Bobbsey twins

Boy oh boy did I have some fun the past few days...I'm sure you all want to know about it asap, so here I go. I made it through the last couple days at school just fine. I have found out that my days are numbered in my current room with Miss Martha, apparently I have to 'graduate' to the Toddler room. Yeah, I guess i am no longer a 'baby'...which means. 1. When dad tells me to "stop being a baby", I can no longer tell him that I indeed AM a baby, so lay off. 2. By definition, "toddler" means one that "toddles" or is learning to walk, I wouldn't say I have been real determined on trying to learn said skill, but I suppose I will have to give in soon enough. One skill that I am enjoying right now is blowing kisses. Actually more specifically, I enjoy kissing my hand goodbye...I haven't decided that anyone is worth blowing them away to quite yet. But I am willing to give a high five to about anyone!

Ava, Will, & I on our way to the BBQ

Anyway, back to my fun. So apparently this was the weekend of Stephanie. This meant I didn't get to see mom much...but I ended up being OK with that because I barely had time to miss her amidst all of my activities. Friday, mom did pick me up early from school so we could hang out and play some and I could help her get all dressed up. Then her and dad - which both look quite good dressed up by the way, I'm totally not use to that - took me over to my BFF Ava's house. Yep, that's right, I got to hang with her and her parents all night while they went to some rehearsal dinner. I was also surprised by Will and his mom coming over too...why you ask? Well we all walked down to a big BBQ. It was great. The weather was awesome, the food (what I gave a shot at) was tasty, and the company was superb. After the BBQ, Ava and I had some more fun together and then we got to take a bath! She is a bit more rambunctious in the water than I am, but I held my own and did just fine. I went and got ready for bed and low and behold Ava came out wearing the same PJ's. How cool is that. No we are not twins (which i heard multiple times at the BBQ), but we are only 3 days apart and have the same taste. FUN! As you can see by the pics, Ava was patting me on the back to get me ready for bed....or perhaps she thought she was patting herself in the mirror...Who knows?

Saturday was another good day. I had a good morning with mom & dad and then dad and I dropped off mom downtown to go start getting ready for Steph's big wedding. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't going to get to see mom all dressed up...and more importantly Steph in her wedding dress, but mom has showed me pictures. So pretty! I can't wait till I get to do that! Anyway, after we dropped them off it was just me, dad, & Marley of course. We went on a great walk and then had an AWESOME nap together. Apparently, I was a bit too hot of a sleeper for dad's tastes - but I thoroughly enjoyed his chest for a pillow! Not long after I awoke, we had visitors! BJ & Tanja came down to play with me. Ok, they came to go celebrate Steph too, but I came with the package. I think they liked me, I liked them...I even took a step toward Tanja. As mentioned earlier, steps are few and far between...so she should feel privileged! They all got all dressed up, and looked so handsome/pretty - I must say, when dad suits up - he is quite irresistible. I was soon distracted though, because Heidi showed up!! Yeah! I wasn't too thrilled with missing out on this fun wedding, but I do love Heidi, so I guess it is a fair enough trade off. We had a blast together as always. The weather has been so amazing, so we played outside quite a bit. We ate (well I devoured) some pizza, and I even showed her how much fun I have in the bath. All the fun wore me out so I zonked out a bit early...and didn't even wake up when everyone got back from the wedding. I hear it was quite late (or early).

Ready for breakfast with BJ & Tanja

Everyone looked pretty miserable the next morning when I woke up at the usual time. Come on, I slept for 12 hours - I was ready to go...but I didn't sense the same enthusiasm. Especially from dad. I kept hearing him say that "this isn't worth it" and "never again." Anyway, I did talk them all into going up the street to First Watch for some good grub before the Noeckers had to leave to go back to Lincoln. I had some super good french toast. Man, I love bread! I could tell that no one was going to make it much longer though, so I went back home and took a nice LONG nap. Needless to say, I wasn't alone. After we woke up, mom was feeling guilty about staying inside on such a beautiful day so we headed to the park to feed the ducks again. I LOVE watching them. I'm pretty sure I could stay there all day. But alas, my walking zombie parents just couldn't take it any longer so we headed home for a quiet rest of the evening.

All in all....I had a super fun weekend. I plan on enjoying more of this nice weather the rest of the week. I think I love the fall! Amelia OUT!


Here is a shout out to Mrs. Graham.  Wasn't she beautiful?

And proof of dad lookin' GOOD in his suit.

KC Ink

sporting some Husker colors!  GBR!

Why is it that every time I go to the doctor and get my shots, I feel icky.  I don't know if it was the shots, the traveling, the fact that my molars are coming through, the red bumps on my tummy, or if it is just being one now....but man do I feel bad.  When we got back from the weekend, my nose started to run a little and my temperature went up a bit, but everything seemed to be going okay.  Monday til Wednesday I was fine going to daycare, playing with Marley, and going on walks.  Thursday arrived and it finally hit me.  Daycare called Mom and gave her the bad news, my fever went above 100.4 degrees, which means I had to go home.  Mom had a meeting so dad came and picked me up.  I wasn't feeling that bad just a little tired, so I took a nap on  the way home, then we played for awhile.  The good news is I got to stay home with mom on Friday, so I was looking forward to that.  We had a great time taking all the toys out and spreading them throughout the house, I took some long naps to try and recoup from the fever.  Dad even came home for lunch and watched me while mom went and got a haircut, she looks gooooood!

I got a tattoo just like dad!

Friday night we laid low and I went to bed early after a long bath. Saturday Dad had to go to work again, so I thought I would give mom some trouble during parts of the day.  Even though it was Husker game day, I thought that I would let her know that I wasn't feeling the best, mom called it a tantrum, I am blaming my aching mouth and body...that and just keeping things interesting.  Dad came home so I thought i would be good and take a nap so they could watch the game on DVR.  I slept through most of it, I figure I will wait to watch the Big 10 match ups.  The nap was well worth it, because not long after I got up we had some pizza, a book, long bath then back to bed.  I slept in on Sunday until 7:30 so I would be well rested for my best friend Ava's birthday party.  Mom and dad didn't want me to go over there sick, so I did my best to act okay.  I took another nap at 9 so they could watch church on the internet.  Mom went shopping after lunch and i slept on dad while the Chiefs took another beating, not pretty.  Maybe they will be good when I get older, but I doubt it.  I convinced mom and dad to go to the party, just to get me out of the house for a while.  It was a rockin' good time, I mean that literally.  They had a rock in roll themed party.  I put a couple of tattoos on and tried my best to look cool.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to stay cool for long because my tats were scrubbed clean off in the bath.  Not cool at all.  I got to play with my BFF Ava on her birthday, and even got to see Violet!  No cake for me though.  Dad didn't want me bouncing off the walls, so he ate plenty for both of us, and took a piece home.  How is that diet going anyway dad?  That wasn't nice, I hope his suit fits for the wedding this weekend.  HA!

yep, we have boas!

action shot of my photo shoot

In other news we also hit up Loose Park, which is awesome.  I got to feed the ducks some peanuts.  Did you know that ducks don't like peanuts?  Oh well dad does.  We were having a great time when this lady appeared with a camera, I know what a camera is because mom is always taking pictures of me.  It was the same lady that came to our house 8 days after I was born.  She wanted to take more pictures of me.  I tried my best to smile and have fun with it, but all the changes of clothes wore me out, also it was right at my nap time, so cut me a break when the pictures come and my eyes may be a little watery...or you may see some remnants of my runny nose.  I tried i tell you..... I tried.  They said I did great...you can see for yourself, I just got a sneak peak today...I guess this means there were a few good ones in the batch.  Or she is an excellent at photo editing (http://artographybyallie.blogspot.com/ - scroll down a bit).   After all the picture fun we went home for a long nap....like 3 hours long.  We went to Costco and shopped in later in the day. Came home and I am pretty sure I threw my first temper tantrum, but I will chalk that up to not feeling quite right yet.

don't touch the cart, it is full of
germs.  Yes, I am my fathers daughter

Tonight I was surprised by a visit from Grandma McLain.  That's right he drove all the way from Lincoln for the day!  Just to see me.  Ok maybe he went to see his aunt too, but I'm sure I was the highlight.  Well, that is after I warmed up to him.  At first I wasn't so sure, my memory isn't all that great you see.  But we sat down and enjoyed a yummy dinner and then I showed him my toys...all of them.  I even let him read a few books to me.  Unfortunately he didn't stay too long, something about making it back home for some special breakfast in the morning.  I get it, I like breakfast too.  Maybe I'll see him longer next time!  Until then, Amelia OUT!

And so begins year 2

Now that I am officially 1, I can't say things have changed too much.  I still do most of the same things.  Go to school, take walks with the family, play with my toys, you get the point.  One not so high point of turning the big 1, was another trip to the doctor.  It started out not so bad, as I just answered a bunch of the usual questions and got weighed and measured.  For those of you that want to know the stats, I weighed in at a whopping 19lbs 4oz...yep, I have moved up to the 24th percentile and am staying strong in the 25th percentile for height too at 28.5 inches (If you want to see my progress chart, check out THIS page).  So 75% of girls out there are bigger than me...I'm ok with that...I make up for my size in other ways for sure.  Like my amazing climbing ability perhaps?  Or my mad walking skills....oh wait, I still haven't showed that off to anyone yet.  Anyway, all that was fine and dandy until the nasty nurse came back to start stabbing needles into my legs.  It has been a while, but I quickly remembered that I am NOT a fan of these so called immunizations.  To top off the initial pain, my leg hurt for a couple days after.  And now I am fighting a nasty cough and runny nose...needless to say I better not be making another trip for a so called 'check up' anytime soon!

Check out the pretty cake grandma got for me!

Anyway, back to the updates.  I am going to skip straight to the weekend, doesn't everyone wish they could do that?  Friday we took off for another trip to Lincoln.  Unfortunately we picked a bad time.  For me and for mother nature.  Me: well, I got hungry by the time we hit St. Joe so we stopped for some dinner and then after a couple hour nap, I let it be known (for a good 40 minutes) that I did NOT want to be in my car seat anymore.  Speaking of that, I got a big girl seat...I think I am a bit too small though as I have no where to lay my head when I sleep.  Needless to say dad switched back to the comfy car seat on the way home.  Mother nature:  during my nice nap, mom drove through crazy rain storms where I guess she couldn't see anything and even got hailed on.  We made it to grandma's eventually, but I heard mom and dad telling grandma that we are only going to be morning/afternoon drivers going forward.

Bring on the cake

Saturday was a new day.  I woke up chipper and ready to play with grandma!  She immediately started showering me with gifts.  Which really was not necessary, I mean playing with her is totally good on its own, but she says I am her only grandchild to spoil so to just accept it.  She made me a super cool set of blocks to put in a container, you all know how I love that kind of thing!  I also got an awesome toy that blows balls!  I love it...dad not so much.  I guess it is a bit loud for him, he is learning to deal with it though.  In addition to toys and clothes, grandma got a cake.  That's right...I got to eat MORE cake!  But before that we had lunch.  My new friends Anabel and Eloise that I met last trip up (& their mom Sarah) came over for some quality play time and lunch.  Yes, I had my first introduction to Valentinos pizza....and I must say I really like it.  But I did save room for cake.  I mean I had my own...and since the twins couldn't have any I figured I should eat their share.  I had fun with them and tried to show them my new toy, but I'm not sure they were as into it as me.  Oh well, their loss.

Yes, yes...I do like cake

Go....Big.....Red!

Yes, I got to see my friends Anabel & Eloise again.  They are so fun...

and I look HUGE next to them don't I?

Lovin' this new toy from grandma

Eventually we all got tired so the twins and their mom headed home...but then the sugar kicked in and I decided a nap wasn't needed.  Mom & dad took that as their queue to leave...I guess they got tickets to the Husker game.  Hello?   Did you forget about your favorite and ONLY daughter?  What's that?  You would actually have to spend money and buy me a ticket to go along with you....ok, I get it.  I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal anyway.  I spent the whole afternoon and evening playing with grandma and her friend Cheryl.  I had a blast, I'm pretty sure they did too.

Sunday I woke up to find mom and dad were back.  Good thing, I was a bit afraid they would have too much fun with their friends at the game and not want to come back, but they assured me that could never happen.  We did some more playing...grandma got the bubbles out and I got a big case of the giggles, she was just so funny.  All was good for a while, mom left to go have brunch with friends and dad was going to go see his friend, but I had other plans.  You see I just didn't want him to leave so I let him and grandma know.  I think I just was ready to get back into my own bed and routine.  Yes, I am a creature of habit.  The drive home was much better than the drive there.  I was much more relaxed, perhaps it was because I decided to do the deed (you know what that means) 4 times on Sunday.  Yep, nothing like a good cleanse to put a girl to sleep.  Much to mom and dad's dismay....apparently they don't love stopping to change my diaper on the side of the road.  But I'm glad that they opted for that way instead of making me sit in that stuff for hours.

I think I may take over Marley's bed...it is really comfy!

As I mentioned before, I managed to catch a cold somewhere.  So the rest of this week has been full of snot and coughs.  Yeah, good stuff.  Dad is nice enough to take me into the bathroom and sit with me in the steam..that definitely makes me feel better.  I think things are looking up.  I had school pictures today, so I'm not expecting much given my red/swollen eyes...guessing those won't be framing quality.  Then again, I am quite photogenic as you well know.  Amelia OUT!

Move over Marley, Grandma has some cool magnets to play with

9/6/2011

I made it!  Yep, today is my 1st birthday!!!  1 year/365 days - however you want to look at it.  Mom & dad seem pretty proud of themselves, but obviously I'm the one that made it through year 1.  And with flying colors I must say!  Obviously you all know how year 1 has gone, because I have kept you in the loop every step of the way.  55 blog posts and counting...that is pretty impressive too!

I have had quite a bit of fun celebrating with everyone since I last wrote, let me share some of the highlights.  The rest of last week was good, much of the same.  I enjoyed a nice dinner out to the Blue Moose with mom & dad Friday night.  Apparently I am big enough there that i get crayons to play with and a mask!  I don't much like to wear it, but find it pretty fun when dad does.  Speaking of crayons...I am a fan!  Mom picked me up my very own box last week to see if I would like to color, I find that it is kind of fun to put marks on the paper...but I LOVE taking them out of the box and putting it back in.  As a matter of fact, I spent a good hour plus doing just that the other day.  So fun!  I guess Marley loves them too...she ate my entire blue crayon and half the orange one.  Maybe she is a Bronco fan.  Can't wait to see those on the way out!

Saturday is when the fun began.  A little after lunch who came to the door...but grandma & grandpa Steffen!  I heard they were coming....but then I was surprised when my cousins Mallorie & Gabby also walked in.  Sweet!  It didn't take me too long to remember them all and immediately start in on having some fun.  I did a lot of hugging on all of them at first.  Then eventually I showed them some of my cool toys, and even how I have become quite good walking with my push toy.  I require a bit of help with turning, etc...but they seemed good with that.  I also showed them my skills with climbing the stairs.  I think they were all impressed.  Then of course it was time for my first Husker game of the season!  I vaguely remember cheering them on last year, I have a feeling this year is going to be way more fun.  However, this one was against some no name team, so I chose to sleep through a majority of it while grandma and the cousins went shopping in the monsoon.  Yeah, we got tons of rain.  Which changed our plans for the evening.  Mom had some tickets to the Royals game for us, but we didn't feel like dealing with rain so we ended up staying in and ordering a pizza.  I'm always good with that.  It is one of my faves!

Sunday I decided to sleep a full 12 hours!  Mom and dad were not sure what to do.  You would think they would have slept in, but apparently I messed up their internal alarm clocks so they got up and checked out the neighborhood drama.  Yeah, I guess the cops were out bright and early with K-9 and guns!  I think I'm glad that I slept through that.  Just so you all don't freak out, I will tell you that the RoPo don't get much action (google it - we actually have the best crime statistics of anywhere in KC metro) so I think they just get overly excited when something does happen.  Needless to say with all the 'Criminal Minds' obsessions in this house, I am still quite glad that we  have a security system.  I digress...back to the day of me!  I woke up and did some chatting with grandma before everyone else started waking up.  Mom started baking.  That's right, I will write that again since I'm pretty sure it is the first time since I've been born...Mom started baking.  Anyway then everyone else got to work.  Grandma helped dad do lots of cleaning and grandpa cleaned off the deck and Gabby and Mallorie were drawing pictures, making signs, cleaning...what was going on?  Everyone left mom and I to go do some shopping, I was told I had to take a little bit of nap before the festivities started.  What festivities you ask?  Well it was a party all for me!!!!  They came back from the store with some new rings for me...wait...no, it was a cake!  AWESOME!  There were also some balloons, which I must say are pretty neat too!

Lounging on my ring pillows with the cuz's

I think Avery wasn't quite sure about me
hanging with her mom

Steph & Deron 

With Rennick & his mom & dad

BFF Ava and her mom & dad

Goldfish bar!

I thought that was the party, but then people started showing up at the door, it was all my friends.  Ava, Avery, Rennick, Will and all of their parents...AND my grown up friends Steph & Deron and Tyler & Sarah!  Man am I lucky!  We had a blast and it was a beautiful day so we hung out on the deck.  All my friends got to go and swing in my tree swing.  Mom brought my high chair out on the deck for me.  For what you ask, well it is my birthday, and what do you have at a birthday party, that's right CAKE!  I had my very own cake and I loved it.  I think that my first taste of this stuff called SUGAR, and I think that I am ready for some more.   I have included some videos below of that fun.    Dad took my cake away after awhile, because my legs started shaking, just kidding.  We also had a Goldfish bar, with many different flavors of my favorite food group.  What Goldfish isn't a food group? Who knew?  Not that I need anything, but I did receive some cool gifts.  I got some oversized pillow rings from mom & dad, they are fun.  I also got some super cool blocks, totally my thing...I guess that is the engineer in me.  But the girlie girl of me totally enjoys my new tea set.  Mom tells me we can go to London some day and have some tea together, but until then we are practicing our accents while we play.  Unfortunately, Grandma & grandpa and Mallorie & Gabby all had to take off before the party was over because they wanted to get through at least 1/2 of their trip.  I sure do appreciate them driving so far just to spend time with me.  I really had a lot of fun with them all....hopefully they did with me!  Luckily, I didn't have too much time to dwell on missing them because I still had lots of people to play with and talk to.  I'm totally over my shyness...I sat with anyone who would take me.  Sadly, eventually everyone had to leave...I was still totally wired from that yummy cake and frosting so mom and dad took me for a walk to 'settle me down' and we eventually called it a night.  What a day!

Tyler & Sarah!

With Will & his dad John

Yesterday was another gorgeous day so we spent a lot of time outside (in between playing with all my new toys of course), along with a walk we ventured to the plaza for some lunch and shopping.  I enjoyed  a very tasty grilled cheese at Houstons and then headed to Barnes & Noble for some new books!  But my favorite thing there were the escalators.  Those were FUN!  We took a nice stroll along Brush Creek before heading home for the evening.  I am starting to move around in my shoes pretty good if I do say so myself.  Again, it was a great day...I was definitely ready once bedtime came around!

what shall I build next?

Yes, one must cross their legs when drinking tea!

Out for a stroll

Today was my official birthday, but my celebration was going to school like any usual weekday.  Where is the fun in that?  Oh, I guess I did have fun with my friends.  So much so that I didn't nap and was a bit cranky this evening.  That was until mom gave me some of my leftover cake!  Oh how that makes everything better.  Also, why not take in a few extra calories for my 1 year doctor check up tomorrow.  More on that next time.  Until then, thanks for making my first year an AMAZING one.  Amelia OUT!

Just chillin' with Marley