Birthday Celebration

We have a really great small group from our church. Lots of the people in the group have been friends for a long time. We feel really lucky. Last night, they decided to do a celebration for Stella's birthday. It was a lot of fun!

family picture in front of the cake

Stella was busy, so Jordan wanted us to blow out the candle.

After a few bites, she decided against the spoon.

Then she decided she needed to be even closer to her cake.

It got pretty messy...

but she sure was happy about her birthday cake!!
Thanks so much to our special friends...we really love you.

Thanks, Grandma!

Grandma Jan has been knitting these really cool stuffed animals for the grandkids lately. Stella's arrived last weekend. Though the second pic is kind of funny looking, it really is showing her squealing with glee. She really loves her new wiener dog! Thanks, Grandma!

Stella's Birthday

There have been some requests for ideas for Stella's birthday coming up. Please know, no gifts are expected! But, if you are thinking of getting her something, here are some things that we'd really find useful for her or that she'd like a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3FO1D1UHQCLEK

oh, and if you are thinking about clothes, she's moving into size 18 months.

Jordan's Spring Concert

Jordan had her spring concert last night. She was quite the little performer! Here is a sampling of the show, including her duet with a little boy named Luke. Lots of her "adult friends" came to watch her (thanks, everybody) and she said that made her "happy!"

Stella & Hattie

We spent last weekend in Michigan with Jamie's family. There are a lot of cousins. For now, the two youngest are Stella and Harriet, affectionately known as "Hattie Bear." They had so much fun playing together! Stella's favorite thing was to try to climb on top of Harriet's head, but I think that was just because she wanted to be so close to her.

Little Girl Loves to Eat!

Stella is a great eater! She especially likes to feed herself and is eating mostly table foods now. We're very excited! These two pictures represent her feeding herself 3/4 of an adult sized burrito (with guacamole!) and a pita with hummus. We are impressed.

Daddy-Daughter Time

A couple weeks ago, there was a "My Little Pony Live" show in Charlotte. Jordan was begging to go. Her daddy has a soft spot in his heart, and decided to take her at the last minute. Jordan had a blast! She can still tell you all about the story line and keeps asking to "go back." Jamie described the whole experience like "eating a snowcone for an hour and a half." They had lots of fun together!

first things

We officially moved on Saturday. Here's a picture of the girls waking up the first morning in their new room and of their first bath in their new tub.

^(that is Stella laughing, not crying)

imagination

The other morning, Jamie & I were madly packing up the house. There were boxes everywhere. Jordan picked up this cardboard configuration, put it on her head and said, "Look at me, Mommy! I'm a MOOSE!" I thought it was pretty creative of her and that she did, in fact, look like a moose. :)

Stella is 10 months old

Yesterday Stella turned 10 months old. She spends a lot of her days pulling to stand at furniture, then getting cuddles for the corresponding boo-boos when she falls. Her head is taking a lot of knocks lately! She's started to clap and wave bye bye, but we've been unsuccessful in catching it on video as of yet. When you ask her for a kiss, she'll make a kiss sound or mouth you. She's eating a lot of table food now...yesterday, her favorite thing was my discarded black olives. Mind you, she chokes & gets offended if we offer her cut up banana, but for some reason, the olives were a big hit! She loves to take things out of containers and disassembles her bucket of bath toys on a daily basis (pictured below). We're working on a sippy cup...slowly. She doesn't like it. At all. She's started to help push her arms through when we get her dressed. She's just great at picking up tiny things with her fingers. She's also beginning to walk with two hands held. She weighs a little over 21 lbs. and wears 12-18 month clothes. Big girl! One of the funniest thing she does right now is to sing in a falsetto voice. It cracks us up! Stella is a great kid. We love her a lot!

jordan's abstract photography

Jordan loves to take pictures. We don't really let her use our camera, but sometimes she finds it and snaps a bunch of shots before we bust her. Most of them are really blurry close up shots of Stella or the rug or sometimes the pictures on the walls. However, in her last batch, there were a few that we thought were kind of interesting. Perhaps she's been reading Aunt Rachel's blog, picking up tips. ;)

^(this one is taken through an old toilet paper roll)

seriously delinquent

So, I have been neglecting the blog lately...sorry, fans! :) Here are some fun pics of the girls from the last few weeks. Maybe after the move, I'll be updating more often.

^ Jordan dressed her Pooh Bear up as a ballerina. Note the hairbow clipped to his head. Pretty cute.

^ Stella is learning to finger feed. She loves this task. She usually ends up with as much food on her as in her.

^ This was on St. Patrick's Day. The shirt reads "the leprechauns made me do it." Fairly appropriate for this stage of Jordan's development. ;)

^ We dyed Easter eggs for the first time this year. Jordan was very proud of them.

^ Stella is really into peek-a-boo. She likes to crouch behind the coffee table and pop up until you say, "Peek-a-Boo!" Very sweet.

Grandma & Grandpa's visit

The girls' Henderson grandparents were in town for the annual Easter visit. We had a bunch of fun!

Happy Easter

One would think that getting a simple cute shot of two cutie-pie girls in their Easter dresses would be no large task.

Think again. ;)

Here are some of the best of the 30 or so shots Jamie took today.






We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Stella's 9 month update

Stella has had a big month! She turned 9 months old last Friday...she's getting big so fast! Here are some of her latest accomplishments: crawling, getting into sitting by herself, pulling to stand at furniture, cruising, picking up all kinds of tiny things with her fingers and thumb, removing all the toys from her toy box, eating sweet potato puffs by the handful, enjoying peek-a-boo a lot, sleeping through the night occasionally. She loves Jordan's baby dolls and continues to be a sweet & happy baby. She talks a lot (mama, dada, baba, wawa). Her favorite beings in the house are the dogs, who she watches non-stop, chases, and crawls on as much as possible. They are both good sports with her. When she sees a dog, she makes a sound like "wuh-wuh"...I think it is just her being excited, but it kind of sounds like "woof!" Sadly, she spent a lot of the last month sick, but we think she is getting better now! Stella's personality is very intense; people often comment on how she "stares" at them. She really likes to study people and figure out what they are all about. We are so lucky that she is part of our family!

(If you are interested in a comparison with Jordan at the same age, click here).