Wet and Wild

Truthfully I don't have a lot to write, but I feel like I have been out of touch.  So here are the things I remember from last blogging.  Mom's birthday was last Friday, we celebrated with dinner at Chipotle.  You think she would go for something more, but a craving is a craving and I love the place too.  So much so that I devoured an entire quesadilla!  Grandma Janice showed up for the weekend on her way to start a big road trip out west, so that was fun.  We hung out and did lots of playing.  We even got some 1:1 time when mom and dad left Saturday night to go sit in the fancy seats and watch the Royals actually win a home game!  I'm a bit jealous, but I had fun with grandma so I got over it pretty fast.  It would be nice if you could throw this girl a bone and take me to a game though, this weather as of late has been AMAZING.  Apparently, mom and dad have been too preoccupied with dealing with the never ending house saga.  One day...  Actually I have had fun with the house shopping over the past week, all these houses have way more cupboards and drawers to open than we do!

playing with grandma

Do you like the pretty dress gma made me?

Ava and I leaving church with dad's

I did get to go have some fun on Sunday afternoon though.  After saying goodbye to gma, going to church, and my nap...I got to go over to my friend Maddie's house.  Everyone was there.  I had a rough start as I was having some...ahem, we'll say bowel issues....'nuff said.  But I eventually made it past that hurdle and had a blast.  Maddie has so much stuff including a SUPER fun water table that I spent most of my time at.  Getting soaked...it was awesome!  We were there to see a friend Jason who was back in town from TX.  I guess he moved right before I was born, so I had never met him before...but he seemed pretty cool.  After seeing all of Maddie's things, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I got to take home a cool new toy for myself.  You see my friend Mason outgrew this cool slide and was so nice as to let me borrow it.  He didn't seem overly thrilled at the moment of hand off, but I hope he knows just how much I enjoy it!

I got the burgers, Maddie - you get the drinks...

LOVE the water table!

Thanks for the slide, Mason!! 

Hopefully I will have some more interesting stories the next time I write.  Amelia OUT!

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

OK....first things first....In the Steffen family Hunger Games, I fear that dad stands little chance.  That's right....Surprise!  Steffen 2.0 is a girl.  Turns out come September, I will have a baby sister.  Mom and dad were both quite shocked when they found out a while ago, so much for gut feelings, gender predictors, chinese horoscopes, etc.  In reference to my last blog, my mom was thinking she was going to get her "mommy's boy" since I took over the "Daddy's girl" spot some time ago.  I guess this new sis will just have to fight me for said title.  Dad says, she can buck the trend...and be a "mommy's girl."  Mom says that they had a boys name all picked out, so now are back to square one and maybe....just maybe, I can weigh in on her name.  My 2 favorite words right now are Blue & Ice.  Beyonce can do it, so why can't my little sis's name be Blue Ice?  If you don't like it, feel free to offer alternative options!

Speaking of Hunger Games...I had lots of experiences since last I blogged with the bigger Steffen family.  I wonder who would win out of the current group of 23 people?  That could be interesting.  Dad IS pretty handy..... I'm just sayin'.  Anyway, apologize in advance for the large post, but there are lots of updates to fit in...

just chillin' while the big kids ride the roller coasters

First...Gma and Gpa came down to KC again for a visit.  This time they brought Aunt Rhonda, Jason, Mallorie, Angel (the current addition to Rhonda's family) & her friend Ieva.  They came down to see me....oh wait, and to go watch Siera play in the band at Worlds of Fun.  Saturday we all made a day of it at the park.  It was HOT.  I wasn't allowed to ride most of the rides (I need to grow much taller first), but I had to keep mom company anyway as pregnant people can't go on them either.  I did however get to ride this fun bus which i really enjoyed, some spinning teacups that gma, dad, and Rhonda joined me on.  I think I handled it much better than they did (mom was happy she had an excuse not to ride).  I took a nap in my stroller until the loud whistle of the train was just too much for me, so right before we left for the day I took the choo-choo train around the park.  That was cool.  Outside of that, I don't remember much but there were lots of people. 

riding the train with mom

I rode the bus!

We were getting hot so went home to relax and clean up a bit and then went down to the Plaza for the evening.  We did a little bit of shopping before meeting back up with everyone at the Cheesecake factory for some yummy food.  Let's just say none of us went hungry.  Keeping on the food front, we met back up with everyone one last time Sunday AM at Village Inn.  Where I showed them my great stacking skills while enjoying my second breakfast of the day!  By the end, I finally decided it was time to return the love I had been getting from everyone so spent some good time playing with Jason & Mallorie.  I didn't want them to leave thinking I didn't like them! 

The beginning of last week was pretty low key, but ended with a bang!  We packed up the car and got in the car Thursday AM...not the 5 minute drive to school mind you, but rather a ~6 hr drive to Hartington.  Yep, we hadn't been back since Christmas (which is like forever ago in my time) and it was my cousin Zach's graduation, so we made the trek!  I did pretty good if I do say so myself.  I love it when we pass big trucks!  Boy did I have a ton of first adventures on this trip:

mmm..maybe I DO like this Strawberry shortcake??

1.  Thursday we got there in time to watch Siera, Bailey, & Angel's track meet, this was not only my first track meet...but mom's too.  It was HOT, but despite that I had a good time seeing them do their thing.  Siera will be competing in State this weekend in 4 events.  Way to go!  In between races, I got to get reacquainted with some of the family.  I saw some that I saw last weekend, as well as some others that it had been longer.  You know me, it takes a while to warm up.  But I did eventually share some tickles and giggles before the day was over.  After dinner with some folks and dad got a round of golf in, we headed up to Uncle Matt's cabin for the night.  We didn't leave till my bedtime, but I didn't want to miss out on the awesomness of the place, so I stayed up late to run around and explore and enjoy a nice evening on the screened in porch with mom and dad.  It was like a vacation resort for sure.  Dad said that he was glad I liked it too because it will probably be our vacation spot in the future.  What is not to love?  A BEAUTIFUL house looking at huge lake, boats, jet skis,.... I heard mom and dad dreaming of having a house like that one day too...but I guess we have to get rid of our current one first.  Which is apparently not on the horizon!
As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed playing in the media room!

2. Friday was graduation day, so after a nice relaxing morning at the cabin we headed back to town so we could help get ready for Zach's party.  This is not my first graduation party as I was around for part of his big sister, Danielle's, last year...but it was the first time I helped in setting up.  I had fun with cousin Will checking out the decorations and running around before the party and I even got to go to the ceremony this time!  My favorite part was seeing pictures of dad when he went to high school...that must have been like a hundred years ago.  But he doesn't look a bit different, I could totally pick him out of the line up.  Since all the festivities got started late, I had another late night (like 10pm!).  So needless to say I had shining and not so shining moments talking to people .  I got to see lots of them, that is for sure.  I also got to share the news of the impending little sister to people...I did so by handing out these Mounds bars...and waiting to see just how quick my family/friends were with the 'game'.  Some caught on  to the "Almond Joys have nuts....Mounds don't" pretty quickly (way to go Brian/Rhonda), some needed LOTS of hints!  It sure was fun hearing all those guesses and reasoning.  I have some creative family!

by the time the guest of honor, Zach showed up
I was not all that interested in being held.  Sorry cuz.

3. Saturday was another day of firsts.  I had my first full tour of Aunt Rhonda's farm.  I got to see SO many new things.  Baby chicks (I was totally afraid to hold them), a momma hen and her eggs (again...don't make me hold them!), I got to go up in a BIG tractor with Rhonda, watch cows get their vaccinations (I guess my trips to the dr aren't so bad after all), and then I got to ride in a gator and see all 10,000 of their cows....(ok, I can't count past 3, but i'm pretty sure that I am right)!!  It was amazing.  Now I see why my dad said Deanna Rose is kind of lame.  :) 

Check out this video showing some of their cows!

They had just got a new batch of cows in, so we recorded them vacinnating them so they don't get the other cows sick!

Later that day after nap, I got another first.  We went for a ride on grandpas boat!  It was a little chilly when we went fast, but all in all it was pretty awesome!   We rode to the other side of the lake and got off the boat to go up to Matt's cabin and have some dinner and time enjoying the nice weather!  I was a bit on and off all day, due to my late nights, but I eventually warmed up...you know, right before it was time to head back to gma/gpa's for bath and bed!

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4. Sunday, Mother's Day, was primarilly spent in the car.  Luckilly dad and I hooked mom up with the new iPad to help make the trip go a bit better.  It may not have been the most exciting mother's day...but we spent family time together, that is good, right?  Plus...when we stopped for lunch at Burger King they gave mom a free hot fudge sundae.  They know how to get to her heart these days! 

Hope you enjoy ALL the pics and videos! Amelia OUT!

Here is another video I found of me playing with my Sit N' Spin that I got from Gpa McLain at Christmas.  I have figured out how to spin pretty good, but I really enjoyshowing my brute strength and  carrying it from place to place.

Daddy's Girl

Trying to fill daddy's shoes!

I figure since it is dad's birthday, I would devote this entry for my love or maybe obsession with him.  Don't get me wrong...I love mama, but there is something about dad that I just can't get enough of.  So with that dad....Happy Birthday, LUV U!

dad brought me a cool Syracuse Orange shirt back, but I was
feeling a bit dry and wanted to lotion up

Since my last entry, I actually went through some dad withdrawl.  Why you ask?  Well he left me and mom to go to upstate NY for some work training.  He left on a Sunday during my nap, so I was quite confused when I awoke and was no where to be found.  I will admit though, I had plenty of good times just hanging with mom.  The weekdays go so fast, that I didn't have TOO much time to miss him.  Especially in between all of the skyping we did.  But absence for sure made the heart grow fonder because I was of course thrilled when he came home.  I like to make it clear each night that he should be the one putting me to bed.  However, sometimes he says no....so I read with mom instead.  When dad says no....you listen. 

Mom and I were both pretty exhausted one day after school.  Even my mac n'cheese couldn't keep me going.  Sometimes you just have to give in to it and take a cat nap.  Don't you agree?  This was my first snooze at the dinner table...as you can see, I was quite comfy.  And still staying lady like with my crossed feet! 

 

I'm not feeling real chatty today, so let me just give you a few highlights since last writing.

1. Grandma & Grandpa Steffen came for a quick visit last week since Grandpa had a meeting.  I had a good time spending the day with dad and the g-parents on Friday.  As you can see, I enjoyed looking at pictures (mostly of me) on his phone whenever I could.  I also introduced them to Costco...by the looks of our cart, I think they were as big of fans as us!  We then went and had dinner at Outback steakhouse...as an early bday celebration for dad.  Actually, dad has some bad experiences there...but he had a gift card so we decided what the heck?  They had chicken, so you know i was good to go.


2. Last Saturday we went to the zoo.  I have been working on all my animal sounds for some time now, so it was fun to see them for real!  Let's see...my favorites were probably the lions, giraffe, and of course the polar bear.  Mom (who has been sick for like 2 weeks now with a gross cold or something), said it sure was a big zoo with a lot of space and not very many animals.  I wasn't complaining.  But of course i was in my stroller and not walking.  We did give the Sky Safari across 'Africa' a try....I thought that was pretty cool.  I'm not afraid of heights.  Not when i'm in between mom & dad that is!

Look...giraffes!

3.For all those interested...still no change on the house.  I hear mom and dad talking about building on all the time...so maybe we are not moving after all.  Again, I just go with the flow....

Ok, enough for this blog....in the next installment, if Im feeling nice, I MAY just give you some insight into my future sibling to be.  Yes, we know....Is Steffen 2.0 a boy or a girl?  What do you think?  Start the wagers.....

Cheers to Dad on his birthday!!

Amelia OUT!