Christmas 2010

We had so much fun over the holidays this year. We went up to Portland for the week of Christmas and it was the perfect vacation - rest, relaxation, fun, family, food - I am currently having vacation withdrawals and am already looking forward to next year!

It was so cute to watch Amelia on Christmas morning. She was so excited. And you're probably thinking she was really excited about the presents, but that turned out to be only a minor part of it. She was most excited for all the candy that kept popping up all day. She has eyes, ears and a nose for treats in any shape or form. In the middle of opening a very exciting gift, you'll see that she had to take a break and grab some more yogurt covered raisins from Uncle Joe. After a few presents, she even decided to stop participating in the unwrapping so that she could better focus on eating, drooling, and spilling yogurt covered raisins.

Here she is confiscating the bag of yogurt covered raisins from Grandpa.

Amelia loved hanging out with her Uncle Joe. Especially when he had a granola bar in his lap.

And she thought she was pretty fancy when she got to wear his hat.

This is how she reacted to our singing Christmas carols in the morning before opening presents...she never holds still like this, but apparently our singing was cause for cuddling (or is she burying her head so she couldn't hear it as well?)
Little drummer girl. She loved playing with Grandma's drum set from the 1970's. I grew up with this toy too and I always love seeing all the toys Edy kept from when Andrew was little.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, we got plenty of exercise on our vacation as well. Here's a video of Andrew and me kayaking...on the couch...

This was my very first time playing Wii, and I was surprised with how much fun I had playing it (and watching others play it...)

And for those of you who have never played Wii who are wondering what in the world we are doing, here is a view of the screen. We're kayaking, obviously.

A few DC photos

These photos are from our trip to New York and DC for our Asay family reunion. It was so fun and I hope someday we can all live close.

In New York we got to go to the Children's Museum and Amelia loved every second of it - all sorts of interesting things to touch and it was all allowed!

We had Thanksgiving dinner (a couple weeks early) while we were out there and Amelia wouldn't eat anything except the cranberry sauce. I just kept giving it to her and she probably ate at least a 1/2 cup in cranberry sauce...and wiped 1/2 cup on her face

Riding the escalator and the metro with dad and Uncle Scott

Me and Amelia (eating a chocolate cookie which right after this picture ended up on both of our white shirts) with my sister Lisa holding perfect baby Natalie

We did lots of sight seeing and had fun being in the nation's capital.

National Monument and reflecting pool outside the Lincoln Memorial.

Asay Family 2010

Yes we are on a slant, and no Andrew and I are not really that short compared to everyone else!

The Original Asays :)

And this is what Amelia was doing when she was not in a photo. She was tired. It was a long week!

Amelia loves going on walks outside (walking herself, that is, NOT strapped into the stroller), and she never cares how cold or rainy it is. She will often bring me her coat or boots and whine for me to put them on so she can tromp around on the leaves and hug stray cats. In the picture below, she put all the gear on herself (with a little help on the hat because she can't quite do that yet although she tries). It is so funny how she knows where things go even if she has never worn it before. Like the scarf, for example. She does not have one of her own, but from watching me put it on she knows exactly what to do with it. She also tried to put the dog's leash around her neck.

Yes, Andrea, that is the beautiful scarf you made for me years ago. I still wear it all the time and think of you :)

We have discovered that Amelia thinks shaking her head (like when we say 'no') means 'yes.' We discovered it when Andrew asked her if she loved him and this was her response:

At first Andrew took offense to her response, but then he decided to test it. He asked her if she liked doughnuts and ice cream and this was her response:

Then we knew she was confused!

Since then we have noticed that she does this all the time. It is hard to adjust and remember that when I ask her if she's hungry and she shakes her head no, she really means yes! Maybe she's got some Bulgarian in her huh Emily?

Thinking about the 4th of July

So, I know it's the Christmas season and I should be thinking about sleigh bells, reindeer and snowflakes, but today all I can think about is the 4th of July. You know, fireworks, BBQs, red, white and blue, and a brand new baby. A brand new baby? I know, kind of random, unless you just went to the doctor this morning like I did and got to see tiny pictures of your brand new baby, due July 4, 2011.

Yes, I'm serious. I am pregnant.

I am about 10 weeks along which means my kids will be about 21.5 months apart.

I know, I know, I was always so vocal about how I wanted my kids to be further apart...but apparently this little baby wasn't listening! Ready or not, we really are so excited and feel so blessed.

In the meantime, if anyone needs any saltines, don't try Albertson's. I bought them all out. But if you come over to my house, you can take your pick: stale saltines from off the nightstand, crumbs on the couch, half eaten packages in the car, or you can hold out for the real tasty ones in the bottom of my purse. Andrew just calls me "The Cracker Lady."

We found this baby picture of Andrew and can see so much of him in Amelia. What do you think? Do you see it too?

(with sweet baby Natalie peeking out too :))

A few family pictures

We took these pictures at the Washington DC temple grounds this past week while visiting my family. We had a great time, and I am grateful to finally have a few more pictures of our little family. Nothing professional, but fun nonetheless.

I let her hold my sunglasses so she would sit still for a few seconds. Which, of course, only lasted a few seconds:

Wiping her nose with her shirt in between photos while trying to keep her from breaking my glasses at the same time.

Beautiful DC temple

More pictures of the family vacation to come later.

Cute Li'l Pumpkin

It didn't take her long to figure out Halloween = candy.

She loves Halloween.

Some Pictures

Amelia practicing her goat feeding skills. She really practices hard because she wants to be the best so Dad will trust her to feed his goat, Earnest.

We had so much fun having Uncle Joe come down for the weekend. Amelia loved having him around and loved to snuggle, play with and watch him. It was funny trying to feed her when he was around because she would just stare at him. She would open her mouth for more food, but she'd forget to chew or swallow because in between bites she was just watching him in a total trance. It's been so rewarding and fun to see how much she adores her Grandma and Grandpa Checketts and Uncle Joe. I love living close to some of our family - it is so special.

I put pigtails in her hair last week for the first time and I think she felt pretty cute :) Although if she's not distracted, she'll pull them out - which as you can imagine, leaves a not-so-adorable pair of horns.

A couple of months ago, I saw a tutorial for these cute wall hangings and I decided I wanted to make them too. I love having bright, homemade "artwork" hanging over her crib. Yeah! I finally did something crafty that turned out!

I also recently made Amelia this purse, since she has a love of purses, bows, necklaces and all things girly. The other day she saw my purse on the ground and walked over and put the strap on her shoulder and tried to walk around with it. It was so cute and was another reminder of how much she is watching and absorbing everything we do! So, on Friday I decided to make her a purse of her own that she could actually carry without falling over. I used an old apron for the material (mom, it's the one you gave me in my Valentine's day package a few years ago...) and found an iron-on cupcake to finish it off. She loves it and if you tell her to get her purse and shopping cart she will grab them both and walk around looking very important :)

Cake, pumpkins and lemons

Oh my

We brought some cupcakes up to Edy and Gordon's house on the weekend so we could celebrate Amelia's b-day together. Once again, she enjoyed the frosting, presents and attention (she is her mother's daughter, after all).

She may only be 1 year old, but she's been around long enough to know that fun things come out of bright colored bags at grandma's house.

In other news, my pumpkin harvest was forced to come early this year and my crop, although I love it, is not what it could have been.

In light of a wonderful and uplifting conference weekend, let me tell you the parable of the moldy pumpkins.

It all started out so lovely. The vines were spreading like crazy and I had 8 growing pumpkins and blossoms and bulbs of future pumpkins popping up practically every day. One day I started to notice a white dust-like substance on the leaves. Being an optimistic and novice (i.e. clueless and careless) gardener, I thought nothing of it. Nothing, that is, until all my pumpkins started dying and my future pumpkins quit growing! Out of all of the potential pumpkins on my vines, I only managed to harvest 4 because of this nasty mold. If only I'd caught it sooner, or done the things necessary to prevent it all together, we could have had such a nice pumpkin patch...

Now, I'd like to liken this to sin in our lives...

Any questions?

Moldy pumpkins notwithstanding, it's been really fun to have a garden this year. We have enjoyed so many meals from our own backyard like this grilled pizza with tomatoes, zucchini and pesto (made from our garden basil). Yum!

The largest pumpkin was 41 pounds with the second coming in at 38 pounds.

Lemony-yum

When I told Andrew I let Amelia eat a lemon, he said, "You're so cruel!" So, before you decide to comment and tell me I'm so cruel, let me tell you that she WANTED to eat the lemon. In fact while she was eating it, she started screaming and pointing for the other half. Also, as you will see, she kept going back for more. She likes lemons. Apparently that twisted, pucker face means "Yum, that's delicious. I'd like some more please." See for yourself.

One year

Well, Amelia turned 1 today. I know people always say, “I can’t believe it! It seems like just yesterday she was born...” when their kids turn one, but not me. Me, I can believe it. In fact, I may have aged 2 years. I mean, I can hardly remember being pregnant (sneaky how that works - that's how people end up having more than 1 kid...).

Anyway, I think she is ready to be a one year old, and you know what, I am ready too.

She liked her cake. I made whole wheat zucchini cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. Pretty cool that I have a few more years before she knows her mom makes her nerdy nutritionist birthday cakes. Cash liked it too.

In other news, she started walking on Saturday (like really walking, no more crawling, just walking everywhere) and she loves walking around all day long.

She doesn't so much like drinking whole milk. In fact, you can see for yourself. Here she is drinking it one of the first times. It hasn't gotten any less dramatic.

As for words, she points and says "us-at" or "uh-dat" all day long (meaning "what's that?" and wanting you to tell her about everything) She also says truck, cracker, dog, roar, vroom vroom and meow (sounds more like "ow" - she learned that one very loudly in the middle of Relief Society as she saw a picture of a cat and started saying "ow, ow, ow" over and over in a very loud voice). Still no mama or dada...mostly she just screams to get our attention.

What a miracle you came into our lives. We love you Amelia.

Things I want for Amelia's birthday...

1. I think these blocks are so cute. What do you think? Will she play with them or will they just end up looking cute lost under couches and with peeling paint (courtesy of her 4 fun teeth)?

2. A world map to hang in her room. I think this one is so cute...

Things Amelia likely wants for own her birthday...

1. Her very own MacBook Pro. The hot pink kid's laptop that plays music and sings songs is just not as cool as the one sitting on mom's lap that she is not supposed to play with.

2. A pair of expensive glasses. Preferably on some unsuspecting person's head. Because it's always more fun to grab them from off the nose of someone unsuspecting.

3. A bunch of binkies. And she would probably be extra tickled if you could throw in a few kids from whom to steal these new binkies.

Hmm...I say until she can protest, I get to get her what I want for her birthday :) Unfortunately my tastes are expensive, so she may end up getting some cake and a pair of shoes.