Colorado Part 1 (Fort Collins)

 We (me, Brian, Paige, and my mom) spent the 1st part of our vacation with Jerry and Carol (my dad's cousin) in Fort Collins. We also used this time to visit with some of the other family in the area. Fort Collins is such a neat college town with all kinds of outdoor activities.

Downtown Old Town

A few days of fun at the "monster" park

swinging with Carol

 splash pad

New Belgium Brewery





Off to visit with Uncle Andy (my grandma's brother) and Aunt Phyllis

 The next few pictures are from Steve (dad's cousin) and Torie's farm or is it a ranch?

hmm...not sure about this horse

feeding the chickens with Molly

Molly and her chick....TROUBLE



12 Months = 1 Year!

the steps to our "lodge" in the mountains

So Paige is closer to 13 months now but I'll go ahead and give a 1 year report. She is walking almost running all over the place now. She loves to climb up & down,  over & under, and in & out of anything and everything she can. I'm still not sure about her vocabulary but here is her current word list (when she feels like it of course): hi, dadda, momma, cat, and dog.  She is really starting to understand the concept of putting things in and taking them out. We are starting to battle blocks in the dogs water bowl and books in the trash can. She's weighing in at 27.25lbs (97%), 31.5 inches (98%) and a head size in the 99 percentile. She has spent the last couple of weeks transitioning into the toddler room at school which is sad for mom and dad. This means..meal times sitting at a tiny table in a tiny chair, sleeping on a cot, daily outdoor play time, and lots of other big kid activities. Paige now has 10 teeth. The two molars that have come through have been hard on all of us.

this is her walking position

when she 1st started trying to walk

enjoying the splash park with daddy

Stay tuned for vacation pics and 1st birthday party excitement.

Congrats Bianca and Joe!

My best friend from college, Bianca, got married this past weekend in her home town Rockford, IL. I was in the wedding and Brian, Paige, and my mom were there to support the bride and groom. My grandparents are in Turkey or they would have been there too. We are all family :) I am still recovering from a few nights of very little sleep but that's okay. Bianca was beautiful, Joe handsome, and the wedding amazing! We are all so happy for the two of them.

Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Rehearsal

 Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding Day

Party Bus

Reception

 

Fun at Home

I don't have much to say just that Paige is so much fun and here are some pictures from the last 4 or 5 days.

I can report that she is starting to stand without holding on to anything and she even took a single step towards me before falling into a few more as I caught her. I guess she must be getting close to walking.

We set up a "pool" with her little sprinkler in the backyard and she loved it.

This is great!

 These next two are for Mimi. Paige is wearing one of my shirts from long ago.

Makes me miss my Grandpa Ray.



Okay not the best quality image but here I am in August of 1983 in that shirt.



 A friend from highshcool gave us this great slide and Paige loves it already. She spent 30 min or more climbing up the slide, sitting down, turning for me to catch her as she slid/jumped down, and then climbed back up.

She loves her doggie! And Carlie loves her.

I guess this one wasn't taken at home but I love the dress and her expression.

11 months

It's getting so hard to take pictures of miss Paige. She's all over the place and in to everything. When we aren't chasing her we are playing, eating or cleaning. She loves her doggie and kitty. I am nearly positive Paige has started saying "hi" and cat which sounds like "hat". We also think she's figured out she's supposed to call Brian "da-da" but no ma-ma's yet. She has 7 big white teeth now and is drooling like crazy...again. She's starting to let go and stand on her own for 5-10 seconds.  She must be her mother's daughter as she's refusing to wear dresses (they keep her from crawling). Her wardrobe consists of 12 and 18 month clothes with 1 2T "Cat in the Hat" t-shirt in preperation for her birthday party...yes it fits already.

The month of May has flown by. I'm not really sure where it went. Lets see the highlights from this month were Mother's Day here at home (day at the park), a trip to Cinci to celebrate Mother's Day with the Stanoch crew, another trip to the Children's Museum, a visit from great grandma and grandpa, and a trip to Rockford/Chicago for Memorial Day.



Yum! My 1st taste of ice cream



so serious



what a happy mess