I'm horrible at blogging....

Here are our summer happenings thus far:

May - We went to Grandma and Grandpa Sampsel's house in Beach City for Memorial Day weekend. Christine was also able to spend time with Great-Grandpa Sampsel and GG.

At the Memorial Day Parade

Build a Bear with GG

June - I went to Tennessee for a girl's weekend and Brian spent the entire weekend as a single dad. And of course, he rocked it! I'm so lucky! They had a great time together. Then, we went to Seaside, Florida. We were a little worried that the oil spill would ruin our plans, however we had a great time. There were tar balls on the beach one day, but they had it all cleaned up within 24 hours. We were very impressed! Both sets up grandparents all came down.

July - I finally spent my "fun money" and am now the proud owner of a DSLR. I LOVE it! It takes amazing pictures! We've gone to the zoo three times this month. Christine absolutely loves it! Her favorite is the Zebra. :) We've also celebrated 3 birthdays this month: Sarah, Colton, and Nina. Nina was our neighbor for a while and now she lives 5 minutes down the street. Colton and Sarah are our friends from the library. Christine and I still attend the library class every Wednesday and have made 2 very good friends from the class. We've been swimming many, many times at Sarah's pool this summer. Anyway, Christine now will randomly sing Happy Birthday to Sarah and Colton. She had a blast at all the parties!

Colton, Sarah, and Christine

at the zoo with the Zebras

my favorite new camera picture so far

Christine happenings:

- She talks non-stop! :) She knows over 100 words and has started making sentences. We are really working on "Please" and "Thank you" right now. I'm amazed by how much she knows.

- loves babies. She likes to rock them, change their diapers, and feed them.

- loves playing in her kitchen and having tea parties.

- has discovered Elmo and Winnie the Pooh.

- loves playing computer games...especially the one with Elmo and the "Sheep" game on the Ipad

- loves to swim

- can count to 5, has trouble with 6 and 7, but can then count from 8-10

- still working on the alphabet, but she knows D is for Doggie and E is for Elmo. :)

- Loves, LOVES animals.

- she can run and gallop...still working on jumping.

- loves to be tickled and will sometimes ask you to tickle her

- still takes a 2 hour after nap... thank the Lord!

- sleeps until 8:30/9 and goes to bed at 8pm

- finds it fascinating that milk comes from cows

- has to be outside at some point in the day

- Favorite foods: cheese, bread with apple butter, peas, corn, pasta, rice, chicken nuggets, apples, broccoli, cake, and m&ms.

Library Class

Christine and I attend a library class every Wednesday. She LOVES it! I have to admit, the first time there I felt a little awkward doing the Hokey Pokey, dancing to classical music, and singing the Wheels on the Bus, but the progress Christine has made has been amazing. She now does the Hokey Pokey, dances, and looks at books all by herself. If you have a library close by that offers free classes, take your kiddos! It's a great way to spend time with them!!

Christine loves to play with the basket of books

singing songs

Dancing! (notice none of the other kids are dancing in the background...just mine.)

At the end of the class the teacher always blows bubbles.

It's Christine's favorite part!

Showing off after the class

PaPa reading books with Christine

(my parents were in town and attended the class with me)

In the Words of Christine

These are just a few of the words Christine says now. I was finally able to record a little bit of it. She usually won't let me record her! By the way, when I ask her to say "Da Da" she actually does say "da da," even though at first I thought she said "pa pa" which is what she's been calling my dad (grandpa walden). I've been practicing Grammy and Grandpa with her since my parents are coming down next week to watch her.

Dress Up

Sometimes while I get ready in the morning, Christine will get out my bracelets and necklaces and play dress up. This morning I walked out of the bathroom and this is what I saw:

Poor Duke; this is probably just a small dose of what is to come. I'm sure in a year or so he will be dressed in a tutu having tea with the princesses. At least he doesn't seem to care too much!

The Duke

Not only to I have the best husband and kiddo, but I also believe I have the best dog. The Duke is going to be 5 years old next week...that's 21 in dog years, right? Until Christine came along, he was my baby. He's definitely had to take a step down (poor guy!), but he's handled the past year very well! Here are some updated pics of Christine and her "doggie." Happy Birthday Duke!

On Christine's birthday

He loves her and is protective of her

Seriously, could the two of them be any cuter?

Rudolph

When I picked up Christine from daycare on Tuesday, the first thing I noticed was her big red nose. Apparently, she walked out the back door, where there was a step, and landed face first on the outdoor rug. She has a rug burn on the tip of her nose...but she's still smiling!

Christine finds the weirdest places to play. Today she pulled out one of the drawers from toy storage, took everything out of it, and then sat in it to play.

We also tried coloring for the first time. It wasn't a huge success, but I think she got the concept and it took up a little bit of time. It's been raining for WEEKS (at least it feels like it) so I am trying to be creative with things to do indoors. We usually go for walks and play outside.

EnterTRAINment Juction

Christine's 6th plane ride landed her in Cincinnati, OH. Brian and I had to go to Cincinnati for an all company meeting and we brought her along. Grandma and Grandpa Walden came to Cincy to get Christine and they took her back to Indiana for a few days. It was really hard for me at first, but then I was so busy it actually turned out to be OK. Plus, Christine had a blast!

Then Grandma and Grandpa Sampsel, Great-Grandpa Sampsel, and Gloria (Great-Grandpa's friend) came down from Beach City to hang out for the weekend. On Saturday we went to EnterTRAINment Juction. For those of you in Ohio, you should go! I'm not big into trains, but it was fun and Christine had a lot of fun as well. It's this huge building with model trains everywhere and they have an area for kids as well. http://www.entertrainmentjunction.com/

Daddy holding Christine so she could see the trains.

Christine and Great-Grandpa Sampsel. I love this picture!

4 Generations

hanging out in the kiddie area

Sleeping after a long day!

A little note about the above picture...

So, Christine woke up at 6am hungry, so I had to run down to the hotel lobby to warm up a bottle for her and when I got back I fed her and decided to just leave her in bed with us. Brian wakes up and says "are you really going to leave her in our bed?" I think he was somewhat annoyed. Then Christine rolls next to him and cuddles up. I waited a few minutes and asked Brian if he wanted me to move her back to the pack-n-play and he said "I don't care" which in Brian language means, no. I think he like snuggling with his little girl! :) When I got out of the shower this is what I saw and I HAD to take a picture.

Birthday Girl

So, I've been really, really, bad at this blogging thing. But, looking back I wish I would have kept up with it so I can remember all the things we've done with Christine. I'm going to do better. Let's start with this:


Christine is ONE!!! I can't believe it! We made it through the year!

Ironically last year I would cry because I was unsure what kind of mom I would be, or if I would even like being a mother. This year I cried because I feel like it's going too fast. She's getting so big and as much as I LOVE to watch her learn and just interact with her, there is a small part of me that wishes she was only days old and helpless. I miss watching her change daily, but at the same time I am enjoying that she is now a little independent and my life is so much easier. AND no more $ for formula; Yay!!

For her birthday we had a big party! Grandma & Grandpa Sampsel came down from Ohio and Grandma & Grandpa Walden, Great-Grandma Chappell, Ron & Missy King, and Brittany & Olyvia Pruett all came from Indiana. We also had friends and neighbors over for the celebration. We did a cupcake theme. Brian made a TON of cupcakes including a very large cupcake for the Bean. He had 3 flavors; dark chocolate, boston creme, and yellow cake. All the cupcakes were made from scratch including the frosting.

We've had so much fun with her over the past year and can't wait to find out what's ahead!

P.S. even though she's one, we still have yet to buy the next car seat. Our poor little girl is only in the 5% weighing a whopping 17lbs and she has to be 20lbs before we can turn her around!