July

Gabriela was holding this candy for a whole 2 minute car ride and when we got home I asked what she did, and she said, "oops, I forgot. I didn't realize I ate everything." She apparently wasn't paying attention and absentmindedly ate through the wrapper, and ate 1 starburst (wrapper and all), and nibbled on the next one! Crazy kid.

We got a few good monsoons this month!! You can see in the background, the trees blowing over and you can't see the sky because it's pure rain. It came in sideways and we had some sweet lightening and thunder. It was awesome! I'm so glad my girls love it as much as I do :)

We went to the temple this month and brought the kids with us. It was a little toasty, but they were good about it and loved seeing all the different kind of flowers and greenery in bloom (sorry no pics of that...you'll have to take my word for it, that it was gorgeous!)

At the end of July, Danny was presenting at a conference in Sedona again. His work was paying him to be there for 4 days, so I decided to go with as an early 15 year anniversary trip! My sister watched the kids and we were kid-free for the first time in 13+ years!! It was so nice to have some down time with just the two of us. Very refreshing and serene.

We hoped to hike every day, but only got out twice. I hope they ask him to go every year :)

Gabriela has been asking to help with my quilts for a long time now, but there's not to much she can do. This was the perfect one for her to help with and she did a fabulous job remembering which pattern goes where!

Ronan is now 16 months and finally started walking!! He has just learned Ring-Around-the-Rosie and loves it. He sings "AAAAA-shes, AAAAA-shes" all day long. Too cute. While the kids are out playing, Gabriela decided to try and teach Ronan how to do somersaults and his head on the ground is all he can do so far :)

June

I found a couple coupons and a good sale, and purchased an underwater camera for the family. It's the Kodak EasyShare Sport, and it's so fun and the kids love it! I've got some video of the little ones swimming...

I took on a big challenge in making a REAL picnic sized quilt (that would fit our whole family) after making that small one last month. I like how it turned out, but this is only the top...it may take a while for me to put together the back and then actually quilt it! yikes.

Here is just a cute picture of Ronan chillin', playing with Danny's phone :)

I'm finally getting vegetables! Although, they are SO small (that's Danny's wedding ring & then a quarter in the other picture for comparison). They are mini red & mini orange bell peppers, but they are so mini. Also there are yellow pear tomatoes in that bunch. They taste good, nonetheless.

Ronan did not have a very good start to his day turning 15 months. We were getting ready for church (I'll spare you the long story, who was where, and whatnot) and just say that he pulled the flat iron down on his foot. We took him to urgent care and while the doctors and nurses were great, he's so shy that he just screamed/cried for a solid hour. The gave him some hydrocodone and sent us home with bandages, wraps, & ointments.

We got to the pharmacy and you could tell the medicine had kicked in. He looked up at the ceiling and said "ball", then looked around, smiled, giggled, and said "ball" again. I think he might have been hallucinating :) He had an otter pop in his hand, and when he finished it, I took it out of his hand and that's when I noticed that his hand was burned as well! We had all missed it. I called them back and they said just to do the same for his hand as his foot. We got some awesome cream that did wonders for his burns. We are so grateful that he kept his glove and sock on for the next 2 weeks!

May

In May I found a book & an online tutorial showing easy summer dresses, so I thought I'd give it a try. The word "shirring" made me put it off for months, but after I did it, I realized I had nothing to be scared of! It was super easy, so fast, and so cute! My girls ♥ them. I even made one for their cousin because we like matchy-matchy ;)

Ronan continues to climb and get into anything and everything he can. I'm exhausted.

I flew up to SLC for Quilt Market Spring 2011; then stayed with my sister, Cajsa; then my parents came up a week later w/Ronan for my cousin's wedding. It was a wonderful 10 day vacation by myself!! Quilt Market was awesome. Being at Cajsa's where I had 3 days where I didn't have ANYTHING to do was awesome! Going to Manti for my cousin's wedding and seeing my baby again was awesome. It was a great vacation and a much needed one at that!

We went to a children's museum with Cajsa & Adison, and my parents. I was really impressed with this place and so was Ronan! Everything kept his interest and I was ready to go before he ever was. It had little replicas of a school house, a teepee, a Chinese house, the Oval office (he wasn't impressed), a fire truck, a nursery/hospital, giant chess game, fishing, a royal court, and so much more!

It makes me want to try my hand at boy dress up clothes. All we have right now are a bunch of tutus :)

On our last day, we headed to my Aunt & Uncle's house in Pleasant Grove and had a delicious Peruvian dinner! My cousin's kids were there and they had fun playing with Adison & Ronan. (I really miss grass)

Time to fly home & I had to lug Ronan (who still isn't walking yet, but took his first steps during the vacation!), a suitcase, his car seat, my camera bag, & diaper bag around with me. I missed the $5 carts and so I walked all the way to the gate carrying all of these things by myself. I looked like a mess. It was a mess. I had to stop every 25 feet to catch my breath!! Right as I got to the gate, a kind employee offered this wheelchair to walk through the terminal and to the outside gates. Yay! We made it in enough time and Ronan loved the ride.

Ronan is now 14 months and so far has take 3-4 steps. He's right on track :) Still getting into trouble (he found markers). And, if you look close, he found a sticker and stuck it to his chest (under his onesie) before he went to bed and I didn't find it until the next morning. I don't think his skin likes stickers :(

April

Brendan & Isabel turned 13 & 11, in the beginning of April, and we had a big family gathering. Bren got to go on a scout camp-out for his birthday, so we celebrated when he got back, on Isa's birthday. So fun for him :) It was a little weird saying that I had a kid in junior high, but it's even way weirder saying that I have a teenager! Thankfully Bren's a pretty chill kid. Let's hope that lasts. If not, we know a good group home we can send him to! Just kidding.

My sisters borrowed my camera and caught Emalyn sneaking some popcorn in the other room. How cute is she?!

It was finally time to cut Ronan's hair and Cajsa helped me with it. I forget how much a haircut makes my babies grow up! What a handsome toddler.

Some of the things Ronan continues to get into. This crazy kid does not like his toys. At all. Instead he likes emptying contents of drawers, cabinets, and boxes. We were cleaning out our DVD collection and our VHS box (do they even make these anymore?) because none of the movies match their cases. The other picture shows our daily battle. He pulls out all the lotions, hair supplies, toiletries, flat irons, brushes, etc, and plays with them all on the ground. Emalyn decided to make him look cute like a lion and stuck her tutu on him. Nice.

Here are a couple of projects that I did in April: a hooded towel & matching burp cloths, carseat cover, and then a small picnic quilt. I'm so excited that they turned out so cute!

Danny's parent's pool was finally warm enough to swim in, and Ronan took to the water quite well. Ema was pretty nervous, so she only played on the step the whole time. We'll work on it...

Thanks to my mom, the kids were able to dye eggs for Easter. I totally forgot and didn't have any supplies on hand. The kids had fun and loved eating their creations!

Ronan is now 13 months and is standing up more, although, still not interested in walking. I don't really mind, but my back does :)

I haven't gardened here in AZ yet, and I finally decided to give it a try. Since we're renting, I figured plants in pots are my best option for now. So far things are going well and I'm getting some produce!

March

I made this quilt using the New Wave Quilt tutorial from Oh, Fransson! I used all solids for the front, and remaining scraps with a coordinating print, all from Melanie's shop. I love the way it turned out!!

Ronan LOVES to climb. We found him scaling my parent's pantry in search for food (I swear I feed him). And following ever so closely to his wild & crazy sister, his favorite thing to climb is dressers. He does get on top, especially his.

Emalyn's eyes are changing. They used to be a beautiful blue, then they turned grey and they were still gorgeous. Now they are almost a green, with flecks of brown in one eye. I'm not saying they aren't beautiful anymore, because they are amazing with all the ranges they have been, but I do miss those blue eyes!

Ronan turned 1 this month! I can't believe I now have a toddler instead of a baby :( The fact that he's not walking yet is totally ok with me. He loves to play outdoors, and can do so for hours.

We celebrated with Danny's family and Ronan got money for his bank account, a popsicle, and a couple (non-noisy) toys...thanks Sean!

Next we celebrated with my family and he didn't quite know what to do with the candle or his cake! He had fun poking at it, so we fed him a couple pieces and he ate it, but he wasn't super excited. He had more fun making a mess of it, which is so fine with me! :)

Here Ronan is sporting his band-aids from his 1 yr shots. He's smiling here, but mostly he's fussy after shots. I hate that part. Holding him down in the doctor's office and looking at you like, "what's going on?" and then feeling the pain, crying, and looking at you like "why are you doing this to me & why aren't you holding me?!" Only a couple more and then we're done for a long while...

January

Over Christmas/New Year break, my sister's family came down for the holidays to get away from the snow, only they brought it with them! Our kids were SO excited and had to play in it, but their cousin Adison didn't understand why it was so exciting; it's just snow :)

After playing in the snow, it was time for some down time...relaxing in front of a movie. Emalyn & Adison are both finger/thumb suckers w/their blankets. It was cute how in-sync they were.

Ronan is playing in a new castle the kids got from my parents for Christmas, and it keeps him entertained for long periods of time. He wouldn't let go of the sword either. This thing actually helped him practice getting his balance while standing. It would fall over with him when he put his weight into it, so he quickly had to adjust :)

While I was holiday shopping, I found some cute Amy Butler towels on clearance and decided it was time for new hooded towels for the kids. I also made one for my niece (the white one w/fabric trim) and I love the way it turned out!

On the 13th, Emalyn turned 3 years old! She is a sweet, sassy little girl, who is finally starting to outgrow screaming and trying to actually talk to her over-eager 5 year old sister instead. Gabriela loves her a little too much, a little too often for Ema's liking :)

Also in January, I got to help my good friend, Melanie, from Above All Fabric, man her booth at the Tucson Quilt Festival! It was an awesome event, her booth was gorgeous, and I had so much fun (despite sore feet at the end of the day)!

At the end of the month, Ronan turned 10 months old, and is quickly taking after our crazy Gabriela! He gets into everything, tries to eat everything (including rocks in our backyard), and doesn't really have an interest in toys.

If you go back to the beginning of this blog, you'll remember Gabriela pulling a filing cabinet down on her at 11 months old. We started this blog because our families didn't quite believe all the crazy things she was doing at such an early age (and neither could we!). We needed to document it all. It looks like we'll be doing the same with this kid...Ronan pulled the drawers out of the night stand and it fell over and the drawers landed on his legs, but no marks, just scary looking when I came running in. He was sitting right in front of the alarm clock and had it not been plugged into the wall, it would have kept sliding down and clocked him in the head :) I don't know if I can go through this again!

February

I tried to make some burp cloths for quick & easy baby shower gifts and they turned out really cute! I also tried working with laminate for the first time and made a lunch bag (which I still haven't finished the closure), and a nursing cover for my friend.

Gabriela got her first toy gun from Danny's parents at Old Tucson, and she was thrilled. We gave it a try, but it wasn't too long before we had to hide it :) Oh, and I made her this skirt. When I first made it, it was way too long and it looked pretty bad. Shortened it up and much better.

Poor Ronan :) We went through our clothing boxes, putting away too small clothes, and getting out new ones, when we found this treasure! Isa wore this for her first Halloween and Bren had a "Steve shirt" and they went as Steve & Blue. It was dang cute back then! We thought we'd try it on Ronan and it obviously doesn't fit, and he obviously was embarrassed.

I know this looks really gross, and it kind of is. But, it was too funny to not take a picture. The kid is obsessed with peeking in the garbage can to find things, and putting things IN the trash can without us knowing (I'm sure we've thrown away several toys). I keep this trash can cloroxed often on the inside and out because he's always touching it. I had just put an almost empty Healthy Choice lunch bowl in the trash (resting on top of empty cereal boxes, nothing gross like chicken guts), when he peeked in and saw food. He ate the rest of the spinach that was in the bowl!

Here he is at 11 months, still not walking and still putting everything in his mouth. I love his chubby body!