the little girl

Ah yes..... now that we are past 11 months, the start of trying for the perfect 1 yr old birthday picture begins....... I figure the more often you try and different places you attempt you'll get something good sometime. And if all else fails, we'll go to Target :-)

I'll share the ones that are cute, but not The One!

Can you see all her hair!

okay mom, I'm done for today!

snow day

Alannah was not overly impressed with her snow experience

Colm loved eating it

Caeden made snow angels

These are all from yesterday afternoon - it is still snowing, I would guess we are pushing a good 12" of snow right now..........

11 months

Alannah-girl

11 months old

Your 2nd tooth just came thru last week

Your great accomplishment this month is sleeping thru the night!

You are now napping 2 times a day from about 9-11 and 1:30-3:30 and then sleeping about 11 hours at night........... I am a happy mama!

You love to eat and are beginning to prefer finger food over spoon-fed. You love diced bananas, peas and carrots, you still enjoy pumpkin, yogurt and spinach quite a bit as well. You have tried rice milk in a sippy cup. Kinda fun to play with but you are rather un-impressed about drinking something over mama's milk.

You are nursing 3-4 times a day - when you first wake up (and I mean WHEN. YOU. FIRST. WAKE. UP. - you do not appreciate saying hi to Da or anyone else first!), then again midday and then depending on the day after your afternoon nap/before dinner or

sometimes we just wait till after dinner and close to bedtime.

You are crawling anywhere and everywhere - standing up holding on to whatever you can.

You aren't quite walking along anything or trying to walk when we hold your hands but that's okay - 2 mobile boys are keeping me running - you can take your time!

You love to play with the boy's toys and even drive cars along the floor with them.

You love your Da and usually greet him in the evening with a

smile and arms up for him to hold you.

You love Auntie Em, but are pretty wary of anyone else holding you much -

especially when mama's around.

You are still mostly wearing 9 month clothes, though you have a fair amount of 12 month fall and winter clothes that are on the bigger side but you can kinda get away wearing. You wear 12 month jammies, but you are forever losing your feet and getting them tangled up!

You have a beautiful smile and little laugh. You love to play and are such a happy girl.

Alannah and Da are hitting a ball and she is just laughing hysterically. She loved it.

And yes, mama is throughly enjoying little pink dresses and tights - isn't she just too sweet?

swinging

Alannah loves swinging at the park. She just laughs and smiles and will swing as long as you will push her!

And in case you were wondering, Tooth #2 has finally peeked it's way thru.

boys dancing

Can you see Colm's feet in the air? He really enjoyed himself!

Caeden enjoyed the desserts and lemonade!

Colm danced some more.............

And Caeden finally joined him!

Alannah enjoyed watching everyone, clapping her hands and waving them around.

Alannah is pulling up on everything, she loves to see what's going on and what new things she can reach!

autumn

We had fun playing in the leaves at my mom and dad's house yesterday.

Caeden was especially thrilled since he has asked me several times "if it's fall yet so he can rake leaves". As he was raking yesterday he said "Uncle Trevor is going to be so excited when he comes home and the leaves are all in pile and he can see the grass so he can mow it" - Oh, I am sure that's what Uncle Trevor was thinking...........!

Colm raked for a little bit and then enjoyed the jumping part of raking leaves. He told me when we were leaving that he was so tired from all that raking!

Alannah loved sitting in the leaves and playing with them, she tried to taste them but was stopped since mom and I thought leaves aren't the best thing to be eating. She sat very contentedly in the leaves, watched the boys rake and refused to look at the camera and smile :-) She's still cute!

(her little fingers are so precious and tiny and love to pick things up and hold them!)

Caeden said this is his favorite picture........ it is rather cute!

little girl

Just a few pictures of Alannah - looking pretty and practicing her standing skills! She loves to pull up on most anything and the other night Kieran and I watched her push her toy bucket across the room and walk with it!

a moment in time

I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon.

The kids were playing...... happily for once

Everyone was busy with their own toys.

(yes, she's playing with the boy's tools!)

I got to thinking ~you know, since it was quiet for 30 seconds~

This is just a moment in time.

I have 3 precious little children - look at them

Everyone says they will grow up quickly and I will wonder where the time went

(who needs baby toys when you have big brothers!)

A nap sounds so good

I really should pick up the toys and vacuum

Dinner needs made still

(I have no clue who he is pretending to be....... probably Goliath!)

But no, they are playing so happy.........

I will just sit on this couch and watch them play

And the other things can wait

(he is working in his office, drawing something)

They will not be little long...... so for now I will

Remember this moment in time.

school days

Just a couple school pictures - Caeden with his notebook - just a place to put all our color pages, Bible verse pages....... drawings of bear tracks......... banana trees .............

I let my creative juices flow and made covers for their notebooks! It was fun.

Colm doing puzzles while I work on reading with Caeden - the one part of school Colm isn't actually participating in :-)