12 MONTHS and my COWBOY!

Heidi is one. There, I said it. I guess it is true. My baby is one. She is the cutest one year old ever. She makes everyone in our home smile all the time. Everyone loves to watch her do new stuff. Here are some new things she has done...

*CLIMB. On everything. She climbs up the kitchen stool. On top of this big block toy. On chairs. On the couch. I can't believe her. We have to really watch her and be carefull.

*Boy does she love the toilet. If the kids' bathroom door is open, she makes a bee line right to it. She is pretty fast, too. The other day I thought Megan had taken her outside and I let my guard down a little and then I heard splashing. She was having the BEST time playing in the toilet. I am just glad the last person in there flushed.

*WALK! She is walking everywhere. A week or so before her birthday she started walking. She loves it. I could tell how proud she was of herself when she figured it out and how determined she was to do it.

*She is starting to understand prayer. I love it! When we kneel together each night she at first started becoming still and quiet in my arms during the prayer and now she likes to sit next to me on the floor and she semi folds her arms. It is the cutest thing.

*KISSES! She has started giving kisses. This is the milestone I look forward to the very most when my babies are born. There is nothing better. Although, she always shakes her head no at me when I ask her for a kiss.

*She is a smartypants. Last night Jared got her some pajama pants and she saw him coming from across the room and she held out her leg! It was so funny! She is adorable! She does things like that a lot, it's so cool to see her understandingness. Is that a word?

*She has 6 whole teeth now. I think I saw a molar coming in back there, barely.

*Still working on the hair. It is getting thicker and longer... in the back.. We need some on top, Heidi!!

Here is a video of Heidi and Papa...



ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???


Ethan just finished his first season of organized sports. He played flag football for the Cowboys. He learned a lot and I think if he keeps working he might get the hang of it. He spent a lot of time on the sidelines. I actually never got to see him play. I am not real happy about that. I did see him have fun being part of a team. He had a great time! He is one cool kid.

Halloween and the little pumpkin turns ONE!!!

Oh how I love Halloween! It's my most favorite holiday. I love fall, the crisp cool air, the changing colors of the leaves. I am so excited I got to have a baby on Halloween. It is so fun to celebrate!

Decorating on Family Night...

bats, idea from good ole martha!


Jared putting up the decorations.


Our Family Night Treat

We put up lots of decorations, but I didn't really take any pictures. We had a fog machine, spider webs and spiders, and awesome spooky eyes glowing from our big arch window. So fun!

Halloween Night Feast!

Josie, Michael, Ahren, and Mason came over for dinner before trick-or-treating. We had....

Mummy Hotdogs and Spooky Broccoli Salad and Homemade Salsa and chips


And a cute pumpkin PIZZA from Papa Murphy's


We also had a yummy bloody punch that had an ice face floating in it, but I couldn't really get a good picture or it.


The Trick-or-Treaters...
Goth Claire, Princess Heidi, 80's Megan, Cowgirl Keldi, Officer Christian, Scooby Ahren, and Snow White Jaeli

Notice who is not in the picture... Ethan left and went trick-or-treating all by himself. Heather, Jen, and Jared all split up and ran up and down the street to find him. It was a little crazy for a while. He was found and said he told Jared he was leaving. Hmmm. Mason and Braeson went on their own, too.

While trick-or-treating, Megan had a blister pop on her foot and she bled everywhere and Keldi trick-or-treated for a bandaid! Love it!

Josie and her sweet Mason. He is so cute! He was a scarecrow and he wore a cute pumpkin hat that I made! I love that baby!


Heidi the princess. She was so regal and beautiful!


PRESENTS TIME!


Heidi didn't really know what to do, so she had lots of helpers :)


So many fun things! After she opened the first gift, she really wanted to play with it, but Jared had to get it out of the box. Heidi was about to get upset until another gift was placed in front of her.


Love Megan's hair, those were the days!


There's Ethan! Batman Ethan, that is :) Heidi loved the baby bottle I got her to feed the baby doll Nanny and Papa got her.


Tea anyone???


Time for cake! Happy Birthday, Heidi!


Yummy!!


Let's have cake on top of all that Halloween candy! Next year I think I might make her a veggie tray LOL :)


Jen is so cute! Mason the ghost and pretty Heather. Oh, there's Jared, too.


Time for a bath, PEACE OUT! LOL

District Championships

Megan started at her new gym in August and they put her in level 5. She learned the routines and started getting the new skills. She is getting better and better all the time. We are so proud of her. I can't believe all she has accomplished in so little time. This competition season has been full of fun times!

Her best event is floor. She really does well. She got a 9.5!


Bars... what can I say... it is coming along. She is getting better! She actually got her high bar kip twice in a row during practice but missed it during the real deal. Still, she is competing and not scratching. :) Score 6.7


Beam. She fell twice. DARN IT! :) She is so cute on the beam. Not her best score... 7.5


Vault. She is continually doing better on vault. Here is one of her runs. She got a 7.35


We have one more competition this season and then we start a new season early next year. She will compete level five again next year and really excel. We are so excited! This season was such a great learning experience. We are so proud of our little gymnast!

Heidi the Climber

Heidi loves to climb on EVERYTHING! If there is something on the floor, she will get on top of it if she can. It is cute and a little scary! Very entertaining! Isn't Megan cute, too?!? I love those girls so much!

A Bump in the Night

Yesterday I laid Christian down for a nap and Heather and I kept hearing a knocking noise and thought he was rolling around on the bed and hitting the wall with his legs or something. I went in to check on Christian and he was in the middle of the floor playing. Hmmm... Later I heard the noise when I was in his room and I quickly looked out the window to see if I could see anything. Nothing. Just our fence, a street, and grass. I forgot about it. Last night I got up with Heidi about 3 a.m. and after I laid her down I started to hear a crazy sound within the walls of my home. I started getting scared. I forced myself to close my eyes and try to sleep. Bump. I heard it again. Bump. Again. Bump. CRAP!!! What is in my house!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I called Jared (he was alseep in the living room) and told him to come in our room and listen to this sound. He sat on the bed and sure enough we heard the sound again. Bump. It was quite loud, too. Neither of us could think of what it could be. I rapped on the wall and the noise seemed to go away. Great. I scared the big scary monster in the wall. Jared got up and said he was going back to sleep. I laid there visualizing all the horrible things it could be. A raccoon? A giant rat? A large bird? A ghost? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I eventually fell asleep. Then, this morning we were getting the kids ready and I heard it again! Jared heard it, too. Jared said he was going to check something outside. Soon after I heard the noise a bunch of times in a row! Christian came running out of his room and asked me what was happening in his room!!! Jared came in and asked me if I heard the noise five times. Yes, I suppose it could have been five times....

It was the gate to the privacy fence. It must not have latched properly when Jared closed it after mowing and he never checked it because he planned on finishing the yard and I made him come inside. (it was CRAZY dark!!) Anyway, the gate was slamming open and close with the wind. Phew! No rat or scary monster!

But here is a picture of the new addition to the pool area in the back yard. We put an iron fence in to close off the pool from the rest of the yard so the kids can play safely and give me some peace of mind :) It wasn't a cheap investment, but worth every penny!

11 MONTHS!!!

Heidi is getting way too big, I can't believe she is already 11 months old. She is the most precious baby girl, I love her so much!

Things she has done in the last month...

* Got her first tooth, then another, then another, and 3 more cutting through... all in one month! Poor girl!

* Taken her first steps. She isn't totally walking, but really close. Most steps in a row: 6

* Played in the toilet

* broke MANY dishes trying to help me unload the dishwasher

* got a big girl car seat, still facing back

* got a flu shot, not fun, but had to protect her from all the crap my kids bring home from school

* still NOT sleeping through the night

* STILL nursing :D

* still NOOOOOOOOO hair!!! (well a little fuzz, it is getting better)

Won't be long until she is ONE! Halloween. Can't wait... CAN wait. She is the light of my life!

lollipop

Heidi had a lollipop for the first time at the school carnival. I gave it to her so she would leave her hat on. We were selling the hats in the gym and she was our advertisement out where all the people were. We actually sold a lot of stuff, it was exciting! But Heidi was so cute eating the sucker I had to take a million pics. Here are some of them...