Showing off

Today I decided to show off my hat and my ability to almost crawl.  I make it look like I'm going to take off any second, but usually just rock back and forth, then lay down.  

Funny Faces

Here is the new funny face Emberly has been making recently!!

Taylor's Falls

Today we went to Taylor's Falls to go for a hike.  When we arrived we had to eat our lunch in the car because it started raining.  After lunch, and $10 to enter the state park, we decided to go for it...even though it still looked like rain.  Mark had checked the weather and there was only supposed to be a 30% chance of rain - HA!  We strapped Emberly in and went for it.  We looked for one geocache, but didn't find it because neither of us were daring enough to stick our hand in the spider web filled hole which presumably held the cache.  We continued on our way for a bit admiring the beauty surrounding us.  Then sun even made an appearance!  Then it started to sprinkle so we turned around.  Once we arrived back at the car the sprinkles stopped, so we sat on the pavement and Emberly watched the ants crawl around.  She had a great time and was so worn out from all her work, she slept the whole way home.  Emberly even missed the part where we stopped and bought some raspberry bushes to plant in the yard!

*Mark was sad to discover Taylor's Falls doesn't have any falls...just rapids.

Funny Face

This has been the new skill she's been practicing for a while.  It's highly entertaining!

super cute pictures!

sitting pretty

some wild hair!

Cutie pie!

look mom one hand!

playtime in the highchair

just hanging out in the highchair, playing with the elephant an making neat faces =)

8 months!

Our sweet little girl is 8 months old already!!

'I warned you people . . . no more green beans!'

it's really more of a cute face than an angry one. =)

oooooh... my first icee!

... too bad I couldn't get anything out of the cup.

Cute little baby

'Where is everyone?'

ok... get to work Emberly 

Hey there's Dad!

Just hanging out in the backyard.

This is the fun new face she's been making.  

It's accompanied with a cute snorting noise!

Eating

Emberly has discovered a faster way to eat.  Previously she had been trying to grab the food from the tray, bring it to her mouth and put it in.  The only problem was she wasn't releasing the food into her mouth - she would just chew on her hand.  Obviously this method of eating straight from the tray is much more efficient and effective - not only does the food make it in, it also eliminates the hassle of getting her hands dirty.

Clearly she enjoys having her picture taken in the highchair. =)

Eating

I have discovered two helpful skills in eating.  The first one makes it much easier to actually get the food into my mouth.  I simply lean over and lick it off the tray.  Mom made me pancakes tonight and I thought I'd give it a try since I can only seem to pick up the food right now and not release it into my mouth.  This new way of getting food is way better.

The second skill I have learned it to let Mommy know I'm all done.  As you can see here in the pictures I'm letting Mommy know I'm all done taking pictures. =)

Pool Party!

Today at church was an exhausting day.  Maybe I'm so tired because I don't sleep in the nursery anymore.  I'd rather hangout and chat with all my friends than try to take a nap.  Boy did it feel good to be home in my own bed and sleeping.  This isn't how Mom put me in the crib, but I found this to be the most comfortable way to sleep.

After my wonderful nap, Mom and Dad filled the pool up and I got to go swimming!!  Mom and Dad both had their suits on and came swimming too!!  

The giraffe sprays water out...I didn't really like that part too much.  I'm not really a fan of getting water on my face, although I do really love to splash!  

I liked the giraffe more when there wasn't water being sprayed out.  

A whole week with just Mommy!

Well, Dad has been gone for almost a whole week.  Most of the time didn't really feel too different from when he's home...seeing as how he works during the day.  It was hard to not be able to share some of the responsibilities with someone else.  By the end of the week I'm not really sure who wanted him to be home more...Emberly or me.  It was also a toss up as to who was more exhausted from the week without Dad...her picture pretty much explains how I felt nearing the end of our girl time.

After re-reading what I wrote above and looking at the picture, I realized I could have stopped after 'Dad has been gone for almost a week.'

It's still Daddy's Birthday!?

Being the great helper I am, I decided to spit up all over my clothes...I thought I'd get new clothes to wear for the pictures, but my plan failed.  

Here I am helping Mommy show off the new things she made.  She made me this super cool blanket that has tags all the way around the whole thing!!!  The tags are my favorite part of all my toys...and now I have a whole blanket filled with them!!!  Yay!

Mom also made this cover for the tv stand.  It's supposed to keep me out of all the fun stuff behind it, but once I figured out that there was stuff behind the screen...whoa was Mom in for a surprise.  I figured out that Mom and Dad were hiding all kinds of neat things back there and have been trying to explore it ever since.  I even found some things hiding underneath the stand that Mom and Dad had forgotten were there...The best part is even though I found all this cool stuff Mom and Dad just leave it there for me to get to again!!

Mom had to give me jingly caterpillar to keep me from exploring while she took pictures.  He's my new favorite toy right now.  

Dad is still gone - at SEMP- with the youth group.  I'm sad he's gone and can't wait for him to come home.  So for now I'll just keep Mom extra busy so she's not sad either. =)

Happy Birthday Dad!

HAHA today is Daddy's birthday and I'm wearing my 'I Love Mommy' shirt! 

Another day of getting ready to crawl...

...and maybe some yoga with Mom.

Too much work...I'm exhausted!  

practice

Mom tried to get some pictures of me getting ready to crawl.  All I gave her were some cute faces! =)

She pulls up onto her hands and knees, but doesn't move her hands.  She rocks back and forth like she's going to take off, and then face plants because her hands don't seem to receive the memo to go.  

She has also been working hard at getting food into her mouth.  She can pick it up and get it to her mouth, but hasn't quite figured out how to release it into her mouth.   She usually chews on her fist then moves it away and opens it up...allowing the food to fall on the floor.  

Today Emberly decided, instead of taking one piece at a time from Mom, she should make an attempt to eat straight from the container...and eat the container as well.  Have no fear though, Boots is on patrol watching - as always - from a safe distance.