Will make you laugh

8 Months

This girl is such a light! She brings joy and laughter to our house all the time and is such a good baby. 8 months old and: loves to play in her excersaucer or with a basket of toys which she empties and then plays with the basket, loves food of all shapes and sizes (especially when it is sneaked to her by her sister Lily, who when caught says, "It's just a teeny, weeny, tiny mom, and she really likes it.") , talks and sings all the time, says "Ya" "Da" and what sounds like "Hi", rolls all over the place and is starting to do the backwards crawl. So much fun to see her grow.

Bowling For The Birthday Girl

That night we went to the BYU bowling alley because Lily kept asking me to go bowling which is so funny because she has only been once in her life about 10 months ago, but I guess it made an impression that lasted. So we went with some friends and their boys and it was super fun. Thanks to Chad who kept the game going with the kids, and helping them with carrying their balls and aiming them in the right direction while the moms got to chat. One of the cutest things was little Sebastian after every turn, had to run up to Lily and say "I did it" and get some sort of recognition from her. After a bit though she got bored and wanted to play the hunting game in the arcade. Cupcakes were eaten after it was all done and on the way home she said, "Mom, Dad, that was so nice of you, thank you I'm so proud of you." So I think she a great Birthday.

Presents

Lily is always asking me if the tutus I'm making are for her, so we went to the fabric store, she picked out the colors (hot pink and sherbet pink) and I made her a new tutu for her growing collection. Because her birthday is so close to Christmas she didn't need anything, but my family got her some princess dress-up shoes and she was totally content. It was so funny to watch her walk in them at first because she could barely keep her balance (in her defense they are the narrowest shoes I've ever seen, and she is not used to wearing heels)!

The Princess Turns 3! (The Little Friend Party)

At first I didn't want to do a friend party this year and just do a little family one, but Lily kept asking me when her friends were coming over to sing Happy Birthday to her, so I decided to invite a few for a really low key playdate. Here they are: Liam, Cade, Ethan, Lily, Tanner, Emma (Kylee left early). When I first thought about it, I thought we could do a fairy party since Lily is in love with Tinkerbell and all things fairy. After realizing that she has more boys than girls that she plays with I post-poned the ultra girly party for next year. So the kids just came over, played with toys downstairs for half an hour, then came upstairs to play a couple of games, have snacks (cheetos, fruit snacks, marshmallows, and graham crackers, all of Lily's requests), sing and open presents. It was super easy for me and Lily had a ball!

She loved her pink cupcake with sprinkles

New sunglasses

Baby sister playing with her toys

Two heads are better than One

I am finally back to blogging after a long break, and just thought this picture was too cute of Ella (I know I look like a scary mommy). My little Ella Rose seems to ALWAYS be near me, and I am so trying to just enjoy the baby phase, realizing that it really flies by. I Love the way she just lights up when she sees me, and prefers me to anyone else (that's kind of selfish I know, but seriously one of the huge payoffs of all the sleepless nights, spit-up, crying, poopy diapers, and teething)! I Love the way she grabs a tight fist of the hair at the back of my neck as if to say, "I am not letting go, so don't even think about it". I Love when she (no matter what is on her face or coming out of her nose) burrows her face deep into my neck or shoulder and just rubs it back and forth and hums. I Love when she grabs my face for a huge slobbery kiss and doesn't let go until I pry her off. Aren't Babies the best?

Cute Pics

Okay I am WAY overdue for an update (Christmas in AZ, New Year's, etc.) but have just a couple of cute ones of the girls my best friend Katie took (more of these to come too)

Books of 2008

-Specials by Scott Westerfield
-Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
-The Host by Stephanie Meyer
-Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
-Pretties by Scott Westerfield
-Uglies by Scott Westerfield
-Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
-Redwall by Brian Jaques
-The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
-The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
-Romeo and Julie by Jeanne Ray
-Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
-Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
-A Train to Potevka by Mike Ramsdell
-She's come undone by Wally Lamb
-A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
-East of the Mountains by David Guterson
-The Giver by Lois Lowry
-Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns