House Update

As many of you know, my parents have been updating the house for the past several years. Just before I was born, they finished quite a bit and have been on a standstill for some time. They had competely gutted the living room, kitchen and dining room, even to the point of removing a wall. New cabinets, new windows, new flooring, new light fixtures and new furniture made it look like a whole new house - or so I'm told. I never saw the "before" with my own eyes. But the living room has a new addition...

You see, Gramps and Grammy one day plan to build a house on some land they own in Southern Missouri. And one day Gramps was out shopping and he came across some leather couches he fell in love with. So he bought them!!! We were all shocked, because 1) Gramps doesn't even own a house! and 2) this is very unlike Gramps! He's the type of person that will research for months before making any purchase! So to go into a store and walk out with couches was a shocker for all of us. Since he doesn't have a house, he asked if he could put them in my living room. I tested them out and said, "Sure, you can keep them here until you build." And then the two bathrooms upstairs have both been in the process of being remodeled over the last six months or so.... The Master Bath so far has only had a new window put in. But the shower and toilet are gone, so it's not usable right now. There is a ton of work to do in there, good thing it's a small bathroom! The next step is getting rid of the green tile that covers the shower, half the walls and the floor. Since Gramps is living with us right now, he's got some spare time, so he has volunteered to help with this task! And now he's almost done tearing down the old tile!
And I'm proud to annouce that the hall bath is done!!!!!!!! Look at how pretty it looks!!!!! We left the green tile in here, but it got a new paint job, a new toilet, new vanity, new upper cabinet above the toilet, new mirror, new window, new light fixtures, new towels, new shower curtain and new toilet paper (that part is my fault - I've recently discovered you can make a pile of toilet paper on the floor really quick by spinning it!!!)
Mom loves the new shower curtain how it incorporates the green tile with the two toned brown walls (left over paint from the living room).
And the new mirror! It looks great!!

T-Bones Game!

Last night, my family joined our friends Abby and Ben to attend a T-Bones game!!! The T-Bones are in the independant league - so it's similar to a minor league game, but not affiliated with a major league team. At least I think that's how it works... It's only 15 minutes from my house, and a heck of a lot cheaper than going to a Royals game, so I'm not sure why we don't go more often!

Abby's work was having a picnic prior, so we even got to eat stadium hot dogs first!!! I love hot dogs!!! After we got done eating in the big tent, I walked around a little to stretch my legs...
And soon it was time for the game to start. So I started to sing, "Take me out to the ball park..."
It was a fun night!!

More Signs

I love to talk, in fact, I talk all the time. Problem is - no one understands me. I guess it sounds like Chinese or something to them. The words that everyone does understand seem to be: Dad, Mom, Pa Pa, Dog, No no no no, Uh oh!, and Hi! But I do know some Sign Language. I've got "MORE" down pat. I do it a lot. And "Drink". Those are my two most common signs. I kinda know "All done" and "Thank you" but I have to be prompted on those two. They've been trying to get me to do "Please" but I can't quite figure that one out...


But the other day my "Grant" Kathy was over at our house and she worked on "I Love You!" with me. I've got the "I" and "Love" you parts down, but I never finish it out with "you." Here's "I" (normally I point to both of my eyes, but my sippy cup was in the way here)
And here's "LOVE". I'm close to the table, but you can see I am crossing my arms!


I have to be prompted to do this sign as well, but I HOPE all my family knows I love them anyway!

Sexy Dress!

I have my first "sexy" dress!! My mom saw it and couldn't resist, she had to buy it for me! I saw it and at first was shocked, but then I heard my mom tell my dad, "She can wear cute stuff like this now, but NO WAY JOSE when she gets older!" Mom said it reminded her of the dress that Rachel wore on "Friends" on the season finale when the whole gang was in Barbadoes. (Not sure if I spelled that right or not - but a true "Friends" fan knows which one I am talking about...) But anyway, Mom thinks the little cut out in the front looks adorable on me. It's a halter top, so it ties up around my neck and then their is nothing on my back - just where the waist part starts my skirt! (And this pictures shows how my nose is still a little red from my tumble on the back porch, but my forehead is all healed up!)

Getting Braver by the Day

Each day I get a little braver to try something I haven't tried the day before. And this is scaring the daylights out of my parents sometimes! Several weeks ago, I attempted to stand up on my John Deere toy... At first, everyone thought it was cute. Until I fell off and gave myself a bloody lip! But that didn't stop me from trying again! And now I do it all the time and I haven't fallen off since!! Hmmm, what will I try to climb on next???

Kim's Wedding

My cousin Kim got married at this local beautiful spot. Mom, Grammy, Gramps, Grant Kathy and I got to attend. Dad was at work. There was this gorgeous wooden spiral staircase, and Mom said we had to take a few photos... I love to ham it up for photos sometime....

Whale Tale

I love taking baths.... They are so much fun! I have toys and I splish splash water all over the bathroom! I even love to eat the bubbles!!! So my parents thought it might be fun to buy me a swimming pool. So Mom searched and found one she thought was the cutest (and cheapest). And tada! Here is my Whale Tale!My tale starts like this. I didn't know I was scared to death of swimming pools. Especially pools shaped like a whale. So when Grammy put me down in the water - I started to cry and cry and cry, which soon gave way to screams of terror.
Grammy's dog Peanut tried to come and rescue me from whatever was ailing me, but all I wanted was out of that pool...
As soon as Mom put down the camera, lifted me out of the pool and wrapped me up in a warm towel I started to calm down. She put my shoes back on me and let me run around the back porch. Soon my tears had turned to laughter and I was a happy bee again. I even walked up to the Whale and looked at him...
It's been raining the last four or five days, so luckily no one has tried to put me back into the pool. I'm dreading the first hot day when my parents try to put me back into that pool...

Big Girl Bed

In the next couple of months, I'm told I will have to start sharing my bedroom with my little brother. I'm not sure yet if I like this idea or if I don't. So awhile back, Dad set up this new fangled bed on the other side of my bedroom. It made a nice place to stack blankets and extra stuffed animals. Occassionally I would even climb on it to read a book or something. And then, my parents started to suggest I take naps on it. And then next thing you know, they are putting me to bed at night on it. And now, I'm almost fully switched over. If it's hard to put me down (because I keep getting out of it) they will still put me in my old bed (aka the jail cell crib). But this new bed isn't too bad... Mom thinks it's cute in the morning when I walk into their room and tickle her arm to let her know I'm awake.