Sweet baby girl

Addie is so much fun! She is getting so smart. She is 11 months tomorrow.

She knows the sounds of lots of animals. She knows the sound a doggie makes the most. She makes a really high pitched uhh, uhh when she sees a dog.

When you ask her what a cow says she makes a B sound and blows air through her lips.

She can make the sound of a fish: she pops her lips together.

She knows that a lion, a dinosaur, and Daddy growls.

She tries to make the sound of a horse and a lamb. It sounds like a fake laugh: hehehehe.

She loves to point to the moon when you ask, "Where's the moon?" And she points to every airplane that she hears flying overhead.

She makes the sound of a car when she sees a car or if we ask her what a car says. "Brrrrrrm"

She loves books so much. We have a basket of books by the rocking chair in her room and if we ever try to rock her she has to lean over and point to the books and says, "Aaaah," with a big smile like she's just discovered them and would love for you to read one.

She is just always go, go, go. Which is very different from my other two babies. They were content to just sit and watch the world go by. She is just barely starting to walk. Sometimes when she's headed in one direction she ends up accidentally turning to another direction. Example in the video below (she was trying to come to me.) :

I can't believe I need to start planning a birthday party! She's so little! I'm thinking that maybe I'll do a bee themed party because she loves to watch the bees in our flowers.

I'm not that strong a skater

You know those sidewalk bridges that go over large roads? I don't know if they're called sky-walks or what. Well there was one that was newly built near where my friend Brynn lived. It feels like I was 16 at the time but, sadly, no. I was 20. Not much of a difference, I know, but I wasn't a teenager anymore. Well, me, Brynn and my cousin Maija thought that those fun long slanted slabs of cement would be really fun to play on with roller blades. So we all got some roller blades and drove on down to the bridge. None of us were experts on roller blades, in fact I probably only used them a few times in my life (on flat ground). So it wasn't as fun as we thought. It was a lot of work to go up the slant. We had to hold on to the fence to help pull us up. Then there was the way down. SCARY!! What were we thinking? Maija went first. There was a blur and some screams. Luckily there was a patch of grass at the bottom. Unluckily, she got grass burns all over her knees. But at least it wasn't cement. Brynn went down (very fast also) without falling if I remember right. And the scaredy cat (me) went down the same way I went up. Hanging on to the fence. There was a church parking lot nearby and we roller bladed around there for a while so that we could get some use out of them. I guess I didn't realize how steep those things were. I thought it would be a gentle coast down a long sidewalk. Maybe it would be funner with a bike cause you'd have brakes and you could go the speed that you want.

I only like tasting part of the rainbow

I really don't like yellow skittles. But I always eat them. I guess I feel like if I want my favorites, (red and purple) then I have to eat the ones I don't like too. I don't want to make other people eat only yellow ones so I don't pick around them. But they are just horrible. I try to mix them with other flavors to make them taste better. They don't. So I finally decided today that I am just going to throw them away. Why make myself eat them when I don't like them? It's just extra sugar that I didn't even enjoy eating. No more! I must enjoy my sugar!

Ben's first day

Ben's in Kindergarten! He was SUPER excited for this day. He kept asking, "How many days until school starts?"

Addie's making a few phone calls before we start walking.

He wanted to wear his "monster shirt". I have a feeling he is going to want to wear it every week. Or maybe twice a week. I'll just have to use the "it's in the wash" excuse. Don't get me wrong, I like the shirt, but I just don't want him to wear it every day.Ben's friend Wyatt from last year's preschool class.

Waiting in line to go into class. He was so brave! When he got home he said, "I LOVE Kindergarten!" I asked him if he was nervous when he went in and he said, "No." Which is good because he says that a lot. ("I'm nervous.") I heard that every day on the way to preschool last year. Maybe he feels better at this school because his big sister is at the same place and we have walked her to school so much that he has spent a lot of time there. Anyway, he had fun in class. He drew a picture of himself wearing his monster shirt. It was so cute!

Benny Poika

Poika means boy in Finnish. We call him Benny Boy in English and I also call him Benny Poika. (From hearing my mom call my brothers this.) This little boy is a crack-up. He is always making us laugh. In church the other day he was drawing the funniest pictures of babies with mustaches and he was laughing so hard. I had to stop him because he was getting too loud, but they were funny (I found myself laughing a little too).

This is a spider and a balloon head baby


This is a spider baby with a mustache

Right out of the tub one night he put his hair up like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. (He pronounces it "Alfa-falfa") He was laughing so hard at himself. I told him to stop laughing for a minute so I could take a picture and he was just bursting into another laugh as I took the picture.

He stuffed two soft footballs in his pants and he was walking around for a while, laughing hysterically of course. Showing us all different views of his largeness. We called him Benny Big-Bottom. (from the movie, Robots)

I love my little funny, cute, smart boy!

2nd grader

Elli started school today. Ben will start Kindergarten next Monday. We walked up with some neighbors. Elli was a little nervous when we got there. She'll be okay I'm sure. There are a few kids in her class that were in her classes the last two years. It's just so weird after having her home all summer to have her gone for so long in the day. Hopefully she can last and not get too tired. Last year in 1st grade she was so tired for a few weeks untill she got used to it. I make sure she gets enough sleep at night but it's just so much school.

Funny girl...

Last week when we were driving through Logan Canyon we saw some cows down in a small field. Elli was extra excited and said, "Look, wild cows!"

No more helmet!

Yippee!!!! We sort of stopped putting it on during Bear Lake and just never put it back on. I guess that's what happens when I don't have to go to any more check-ups. If it's up to me, then, we're done! She wore it for 7 1/2 weeks. You can still see a little bit of a flat part at certain angles but it looks much better than before.

Here is before:

and here is after:

I am loving the softness, the warmth, and the smell of her little head! I keep forgetting that I can put headbands and bows in her hair now. Yay!!!!!!

Bear Lake

Besides the rain storm during our first night in the tent, the wind/sand storm during one dinner, the mosquitoes, and the sunburns, Bear Lake was really fun. No, really it was. And here are some pictures to prove it:

Addie LOVED the water. She would splash and splash as soon as she was touching any depth of water. She drank quite a bit of water too. Hopefully she doesn't get sick from all the people who peed in the lake. :)

Me and Elli made a little castle. I was the builder and she was the decorator.

Yeah, my legs are glowing, so what?

Elli's latest project

I was explaining to Elli what a diorama was and she immediately wanted to do one. Here was her first one:
Then she had to do one for her little dolls. All I have to say is, thank goodnes for Better Homes and Gardens. She found all her little bedroom furniture ready to cut out.

Side note: How long are you supposed to leave a diorama up on display?

I'm really excited about the 8/8/08 date today. I'm also kind of excited for the Olympics. I normally love to watch the Olympics too, but I haven't watched anything yet. And we are going out of town this weekend so I'll miss lots then too. Oh well, I'm sure they'll show all the highlights later on. And I'm excited for Bear Lake this weekend. We're having my family reunion and I just love hanging out with my McEntire fam.

Where is her book anyway?

This is Addie's little 'trick' she likes to do. She has to stand up on her walker and stick one leg out. She rarely puts both feet on. She just steps up, sticks her leg out, and steps down. Over and over.

When I get her to stand by herself and she realizes that no one is holding her she starts giggling. So funny! She is just starting to take steps toward me all by herself. (Just one or two and then leans toward me.) I can't believe it! She is just too little to be doing this. My other kids were 15 months before they started walking.

Oh and her other bottom tooth has appeared! I love this whole blogging thing. It helps me record things so that when I fill in her baby book I will know the dates of certain milestones. With my other two babies I would write them on my calendar and then go back with the baby book and fill in the dates. I don't know why I didn't just fill them in the book right away! So now instead of filling out the baby book as things happen, I will write them here and then go back and fill in the book. Silly, I know. But for some reason it's hard to go and get out that book!

Chopsticks

I was just thinking about chopsticks. I love using them. They are so fun. But only in a restaurant. I don't know why. I use them in a Chinese restaurant and they're so fun and novel and then I bring my leftovers home with extra chopsticks to use the next day... and I can't use them. I get impatient or something. I'm like, what? give me a fork, I don't have time for these. I'm pretty good with them. I'm not impatient in the restaurant. It's really weird. Maybe I only like them with fancy Chinese dishes. Maybe all the dishes and smells and sounds and wall decorations just match up with chopsticks. My dishes, smells, sounds and wall decorations match with forks. My kids use two hands with them (held like drum sticks) and try to pick up one noodle and it always falls off before they can get it to their mouths. I always try to show them how to put their fingers so that they can use them and they just get mad cause they can't do it. Then I saw these little things: (at Kangaroo Zoo of all places (which you should not go to because your kids will get pink eye))

And thought that it would be fun to get these for them so that they can just focus on squeezing and not on how to balance where their fingers go and how tight to hold in which places. They're made of plastic so they're reusable. I really want them. For my kids to use in a restaurant of course. :)

Teeny, tiny toenails

These little things are VERY hard to paint. First of all, the wiggling. Then the little nails are so tiny it was hard not to get paint all over the whole toe. Then, there was taking the picture. Not easy. But I just HAD to try it out. They're so teency and cute!

Helmet update

We had Addies 6 week helmet appointment on Wednesday. They said 3 more weeks OR until she grows out of it. And then she's done! I asked how I will know when she grows out of it and they said it will be really hard to get it on and the side opening will be really wide. Hopefully she has a growth spurt here real soon. The doctors were really excited about how good it looked. I heard them out in the hall as they were walking away saying, "Wow, I'm really pleased with that!" I'm a little sad that she will still need to wear it while we are at Bear Lake next weekend but these last 6 weeks just flew by and I'm sure the next 3 will too. Especially being the last 3 weeks of summer.