Piggies and 4-Wheeler Rides

This isn't the first time Evie's been to the farm, but it was the first time we really got pictures with her there.

While daddy was feeding the horses, Evie and I looked at the piggies (we don't own the piggies, but the piggies are on our farm).  Evie is such a riot.  She was so interested in watching those piggies move all around, eat, and snort.  One of those pigs ended up sitting right down on its bum with it's two legs out in front of it and Evie let out a huge giggle.  She TOTALLY knows what's funny.

Here we are with the piggy wiggies!  Oink, Oink!

After we were done looking at the piggies, we went to check up on dad.  He was just finishing up with feeding the horses so we let Evie take a ride on the 4-wheeler.  She LOVED it.  She giggled and "babbled" practically the whole time.  Dad loved it too!

Fun on the farm!!

Evie - 11 Months

Oh. My. Word.  This girl is a ball of fun, full of giggles and we cannot believe she's almost one year old.  She is so busy and full of personality that we can't get enough of her.

What is Evie Doing now?

• She started eating baby yogurt and LOVES it.  She's also started to eat a little more table food.  The doctor said we don't need to worry about that until she's one, but she's practically begging for it so we think she's ready now.
• She's getting better with her balance.  She can now stand on her own momentarily.  She's not brave enough to take steps on her own, but she's getting a little braver and braver every day.
• She is great at giving High-Fives!
• She loves to take objects out of their place and then put them back.  For example, she'll constantly take things out of her little toy bucket and then put them back in.  She also loves pulling everything out of the diaper bag too.  Sometimes she'll put the stuff back and other times she'll just crawl away once she's got it completely empty.  Love it!
• She knows how to give kisses.  They're totally open-mouthed, but nevertheless, they are kisses.  We love them!
• She said her first word (other than momma or dada).  She can say, "Baby" and it's the cutest thing.  We think she's saying other words too, but it's hard to make them out through all the babble.  I'm just excited that she's picking up the language so well.
• She loves to be chased.  We'll say, "I'm gonna get you."  Then, we'll start chasing after her and she bolts into a fast crawl that is coupled with her infectious giggles.  So fun!
• She had her first ear infection.  It was relatively mild and in her right ear.  It caused some serious runny noses though and it scared me into thinking she could have RSV.  I was VERY grateful when I left the doctor's office with the ear infection diagnosis instead.  
• She knows where my nose is.  She can point to it when I ask her to show me where my nose is.  She also thinks it's such a funny game because a lot of times I'll wiggle my nose while I ask her and I must look pretty silly because she laughs and laughs.
• She loves pointing at objects, particularly in the books we read. 
• Her new favorite song is, "The Wheels On the Bus."
• Changing her diapers has turned more into a wrestling match.  She doesn't really love getting her diaper changed and would rather stand up and play on the changing table instead.  
• She loves to scrunch her nose as of late.   
• She loves to drop things.  It's fascinating for her to watch things fall to the ground so she'll drop things over and over and over again.
• She's finally found the buttons on the TV and knows how to push them in order to turn the TV on and off.  Oh, and she thinks she's SO funny when she does it!

We're having fun and enjoying this bright, little girl every single day.  

Good Habits Start Early At Our House

Can you ever start an exercise habit too early?  Go Evie, Go!  (Sorry about the video quality.  The lighting was horrible and I guess I didn't focus very well.)

Eggs on a Cold Day

The eggs have to be collected every day . . . even when it's cold outside.  Evie wanted to go out and get the eggs regardless, so daddy bundled her up and zipped her right inside of his coat.  These two are two peas in a pod!

Movin' Up to the Sippy

Our baby girl keeps growin' up on us!  We're teaching her how to drink from a cup.  She does well when there's just a tiny amount of water in the cup AND if we're holding the cup for her.  We allow her to try herself too and, as you can guess, that just ends up with a soaked shirt.  But, she's got to learn some how, right?!

For bigger gulps of water, we let her drink from the sippy cup.  She loves it and I'm happy to report that she likes drinking water.  I'm certainly not a juice mom (bad for teeth and most of it is too sugary), so I'm smiling from ear-to-ear with her love for water.

Easter Sunday 2013

Easter Sunday ended up being pretty low key.  We started out the day by checking to see if the Easter Bunny came.

Sure enough, there was a pretty little basket waiting for Evie.  We showed it to Evie and she went to town in discovering its contents.

She got a cute little Easter dress, a matching cardigan sweater, a darling bracelet, and treats (yogurt bites and baby yogurt . . . her favorites).  

We went to our church meetings, which is always a nice thing to do on Easter Sunday.  We're so grateful for what Jesus Christ did for all of us.  The glorious gift of the Atonement and the miracle of the Resurrection is hard to fully comprehend.  A tremendous amount of love fills my heart when I sit and ponder the actual events of Christ's life and then apply it to me personally.  If we allow Him, our lives can be made easier (or more bearable during difficult times).  

Beau and Evie took the time to go collect eggs from our chickens before we headed out to spend an Easter dinner with Beau's family (which was so nice!).  She gets soooo excited to carry the eggs herself.

We hope your Easter celebrations were as fun and meaningful as ours.  

Easter Egg Hunting Fun

I helped my Mom with the party this year.  One of my jobs
was to make a festive banner.

My Mom and Dad host an annual Easter Egg Hunt that is always held the Saturday before Easter.  They make it fun and unique and the kids (and adults) have a blast!

To make it fair, they give each grandchild their own color of egg to find.  Then, at the end of the hunt they are given a clue to find the "grand finale" egg.  That grand finale egg had 2 gold dollars in it!  Even Evie got one of those!

Here's my mom giving all the kids their hunt instructions.

Evie was such a good little egg finder (perhaps it's from her experience in finding real eggs at our house).  She LOVED picking those eggs up and then shaking them.  The candy inside helped to make great noise.

Her mom and dad had a lot of fun too with this little Easter Doll!

I love this photo!  Evie is SO excited to pick up that
egg (it was her first one), and Beau is equally excited.  So, so fun!

I love this picture too, because I love my Evie.
I made her shirt and matching hair bow.  Is she not
the cutest Easter baby ever?

After the hunt we ate yummy food, hung out with everyone, and played.  Little Evie absolutely loves my mom and dad's dog.  Here she is with the little white, fluffy dog.  Evie will just giggle and giggle when he's around.

We hope you all had a Happy Easter.  We're sure enjoying the celebrations!