9 MONTHS OLD!

For HJ’s 9th birthday (7.22.10), we had her bathed, dressed up and all rarin’ to go for some photo ops, but she was super stingy with smiles all day long.  The best we could do was get some cute pics of her eating some new snacks.  It’s pretty cute because they’re big munchies, but she still tries to put the whole thing in her mouth.

Speaking of her mouth, she has 1 tooth that’s really becoming a tooth on the bottom (as opposed to a sort of white spot in her gums where we think a tooth should be).  I tried to get some shots of the tooth, but…

…you get the idea.

We finally got some smiles and even some happy bouncing from our little girl when we showed her her birthday present: Beck’s Audi!

  

We felt really bad that she didn’t get to drive it or keep it (call us mean parents), but the doctor said something about it not being good for little kids or legal.  Something about waiting a decade…bla, bla, bla.  It still made her day just to sit in the driver’s seat and chew on some fancy German steering wheel.  Happy Birthday, Halley!

Dana’s Wedding and Mount Cutler

 

 

Our good friends Dana Skiba and Bryce Cushman got married on July 17, 2010.  What a cute couple!

 

 

 

Halley was there looking adorable doing her little lip thing she’s been doing lately.  They had bells as decoration.  AKA: great toys for babies.

 

 

 

Bailey and Miranda Skiba, sisters of the bride, with Halley.  3 of our favorite people in one picture!

 

 

 

 

 

Becky and Noel with Halley.  Becky did a Bible Study with Noel and Dana for their senior year at James Irwin and they all had a blast…

 

 

 

Halley’s 1st big hike (my excuse to use my fancy new, used backpack).  We went up Mt. Cutler, a little mountain by Colorado standards, in Cheyenne Canon.

I know the pictures below all look pretty much alike, but we just thought she was absolutely precious riding along to the “summit.”  She got to break out her REI hat and everything.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Dog Days of July

 

 

She’s a little overwhelming in this shot, but we think adorable.  Very in your face in the best way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halley loves her new little purple Polo dress outfit from Grandmommy.  Almost as much as she loves plain old Solo plastic cups.  Why do we spend so much money on fancy toys again?

 

 

 

Getting a little carried away in her exploring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halley was bummed when the US got knocked out of the World Cup.  She liked the colors of the Netherlands, but I’m worried she might pick up some of their crying, faking, whining, bad acting tendencies (this is Dad writing, in case you couldn’t tell).  I’m trying to get her to like the sport but all the bad acting and feigned injuries just don’t help that cause.

    

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve decided to start home-schooling early with a little educational TV.  Halley did better during Kids’ Week, but her only answer is “Eeeeee!” and I don’t think she quite gets the whole answer-with-a-question thing yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if she was trying to buzz in from home or rooting for the girl in the middle.  For those of you worried about how close she is to the TV, the possibility of dumbing down our child, or about my childcare abilities, I moved her after a minute and we read a book instead.  War and Peace while listening to Mozart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a “Silly Goose” afternoon where Halley got to wear her Silly Goose outfit (which she’ll soon outgrow) and play with her Silly Goose.

But then she came after the camera…

 

Halley picked out a new flower (the purple delphinium* to the right of her in the picture) at Lowe’s and helped me put it in the pot (she tried to eat the dirt).  I figure that at some point, we’ll need to decide what chores she’ll have.  She reached for the broom, so I let her try it.

 

 

 

 

I think this is where she started fussing about it being too hard, too hot and the broom being too heavy.  I blame the whining on the guys from the Dutch soccer actors.  I mean, players.

 

* – The fact that I (Randy) know what a delphinium is, while making Mamama (my mom) proud, is yet another indication that I might be suffering from occasional cabin fever.  Let’s put it this way: we didn’t need anything at Lowe’s.  I just wanted to go look at tools.

 

 

 

 

For those of you who care more about our daughter than soccer talk (as we do), I’ll end this one with a shot of HJ in her fancy new bathtub:

Stay at home dad with HJ...

So this is Randy chiming in. Most of you know that I'm in between jobs right now and therefore get to be a stay at home dad with little HJ while Beck puts in some hours at work to bring home some bacon. I absolutely love it, but it might be a little too much time off. Becky says I'm getting a little too silly and should wear a suit around the house just to keep my professional edge. I'd hate to get mashed peaches on a good suit. Becky is amazing and letting me get out to do some mountains so I don't get too stir-crazy.

And, for the record, I don't think you can ever say a house is "childproof" - "child-resistant" is more fitting and more honest. Man, she is into everything at knee level or below. Who would've thought leg hair would make such a good handhold? I'm considering shaving and saying it's for running purposes.

I'm throwing a few pictures on here of Halley, nothing amazing - a reflection of the dog days of summer maybe (and too much time at home)...

Halley decided to tease Chico for a little while. Sometimes, she forgets which toys are his and which ones are hers. In all fairness, so does Chico.



Halley & I usually have breakfast outside - it's beautiful weather.



Here, Halley got her hand caught up in her blankie of the month. I wasn't sure whether she looked like a superhero or a princess. Since I'm the dad here, I choose SuperHalley.



Come on. Tell me she doesn't look like she couldn't triumphantly save someone in that last shot.

For those of you wondering if she's walking yet, the answer is not quite. She loves standing and is ok with you holding her hands while she walks. Her crawling has definitely picked up some pace as you can see. Enjoy! You're going to want the volume up...



Ok, Halley is trying to re-arrange our DVD's again. Interestingly, she almost always stops to smile at "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Shrek." She's ecclectic like that. I need to go find a phone book for her to get her fisty little hands on. Apologies to Dex.

Week in Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bittersweet