for the first glimpse of her top teeth. Nothing to date. Tonight when I am using the sucker on her nose and she is really mad and screaming at me, I notice that she has not two, but four teeth on the bottom...WHAT?!?! That isn't the order they are supposed to come in. (See chart below from my parenting book.) These teeth are supposed to be fourth. Ugg....now what am I going to write in her baby book and how did I miss two teeth?

Snow Days!

Natalie was so excited when she heard that is was going to snow. When she got up and saw the snow she immediately wanted to go out. Because I couldn't tell her sweet face no, I let her go out alone while Julia and I watched from the warm house. Here she is all bundled up ready to go out. I find it funny, that while a little small, the 18 month snow suit still fits her, well kind of. She loves her princess boots and was very excited to get to wear them.

Here she is, her first real go in the snow. She loved it!

After we got Julia down for her morning nap, I bundled Natalie back up and we went out again. I told her to take a bite of the snow and she did, she loved it and I then had to tell her to stop eating it. It was too funny.

We tried to make a snowman because she is fascinated with Frosty, but the snow was like powder and wouldn't stick. What it was great for was throwing it in the air and pretending like it was snowing.



After playing in the front yard for a little while, I knew that Natalie really wanted to get her sled out, so we did. I took her in our back yard where we have a slope and it made for good sledding as long as Mommy ran as fast as she could half way down the slope and pushed really hard. Natalie thought it was great fun and even tried to push me down the hill. So, after we played for a little over an hour, we decided to head in and get some hot chocolate. She had never had it before and decided that it was a good thing.

For the past week or so I have been smelling this terrible smell in the house. For the life of me I couldn't determine what it was. This morning Jeff grabbed his lunch box and opened it up to find a frozen lunch that had been there way to long! Hurray!! The source of the stink has been identified and dealt with!! So, now that he didn't have a lunch box, we had a problem. Because Jeff is such a great sport and dad, I knew that he would be OK with the following plan. I asked him to ask Natalie to borrow her lunch box. Natalie was so excited to be able to help her Daddy. They packed the lunch together and I snapped this photo of them before he left for work. I think there is something amazing about a man that will sport a Dora lunchbox just to see his daughter smile.

Marty got Natalie these great little seats called Bilibos and she loves to just spin in them. One day she got going way to fast and it pitched her out. It was pretty funny.

So, now with Julia crawling all around she is discovering all kinds of new things. Recently she started sucking on the walls and the refrigerator. It is too funny. Maybe I need to feed her more.

Sweet baby Julia. I am just dying to see what color her eyes will be. Currently they are green/blue. I am wondering if they are going to turn brown like Natalie's did.

This is Julia after her bath tonight. Jeff worked late and Mom came to eat. She was hanging out with Natalie while I was bathing Julia. We came out to see what Mom and Natalie were up to and she snapped this photo.