Park Leaves

Yesterday I had about 20 minutes to kill until Summer had to be at her piano class so we stopped by the closest park near our house.  It is not the *best* park but it is decent.  After visiting I realized I really like this park, it has a nice play area that is Pepper size and it had some trees with yellow leaves falling!  I know, most people are posting snow photos and I am posting fall leaves, go figure, thanks Vegas!  Since the girls had so much fun I decided to go back today with the camera and my 50mm lens.  We spent about an hour playing and walking.  Pepper can climb onto the play equipment and go down one of the slides all by herself - and she did it over and over and over.  Oh and we didn't need the jackets, in fact we took them off not long after we got there.

I might even go back tomorrow and hit the other side of the park, with the trails and the trees!

Blue Earrings

I am not sure why she wanted blue earrings but blue it was.  Summer decided SHE was ready to get her ears pierced.  We warned her sorta, I mean we told her it would hurt a little, maybe we said it would sting.  Anyway she decided she could do it and she was brave.  She saw a friend just get hers done so it was time.

Before - happy Summer 

Before - Side View

Getting her ears measured

I think this says it all 

Immediately after - still crying

Getting them cleaned, still crying

After and almost happy

Very happy

Showing off now

We were not fortunately to have two people punch them at the same time so she had to endure the pain one at a time.  We are lucky she went through with it.  We continued shopping after and she told everyone we came in contact with about her new earrings.  She was super proud.  She did mention they stung, which is normal.  2 days later they look great and she still loves them!

Really Cool Eyes

Both of my girls ended up with really cool looking eyes.  Summer has hazel with green brown, some days the green just pops, and Pepper has mostly blue with some yellow in it.  I still think Pepper's eyes might change but maybe not, I hope not because they are so neat looking.

Yesterday Kris bought me new memory cards for my camera, the latest thing, faster, you know newer, and I got a copy of Lightroom 4, so I had to test it all out with my 85mm macro lens.  I really like using this lens for portrait type photos.

side shot looking out the door

Summer and her hair

smile Summer - or fine, make that face

just look into the camera for me

look how long her hair is getting

look over here Pepper

Pumpkin Muffins

Today I made pumpkin muffins because I am one of those moms that can do everything!  Or because I found a really easy recipe on pinterest, one that was so easy I just had to try it.

recipe: http://sweet-verbena.blogspot.com/2011/08/pumpkin-muffins.html

Don't want to click and go read it, fine, it consisted of these two ingredients.

350 for 20 minutes, and they came out wonderfully!  Look how moist and yummy too!

Pepper will be eating yummy pumpkin muffins for breakfast for a few days.

12 Month Well Check

Today we took Pepper to the doctor for her 12 month well check.  She is still 99% height at 31 3/4 inches.  She is 91% weight at a whopping 24 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces.  Her head was 46.4 centimeters.  It was a great visit, she is doing everything she should be plus more, like walking already and saying way more than 3 words.  In fact she says so many words already: mama, dada, papa, sissy, go, yum, yay, book, baba, milk, baby, thank you, good job.  She also waves for hi/bye, blows kisses, and gives high (and low) fives.  Pepper is still in a rear facing car seat since the new recommended time is 2 years, is already off the bottle and onto whole milk.  I did learn that she does not need to drink as much as she drank formula, instead she needs max 21 oz.  I have been pushing the milk thinking she needed it but now I will start giving her more water.

Pepper also got 4 shots today :o(  I am such a bad mom because Summer went with us specifically to see Pepper get her shots, and to take her picture while getting her shots, and instead Summer was going pee and I was so flustered that I hurried and they gave her her shots and Summer completely missed it.  I feel crappy about it but I have to go back in 3 months for another well check and to get her the chicken pox shot that they were out of so I will make sure Summer goes with me and sees it next time.

Even though she got 4 shots it wasn't nearly as bad as the other times.  Maybe because I was prepared or maybe it was because she really didn't cry nearly as long or as bad.  However 6 hours later her legs are very sore.  In fact I was changing her diaper a few minutes ago and she was laughing because they must have that funny feeling but she is also crying some when she bends down.  Poor baby, I hate this part!

We were suppose to have Pepper tested for anemia and lead poisoning and that meant having blood drawn.  I made Kris come with me today because there was no way I would be able to do that but we both decided to just skip it.  I am not normally one to go against a doctor's request but I just can't stomach the thought of putting Pepper through the pain when I don't think she has any issues with lead or being anemic.  Unless the doctor can convince me otherwise at her 15 month checkup I think I will just skip the testing and hope for the best.

Owl Hat

Pepper funnies.

When Pepper is in her highchair in the kitchen, she can jump her body and cause the highchair to move forward.  She will not do it on camera for some reason (I have tried to catch it twice), but let me tell you it looks and sounds hilarious.

Summer came up with "bad baby" to describe when Pepper does something she doesn't like.  It could be something bad like pulling her hair or something silly like taking her toy.  Now whenever Pepper does something wrong (like throws food on the floor) we will call her a "bad baby."

Pepper speaks alien talk now.  She says several sounds all together and it does not sound like anything from this planet.  Aliens ....

It is finally cold here so I bundled Pepper up, put on this really cool owl hat I bought her and headed out back for a mini photo shoot.  She had fun being outside and it wasn't that cold.

She is so cute and sweet!

Football

Our family does not watch football, except during the superbowl, and that is only because we hang out at a friends house and eat yummy food and watch the commercials.  We like football but we always have something else to do, however we do have a team - the Dallas Cowboys.  Why? Mostly because we born or grew up in Texas so naturally that is the team we had to pick.  Plus, why not, they are a fun team and blue is a good color.  Today I took Pepper outside to pose for some football photos.  Not only did she have fun posing but she had fun throwing the football around.  She cracks me up, some of her faces ... well, see for yourself.

ONE

She is ONE! One means she isn't my baby anymore.  At 24.5 pounds and 31 inches (or 29 1/2 from the floor measurement) she is now no longer on the bottle and is already drinking from sippy cups, no longer on formula, instead drinking whole cows milk, no longer crawling, instead walking and sometimes running all around the house.  Talking all the time, alien speak and a few cute words like GO!, Good Job, Zizzy (for sissy), and of course mom, dada, papa, no(se), and I swear she says other things that sound a lot like real words.  She sleeps in her crib upstairs mostly all night, takes 2 naps a day, eats three meals of mostly fruit, veggies and meat.  Heck, she is almost a little "person" now.

We had her birthday party yesterday and it turned out so nice.  I got a lot of good pictures (of course) and she probably enjoyed the cake the best.  See for yourself!