Big Girl

Serena is not quite to the right weight to be able to ride in the built-in child seat in Grammie's van, but we decided she's close enough. It was nice not to have to mess with the car seat! :P She really enjoyed facing forward in the seat and sitting up. On the way to church on Sunday, she made us laugh because of how she straddled the seat (like she's doing in this picture today). It looked so funny since she was wearing such a pretty girlie pink dress and then was sitting so UNlady-like!

Oh! And, as a VERY IMPORTANT side-note, Serena turned 10 months old today!!! :D

Riding in Grammie's van

Flouncy Dress

Every girl needs one

The Blackberry

"You're NEVER going to believe this! I got Daddy's Blackberry!!"

"Here, Dad, let me show you how to use this thing."

"idk, wrestling w/ dad is cool, but txting is cooler probly"

Supper at Channel Inn

"I wish everyone would hurry up and finish eating so we can go do something fun."

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Two videos today! :)

Telling an apparently VERY exciting story about the blinds, playing her piano, chasing her ball in the pool

Emptying Mama's cupboards

Snapshots from Today

Don't look at ME! I had NOTHING to do with that mess all over your kitchen floor!

Spitting is fun!

What?

Whassup?

New Kiddie Pool

We're getting our first real heat wave of the summer this week! It's actually pretty nice since last week was pretty chilly! On Saturday, Jordan went with Serena & I to Walmart and he got this kiddie pool for our 'kids.' It's a big hit with both Macy and Serena!

Serena took a break from splashing to chase her pink bumpy ball

Church Picnic Day!

Serena & I after a fun but tiring afternoon at the church picnic

Fast Asleep

Sometimes I wake up before Serena, but usually she wakes me up. When she wakes up first, she wakes Jordan and I up by crawling on us (her goal is usually to reach the center spindle top on our headboard). On the somewhat rare occasion that I wake up before her, she is usually sleeping all sprawled out with her mouth hanging open (see picture below). She's pretty funny, though, because when she does wake up she is WIDE AWAKE. There's no 'in between' stage for her. One minute, she looks like that picture below. The next minute she has rolled over and is crawling toward me saying 'ba-ba-ba-ba.'

Always Busy

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Serena is getting pretty good at walking with her walker!

Bathtime and a New Tooth

Yesterday, Jordan was playing on the floor with Serena. Suddenly he said he thought Serena had a tooth on top! I was like, Really!? 'Cause I'd been watching for them to start coming in, but hadn't seen anything. He was pretty certain, and told me where to look. Sure enough, there was a little sliver of white. I stuck my finger in there and could definitely feel it; apparently she was working on cutting it last week and we didn't even know it! She was a bit fussy and clingy last weekend, but I just chalked it up to all our running around with family and not getting regular naps. Though it did kind of concern me that a couple times she cried and cried when I would try to put her down for a nap, which wasn't like her at all. I'm so glad to know she had a good reason! The funny part is that it is not one of the front middle teeth; it's the one to the right of the middle teeth! She's going to look like a jack o' lantern! Haha! :D

All those adorable smiles? They were for Daddy!

Hanging with Daddy

The Busy Little Rugrat

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Serena had fun at Daddy's baseball game!

A Trip to Walmart

Can you believe she's big enough to sit up in the cart now?! It shocks me every time I put her in there!

At the Park

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

One of my favorite things is watching Serena fall asleep, and today I finally captured it on camera! I decided to transition it into a montage of my collection of pictures of Serena sleeping. Hope you enjoy it!

Don't Take Your T-Shirt Too Seriously!

"I don't have to be good. I'm cute!"

Toilet Paper Caper

Mama needs to start remembering to shut (and latch!!) the bathroom door!

She was playing oh-so-quietly and was so happy to see me and show me what she had found!

Look at the little imp!!

This is why Jordan & I have nicknamed her 'rug-rat'! She's just as happy as can be as she explores on all fours!

Munchkin-Face

Mother's Day

It is an indescribable delight to be a mommy to my little Serena!

Last Mother's Day Serena was still a little bean inside me! I was 29 1/2 weeks pregnant. Among other things, Serena was busy growing her beautiful long eyelashes!

Happy mama with her happy baby

We had a very nice Mother's Day! Serena was kind enough to sleep till 8:15, and then she happily played in our bed (crawling all over us!) for about 45 minutes, so we could lay there and enjoy a lazy start to the day! ;) We went to the mall mid-afternoon and shopped for some things we needed together while Serena took a nap in her stroller. Around 4 we went to Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious meal together. Serena sat like such a big girl in the highchair and chewed on a piece of bread. It was so fun! Afterwards, we walked around the mall a bit more and then got a text from Jordan's friend Ross that he was driving through Des Moines! Yay! So we ran home and I made strawberry shortcakes for us to enjoy while we visited with Ross for a bit! Serena thought Ross was pretty great, but Macy took a little time to warm up to him since he came in before Jordan did! Haha! After Ross left, we played with Serena for a while and then went for a night walk. It was a great day! I didn't do a bit of work. You should have seen the kitchen when we went to bed! Yikes! :P And toys were strewn everywhere in the living room and dining room! Heehee! :D It was worth it, though, just to relax and enjoy the day with Jordan and Serena! (And Macy...I had to add that for Jordan, haha!) ;)

Today

Grandma & I made Serena some magnet toys to play with! She loves them!

Just look at that face in the bottom picture! "Oh, did you think I was going for the computer cord?"

Jordan is always the popular one

Photo attempt with Daddy

Tulip Time 2010

My Grandma is here visiting us this weekend, so today we took a little excursion down to Pella for their 75th annual Tulip Time. We had a lot of fun!!! I have pictures which I'm planning to put on The Horaks when I get a chance!

Examining the pretty pink tulip

An update on food: Serena tried Cheerios for the first time today and likes them a lot! I think she ate about 10 of them over the course of the day! She also gummed up a chunk of plain bagel (didn't really end up eating much of it, though; but it did provide some entertainment for her!). Then this evening, Jordan fed her a couple chunks of fresh pineapple. She made HILARIOUS faces at first, but kept going back for another taste! We were cracking up, but apparently she liked the pineapple a lot because she ate two whole chunks of it (with Jordan's help, of course; don't worry, we are being careful about foods she could choke on)!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

We gave Serena some 'real food' for the first time this morning in the form of half of a banana and just let her play with it. I'm not really sure that any of it actually found its way into her belly, but she definitely was intrigued by the experience! I did try giving her some small pieces to see if she'd eat them, but she usually ended up pushing them out with her tongue after gumming them for a while. This afternoon we tried again, and I think she swallowed one or two pieces. Basically, it's all fun and games at this stage, I think! :D Her expressions are priceless, though!

On the Move

Serena has probably doubled her total distance traveled independently over the last 24 hours! She's ON THE MOVE, folks!

Playing with the Carseat

For some reason, Serena thinks it is great fun to play with her carseat...when she is NOT in it!

Bright Eyes

Munchkin

Our Papoose At Squaw Creek

Serena is 9 months old now! We weighed her at Grandpa & Grandma's and she's 18 pounds!

It was a pretty day, so we took a walk at Squaw Creek Park