A day in the life of the Steffen Sisters!: Celebrate Good Times!

Geez, 2 weeks since my last post. Where does time go? Here is a summary of where it went the past couple weeks:

Most importantly....dad had a big birthday. We celebrated on Friday by giving daddy our card (aren't we cute?) and singing some Happy Birthday and enjoying some yummy cheesecake. I guess when you are as old as him you don't have balloons and parties? Or maybe we need to get more organized in the celebration department!

As I mentioned before, my BFF Ava moved out of town so you can guess I was very confused when mom and dad asked if I wanted to go have BBQ with Ava. They kept saying 'little' Ava, but I didn't know what they meant by that. Had she shrunk? Turned out it was Ava Kramer. She is 'little' because she is only 17 months old. But I still had a lot of fun with her. And let me tell you, she is a girl after my own heart. She can put down some ribs. We had fun eating off each others ribs at OK Joes. Heidi hung out at the other end of the table with the mom's eating her boring baby food. I was OK with that. I still had fun. Even when those 2 crazy girls were all up in my face after dinner.

We had more fun with the Kramers the next day when they were so nice to share some Royals tickets with us. We all hopped in the mini so we could all drive together and park up close with their pass. That's right 3 car seats, 4 adults....seriously, you can't make fun of the mini in those circumstances. I must say I was pretty spoiled with my first Royals game. Great seats and company, and when i got sleepy and ready for a nap. Nathan bundled me up and held me. They did forget to go get me my official 'first Royals game' certificate like Amelia got here ,so dad said he would hook me up next time. 2nd child syndrome.

We sat right behind the bull pen, so I watched them play catch down there. That was cool. Other than that, my favorite parts were riding the carousel (mom even rode it with me and didn't get sick....Ava's mom was not quite so lucky!)....and eating a corn dog. A foot long one mind you. It was AWESOME. And yes, I did eat a good 8 inches of it.

This past weekend we made another road trip up to Hartington. Let me just tell you, it wasn't quite as peachy this time through....and don't look at me as being the culprit. Wow, thanks for calling me out. Yes, I will admit I got real tired of being couped up in that darn car seat. I enjoy moving all over the place these days, and that doesn't happen with a 5 point harness, so I let them all know it on a few occasions. Amelia, per usual, was always right there to sing me her "na, na, na" song which usually stops me from crying. But this time, I just wanted out so that was that. Despite what Heidi says, I think she actually was pretty good. She slept more than me (I had the Lion King to watch for the hundredth time, that I just couldn't miss!), and she even sat there content and awake quite a bit. We had a few giggling conversations back and forth too. That was fun! We may have stopped a couple of extra times. But that was good family bonding time I say. Nothing like going potty in dirty rest stops and having picnics (sans food) at a grassy knoll outside St. Joe. Yes, that is what we did to celebrate Mothers Day and break up the drive home. We did work hard (ok maybe with a little help from Aunt Rhonda & our teachers at school) to give her some special pots. I think she liked them!

The time in H town was fun though. We got to see everyone. I had a lot of fun playing with them all. Will & Jay both played some tea with me, Jason took me out to see the chickens (scary!), I got lots of pushes on the horsey swing, went out to dinner overlooking the lake, went to see Siera and Ryan pole vault for their school's track team (which by the way they went high!...they are both going to state this weekend! Good luck!!!), the list goes on and on. Don't forget, I had my first wagon ride. I cant sit in ours because I am too little, but with some help from Amelia I did real good sitting in grandma's wagon. Let's definitely not forget the reason for the trip. Of course not! Our cousin Siera graduated from high school! I inform mom & dad all the time how much I love Siera and that she is beautiful. Well she was just as beautiful on her big day. I had fun seeing her in the funny hat and dress. It got a little long though, so we went outside to play and then headed to her house for the party. Whoa, is all I can say. Mom took a few pictures of the party, but I was told to not expect that in 16 years when I graduate! Needless to say, I enjoyed all the food. Ok, the chips, candies, etc. Maybe not the fruit. We both tried our best to hang out, but the parties get started so late. Luckilly I managed to stay awake long enough to get a pic with the graduate. After that, I was begging to go home and sleep. I was right there with ya, Amelia. We even went sans bath that night because it was such a late night. But I had a lot of fun bathing as Will hopped in with me one night to play and one time I got in with Heidi in grandma's sink. As you can see, we had a lot of fun.

playing my new favorite game!!

I may show my sleepiness in these pictures a bit more than Amelia!

LOVE this picture!

A few of the development updates:
- Mom and dad seemed shocked the other day that I counted to 20. That along with singing my ABC's all the time they are finally catching on that I do learn stuff in school....despite me only telling them that I "play" every day. Apparently I need to get to work though, because THIS girl has some mad Geography skills. I am working on writing my letters now. I have mastered my H for Heidi, so much so that my mothers day card to mom was covered with H's. I think she liked it.

- I had a few rough nights, which were seeming to get to mom and dad. Teachers at school kept telling mom and dad about my poor naps too. Well what did they expect....I had this sharp knife of a thing coming through my gums. Yep, that's right I FINALLY have my first tooth. Actually, the 2nd one has also popped through just this weekend (it was much less painful, it just kind of snuck in). You can't see them real well yet, but I assume they are just slow growers. I will get to eat ribs and corn dogs with Amelia in no time!

Not sure I should post the following pictures as they are both just attempts of future blackmail from dad, but he has final editing control so I fear i have no choice.

Apparently, you are NOT suppose to lick your boogers...