10 Months

• Height: 28 inches
• Weight: 17 lbs (she's walking a lot now (assisted) and I'm sure starting to lose that baby chuck. Plus our scale isn't very accurate. I think it's time for something digital.)
• Head Circumference:  45 1/2 cm 
• Nicknames: Peanut, E, Boo Bear, Muffin, Monkey

• Let's talk about teething. I swear she is actually teething but it's for a day and then poof nothing. I can see them starting to come up but it seriously feels like this is NEVER ending!
•  Some of E's favorite foods include: grapefruit, oranges, chicken noodle soup, pasta, cookies, and pretty much anything that is in your bowl.
•  She loves her silky blanket and bunny. They usually bring a smile. She will not go too sleep without her silky however. We're going to need to get another one!

• Ethnie loves to walk! She gotten pretty good after pushing a chair around at Aunt Janet's. I'm sure she'll be toddling within the next month or so. We'll see.
• She's mastered how to point her way around. If she wants something she will point you in that direction. 
• This girl is smart. She knows how to undo her car seat, what an iTouch/ iPad is, She knows where her food and diapers are. She closes the door behind people and so on. She is an observe and act kind of girl.

• She is in no way a shy girl. She is formally known as the "overflow baby" by the Bishopric at church because she gets passed around so much. 
• She uses "Mo/ Ma" as her all purpose word. Usually it means more. If she sees any type of food she'll point and booty scoot over saying: Mo! MO! MO! On the rare occasion it means Mom.

• She gets rather upset if everyone is not in the same room. If Jakob leaves to run downstairs she'll yell for him to comeback and start to chase him. All people present must be together.
• She was officially weened this month. It was a sad but she had no problem. At times she'll still "ask" by sticking her hand down my shirt. I really enjoyed nursing but I'm also enjoying being able to wear "non nursing shirts."

• One of our favorite games is to tickle. I'll kiss her tummy and she'll bend over and suck on my neck. It tickles so much and she loves making me laugh.
• Peanut loves Peek-A-Boo! She now lifts her blanket over her head all on her own and waits for us to say PEEK!

• This girl is BUSY! I would try to teach her colors or animals or where her eyes are but she is just not the type to sit and practice with you. She has to be playing, moving, discovering. Getting her to sit an snuggle is a rarity. She still likes books but she wants to rip them off the shelf and easily gets board.
• She is pretty cautious of the stairs. Probably because every time she goes near them I drag her down in an attempt to show her how to properly descend the stairs. Most times she'll get really close and wait there for you to pick her up. I'm not looking forward to that first tumble down.
•  She loves shoes and shoe laces. She can unlace a shoe in seconds. It's cute but it can get be bothersome. 

 This is what most of our pictures look like. This has been such a fun stage of growth to experience with E. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl. She brightens up my day. I am one lucky Mama!

Graham Cracker Houses

 One of my favorite traditions is making graham cracker houses every year! Gramma started out the girls with a basic house to decorate. They were so excited!

 A little mouse was nibbling on the scraps.

 Helping with the icing. 

 Violet instructed Gramma how she wanted her house to be decorated complete with a chocolate chip as  alight bulb because as she says; "Gramma sometimes lights get burnt out and they are black, trust me." Oh how I love her!

 Vi's completed masterpiece. 

Chad and Lucy had a joint effort. 

There was a lot more sampling than decorating from this little one. We had a few hyper monkey's by the end of construction.

 Chad and Lucia's House. Complete with Twizzler.

 Grampa was going for the most original this year.

This beauty complete with "Stained glass windows with pigeon poop" needed more than one picture.

Well done Dad! It's your most original idea yet!

 This is my attempt at creativity. Santa with sleigh and reindeer. It needed some more love. My smoke only lasted 5 minutes before the Houston humidity had flattened it out. Silly Houston. 

 This is obviously one of Jakob's best creations yet. I'm not sure why he didn't finish, perhaps he was on baby duty? He got most creative by far. 

 Mom's took the cake however. (She says I won by she's just being modest.) Even though she does do the same house every year this one came with shingles, candy cane arch way, light, sprinkles and a snowman in the front yard. 

Yeah we're kind of messy.  Ahh, it was fun! Until next year.

Say Cheese!

 Sometimes getting everyone to cooperate for a picture can be difficult. One has an iTouch, the other a popcorn ball, and then we have a very wiggly baby. After dancing, clapping, and making silly faces failed we decided to call in the big guns. 

 Success! No it isn't the best but they are all looking up! Our secret? ....

 Technology!

Once Upon A Time...

 More often than not you would find Gramma reading stories during quiet and bed time. It was so precious to watch Vi snuggle in as Gramma would read. 

 Sometimes however Violet Read to Gramma. Sweet Dreams.

The Daily Treasures

Some of the little moments get passed by with all of the adventures. Here are some of the daily treasures we had in Houston. E just LOVED pushing around these little chairs. Her walking improved a lot throughout the week.

Sometimes we'd had a tumble, a couple of goose eggs and a few tears. Poor thing.

Lucy and E got along quite well in the beginning then some jealousy began to creep in. It was nice while it lasted. I'm sure these two will be BFF's once they get a little bit older.

I just loved Lucia's expression! Such a cutie!

Janet supervised while I made a tree for the girls. Thank you Pintrest. 

I think next time I'll have to decorate the ornaments for them. Puff paint and sparkles! Oh what fun!

Little Ethnie would rip all of the ornaments off and then processed to rip down the tree. She's such a good helper.

Of course the house was filled with music. Grampa and Lucy were singing Jingle Bells.

Vi had her harmonica and helped Grampa by tapping her feet to the beat. So cute!

I brought my chimes down and we played some Christmas songs. This will be a lot of fun once the nieces and nephews are older and can help play. 

When we were not eating (which was all of the time) you could usually find most of us gathered around the puzzle. (Which we did finish by the way :) )

 This was an unusual scene, the screaming I mean. She's crying because Lucy took something away. She lost it and being the fabulous mother I am, I thought it was rather funny. 

Don't worry she was smiling about 30 seconds later. She's an awesome baby like that. P.s. I love this picture.

 There was a lot of technology floating around. Please take note that Dad has both the iPad and a laptop. 

 We couldn't miss the BYU game! Go Cougars!

 I just love this girl! She is just so gosh darn cute...

 ... and she makes me smile!

 There were lots of laughs, smiles and some cuddling. 

 With all of the excitement a few fell asleep mid play. Gosh I love this family!