Up & Over...Pushing...Walking

Wow! How time flies! I love watching babies speedy progression starting around 9 or 10 months. And since I haven't been posting regularly for the last 2 months...let me show you what has changed!!!

At the beginning of November, when Alice was 9 months she was loving crawling into tiny spaces (under chairs, under the piano bench, between the couch and the wall) and either getting stuck or finding ways to get up and over and out.

At 10 months old (during December), she loved to pull up to anything and everything. She would create "walkers" out of any toy or chair that would move when she pushed it along. Walking is just around the corner...

January 6th, 2009: 11 months old. Alice started taking multiple steps in a row. (You'll notice my cell phone is always the bait we use to get her to walk...she'll do just about anything to get a hold of it!) She's a cute little solid walker. She's been standing on her own for so long (just not moving forward) that her little walk is super solid now. It's so fun to watch this stage. Every day she gets a little braver as she lets go and walks further distances. We love to watch you go girl!

I know you won't all watch all the videos, but just for the Grandparents...here's how she's progressed in the last month from that first uneasy step (the last clip is the best if you're just picking one)...

Taken 2 days before her 1st birthday...she's cruisin' now!

Happy 1st Birthday Alice

Happy Birthday to our little Alice bug! Can't believe a year has flown by already. We feel so lucky to have this little doll part of our lives every day. I love this age. I love the little personality that is blossoming and developing!

Hayley was at school and Ryan didn't get home on her birthday until almost bedtime so I randomly sang "Happy Birthday" to her all day so that I felt like I was doing something for her! She would get so excited and clap her hands along with my singing every time.

Got to love the obsession with putting things in and out constantly. We just try to keep her away from the garbage because it's really fun to put things in...sure gets a reaction from mom!

Of course, decorating the cake was a highlight of the family party. For Alice, we made a flower out of our puzzel cake.

What did we serve for dinner for our 1 year old's birthday? Tuna casserole on animal plates...she thought it was great!!! Okay, so she couldn't wait for dad to get home so she ate before the rest of us but what more could you want than mom's 100% attention while you're eating!

"Cheese!"

Okay, so we kind of cheated. For the "cake dig" part we only gave her one piece of our puzzel cake! So much cleaner!

And the dilema ever since we had more than one kid...what can we possibly get for child #2 or #3? Don't we have everything and more than we need?!? Well, she would have just gotten diapers for her birthday but I ran across this fun little toy on a post Christmas clearance and the mommy side of me decided we had to give her something. Now the clutter-free side of me is wondering how we ever got so many toys in our little house?!?!

Anyways, another happy day!

(We have 3 birthdays in 2 weeks in our house so 2 down...one to go!)

Oh Happy Day!

On January 31st...I bought the stroller I have been drooling over for the past several months. You may remember me going on and on about the amazing BOB stroller that I borrowed from a friend last year. Well...it's amazing how creative I can get at coming up with the funds with the right motivation. I have to admit I wasn't quite there but REI's sale was on and we decided we better jump on it.

REI is a long drive for us so we made a day out of it. Somehow, we have no pictures of the great stroller that we came home with but this is what they all did while I debated forever about what color of stroller I wanted (pathetic...I really couldn't decide! Navy/grey or Orange/brown?)

I finally settled on the Orange/brown version of this fine product (like it really matters--this is about moving lots of little bodies easily!) Anyways, my life seems to have become significantly easier--at least going places on my own with lots of kids is less physcally demanding and stressful to me. Oh happy day!

I have a feeling that pictures of the new stroller will pop up in future posts!

Yo-Yo Maya

A couple months ago, Maya started talking about cellos. At first we wondered if she even knew what a cello was?!? We don't know how it started but this little girl has a passion for cellos! If we are listening to classical music she picks out the cellos and will say excitedly "I hear the cellos!" She requests cello music to listen to when she's going to bed...so we've been borrowing Yo-Yo-Ma CDs from the library. I love to discover these little passions!

Recenly we've been babysitting an old violin. I have let the girls try it out. Maya knows it's a violin but refuses to play it like a violin and refers to it as the cello. Her attention span is short but she's actually been improving over the last month. (I don't get that zing down my spine every time now!)

I guess if she ever becomes a famous celloist here's her beginning...

And plucking...

Happy Birthday Maya!

I'm so excited that Maya is 3! I love 3 years old and love this little girl. I'm so lucky to be able to spend every day with her. It's so fun to watch her grow and learn and become such a great little person.

Making and decorating your own birthday cake is becoming part of our tradition. Here's the masterpiece. (This puzzle cake set that a friend gave me is really fun...remember Yoda?...and there's another one to come!)

I just love the look of surprise that we caught here. She was opening a My Little Pony toy that she's been admiring in the store for a long time. Yeah!

Modeling her new full set of princess shoes...my accessory queen!

The weather cooperated and gave Maya the first real snow this year. Hurray!!! Hayley had the day off school so we were going to head downtown to visit Maya's favorite museum exhibit (the new ocean hall in the Natural History Museum) but once the girls saw the snow they didn't want to waste the day indoors. So Dad found an awsome sled and headed home from work early to play in the snow. Couldn't have a better birthday!

Then we had a quick little cake and ice cream party with one of Maya's friends, Claire.

We taught the kids how to have a three legg-ed race and played a few other fun games. Then gabbed half the night with Claire's parents. (Don't you love it when your kids are friends with kids that have fun parents?!? )

All in all...a fun birthday.

This is why...

Honey, I really have kids so you have weights to press. Keep up the good work!

Ideal Moments to Remeber

Don't you just get joy out of seeing your kids play together happily?!?! (...and the bedroom is clean and the kids are dressed and their hair is done and the sun is shining...this must have been a good day!)

Andrew & Mariana

My lil' brother Andrew and his wife Mariana came to visit!

They were on their way back from spending Christmas in England. Mariana's Mom, Raquel was with them also. We enjoyed a quick 2-day visit with them. I was so happy to finally get to know Mariana better! They've been married for almost 2 years and yet we haven't seen each other since the wedding. Thanks for taking the time to stop in guys! Once you clean our floor after dinner and witness melt-downs we can finally really feel like family!

My favorite Smithsonion--the American History Museum just re-opened after a 2 year rennovation. I was excited to use Andrew and Mariana's visit as a good excuse to pop in and check it out. Now I like that museum even more! They even added a whole bunch of kid-friendly stuff. Hurray! We love science and craft rooms in museums.

Ryan's Mom and sisters were also able to meet us downtown. Here's the picnic in the basement of the museum!

I think most of our good visit time took place in the car...so here's to keeping kids quiet with a DVD and getting some talk-time in!

Saturday morning I had to be at a primary activity and they were all kind enough to come and support me...

And we scored...our visitors even showed us how to cook an authentic mexican meal. So Yummy! Now I know what to do with tostadas.

Don't you hate it when your mom and dad make you smile for a picture that you can't even open your eyes in? I remember having pictures like this all the time when I was a kid. So painful on the eyes! Here's evidence that I am now doing it to my kids! Oops!

My brother Dean's birthday was on the day that we dropped Andrew and Mariana off at their house to spend some time. Ryan and Andrew used a Wilton "Puzzle Cake" to design a Yoda cake for our dear brother that loves Star Wars.

Kristen had a new cool cake pan that made a ice cream filled cake...yummy! It was fun to get in on the party although we were sad to give Andrew and Mariana up so soon!

Thanks for the visit! Come back again soon!!!