Family Pictures

 My neighbor and I have been trying to find a day that would work to take our family pictures forever!  It finally happened!  The weather was nice and we were both home so we headed to Fort Bridger.

 Although you wouldn't know it, my two little sweeties were not in the best of spirits.

To get the best light we had to go during dinner time and it was also slightly chilly and Savanna is working on her top teeth.  I am thrilled with what we got and I am SO glad we got some outside shots!

 I love this one of my pretty little Heidi girl.  

 I thought Savanna would be the easy one to get since she loves to be outside.  Getting good pictures of little ones is so hard and I sure wish we had a video of all us doing everything but standing on our heads to get this normally happy little thing to crack a smile.

 I love this little girl.  She really was so patient.

 I wanted to get some more of me with each of the girls and Jeff with each of the girls and possibly another family shot for Christmas cards.  I knew the lighting would be horrible, but we went back to the Fort to try to get a few simple shots.  Clearly these are not "put on your wall" pictures, but I am glad my friend came to help get a few more shots.

 This picture is so typical of the professional pictures and our little photoshoot...if one child looks, the other one inevitably is not looking or pulling a ridiculous face.  

 Jeff was really not happy with me that I wanted to go get a few more pictures.  He was constantly reminding me how bad the lighting was.  Yes, I did know.  But let's be honest, it is very, very difficult to find a time to get any pictures...especially with winter rapidly approaching.

 Yet again, one child is looking, the other is not.

 Heidi really just wanted to throw rocks and sticks in the river.  We were really cramping her style by making her stop to take a few pictures.

Have I ever mentioned how much Jeff adores having little girls?  He tells me all the time how glad he is that we have two little girls.

My absolute favorite, favorite, favorite picture.  Heidi was obsessed with finding little sticks to throw in the river.  She found a huge one and couldn't wait to see what it would do and had to walk right in front of the camera to show her dad.  You should have seen her tiny little body trying to hail that thing around.  Oh and don't forget Savanna's tongue sticking out (her new and favorite trick). And of course I am laughing hysterically.  This picture definitely shows what our very non-professional photoshoot was like.

11 months

 Savanna is 11 months old today!  That means that in one short month I will have a one-year-old.  Crazy!!  We cannot imagine life without our blue eyed little girl.  She definitely brings all of us a lot of smiles and laughs.

*Savanna is super social.  She has yet to meet someone she doesn't like.  She can be tired and cranky and then someone will come over and all of sudden she is all smiles and giggles.
*Absolutely loves giggling and talking to other babies and kids.
*Constantly clasps her little hands.  So, so precious.
*Gets a huge grin and starts clapping when you say, "Yay!"

 *Has perfected the crawl but usually only crawls half way across the room and then sits up and scoots.
*Walking along all the furniture, all the time, all day long.
*Loves to be in tunnels. For example, she is constantly trying to crawl through out legs and loves to be under the table.
*Fussiest time is any time she sees anyone eating.  She has to have a taste and can't stand to be left out!

*Quite independent.  She would rather play on her own, but she likes to have people in the room with her.
*Sporting 2 bottom teeth and she likes to hear them click on things, especially the dishwasher.
*She gets so excited when she sees her daddy, but generally prefers to be held by mom.
*Whenever she sees daddy she starts kicking her legs and pulling at her shirt.  We think she is trying to show him what she's wearing?

*Still pointing at everything and it has yet to get old.
*Starting to understand a lot more of what we are saying.
*When we go get her from her crib she is SO excited.  She starts giggling and throwing her head clear back.
*Loves to look at you by tipping her head back.
*Still loves to play with her toes
*Babbles a lot but I am not convinced she knows what she is saying.  Mostly says, "mamamam, dada, and bababa".

*Starts laughing and pointing when she sees animals.
*Laughs like crazy when she looks at a stuffed animal's face.
*Loves to tease all of us by pulling at our nose or hair.  She just can't get enough of that game.
*Likes to do a deep growl--it is so funny.
*Gives big, huge kisses and laughs while she is doing it.

We love watching our big 11 month old learn and grow!

Thank you, Savanna, for being such a happy, fun little girl.

We are oh so very lucky you are in our family!

fall pictures

 My neighbor is a photographer.  We love her for so many reasons.

We especially love how much she loves our girls.

Yesterday she called to see if she could use the girls in a fall ad she was doing.

 She came over and picked out what she wanted the girls to wear.

Heidi loved pulling everything out of her closet to show her all her clothes.

"Isn't this a cute dress, Juneau?  My grandma gave it to me for my birthday."
"Do you like this outfit, Juneau?"  

She is pretty obsessed with fashion.

 When the girls woke up from naps I got them dressed and we went over for some pictures.

In less than 30 minutes we were done.  Heidi wasn't.  All night long we heard, "My heart is hurting because I want Juneau to take more pictures of us."  

 I love all of them for different reasons and these get me excited for our family pictures.

Come on weather, please cooperate!

 Heidi was so helpful.  She made sure to keep Savanna steady and if Savanna got fussy she would say, "It's okay sweetie pie.  Heidi's right here."  She would try to tickle her to make her smile.  She kept giving her kisses.  

Guess what, Heidi?  I love you and Savanna so much it makes my heart hurt...in a good way.

I am so grateful to have these pictures to remind me of this wonderful stage we are in.

oh so much to do

 Last week it snowed.  Yes, snowed.  Maybe my memory is getting worse the older I get, but I seriously cannot remember the last time it snowed in September.  To say I was mad about the snow is an understatement...especially because we still have oh so much to do before winter really hits.

Thank you, snow, for melting.  Saturday was a little chilly, but we we took advantage of the warmer temperatures and worked like mad.

First, we finished stacking all of the wood Jeff had split.  I had quite a bit stacked, but the snow pretty much slowed down my efforts.  It feels so good to have it stacked...until this weekend of course when we go get one more big load.

 I think my girls were thrilled to be outside after staying in for two whole days.  I have a feeling winter is going to be pretty hard on my bike riding, park loving girls who have become quite accustomed to walking all over town every day.

They were little gems the whole time we were working.  Savanna may or may not have eaten a few handfuls of grass.  Maybe a bug or two?  Dirt?  More than likely.

Once the wood was stacked we started painting the shed.  It took us all summer just to get the paint and now we feel like we have to hurry, hurry, hurry and get it painted before winter.

Heidi absolutely and completely loved this job.  She happily painted H's all over and kept telling Jeff, "Thanks for finding this little paintbrush just for me."

We got most of it painted before it was too dark to work and then, well, the wind started and it hasn't stopped for two days and I am about ready to scream.  I hate the wind.  Hate it.  I am dying to get the shed finished.  I absolutely hate, hate, hate, HATE unfinished projects!  Seriously.  This is quite a test for me.  Oh and of course our family pictures that have to keep being put off due to the lovely weather.  Can we please, please, pretty please have some nice fall weather with no wind so we can get all of our projects done??

dodging missiles

 Wednesday-Saturday I run during Savanna's morning nap.  Now that she is mobile, it's just easier. A lot easier.  I have been teaching preschool Monday and Tuesday mornings, which means my routine had to be changed those days.  I have to run before her morning nap and before the kids get here.

 Savanna is a hoot.  Seriously.  She has the funniest little personality and she is the biggest, most gigantic tease.  She doesn't just love to tease, she loves to be teased as well.  Anyway, this week I pulled out every single toy Savanna would want and put her clear over on the opposite side of the treadmill.  By the time I am about 3 minutes into my run she is right at the treadmill.  No surprise really.  I love seeing her little face peeking and laughing at me.  However, she discovered a new game.  It's called, 'put toys on the treadmill and watch mom try to dodge them as they go flying off the end of the belt.'  While this makes my workout quite difficult, I have to admit it is pretty hilarious watching her reaction.  It really is like dodging missiles but one look at that happy little face helps me forget how annoying it can be.

In other news, Savanna is pretty obsessed with her binkys.  She cracks me up.  When I go to get her after naps or in the morning she has one in her mouth and one in each hand.  The second you take the one out of her mouth she quickly pops one in from one of her hands.  When you take that one out, the other hand quickly pops that one in.  Now that she is standing and walking along all the furniture she is doing a new trick that is so funny.  If there is a binky sitting on the couch or whatever she is walking along, she walks over to it, but instead of putting it in her hand, she leans over and picks it up with her mouth.  It doesn't always go in so straight, but she doesn't seem to mind.  It makes me laugh every time I see her do it.  I just adore Savanna's little personality.  She is the happiest, funniest little girl and we are so lucky she is ours to love.

preschool

 My big three year old started preschool today!  I am just doing it with some other moms this year.  Heidi is just thrilled that it is only girls.  

 Today was our first day.  We only had three today since one of the girls woke up throwing up.

We had a fun day learning about the letter A.  We always start our day with the pledge, weather/calendar activities, and a couple of songs.

 We did some sidewalk chalk activities with the letter A and made color sorting apple trees.  We also did a few tracing pages.

We sang songs, read books, and did a few puzzles.  We had a snack and colored.  It was a fun day and the girls had fun getting to know each other.  We will see how Heidi does when preschool isn't at our house, but she sure had a fun time today! 

ten months

 Savanna hit her ten month mark on Monday!  I have had a heck of time getting pictures and time to do this post because she has not been her happy little self lately!  I really think she is getting her bottom teeth, but who knows.  She has the nastiest diaper rash and is just all around miserable.  Plus she is at the grab everything in sight/don't ever sit still phase.  This makes taking a decent picture a nearly impossible task!

 *Pulls herself up onto anything and everything.
*Walking along the furniture.
*Attempting to climb the stairs, but either gets distracted or gives up trying by about the half way point.
*Has successfully broken multiple dishes due to her grabby and very determined nature!
*Loves the bath, but is so hard to clean because she kicks like crazy when she lays down.
*Always happy when she wakes up.

 *Loves to be outside.
*Puts every.single.thing into her mouth.
*Biggest tease.
*Still does not have perfect crawling form.  She mostly crawls on her forearms and scoots her legs behind.
*When she craws on tile or hardwood she sits up and scoots herself with one leg and one arm.

 *Will eat just about anything and prefers if it is what we are eating.  She is very difficult to feed because she is constantly squirming and grabbing for the spoon and of course the bowl.
*For the last month or so she has been sleeping from about 8pm-6am or 6:30am.  Since I wrote this, I am sure I jinxed it, but I am happy she has been doing so much better.  Of course there were a couple of days where she woke up around 5:45am, but still, it is so much better than her 2:30am wake up call.
*Naps from about 8:45-10am and again from 1pm-3pm but lately she hasn't been napping that well with the whole teething/diaper rash thing.
*Loves to look at herself in the mirror.
*Points and tries to wave.  Only seems to be able to point with her left hand.  It's adorable.
*Everyone always talks about how she looks exactly like Jeff, just with bright blue eyes.  I would have to agree.
*Definitely prefers mom when she is tired or hungry.

We love our happy, mellow Savanna girl! 

I cannot believe she will be one in two short months.

We love watching her grow and change daily.

She is so much fun to have in our home!