My Buddy

Since Serena has hit the 1-yr mark, I thought we should weigh her while we were at Grandpa & Grandma's. She is still weighing in at 18 pounds!

Serena loves her Aunt Anna!

Climbing and Cousin-love

Serena loves to climb! We found her on this perch where she had a good view out the window. I'm not sure, but she may have learned this maneuver from the dogs since it is also their favorite spot to look out the window from!

Loving cousins! :)

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

For some reason, with some of her bigger toys (especially those that are round-shaped), Serena loves to try to pick them up and carry them or hold them. It's pretty funny to watch her try to maneuver with her arms full!

Serena loves the little 'radio' we got her for her birthday! You can see her playing with it in the second half of this video.

A Surprise and Some Cousin Time

Serena got a special birthday surprise in the mail from Great-Grandma Rabe today! She LOVED the tissue paper that it was wrapped in and just wanted to play with the wrapped present until I started helping her out a little! The little dress is so cute! I'm sure we'll see her modeling it before the week is over!

Jason & Julia and Kaden & Keira stopped by this afternoon for a little visit. They are on their way to Dallas, TX for Julia's highschool reunion and to spend time with friends & family down there. Jason & Jordan went golfing and Julia & I played with the kids at the house. We had supper together (in shifts, since the boys were gone till 7:30 or so), and then Jason & Julia took off around 8:30 or so for their big overnight drive! :P The kids had a lot of fun playing together. Serena was of course enthralled by her baby cousin, and Keira rewarded her interest with all kinds of adorable smiles and coos! Serena also thought Kaden was amazing! She followed him around, trying her best to keep up. He was so nice and let her play with some of his cars since she though his toys were WAY cooler than any of hers! ;) They looked so cute together walking around the 'loop' in our house, Kaden pushing Serena's doll stroller and Serena pushing her walker! Serena was in her element walking next to Kaden!

Big smile from Keira

"Is it okay if I play with Keira, Aunt Julia?"

The girls

Can You Hear Me?

We've been working with Serena on walking. She finally started letting us help her by holding her hands. She used to get really mad about it, but Jordan (of course) was the one to coax her into realizing just how fun it can be! When Jordan's walking with her, she periodically will tip her head back, expecting Jordan to give her kisses! :) Today, I plopped her on the floor (standing) and then stepped a couple feet away. Then, I reached out my hands and said, "Come here, Serena!" AND SHE TOOK A COUPLE STEPS!!!!!!! They were of the half-running type, but they were unassisted steps, nonetheless!!! However, I couldn't get a repeat performance. Little stinker! :P We'll keep working at it!

Serena thought it was really special to wear Daddy's ear muffs!

Concentration

The concentration is written all over her face! It takes a lot of work, but she does finally manage to get the ring over the stick...only to take it off and try again! So much patience! Of course, she has her 'tunes' nearby and stops her work just long enough to push the button when the music turns off!

Birthday Cake & Presents

Today the birthday festivities continued for little Miss Serena! She ate her cake around lunchtime. Well, she didn't actually consume very much of it. She REALLY liked the frosting at the start and then she began digging in for actual bites of cake and seemed to like that too. But, she seemed to reach her limit pretty quickly as the cake-eating digressed to cake-smearing all over herself and the highchair! She ended up in the kitchen sink for some serious clean-up!

We opened presents a little later in the afternoon. Serena got a little distracted for a while with all the tissue paper (so fun to tear!); but with a little help, she soon found the goodies UNDERNEATH the tissue paper! ;) We got her a shape-sorter, a ring stacker (I don't know what you call those things, but hopefully you know what I mean!), and a Baby Einstein 'radio.' The shape-sorter is a little 'old' for her right now, but hopefully it won't be long till she can play with it. She's very intrigued by the ring-stacker, but not very good at it yet. The radio is a HUGE hit! She's definitely our music-loving baby!!!

Birthday Girl!

Today was Serena's first birthday! My Grandma had spent the night with us, so we saw her for a little bit this morning before she took off. Then, we had breakfast and played and played until Serena was ready for a nap. I also blew up 15 pink balloons for her to play with! Heehee! :) Then, after some lunch and more playing, we went to the lake for a little while. It was such a pretty day! When we got home, we had just enough time to get Serena fed and changed before heading out the door for church. After church, we went out to eat at La Bamba! Mmmm! By the time we got home, it was too late to open presents or eat cake, so we're going to do that tomorrow! Let the partying continue! :D

Birthday Girl

Serena just LOVES having books read to her!

Those big Serena-eyes! I love them!

We love you, Serena Kay! You are a delight and a precious gift!

Leafy-butt

Not much else needs to be said here

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Pool time, a little peek-a-boo, and playing the piano....

Baby in a Backpack

Before Serena, we used to take Macy to some public hunting land and go traipsing around without having to worry about needing trails to push a stroller on! Our jogging stroller is great for all kinds of terrain, but tall prairie grass is not one of them! So, Jordan suggested we try to find a backpack carrier for Serena so we could take her out hiking wherever we wanted to go. To Craigslist I went, and after about a week finally came across the carrier in the pictures below. It's in like-new condition, and we got it for about a quarter of the new price! Serena looks so little in it...we need to adjust the seat so she's sitting a little higher...but she seemed to like it a lot! As Jordan walked her around the yard, she kept looking back at me, smiling and waving! :D

Testing out the new gear

Pool Time

It was SO HOT today! Pool time was definitely in order! Sans swimsuit was a bonus! ;) The only 'toy' Serena really needs in the pool is a washcloth, although a little cup can be fun too. She likes to dip the washcloth in the water and then hold it over something (the deck, the dog, a cup, my leg, etc) and watch the water drip out. Something else funny she was doing in there today (I was disappointed I didn't get video footage of it, though!) was that she tried to drink the pool water! She would bend down until her mouth was at the water and try to lap it up like the dogs do! It was pretty funny! The front of her hat was soaked by the time we came in!

Love that 'nake-y' bum!

Zzzzz....

It's been a while since I've taken a picture of her sleeping

Serena's First Purse

For Serena's birthday, Aunt Jessie got her a purse. It came with keys, a cloth dollar bill, a bracelet, lipstick, and a mirror. It sings songs, counts, and makes lots of different noises. It's absolutely adorable!

Serena loves EMPTYING the purse. At first, that was all she was interested in doing. But tonight, she realized that whenever she opened it, the purse would sing a song; and whenever she closed it, the purse would stop. She did it over and over! Yes, I already have the song memorized.... "Ready to go out, I bring my purse along...." ;)

Serena also figured out how to make the 'zipper' work (it's just a slider). It makes a harp-like sound whenever she moves it.

I just HAD to include this picture. When I got Serena up from her morning nap, this was how I found her dolly! I just started laughing so hard; it struck me so funny!

Guzzler

Serena had the hardest time figuring out the concept of needing to TIP the sippy cup BACK in order to drink out of it. I think it's because she has only drank from a bottle once in her little life (and that turned out to be a not-so-happy experience for her!). So, Grammie suggested we get her a sippy cup with a straw. I hadn't even thought of that! Now Serena guzzles her water down like a little camel. She loves drinking from her sippy cup like such a big girl!

Did you notice Serena has a high chair now?! We're loving it!

Monkey Face

Little monkey with a mouth full of banana

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Grammie & Aunt Jessie stayed at our house tonight before flying down to AZ to visit Aunt Julie this weekend. They brought presents for Serena, so we stayed up late and opened them up tonight!

Serena wasn't quite sure what to think of this adorable piggy bank from Grammie!

It's kind of awkward to give loves to a piggy bank!

In the first part of today's video, Serena plays with Rocky. I always get a kick out of her interactions with the dogs! The next part is a clip of Serena studying one of her books. She is fascinated by her books! In the last two clips, she is playing with her dolly, giving her kisses and rocking her. My favorite part is when she tries to put the dolly in the stroller!

Sweeter than a Strawberry

Munchkin face

Giving her baby loves! :)

Comfort

Poor Little Miss Cupcake had a run-in with the floor and needed some comfort from Mama

A Smile from Serena

Photo courtesy of Jordan

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

We went to a lake today and had a picnic and played in the water! It was so fun!

(I just realized that I posted this on The Horaks last night instead of Daily Serena! Sorry about that!)

Reading Books

Serena just LOVES her books! She spends large chunks of time paging through them, pointing to the pictures and words, and 'reading' them out loud!

Serena's Going to Be a Big Sister!

"Oh my goodness!"

"I may look little, BUT...I'm a BIG SISTER!"

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

You know that certain way of crawling that girl babies have when they're wearing a dress? I always get such a kick out of it, so I took some video of Serena doing that crawl out in the church foyer last Saturday. It looks so funny! There's also a little clip of her at the festivities in Waukee on Sunday. We thought she'd start bopping to the band music, but she just waved and clapped a little. Then, the last part is what she did to entertain herself (and us?) for a good 20 minutes or so on our way home from Cedar Rapids tonight. ;)

Eating Time

Cute lil' eater!

Play Time

While she plays, Serena often 'checks in' with me to see what I think about what she is doing. This is her 'checking in' face. :)

Car noises generate a lot of slobber!

"Hmmm....what to do next?"

Cutie Face

Curly Top and More Kennel Baby

I tried to get a picture of Serena's curls in the back. They are pretty tight! The rest of her hair is wispier and seems to curl more or less with the heat and humidity. The back, though, is always curled pretty tightly!

More fun in the kennel!

First Fireworks

We took Serena to see the fireworks in Waukee tonight. We watched them from the back yard of some friends from church, so it was very enjoyable! For the first half of the fireworks, Serena sat in my lap with her mouth open and her eyes glued to the sky. After a while, she loosened up and started 'talking' about them in her very high-pitched voice and pointing! It was pretty cute!

Patriotic Baby

Church Time

Jordan preached at church tonight. This was very exciting to Serena, and she started in talking about it pretty quickly. So, Serena did not sit through the service tonight. We sat outside the auditorium, where she could shout "Da-da-da!" to her heart's content!

Watching Daddy preach

Baby Mama

It's amazing how the mothering instinct in a little girl shows up so early! I love watching Serena play with her baby! She lights up when she sees her, and plays so sweetly with her!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Serena is really into telling long stories (with lots of pointing and gesturing) these days! Sorry this video got a little long (2 1/2 minutes!), but I just couldn't figure out where to cut her off, haha! There's also some footage of her stacking our coasters and then a cute little wave goodbye at the end!

So Big!

I'm SO BIG!

Kennel Baby

Serena just LOVES playing in the kennel! Whenever she notices that the door has been left open, she makes a beeline for it!

Serena's Baby

Grammie gave Serena this dolly at the wedding reception. The doll came with a diaper bag with all kinds of things in it (i.e., a cell phone, baby food jar, spoon, bottle, diaper, etc.); she also has a paci attached to her outfit. Serena loves her! She is very sweet with her, giving her kisses and touching her gently and 'talking' in a high voice. When we got home today, I put Serena down to play with her dolly while I was unpacking things, and when I looked over at her a little bit later, she was trying to give her dolly her paci! I was surprised she recognized what it was and knew to put it in the dolly's mouth!

Top picture: Giving the baby kisses

Bottom pictures: Giving the baby her paci

Independence Day

Serena looked SO cute all decked out in her patriotic dress for the Fourth of July!

How BIG are you Serena?!

Christa's Wedding

We had fun going to Christa's wedding today! Serena did really well playing with Daddy in the nursery during the ceremony so Mommy could watch! Christa was a beautiful bride, and the wedding was very sweet!

I never took any pics since Jess had her camera out. But, I have a feeling that it will be a while before I get to see the ones Jess took! ;) Thankfully, Aunt Carla posted this one on Facebook!

Serena & Caroline

It's always fun to be able to get the girls together and to see their reactions to each other as they each grow a little older! Photo shoots are definitely getting easier now that Caroline can almost sit up! ;) At first, Serena was very reserved around her (not sure if it would be okay to touch her), but after some encouragement she was even giving Caroline kisses!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

It's SO FUN to chase Macy!!! Serena squeals and laughs while Macy howls and barks!!