The Real Kiddie Candid

This weekend we had family gather for some good ol' homemade lasagne and celebration. Roo, in prep for her mission, went to the temple to be endowed. Here were a few candid shots that resulted.

Sierra turns into a troll at sundown!! She's a year old now!!!
All of us sibs (minus Tom). This shot will probably never happen again, Scott can smell a camera from a mile away!

Love it!!

Pic of the Day

Gummy Grin!

Bleh! Grandpa's whiskers!!!

The newest phase...sucky face!

Blah Blah Blog

Sofie thinks she can talk...so we listen.

Mission Calls and Handle Bars

My Sister Roo has finally left behind her evil ways and officially got her mission call last Wednesday! And of course, she couldn't do things the traditional way by waiting for the mailman, she went down to the post office at the butt-crack of dawn and picked it up before it got sent out with the mail man. Anyway, the point is, she's going to Independence, Missouri (which includes a bigger chunk of Kansas) where she will also be a tour guide at the church history sites there. She's super way excited but we are sad to see her go far away. :(

After she grabbed the call she went on a little hike, read her call by herself, took some pictures, cried a little, etc. Then came home and read it to us. She took this picture all by herself, how cute.

Here is a picture of Roo telling my brother Scott, and really the only reason I wanted to add this picture was because of Scott's sweet Yosemite Sam-stache. It's even more impressive in real life.

Newest, Latest....Weirdest!

Sofie came home from church today making this noise. Not sure if one of the primary kids taught her a new tongue trick, or if she learned it by watching daddy eat his breakfast this morning, but it's definitely new!

Aside from being weird...Sofie is growing soooo fast! She learned real quick how to sit up by herself and is starting to be less content on her back.

6 Months

FINALLY! A picture of the whole family!
The Oatmeal Monster

Sofie insists on sucking on all of her fingers between each bite. I'm sure she thinks the food comes from her fingers and not the spoon. This weekend we tried bananas for the first time, she was appalled!

Sofie is learning to be unselfish -and is beginning to share her giggle with us more often :) Here is Grandma who found one of the magic buttons!

Sofie continues to grow every day. She is learning how to sit on her own, and starting to roll (and almost scoot). My sister and her kids have been down this weekend from Logan so Sofie has been watching the kids and is learning from them. She has a few new syllables this week as well. I haven't taken her in for her 6 month checkup yet, so I'm not sure what she weighs...but it's a lot, I promise. Nothing new with me and Derek.

And also...

...we have the cutest baby in the whole world! Thank you Target Portrait Studio! (especially for the free tiny digital version of all the pictures, just big enough to blog) Here are a few of our favorites.

And this one just CRACKS ME UP! I almost expect her to meow or squeek or something cute!

Eh, What's Up Doc??

There's really no theme for this blog, just a few "pics of the day." Derek was teaching Sofie how to suck on a carrot...free carrots! Yay for WIC!!

Andrea and Sofie have been enjoying the warmer weather these past few days. We even had sunshine for about two days, unfortunately not today though. :(

Don't let all that snow trick you, it was pretty warm. (My parents' house is north facing so the snow on the lawn doesn't melt until about April.)

Sofie the Jewelry Model. I think it will be a great career for her...I'm not too sure about the whole posing nude thing though.

And of course: Patty-Cake

Wonder of Wonder, Miracles of Miracles

We may have finally arrived! As some of you may know, ever since we transferred Sofie to her crib to sleep it's been a nightmare, (except for nightmares usually occur while you're sleeping...) I've been lucky to get 45 minutes of solid sleep at a time. However, this week Sofie has made an incredible shift over to.....drum roll please..... 12 hours of solid sleep!!! It's only been a few days, so I can't count on it lasting, but it's sure been nice! I haven't been able to get much use out of it yet though, because my body (and the means by which Sofie eats) is used to waking up every hour. So if this lasts, my body gets used to it, and I can convince Derek to go to bed earlier, life will be like a dream!

Sofie a few days old

Sofie 5 1/2 months

情人节

Between Derek and I, it can't really be expected to have a traditional Valentine's Day, but it was the best I've ever had! First of all, Derek gave me a beautiful wooden box that he made (under the tutelage of my Dad), on the inside he put a recipe for Zongzi. Zongzi is a traditional holiday food eaten in China. It's glutinous rice, stuffed with a chicken/mushroom/sausage mix, all wrapped in bamboo leaves, and steamed in a bamboo steamer (which I got for Christmas). So we took a trip down to Chao's and bought all the necessary ingredients. The Laoban was very helpful in getting the right stuff for us and giving us all the advice she could muster (they're good at that...) It worked out perfect and tasted amazing!!

Soaking the leaves.
Steaming the rice.
The filling, cooked with soy sauce, garlic and rice wine.
Stuffing the Zongzi.
Wrapping it with twine.
In the bamboo steamer.
The Valentine spread.
All done. Tasty town!

My end of the deal was pretty fun too. I surprised Derek with my own version of an expensive Hotel Valentine Suite...in our own room. I converted our regular bed into a "4 post" bed (using the wall, tacks, clothes rack, duct tape, and a broom handle) added some fancy decor, and scrounged up some fancy purple silk bedding that I drenched in lavendar fabric softener. I wiped the room clean of our every day stuff so it felt like a hotel room. It was so fun! I think Derek was impressed... I may leave it up. :) And Thank You to Sofie for sleeping awesome that night!!