Eh

Evenings are the worst time for time wasting for me.  I don't have the motivation or energy to do anything productive.  Instead of going to bed like I should I just surf the web mindlessly for waaay too long until I am overtired and kick myself for doing it once again.  I just need someone to give me a bedtime sometimes!

I Resolve....again

As you may or may not know,

It's a new year once again!!

As far as resolutions go, I say blah! I did ok last year, but I need to work on pretty much all the same ones.  So I'll make it easy on myself and just re-use my resolutions.  That's probably missing the point, but I think as long as I improve a little more each year it's a success! :)

15 Months

I can't believe my baby is 15 1/2 months old!!  We finally made it home and to a doctor's appointment, so here's Camille's stats:

Weight:  20 lbs, 4.5 oz, 10th percentile
Height:  31 inches, 70th percentile

Without fail either the nurse, doctor, or both always call Camille "little peanut" while we are there because she's long and skinny.  Things are looking good, she's growing and developing the way she should!

2nd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

Keeping with tradition, the Ricks hosted a 2nd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.  Last year's party was fun, but I think this was even better with uglier sweaters and more participants! 

Nick and Dallen in their matching "too-small women's Christmas sweatshirts"

Camille mid-bite.  The food was delicious!!

None of my candid party shots turned out even remotely flattering, so I'll spare you all and just post the formal ones so you can steal them for your own blogs if you wish. 

The Ricks

Tom waited until the end to make a grand entrance with his ugly sweater.  Actually it's a cute sweater when worn by his wife.  Thanks for the laugh, Tom!

Christin all cozy with her white elephant gift.  Doesn't she resemble Princess Leia minus the side buns?

Thanks everyone for such a fun party!  Looking forward to next year's! :)

What's new

Notice anything new on our blog lately?






































Surprise! :)

Growing up too fast!

Well until I decide what to do I'll just have to post without photos. In 12 days Camille will be 15 months old so I thought I'd do a little post on how things are going with her and our definition of exciting!

New words:

• Love you 
• bye bye
• up
• Jesus
• ball
• meow
• bear
• banana
• hot
• ouch
• "no no" (said while shaking her finger!)
•  snuggle

*mind you they don't sound exactly like that! :)

New tricks:

• getting better using a cup, spoon and fork
• a great walker
• when you ask how old she is she usually holds up one finger (my girl definitely does things on her own time.  she doesn't perform on command!)
• wipes her face with a napkin
• "helps" with the laundry.  if there is a pile or basket of clothes around, she will carry them piece by piece and put them in the washing machine. I find lots of non-clothing items in there too!

Loves:

• to snuggle with her baby dolls, stuffed animals and blankets
• to fake laugh at herself
• reading her books
• playing catch with a ball
• talking on whatever she decides is her phone
• frozen fruit

Stats to come after our appointment in Jan.  We love our goofy girl!

PS in our new blog pic Camille is wearing a vintage Polly Flinders dress.  Previously worn by me!  (thanks for saving them, Mom!

What to you mean I'm out of space?!

I guess I've posted too many pictures on my blog.  I was trying to upload some more pics for a posting, and blogspot told me:

Whoops! You're out of space. You are using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos. Purchase more storage

What?!  I thought this thing had unlimited space.  I was planning on keeping this as sort of a journal for years to come!  I don't want to pay for anything!

Ok enough whining.  Does anyone else have this problem??  Anyone know any way around it?  I would delete some photos, but I don't want them to disappear from my blog postings. 

Ideas??

Family photos

Even if it isn't much, I have been improving a little with taking our family pictures and learning as I go.  I love the backdrop in our first location, but of course the direct sunlight gives us some weird shadows on our faces. 

So we went in search of a better spot with indirect sunlight and some pretty trees.

Nick took some mom and daughter shots

And a few daddy daughter shots

And finally found the perfect spot for good lighting.  We came prepared with treats, toys, and other bribery, and of course went for a large quantity of photos hoping for a few quality!

Here's what we picked for our Christmas photo this year:

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a fun Thanksgiving with lots of good food!  Nick smoked a turkey for 5 hours and it turned out amazing!!

Kyla pretty much sucked this turkey bone clean

Camille missed most of dinner while taking a nap.  Here she is still trying to wake up

I made a painless trip to our mall on black friday and got exactly what I went for, didn't stand in any lines, and didn't fight any crowds.  Overall a great experience.  We got Camille a tent with a tunnel for Christmas, and since we won't be here, we had to try it out right away.  Warning:  adults can get stuck in the tunnel!

Just her size.  It will be fun for living room campouts, playing in the backyard, or for a little shade at the beach.  The tunnel can detach so both can be used seperately.

Camille loves to "wash dishes" lately.  It gets pretty messy, and she gets a little ticked when I take the dish cloth away from her when she's soaking everything with it, but overall she has a blast!

I organized a hair pretties exchange a few weeks ago and finally got everyone else's.  They all turned out so unique and cute, and it was super fun.  Here's my attempt at an artsy shot. 

Camille decided to read books under the TV tray the other day.  Seemed like a good idea at the time until she figured out she was stuck!

One of our favorite dinners lately--homemade pizza.  We made BBQ chicken

and some pesto chicken with pinenuts and feta.

Parade

We had fun at the Milwaukee holiday parade a few weeks ago. We had to bundle up a bit!

Best seat in the house!

We loved this...the Dancing Grannies!  I hope I can do something like this when I'm that old!  :)

If you look closely, one of the kids in the 3rd car back is sleeping!  It  was pretty funny, must have been nap time!