Christmas Catch-Up Mega-Post!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wow! It's been almost a MONTH since I entered anything on this blog...so I have A LOT of catching up to do! We spent a lovely 10 days in Texas for the holidays and had a great time with our families. We took a TON of pictures while we were there...so here is the Christmas Mega-Post!
Elizabeth's first taste of Christmas...and she's not quite sure what to make of it. She gets some fun bath toys from Heather and a little dolly from Grandmommy Jones.




Elizabeth sleeps with Mo (in her mouth) on the road from Houston to Austin!












Elizabeth with her Grandpa, Grams, and cousins Matt and Erin.







Elizabeth with Mommy, Grams, Aunt Jennifer, and Grandma.








Elizabeth looks down from the balcony and wonders when it was that Daddy and Uncle Mike became ROCK STARS!

Elizabeth always on the move at Grammy and Pop-Pop's. (Mommy and Daddy soon learned a lesson about walking around with sippy cup straws! Later that morning, Elizabeth tripped and cut her lip on it! Awww!)

Elizabeth realizes that she is the present!

Mistletoe and Meltdowns

Lest any of you think that Elizabeth is all smiles 100% of the time (alright...it's more like 98%)...we wanted to share with you this moment in time when posing for the camera became too much for her to bear! Awwww!

Here we were, trying (in vain) to capture an adorable shot of her in her Christmas dress sitting in front of a beautiful poinsettia. (You have to agree that would make a nice Christmas card, right?)

Anyway, she was all too happy to crawl around it... or walk away from it...

but as far as sitting still in front of it--that was just too much to ask, and she finally just let loose and wailed! Ah well...we love her little crying face to pieces!!!

Our Favorite Cupcake!

So...it turns out that Elizabeth and I each have a favorite cupcake! Hers is the festive pink-frosted ornament from Dina and Phil that adorns our lovely Christmas tree. And mine...is her!

"Dog-dog-dog..."

Last Saturday, we ventured down to San Diego to visit Auntie Sammy and her cool apartment near USD...and we all took a little trip to the World Famous San Diego Zoo!

Elizabeth showed lots of interest in all the animals, and--not surprisingly--referred to each one as a DOG!

Oh--except for the ducks in the pond with the flamingos--which, of course, are DOKs!

(A subtle difference that probably only Mommy and Daddy can distinguish!)

Posing for the Paparazzi!

Oh dear...it seems Elizabeth can't go anywhere these days without some crazed paparazzo (er...Mommy?) trying to snap a picture of her!

Here she is jumping into her sports car in front of the Ivy!
(Uh...I mean, Daddy's bookcase)!

Someone needs to tell that girl that it's safer to drive facing forward!

YIKES! Here she is attempting to drive with her
BABY IN HER LAP!!!

Now that's just wrong, y'all!

Even with those cool shades, you can't escape the madness!
We still recognize you, EK...and this Elizabeth-obsessed photog has no plans of going away!

FFO

Here we are on a Fun Family Outing to Costco! Actually, I'm not really sure that it can be considered a real FFO since it didn't end in ice cream...(judges ruling, Jules?) Anyway, Elizabeth loves the people watching that is part of the Costco experience!

Note: Handy keep-the-grody-shopping-cart-germs-off-my-baby "Floppy Seat" provided by cousin Heather! This thing is AWESOME!

Little Giggle Box

Every once in a while, something strikes Elizabeth as ding-dang funny...and she can't stop giggling. Here, she was just lounging on the sofa as Mommy took some pictures.














Then, all of a sudden, something I said (I think it was something witty and clever like "Hey! Smile!") set her off!









And then she just laughed her fool head off!

Family of Elves

Well...no picture to post today, but if you follow this link it will be worth MORE than 1,000 pictures! I promise, it will make you laugh! Happy Holidays!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1158057719

Family Portraits

It was so great to have both sets of grandparents in town for Elizabeth's birthday! We even remembered to take pictures of the whole crew...and think they turned out great!Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa!

And here we are with Grammy and Pop-Pop!

Elizabeth on Parade!

Yesterday was an exciting day at our house! For most of the past week, Elizabeth has been practicing walking back and forth from one person to the other--and doing very well! But yesterday, Elizabeth took four steps across the room AWAY from Mommy all by herself! (Of course, you'll have to just take my word on that since she and I were the only two witnesses and I couldn't grab the camera fast enough to document the milestone event!) When she stopped, she simply stood there for about a half second, carefully lowered her little bottom to the ground, then turned around to grin at Mommy as if to say, "Did you see what I just did?!?!"

Since I don't have "first steps" pictures, we'll just have to settle for this one of her practicing her pageant wave as though she is the Queen of the Rose Parade! She spends about half of her playtime climbing on and off of this little airplane ride-on that Grandma and Grandpa got her for her birthday...and the other half on a little ride-on/pushtoy that Nancy, Dick, Sharon, and Bill got her, or opening and closing the door to her little coupe! She LOVES those things!

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?