Beep Beep!

Here I am taking cousin Beckham for a spin on his new wheels on Christmas Eve at Grandma Ottele's house.

A Pony for Christmas!

Santa brought me a bouncy horse!

Doggie Hat

Check out my new hat! Yup, that's me inside that bundle...brrr!

Hey...that's me!

Grammie wore me on her shirt for Christmas (it was a present that Grampie made!). Grammie had to wear a sling on her arm because she broke her arm on Christmas Eve on the icy sidewalk!

Still Snowing...

A week later, and it's still snowing out! Chino likes the snow mountains that Mark made with the tractor while he was trying to clear the driveway.

Crazy Horse

Dozer LOVES the snow...

Two Step

Brrr! More snow! Dozer and Chino love romping around in it (separately), but the rest of the animals aren't quite sure what to do with it. I'd love to go out to play, but Mom says that it's too cold for babies. Dad went to work today, but he's coming home early before the roads get any worse. We've got 10-12 inches of fluffy snow here now...maybe I can go sledding in the pasture this weekend!

Mom was very excited to see me take two steps all by myself a few days ago. I think I still need to work on my balance and it will be awhile before I'm walking for real, but it's a start!

Sad day at the Ranch...

Toonces, one of the founding members of the Ranch, was put to sleep this morning. She was our first goat, our friendliest goat, and will always be remembered as our favorite goat. Toonces will definitely be missed!

First Snow!

Brrr...we had a few inches of snow that stuck around last weekend! I got to play outside for a few minutes - Dad pulled me around on a sled while Chino raced us. I kept tipping over backwards, so Mom had to ride with me. The snow wasn't quite sticky enough for us to build any snowmen. I didn't stay outside very long since my nose started turning red like Rudolph's.

GG turned 80!

Last weekend we went to Grandma Ottele's house for a fun party - Great Grandma Webber turned 80 years old. I had fun visiting with everyone and playing with Riley and Beckham. Mom was very excited because let go of the couch and stood by myself for the first time!

Beer Me

Dad says that I have good taste...

Photo Shoot

On November 30th, we went to a cool photo studio where Mom practiced taking pictures with fancy lights and backgrounds. I was a very good model, and Grammie came along to help keep me from jumping off of the table during the shoot. My favorite thing was the fake snow that they sprinkled on me for the "winter" pictures. I also posed in Mom's wedding dress...Grammie used a giant fake rat that she found in the prop room to make me look at the camera and smile.

I really wanted to eat the bead curtain and couldn't stop stuffing it into my mouth.

Santa came to Snohomish!

Thanksgiving

We went to Grammie and Grampie's house in Anacortes for Thanksgiving. I ate lots of grown-up food, including turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatos, rolls, sweet potatos with marshmallows, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and ice cream - all cut into baby-sized bites of course! I wore my Christmas jammies so that I could pose for Grammie's annual card. On the TV, I saw Santa waving to me from the Macy's Parade...I hope he brings me lots of fun presents since I've been a (mostly) good baby!

Apple Cup

On November 22nd, we went to cousin Riley's house to watch the Apple Cup football game. Riley shared his bouncy horse and baseball bat with me, but did not like me playing with his tricycle.

Grandmas can't resist chubby cheeks...

Face Painting

Here's what happens when Dad lets me play with ballpoint pens...

Nine Month Check-Up

Grandma Ottele went with me to my 9-month check-up on November 7th since Mom was still on lifting restrictions from her surgery. I weighed in at 21lb 14oz and was 28 3/4 inches long. I used to be in the 99% for weight, but now I'm only 92% (as compared to other baby girls). I guess that I'm burned off some of that milk with all of the crawling I'm doing now!

Trick or Treat!

Mom had her hernia repair surgery yesterday, so Dad stayed home from work to take care of me today. We both dressed up in our Halloween costumes and headed to my Dad's workplace for trick-or-treating. I was a fish and Dad pretended to be the fisherman that caught me! I liked to hold the fishing pole all by myself. Dad borrowed Grampie McMahon's waders and fishing vest and wore Jay's silly fishing hat. I'm too little to eat candy yet, but I'm sure that my Dad will find something to do with it!

Uh-oh, Cheerios...

Here's me eating my very first Cheerio...guess I'm officially growing up now! I've been trying lots of real food lately - my favorites are shredded cheese and Gerber yogurt melts. I haven't found anything yet that I really don't like - I guess my tummy takes after my Mom's! Mom let me have half of her pickle to play with the other day and, much to her surprise, I loved it and ate all of the soft part (she had to fish the hard skin out of my mouth so I wouldn't choke on it even though I wanted to eat it too). I'm getting really good at picking up stuff with my pincer fingers now and putting it into my mouth, but I still have a hard time with slippery, slimey fruits.

Fish Out of Water

Today was Halloween costume day at baby class. Everybody liked my fishy disguise that Mom bought at a consignment shop when we were visiting Grampie in Massachusetts. It took up most of her suitcase on the way home! After we sang the "Hello" song, my baby friends and I got to parade around the hospital to show off our cute costumes to the labor and delivery nurses.

Dad is going to take me to the trick-or-treating and costume contest at his work on Friday. He's going to dress up like a fisherman and pretend that he caught me!

Time flies!

Wow - it's been a month since I updated my photos...I guess I've been busy! I'm over 8 months old now and am an expert crawler, although sometimes I try to crawl too fast and trip over my hands. I love to stand up holding onto whatever couch, gate, leg, etc is closest to me. I'd like to play with the doggie, but he doesn't like me so I only get to watch him from a distance. I've done lots of fun things this month...

I hosted Thursday night playgroup at my house and Nadia, Kirin, Shaun and Lucas came. We had fun, but I always cry when it's time to take the group photo, especially when Kirin bops me on the head.

Grandma Ottele brought cousin Riley up to visit. I shared my toys with him and he showed me how to escape from my play yard. I went to a pumpkin patch with my friends Casey and Little Maddie (our names sound the same so they call me Big Mady). I was still getting over my very first cold, so I was sort of grumpy, but Mom still got some cute photos.

I went to Leavenworth for Oktoberfest and we stayed in a cabin with Grammie and Grampie McMahon. I wore the Hershey Kiss hat that Mom crocheted for me and it was a bit hit in town! We stopped at a fun market and played with the swing, pumpkins and animals too.