8 months old

at 8 months Rayna is:

-a sweetheart, super cuddly

-crawling, though not very fast

-eating well, she loves bread, crackers, and cookies (carb-queen?) but she's okay with the obligatory fruits and veggies :)

-loving her big sister more than anyone, even mama, afton is the one that can always make her smile.

-sleeping through the night, almost always (although she has a tendancy to wake up aroung 5am, so we recently had to move her into the office so she wouldn't wake afton up--she does put herself back to sleep though, so i don't think that really counts)

-loving being outside, regardless of the weather (and we've had 80 degrees and ice/snow in the last few weeks)

-a water-baby, this is still new to me, she LOVES bathtime. a few months ago it was tantamount to torture...

-sitting up all by herself, and she stood from sitting once (paul saw it, i missed it)

-ready for bed! i guess i'd better sign off and give her some lovin'

**and today (friday) she just got her first tooth through!!!

this week in pictures

rayna's taken up a new instrument this week, trombone. she's also getting really good at pulling herself to sitting, she's not exactly crawling, but she's kind of invented her own version of scooting/army crawling/rolling to get just about wherever she want's to go, it's sorta cute, but hard to video :). also today at church she pulled herself from sitting on the bench next to paul to standing and looking at/playing with the kids behind us. i missed it :( i can't believe how fast she's starting to really get around, and she's not quite 8 months!

i know, today's katharine's birthday, not grandma's, but afton was singing this song all week, and i finally had to get it on video,. so a little premature, but happy birthday grandma! *also please note the little orange thing in her hand, it's play-dough stuffed into a water bottle cap that she made herself and called birthday cake. i'm not exactly sure where the ideas of birthdays (or especially the song came from, we haven't had any in our family in a while, except for jacob's over christmas, i'm guessing maybe nursery?)

i mostly just love it that afton's actually singing now. she's also started singing her ABC's ("a-b-c-d-e-f-g-e-e-e-e-double-x-y-B-Y-U!") and a few others. music to my ears!

more pics...

a few more favorites from christmas time... (for those that need a list: everyone; Mom & Dad; all the grandkids; all the originals{Katharine, Melissa, Rebecca, Mom, Dad, Anna, Jacob, Elise, with Naomi & Nicki in front}; everyone again; grandkids that are big enough to sit still; Paul & our girls; Dan & his girls)

who's the boringist?

Play along. Copy and paste and highlight the things you've done! Then when your finished add something you've done that wasn't on the list!

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8.Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18.Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21.Had a pillow fight 22.hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a 1/2 Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31.hit a home run. 32.been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Visited the pyramids 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44.Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67.Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone. 78.Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82.Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Made amends with someone who offended you 101. Flew in a small Cessna plane with just you and the pilot 102. Ran out of gas 103. Eaten fried okra 104. Swam in the Caribbean Sea 105. Peed in a swimming pool 106. Stayed in a beach house 107. Hosted an exchange student 108. Been a Secret Santa to a family 109. Worked on a political campaign 110. Coached a sports team 111. Baked bread from scratch 112. Driven from coast to coast 113. Paid off all of your debt 114. Roast marshmallows over a campfire 115 Cut up a credit card 116. Drove a car through a flood 117. Been on t.v 118. Had braces 119. Been to the twin towers in NY 120. Have played in both the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans 121. Been to ground zero 122. Bite my fingernails 123. Likes to scrapbook 124. Hates pie 125. Visited Mexico 126. Seen a Tornado in person 127. Have ever been lost at sea! 128. kisses a frog. 129. Gave birth to twins. 130. Received 2 moving violation tickets in 1 day. 131.Been Life Flighted. 132. swore 133. stranded in a motel for Christmas. 134. Been in 2 countries at once! 135. Adopted a pet from Humane Society 136. Did a triathlon 137. Never received a speeding ticket 138. Live with one kidney 139. Slept on the floor of a train station in Poland 140. Hiked Masada 141. pulled a rock out of hot lava

giveaway (i know i'm posting a lot of these, but this one is really worth looking at)

i can't believe it, but this is really a giveaway:

double stroller!!!/

cool, huh?

for all my california friends:

if anyone wants a photography deal, here's one in sunny cali: (my friend is an awesome photographer, and she's having a giveaway)

http://ludikus.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-heck-of-deal.html

family picture

thanks mom for arranging family pictures for us for Christmas.i'm guessing most people have seen the big family phhotos, but if anyone wants to see some more, i'll post a few if i get a requests :)

afton pictures

quite the little poser (ain't she cute?)

afton LOVES the camera, from both sides, and she's getting to be quite the photographer.

the other day afton wanted to play blocks, enough that she helped me clan up all the other toys ("cween-up, cween-up, every, every, cween-up, cween-up, cween-up") so she could get them out. as soon as we brought them downstairs (rayna was asleep), she dumped them out, and laid down, "i swimming mama."

i can't believe we got these in. she sat semi-still long enough that i could get her hair in 2 braids!!! this is amazing, usually i can barely get one pony-tail in, and even then it's crooked, now i'm not saying the braids were straight (the part was really bad, but still--), but i sure was proud of us! doesn't she look so grown up?

rayna pictures

rayna's new skills with a sippy cup (she loves it)

posing for pictures, she's getting really smily finally :)

i love this dress!!! thanks sister lester, she made it 12 years ago for nicki, but it's been in the family ever since, (and i now have some booties that match it exactly, she just wasn't wearing them in this pic).

again, trying for a smile, she evidenatlly wasn't in the mood. (gotta love those cheeks though, huh?)

cherry torte anyone?

a picture is worth a thousand words.

sesame street

while watching sesame street this morning, afton recognized the number of the day.

"eighteen, eighteen, I, B, eighteen"

this is cool

merry christmas to me... i think this is cool:

it's like a party for my teeth :)

check out this

here's a link worth checking out:

http://www.auburnsoul.blogspot.com/

there's a chance for a giveaway, and it looks very worthwhile!

Zoo

here's some favorites from the zoo, if you want more, email or comment, and i'll send some on! we love our zoo-pass (my current favorite photo is the gorilla one above)
so this is afton and clella's friend the monitor, they were all walking back and forth along the glass together, back and forth for a couple full minutes, funny!

who can walk like a flamingo?

such cuties in the stroller! geneva and rayna are only 6 weeks apart, but they're so cute i think they could pass as twins :)

afton jumped on the middle kangaroo as soon as she saw it, naomi and clella were followers... or just posing?

giraffes have "long necks" (that's what afton calls them)