What a Little Witch!

I finally finished making Victoria's costume! I am pretty proud of the way it turned out...I even made the hat! But lets face it, Victoria definitely makes the costume look adorable! We took advantage of the beautiful day and snapped a few pictures of her outside. We just love our little witch!

Apple Of My Eye

A couple of weeks ago my friend Hilary and I took our girls to a local farm and met up with a few other kiddos and mamas for some apple picking. It was a lot of fun and the girls looked adorable in their wagon together! They did get a bit irritated of the bumpy ride though. Sierra just wanted to get out and run, and Victoria was more interested in snacking than apple picking.

Sierra is just a couple months older than Victoria

They weren't too into having their picture taken

This picture below cracks me up.

Victoria and Sierra in their wagon...and sierra trying to get out.

A quick update on what our family has been up to...

We are settling in our new town home (still renting, just upgraded to a bigger one...much bigger one compared to the one we were living in.) As soon as we clean up one mess we seem to make another with all the stripping of wall paper and painting. I will post more on that project. Shawn is still busy at work, and others are noticing his hard work and "get the job done" work style. He was given a cash reward for all his professionalism and hard work! That's my Shawny Pooh! Other than work he's been busy with his church calling, helping me paint, hang, and fix stuff around the house. As for me, I've been crazy busy trying to get the house organized, looking good, and feeling more like home-on top of all the mom and wife duties, which seem to be endless, but I love it...except putting together the grocery lists! I've been taking a photography class on Wednesday nights. It's been nice to be in a class room again, pretty fun actually. So if any local friends need some family holiday pics taken, let me know! We also had a little switch-a-roo in Young Women's at church. I was the Secretary in the presidency but the YW pres moved me to the Laurel's Advisor...so I teach the Laurel class (16-17 yr olds) just about every Sunday.

Victoria will be 13 months in a matter of days! A couple of weeks ago she had her 12 month check up and weighed in at 19 1/4 pounds and measured 30 inches tall. She is standing up/ pulling her self up on everything. every now and again she will get brave, let go and balance for a little while. She can crawl supper fast, it's like a sprint crawl. she claps and stomps her feet along with the song "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...stomp your feet...". And of course she dances to everything and anything that has a beat...cell phone ringers, loud broken grocery carts in Walmart...seriously everything. It's so cute, and it's definitely the Waldron in her (my side of the fam). She likes to tease the kitty and tell her "no no" when I say it. She can say a few of her own words like banana, doggy, balloon, and a few others that sound the same but mean movie, cracker, or whatever. she jabbers all the time! She is still loving books and she just stated shacking her head back and forth like she's saying "no no"....just perfect. We love this little baby girl so much!

Our Birthday Girl

We could hardly believe that our little baby girl turned a year old this past week, so we had to celebrate twice for it to sink in! Birthdays are 10 times as fun when they are for your kids. I will tell you all about it in pictures…

First I made some "candied" cupcakes...

Then Packaged them up and handed them out with Victoria's Birthday invitations (Sorry if the invitations looks weird, I had to blur out our address)

Next I made a birthday Tutu.

On Victoria's actual birthday I made her a cake...

Then Dada cam home and we went and got a cupcake birthday balloon... (the most expensive balloon I've ever paid for- 10 bucks!) Victoria loves balloons and in this picture she's saying the word balloon, or at least trying to.

After that Victoria ate her birthday cake.

And tried some cows milk for the first time.

A couple days later we had her cupcake themed birthday party with friends.

We ate some crab dip, fruit, and cupcakes (chocolate cherry and party mix all with cream cheese frosting)

Then everyone had some bubble fun and crawled around the backyard.

The cupcake pull string pinata was so fun!

Victoria and friend, Tessa, checking out the pinata after the pulling.

Group shot of all the kids at the party.

(Sierra, Eliana, Victoria, Felix, Everett, Owen, Lydia, Tessa, and Seth)

We opened presents and then I snapped this picture and it was too funny not to post with Victoria's finger up her nose (she just discovered that it fits up there) and Sierra playing with the gift she got Victoria.

Watching Baby Einstein in her new chair from Shawn and I.

She cracks me up!

Loving her new Dora the Explorer ride-from Shawn and I. She loves to stand up on the peddles as we push her around the house and outside.

Sitting with most of her Birthday gifts...

From Mom and Dad: Dora ride, Tinker Bell chair, Pj's. From Grandma and Grandpa Waldron: Noisey farm book, Five silly pumpkin book, outfit, Alpha blocks, nesting tower blocks, baby Einstein dvd. From Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson: Little People plane, animal book, two dresses. From Sierra: Little People SUV with mom and baby, From Tessa: 'My pretty learning purse'. From Seth: Toy car that plays "Are You Ready For This" song. From Eliana: Leap Frog Alphabet learning magnets. From Angelina: "Cute as a Cupcake" beach towel.

A BIG thank you to everyone for the fun gifts! Victoria loves them all!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl! We love you so much and love being your Mama and Dada. You've made our life absolutely incredible. We only thought we knew what love was until you came along, and now we know for sure. Lots of hugs and kisses to you always!

With Love,

Mama & Dada

Shawn's Dirty Thirty

(Baby Shawn 1979)

Shawn is officially 30 years old! We celebrated the big day last Friday with some shopping, gift opening, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and dinner at PF Changs. Despite the little bits of stress we had that day (rained on, no luck finding jeans for Shawn, and battling Victoria in the restaurant) mixed with that bitter moment of realizing he was 30, I think Shawn had an okay day. Thirty isn’t so bad when you’re Shawn and still look 26…and have a butt like his! We’ve still got a lot of life to live, babe!

Love you so much Shawn. Happy Birthday!

Shawn, with Victoria's help, opening his new Puma's and Fly Fishing DVD