A N D E R S E N: September 2010

Our favorite little redhead turned 1 on Sept. 3. It's a tradition in my family to have a big first birthday party, so that's exactly what we did. Gina is the cutest most adorable little girl I could have ever hoped for. I feel so blessed to be her mommy and while it makes me a little sad too, I am very excited to see her grow and experience the person she will become.

Here are a few facts about Gina

She almost always has puckered lips when she is talking.. so much so that I call it her signature look.

She says about a dozen words and can pretty much copy any word you try to teach her.

She LOVES and I mean LOVES babies.. real or dollies, doesn't matter. She almost had a heart attack when we went down the dolly isle at Target the other day. She was screaming, "bebe! bebe!" "mama! bebe!"

She loves taking trash OUT of the trash can.

She is VERY demanding and knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. Our 2010 household motto is "What baby wants, baby gets"

She is tiny.. around 25th percentile for height and weight.

She loves buster, our cat, and tries to climb on him, pull his tail, and pick him up.

She loves to kiss and be kissed and loves to blow kisses.

She is constantly walking around the house talking gibberish and dropping toys here and there along the way.

She tries to hang with the big kids, but usually ends up being knocked over, hurt, and crying.

She wakes up every morning around 3, yelling, "mama! mama! mama!" for about 20 minutes then goes back to sleep until 6.

She loves to eat and nods in approval when something yummy is placed in front of her.

She is a mama's girl through and through, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

We love this baby SO MUCH and are excited and thankful for every moment we have to spend with her.

Happy Birthday Gina!

Going through all the pictures from this summer has made my head spin! I can't believe how much we did and I'm not even showing it all here. I had a few weeks this summer that were so jammed packed with fun things, that I had to purposefully plan a day here and there to stay home, do laundry, and keep up the house. It was pretty crazy, but I bet that's how my summers will be from here on out!

On June 12th My Mom and I took Belen to see the Lion King at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Belen LOVED it! It was a blast. Nonni bought her the CD and a few cute lions from the play. Her favorite song on the CD is "I Just Can't Wait to be King".. probably because it's about being the boss and not having to listen to grown-ups :)

We celebrated Grandma's birthday on June 14th by going out to Pei Wei and having ice cream cake at her house. Unfortunately later that day Grandma suffered a small stroke and was hospitalized for a few days. She has almost fully recovered and it was a huge blessing that she came away from that experience so well. We are so happy and relieved that she is doing so great!

On the night of Milo's birth, I babysat Magging for a bit and of couse had to get a cousins in the tub picture!

We had too many pool parties to count at Thorey's house. I really really really love her pool!

Sam and Owen came to stay for a few days and we went to the Santa Ana Zoo with Nonni and Papa.

Gina a Maggie have matching pjs... Gina's looking a little gansta in this pic and Maggie's looking a little scared!

Again at the zoo... The safari squad

Maggie and Papa at the zoo.

Belen and Thy did swimm lessons for 8 weeks. Thyssen took about 7 of those weeks to start to like it.

We went to the bay with Julie and Regan.

Belen planted and grew her first pumpkin

Just a cute pic of Daddy and baby G

Gina sporting her cute headband that Julie made

We went to the Science Center in LA with Julie and the kids. Belen, Thy and Regan went in the tornado tunnel.

Collin LOVED this button that made a rocket shoot into the air.

Baby Milo entered the world!!! He is such a cute little chunk!

We went to Soak City with Lauren.. she worked there this summerand got us in for almost nothing!! I didn't get a pic of her because she was too busy running my kids around!

We went to the Stake Pioneer Picnic.. Thyssen and Belen enjoyed watching the play.

We went to the Aquarium with Julie and the kids... we got in free with Julie's pass.. it was awesome!

If it weren't for this little guy, we wouldn't have done so many fun things this summer! Thanks for always letting us join you on your outings, Collin!