Rollin' Wit My Homies...

Hunka D and Auntie P gave Elizabeth this cool sporty pink coupe for her first birthday! (And Hunka D even assembled it! Woohoo!)



From the looks of things, I'd say she likes being behind the wheel! Of course, this means when she comes whining to us about wanting a car for her Sweet 16, we can tell her she already has one! Hooray!...thanks, guys! Haha!



Oh...and hey, watch out! Looks like she may be just one bottle of milk away from being as much of a hazard on the road as Britney these days, y'all! YIKES!

Having Her Cake...And Eating It, Too!

Of course, we could not let Elizabeth's birthday come and go without the obligatory and much-anticipated (not to mention, adorably messy!) "one-year-old smashing cake into her face" photos! So here they are for your viewing enjoyment!When we set a MONSTER piece in front of her (chocolate cake courtesy of Betty Crocker...perfectly-iced chocolate frosted coating provided by Grandpa...and writing and decorative touches piped by Mommy!), Elizabeth was very hesitant to reach out for it. You see, somehow Mommy trained her a while ago (inadvertently, I might add) not to reach out to grab for food when she is being fed,...so, even on this monumentally special occasion, she just sat there and stared at it expectantly as it sat in front of her.
It actually took quite a bit of encouraging before she very hesitantly raked her fingertips over the top layer of the cake. But, as evidenced by these pictures, once she got a taste of it--there was just NO stopping her!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!!

Elizabeth Katherine is ONE YEAR OLD today! And both Daddy and I are finding it hard to believe that a year has passed by so quickly! (I know our friends with kids in college are saying "Tell me about it!" haha!) But the year has not gone by without us realizing again and again--and being thankful for--how much God has blessed us with this sweet little girl in our lives! Thank you again to all our family and friends for your love and support throughout this year and for many years to come!

Where's Daddy?

Well...he's in D.C. for a couple of days! But he'll be back tomorrow! When Elizabeth woke up this morning, as we headed down the hall to our bedroom, she said "Daddy?"...but he wasn't there. She even lifted the sheets where Daddy usually sleeps to double-check. The expression on her face was a cute little mixture of confusion and disappointment. It was darling...and looked a little bit like this!
Both Mommy and Elizabeth will be happy when Daddy is home again!

Got Skillz?

This video posting is long overdue (sorry, Matt!)...as I promised that I would post it just as soon as we returned home from our trip to Austin. And I just forgot to do it! So...without further delay, I present to you "Elizabeth's Skillz"--with clever and witty commentary provided by Elizabeth's cousin Matt!

What's So Funny?

I don't know...but Elizabeth and Beckett are in on the secret, and it's making them GIGGLE!

(Sidenote: Want to know more about Beckett?...follow this link to Lindsay's blog http://nlrobertsfam.blogspot.com/)

Serious Jumper!

We're not playing around anymore, folks!

None of those dainty little hops or half-hearted toe-wiggles of days gone by! You can see by the focus, the energy, the determination in her eyes...when Elizabeth is in the jumper, she means business!

Very Busy Day!

Elizabeth's goal for Halloween Day was to get maximum usage out of her costume! After all, we can't imagine when she will need to be a pumpkin again in the near future, so she pretty much spent all day (except for naps!) in her little orange suit!


First, she engaged in her daily ritual of removing--one at a time--each book on her bookshelf and transferring them to their rightful positions on her floor. (Halloween bib courtesy of "Grandpa Dick")








Then, we went to visit "Auntie Julia"--who, herself, was dressed up as The Fourth of July for Halloween. (Don't ask--it's complicated!)
When we arrived, Elizabeth bolted straight for the stairs and crawled all the way up.

She was pretty proud of herself once she reached the top!




Next, we were off to "Grandma Nancy's" house for a little attention.

And, "Auntie P" stopped by to add her Ooohs and Aaahs as well.





And, finally, we returned home just in time to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood.




I'd say we got our money's
worth...wouldn't you?

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Here is Elizabeth in her adorable little Jack-O-Lantern costume!

We had a little costume party at Gymboree yesterday, so I took some pictures of Elizabeth with her friend, Beth!

(Truth be told, they were the only ones who came dressed up! haha!) Too cute! Surprisingly, my little pumpkin didn't try to remove her "stem" even once! How do you like that?

"Get the story...Get the Times!"

For those non-Angelenos, this is the tag line for the LA Times newspaper. And, apparently, Elizabeth has bought into all the hype, as she desperately wants to know what is going on the world! Maybe Daddy's interests are rubbing off on her? No...wait! She's flipping to a department store ad! Must be that Mommy's interests are rubbing off on her! Now that's more like it!

Little Legacy

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time before Elizabeth stumbled upon some of Mommy's Alpha Phi volunteer work stacks and papers! Last week, she pulled out a little green binder that was tucked between the dryer and Mommy's small file cabinet. For those who don't recognize it (and I know there are some of you who do!), it's the NPC Manual of Information (aka--"The Greenbook").



Naturally, Mommy had to kneel down next to her and read it from cover to cover, offering explanations for terms like "Unanimous Agreements" and "Resolutions!" Okay, I'm only kidding...well, sort of!...because you know, someday, this is likely to become a true story!

"HEY! Look at ME!"

I'm speculating with the title, here...but this seems to be the subtext of this photo. Elizabeth had a blast pulling herself up and down on the hearth of the fireplace at Grandma and Grandpa's, and then walking sideways from one end of the brick to the other over and over again. I think she was doing a great job of entertaining herself...but, as with most baby activities, it's always more fun when someone is watching!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!!

Sweet Grandbaby!

Here are a few precious moments with Grandma and Grandpa!

I'm a BIG kid!

At Grandma's house, Elizabeth enjoyed the freedom of exploring each new room! She would crawl around the living room, kitchen, entry hall, hallway, and dining room...all while Mom and Grandma were chatting nearby.





Here, we caught her pulling up on a dining room chair and discovering a little one-handed independence!








We think it won't be long before she is standing on her own!

Baby in a Basket!

This is Elizabeth's response to "Baby in a Pot!" (Meghan, I can almost hear Kai shouting out now!) I don't know what makes it so ding-dang cute to put a little baby where babies ought not go--but Elizabeth seemed to like it, and we took some adorable pictures! See?...

Conquering Fears

It's a brave new world for Elizabeth Katherine! Until last week, anytime I'd try to introduce her to the wonders of tunnel play, she would peek inside and then turn around and hightail it out of there! There was just NO WAY she was venturing down that long, enclosed path all by herself! But, suddenly, last week at the Gymboree in Austin, she had a "tunnel breakthrough" and decided that she was all about it! The pictures speak for themselves here!

M, E, and E

Elizabeth and I just returned from a visit to Austin! We had a great time, and I'll be posting some pics and videos from our trip throughout the week. Here is a cute picture of Elizabeth with her cousins, Matt (10) and Erin (6). Elizabeth is very fascinated by kids who are a little bit older than she...and they were really sweet with her. Elizabeth thought that Matt was especially funny--as she kept giggling every time he put his face near hers.

I speak whale!

Here is the world famous linguist Grammy attempting to communicate with Purp in whale. Oh, sorry, I've just been informed that it's dolphin. Which, as you all know, is a dialect of porpoise. I still have no idea what they're talking about, however. And by the look of her pounding out signals, it could be that Purp is also trying to get across something in elephant. If I may translate (I minored in elephant in college): "I want a double-double animal style, no tomatoes, fries, and a chocolate shake from In-n-Out." Like father, like daughter!

A movie about nothing

Sometimes, the lights come up, the camera rolls, and the leading lady forgets her lines. Or, in this case, does absolutely nothing of interest. But she's still a cutie so I couldn't resist posting "a movie about nothing."

Awww...

Elizabeth is looking up at Daddy and giving him the big puppy-dog eyes! Somewhere deep down I guess she must know that we are about to go off for a whole WEEK and leave him all alone! That's right...tomorrow morning, Elizabeth and I are traveling to Austin for a little visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Mike, and Cousins Matt and Erin! Of course, we will miss Daddy (and we hope he will miss us, too!) but we also know that this will give him a HUGE opportunity to get lots of work done without distraction! Right, Daddy??? ;-) So, faithful readers...we hope you will have a great week and we will return soon!