One Year Old!

Stella turned one year old on the 15th of March. Here are some pictures of our celebrations.


My parents came over the weekend.




Here are the girls reading on the morn of Stella's birthday.


I presented Stella with her grass that afternoon. She was so excited!




She did not want to make memories with the camera...




Margaret singing Happy Birthday to Stella!



Our family cupcake celebration!




Stella sleeps on top of her bear :: loves other people's shoes :: eats hummus like bears eat honey :: follows Margaret wherever she goes :: thinks touching my hair is pure ecstacy (still trying to get that sound recorded!) :: walks alllll the way down our street because Margaret tells her the island is grand :: likes refried beans, thanks to Food for Thought :: enjoys banging her head on things like mama's rib cage, the wall, her crib, etc. :: is delighting in life and Margot :: says a handful of words in the cutest little alien voice :: waves goodbye :: thinks a door is a giant page of a book to be turned and read :: got a rug and a creamer with dirt and grass growing in it for her birthday :: has hair so long it reaches below her shoulder blades :: is very independent :: enjoying unscrewing door knobs :: does NOT like to be spoon fed :: was in the 7th percentile, but is now in the 14th for weight :: cries when she doesn't get her way (isn't she a bit early on this, geesh) :: wears almost exclusively hand-me-downs :: has one tooth (got it two days ago) :: is one year old!

Margot doesn't like sweets, but I let her have a cupcake, just in case she'd changed her mind.

She did not take one more bite. What a strange girl!

Boundaries

Margot has not enjoyed coloring half as much as I remember enjoying it. I gave her some coloring boundaries and she just took off. My mom used to do this for me with little hearts divided into different sections.




I think boundaries, in general are good for toddlers. Even though we've been going through a period of testing all those limits, I am quite sure that Margot appreciates them and is glad to know their extent.

Stella's Victory Dance

No, the toes of her right foot have not been amputated. They are merely overexposed and curled.

She was doing a victory dance because I was tempting her to walk towards my camera by using our home phone (her very favorite object).

I did end up giving her the phone for a minute, just to reward her for playing along. Here she is walking away with the prize

In the Placemat Drawer

Picture problem solved. I no longer have to jump through 87 hoops to put up pictures on the blog because I found an old macintosh laptop in the placemat drawer. I really dislike PCs now. The Mac has photoshop, an added bonus! Whew. What a find! I put it there in December of 2009, and it sat happily under the placemats for almost 15 months untouched. When I opened up Firefox, it asked me if I wanted to restore my previous session... Ummm, YES! So I looked at the very pages I was looking at the last time I used this old beast. Some pictures of embroidery and a couple of etsy listings. Ha. I was entertained.

At long last, the eye candy returns to the blog. Just picture me doing a victory dance just like Margot and Stella.





I'll be back soon with more pictures of the darling matching skirts and the story behind both of these victory dances.

I'm coming down with a cold. Since I'm the only one in the house who can reach the food, that's really bad news. No one here to nurse me back to health. Jeff returns Monday. Let's hope this illness can hold off until then. Goodnight (It's 7:34 PM and I'm seriously going to bed. I'm just that tired.)

XOXO

Milkcoffee

My new thing is cold milk coffee with splenda.

I used old glass baby bottles and baby food jar lids to make it more portable than a traditional cup.

I must admit that even 4 ounces of coffee made me just a bit uncomfortable. I think I will do half-caff next time.




4 oz cold coffee
4 oz vanilla soymilk
1 packet of splenda.

I made four at a time and stored them in the fridge.




And what's a post about milkcoffee without a confession?
I must confess that the thought of having children in matching clothing has suddenly taken me by storm. Strange. I used to think this was a bit much. It's not that I despised it, I just couldn't really see wanting to do it. But wow, I surely do now. Got some matching skirts for the girls this morning at Walmart for cheap! I went in to buy green onions seeds and came out with ... let just say I came out with a bit more than green onion seeds. Now to find out how to get a picture of both of them wearing their skirts.

I wish I had captured her ecstatic giggling right when she saw Margot ... I'll just have to preserve it in my failing memory.

A Delayed Watering

The snow yesterday did something to my spirits. The light inside was so wonderful reflecting off that wonderful white fluffy blanket on the lawn. Still a bit here and there today, but mostly just frigid puddles (which Margot discovered this morning. BURR!)

Here is my due-in-two-weeks pregnant friend, Ali





My brilliant husband Jeff has often said something in regard to the discipline of reading the Scriptures. This morning it really came into the light as we were playing on our front porch, hearing the very constant drizzle of snowmelt.
He has said that even when the Scriptures seem so confusing and mysterious, we will still be blessed by reading them, just like the ground is watered days after (sometimes weeks after) it snows. I think that hiding God's word in our hearts will bless whether we understand the full meaning of the scripture or not. It will be there forever, watering our souls. (Jeff, I know you can say it better, so try to weigh in here in the comments when you have a chance!)

Warm and Lovely Day

I was so thrilled to have a relatively warm day to take the girls outside! We took a stroller ride to the park around the corner and ate lunch with our legs dangling over a creek. Everyone wore pink. Wouldn't have dreamed that this is how it would turn out, I who was so anti-pink.


It is so wonderful to be outside in clement weather!








Stella is still sleeping so much, walking all over the place, and eating like a horse!

Margaret

Margaret hardly even looked at me while my parents were here. She loves them so much! She got to show Boudreaux her borrowed doll house while I was rolling out calzones. Then she read with J.J. all the following morning. My mom gave the girls the cutest little hand-painted pillows for Valentine's day. My dad brought them roses and balloons! We had a fine time.


We got another big shipment from Hawaii last last week. Tons of hand-me-down clothes. We've been wearing them all. Thanks, Cadi! The photo above is in one of the new dresses. My pesky prime lens didn't catch it at all.


I'm looking forward to doing my first newborn shoot in early March (hi, Collier!). Does anyone have any tips?

Stella is on the mend now. I'm still dragging. She has been gulping down the milk and sleeping like a champion.








This is what happens when the milk is gone ...


Here she is drinking like a big girl




THis morning we built a library during Stella's naptime; It even had a circulation desk (my idea). Her people were walking amongst the stacks happily. Then something terrible happened.



We're expecting my parents tomorrow. I'll be back Monday!

My Not-yet-one-year-old

My not-yet-one-year-old standing around in blue jeans with a braid in her hair. Oh! this year has gone sooo fast!




I promise a couple of nice crafty tutorials in the next couple of weeks. Certainly there have been many other tutorials covering the same thing, but why not re-invent the wheel?

Regarding yesterday's post, ML, I was using Health Nut bread. I think it's Oroweat or something like it.

Jar of Sandwich

We are off to the doctor again today. Stella is still very sick. They only had an appointment right in the middle of our lunch time. We're taking lunch on the go ...





The light is changing more every day. I love the fresh feel of all our rooms.




Thanks for reading.

Paint Me Magenta

If you've been following along with our bath toy saga, you will remember that we recently replaced all the cute little squirty bath toys with rocks. Stella was not fond of the clacking. Then we had to get a new bath mat. Now, they love the rocks and have surprisingly never once asked for the squirting toys.


We've been sprucing up bathtime a bit. Not that it needed much sprucing, but sprucing is fun even though not necessary.










we made the bath water




MAGENTA.





Margot wanted to spend the remainder of her days lying ear-deep in it.



Have I mentioned she likes pink?

(that's a big bubble beside her cheek from the draining water)


She didn't mind that Stella was yanking her hair clip out.

She was just happy to be engulfed by PINK.


She was a bit excited, so we all got wet (and magenta'ed)