Look Who's Walking

Madeline has been flirting with walking for a while, but on Sunday, 2 days before her 1st birthday, she finally demonstrated her ability to take more than a step or two. It is by no means her preferred mode of transportation just yet, but she practices a little more each day.

Madeline's 1st Birthday Bash

Madeline turned the ripe old age of 1 today, but we celebrated on Saturday with a "circle" party. I made a circle garland: We ate round foods: Maddie especially loved the pizza: We played with bubbles, balloons, and the round water table: But the biggest hit by far was my homemade ball pit: We opened some presents:

How many adults does it take to assemble a toy car? Apparently four. And of course we had cake:
We had a fun day celebrating Madeline!

Bluebonnet Beauties

The bluebonnets are absolutely gorgeous this year! Since it's practically a state law that you have to take pictures of your kids in the bluebonnets, we went frolicking in a field nearby. Masses of bluebonnets = masses of pictures!










And because Madeline spent a lot of the afternoon like this:

This is best picture I got of the two girls together:

Avacado Chicken Pitas

These were easy and REALLY good! And the ingredients are good for you too!

4 whole pita breads (I used flat bread)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
3/4 pound cooked rotisserie chicken (I boiled and shredded 2 chicken breasts)
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 cups (8 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Brush one side of each pita bread with oil. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes or until browned and crisp. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mash the avocado with lemon juice, salt, garlic powder and hot sauce. Spread over pitas. Layer with chicken, tomato and cheese. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Madeline: 11 months

Our sweet baby Madeline is almost a toddler! I don't know how long she is, but we went in for a sick visit and she weighed 16 pounds. Size 6-12 months pants and shorts still fall off of her skinny waist. I am glad I didn't buy much extra 12-18 month stuff for her. Her impending toddlerhood evidences itself in many ways:
~She is proficient at climbing up the stairs and loves to escape up when she has a chance. She is still pretty bad about coming down, though, so the stairs will remain blocked for at least another month or two.
~Her favorite trick is escaping up the second staircase (from the second floor to the third floor playroom, where there isn't a gate because we're not up there that often) whenever I'm busy cleaning her room or drawing a bath or something.
~She is starting to play with more toddler-esque toys, like the play kitchen.
~She refuses most pureed baby food, but is a picky eater when it comes to regular food. Her favorites are toddler food groups: cereal, yogurt, a little fruit, any kind of bread, etc. Exceptions to this rule are any foods she can scam from my plate.
~She is very affectionate and gives lots of love pats, which could look more like love slaps to the uninitiated.
~She signs "more", claps whenever anyone says "yay", and I swear I heard her say "up" the other day. We have yet to repeat that one, however.
~She has excellent balance when standing by herself and I'm pretty sure she can walk, she just won't. Every once in a while she'll take a half step, then realize she is walking and slowly lowers herself to the ground to crawl instead.
~She loves going outdoors, though she frequently tries to eat grass and wood chips. I'm hoping that walking will eliminate some of this.
~Her hair is getting long enough that it looks like wispy old man hair, and she's getting a bit of a mullet in the back. It's still super cute though!
Some outtakes from our photo shoot:

Easter Morn

The girls loved the visit from the Easter bunny:






Though I've had the girls' Easter dresses since the end of last summer, they've had yet to wear them. We stayed home to watch the LDS General Conference on Easter Sunday, and this past Sunday Madeline was sick and stayed home. Stay tuned--they will wear their new Spring finery at some point!

Easter Prep

Dave was off on Friday (hooray!) so we took advantage of a free afternoon to dye our Easter eggs. This is the first year that we've bothered to do it, so we went pretty basic: Paas coloring kit with Emma using the wax crayon to scribble on the eggs.



Madeline was there too, but she preferred her snack:

The final results: