9 months of Emery

My baby girl had her 9 month birthday yesterday! We haven't gone to her doctor's appointment yet, so I'll do an update on her fat stats later. I can't believe how big she's getting. Mommy did a photo shoot and Emery cooperated by NOT smiling in the one outside and trying to escape from the one inside. She's so cute. Aaron and I still find ourselves sitting around laughing about how funny she is after she's gone to bed and getting so excited to hear her chirp in the the morning. There's nothing better than being Emery's parents.

Milestones: 8 teeth (see picture below), army crawls like a champ (is getting really close to real crawling), can pull herself up on things, loves to feed herself but is too wiggly to like nursing anymore :(

Favorite pastimes: ripping up magazines, growling, playing with anything that isn't a toy, biting, giving head bonks (if you'd like one just ask!)

i might look sweet, but these chompers bite... HARD!

ooohh... paper to eat... what is this 9 doing on here?

i'm crawling off the couch... you should have known better than to put me on here, mom.

Nanny and Auntie Chef in Las Vegas

Emery and I spent all last week in Las Vegas helping to watch my niece and nephews while their regular afternoon nanny (grandma) was on vacation. It was a fun week of practicing for when I have 4 kids who need to go to 3 different schools, soccer, baseball, dance, birthday parties, have school presentations, need naps (Emery), etc, etc, etc. I also decided to be their personal chef and make dinner every night which was quite an adventure. (Read more about that and get recipes on The Skinny Bovine's Kitchen). Here are some fun pictures from the week... and a video even!

cute Abe and Emery on our picnic

pretty girly

Emery loves her cousin Jacob

camping attempt and a baby blessing

we went camping on friday night in aspen grove... or should i say attempted to go camping. apparently since the last time we went camping emery has become more aware or foreign surroundings and more unwilling to have her mobility bound than i'd realized. she went to bed okay... with me sitting there helping her. about an hour later, aaron and i were enjoying just laying under the stars, drinking hot chocolate, talking and reading when we heard em crying in the tent. she was not to be consoled. she was cold, but wouldn't stay under the blankets (she's a wild sleeper - all over her crib) and was clearly alarmed by waking up in the tent instead of in our room. needless to say we bailed out of there at 9:30. haha. we were sad that we couldn't finish our night in the mountains, but we'd do anything for our little critter. she's so worth it! :) and regardless, it was so nice to get up into the mountains!

discovering leaves (and no, that's not our RV - we do tents)

cute grumpy face

love that face

on a happier note, we got to spend lots of time with Aaron's family yesterday because our nephew, Railay, was blessed. he is a seriously cute little dude! we were posing he and emery for pictures, so there is a cute one below. oh - and we became an aunt and uncle AGAIN yesterday! welcome Hailey Belle! we can't wait to meet you!

Foot Tattoos: The Wilkinson's TV-free entertainment

so we got rid of our TV... and it rocks! partly because we do silly stuff like this instead, partly because we watched GOP VP pick Sarah Palin's speech on a live stream on FoxNews.com the other night, partly because we have more room in our apartment and partly because we are reading again! yahoo for no TV!!

can anyone identify either of the scenes on our feet?

just because they are so stinking cute...

leaving las vegas

It was a great summer in Las Vegas! I was so glad we were able to spend so much time with my family and have them get to know our little critter so well. My parents were amazing to house us and feed us all summer and we saved so much money because of it. My brother and sister-in-law and their kids were amazing to put us to work - me with tutoring their kids and Aaron with fixing stuff around their house. I'm so glad we got to watch their 3 kids grow up some this summer, even if it was only for 4 months.

Despite this though, we're glad to be back to our little life! Like Aaron and I always say to each other, "Life is good with you" and we're excited to be back in our little apartment, going to school, playing with our squirrelly girly and just loving each other.

I posted pictures of all of our summer fun with my family, but here are a few odds and ends.... including some projects I finished at the end of the summer.

Project #1: "Jer-Friendly Recipes: Approved recipes for your picky eater". This is a recipe book that was a culmination of a summer's-worth of research to find some things my brother likes to eat. Let's just say he's a little bit picky. I had some success though and I made a recipe book for my sister-in-law, Melissa, so she knew the recipes I made that he liked.

Project #2: The Grandbaby Wall!! Mel and I did this for my mom for her birthday and it turned out so cute! If any one can afford to do one of these and wants to hire me I'm available! :)

Em loves Uncle Bry (fondly known as the UPT - "Uncle of Poot'n'Tootie")

Grandpa and his Poot'n'Tootie

Jacob and Em playing with the camera

Jacob, Emma and Abe on a fun day at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve

This is how I found Grandma and Emery one afternoon. Haha.

My mom's learning to use her knew fancy-shmancy camera and she took some pictures of Emery and I. Good job, Mom!

new skinny bovine feature - the sale alert!!!

i've added a new feature to the skinny bovine's kitchen - the sale alert!!!  click here, above or on the link on the right to check it out!