It's great to be a girl!

I found this new dress for Amelia at Kmart, but it wasn't quite right and a little big on her.  (It's a 12 month and still a little big on her!  Sheesh!)  So I took in the straps to bring it up a little higher on the neck, and the tie originally tied in the front with belt loops, but I thought it made the dress too casual so I took the belt loops off and unstitched the tie and re-sewed it on so that it now ties in the back.  It looks much better.  And that way, with the sweater on it doesn't hide any of the best bits!

She loves to check herself out!

Leave me alone mom!

Leaving for church.

And there's the headband I made.

Too cute!

Traditions...

I remember as a kid sitting down and watching America's Funniest Videos with my family growing up.  I loved it then and I love it now.  I still crack up and laugh histerically at it.  And I'm trying really hard to keep the tradition alive.  Every Saturday night after dinner and bath we all sit down as a family and watch Australia's Funniest video's!  Amelia is hooked for life!

Can you guess what she's looking at?

It's a cat!

weird

Had a bad day recently?  Imagine how this guy feels.  We found this guy washed up on shore just down the street from our house.  Had  to capture it.

First official birthday party from an invitation

On Saturday we went to a birthday part for a girl in our LDS ward who is turning 4. Amelia got her first official birthday party invitation. It was so fun to be able to attend.

Brad and Amelia getting ready for the "Pass the Parcel." That's the game where you play music and "pass the parcel" around and when the music stops you get to unwrap a layer and win a prize!


They look very excited don't they?!


And the excitement of the prize!


The birthday girl is the little girl in the yellow shirt/black dress.

Wow, these suckers are weird things!

Lollipops you say?

I think I could get used to these.

Hey, I think I found myself a pressie!

Made by hand-with love

So I'm going to take just another blog entry to brag again. I am quite proud of this. The past couple of months a few moms from the ward have been getting together at Heather Hawkins (photo below) house to make quiet books. Heather is a pro at making them and was generous enough to share her skills with us. Everything is done by hand except to actually sew the pages into the book. It was a long, but good experience. I have finally completed mine, (I was the first one done! I just couldn't stop!) And it's great because it really does what it says it does, keeps Amelia quiet at church! We love it. So without further adieu, here it is:

Front cover

Family tree and zippy lady bug

Button flower pot and fish tank

Snap-on colours and clock

Velcro shapes and clothes on the line

Worm in the apple and counting numbers

And here is the Amazing Heather!

Look what I can do!

OK, so I'm going to take a personal moment and brag just a minute.  Look what I did!  I bought this beautiful new dress for Amelia the other day and wanted a pretty headband to go with it, but you just can't find what I was looking for here, so I decided to make one, and then got carried away.  So here are the few headbands I made on Saturday night:

I was so proud of this one.  I have been trying for months to tie a bow like this and I FINALLY did it!  I was so excited!

OK, so maybe it's a bit big and over the top, but I did it!  After months of trying!!! 

 Here's the one I made to go with her dress.

And heres all three of them together.  I didn't get a close up shot of the bottom one, but you can kind of see it and get the idea.

Another day at the beach [UPDATED w/2 videos]

Today we took a little excursion to the beach down the street with the Smith's. It just so happened to be the hottest day so far this spring with temperatures hitting 92F/33C with very little humidity or flies! It was fantastic. The only thing we had to worry about was the early onset of skin cancer. Thank goodness for spf 30+ sun block! Although, Brad missed a spot, that little hole in the back of his hat, and now has a nice red patch on the back of his head! Hehehehe! Amelia still has no fear of the water unfortunately. But we all had an absolute blast!

Brad takes Amelia down to test the water.


Yup, not to bad!


Hey!  You've got to have TWO floaties to go in the water up to your ankles!

No! Wait! I'm not ready for my close up!


OK, now!


Amelia, Isobel, and Jo enjoyed the nice big hole I dug. Note to all you parents out there with small children. When you head to the beach dig a big hole close enough for the tide to fill it up but far enough away from the water to keep them safe. It was the best thing. They all got to play and splash in the water and us parents could enjoy peace of mind.

more fun in the hole

After all the excitement, we picked up some popsicles on the way home

Later that day...

So after Jo Jo had paid a little visit to the doctor for the little bump on his head (see previous post), he came over to prove that even with a little bump and a scrape he could still take the best of them....er, Amelia.  These two very much have a love/hate relationship.  There is four months between them and Joseph is finally big enough to hold his own with Amelia.  Pay back for all the times she got him!

It starts out all nice and innocent...

Sweet and friendly sharing their apple...

Doing a little boogie...

And then the Kung Fu Panda in Jo kicks in...literally!


Amelia lays the smack down!  (Actually she was just pulled to the ground.  Jo jo is very close to walking everywhere and he likes to give Moo's cuddles as he goes.  Which more often then not ends up like this.)

Joseph tries his hair styling skills...

(Notice the sweet smiling face on Jo the whole time?!  He's just being friendly!  Unfortunately for him Amelia is our daughter and has inherited our personal space issues.)

Hair styling?  Yeah right!  (Get up Moo moos!  I know you got it in ya!)

TV is always better with a friend

This morning I got a call from Sharon saying that Isobel had pushed Joseph off their little slide and he had bumped his head.  (Give it a few months and you just might be able to read the full story here.)  She was heading off to the doctor with the poor chappy so we got to play with Isobel for a little while.  I had a few things around the house to finish up like eat my breakfast, so I turned the TV on to do the entertaining...

Isobel was loving it!

Dinner and a movie anyone?  It'll make you boogie!

Front row seats.

So cute!

I just think these are so sweet...but then I am totally biased.  Last night after dinner Brad took a seat and Amelia just had to be near him.  She just loves hanging out with her daddy!

Finishing that drink

Open wide!

I love that she always sits indian style (can I still say that?  Or is that too racist now?)

First beach excursion of spring...

Yesterday Sharon and I took the kids to Umina beach for a morning break.   It's tough being a kid!  It was still a little cool, but we couldn't resist.  Enjoy the photos:

Amelia in her cosi's (swimmers) from Great-Grandma Brinkerhoff (Thanks Grandma!  She looks so cute!)  Looking a little confused...

Which way is the beach? They told me it was this way but...

Hmmm...maybe I'll just take a break here and try again later.

Mmmm...biscuits really do taste better with a little sand on them.

Finally Sharon, Isobel, and Jo jo showed Amelia the way.

Hey, wait for me guys!  

(Amelia would only head for the water once she was fully dressed.  I think she just wanted to save her new swimmers for future posterity.  After all, they are from her GREAT grandma!)

Back in the sand for some lunch.

Hey wait!  I want some lunch too!

Now, where are they off too?

Hey guys!  Wait for me!

Back at home, little miss Koala ears!  Trying to eat her "B."

After the piggies, tufts like a Koala.