Bigger than a macaroni penguin!

Quinn had her 12 month well-baby check a couple of weeks ago. She's bigger than the macaroni penguin we saw at Moody Gardens last month. :)
Weight-- 20lbs 11 oz (34%)
Height-- 30.25 inches (85%)
Head--18 inches (70%)

She got several shots and will need her 2nd flu shot again in a few weeks.

Baby Clothes

So a few interesting notes on baby clothes....
A good friend inspired me to get the huge stacks of "too small" things of Quinn's in some type of order. I had clothes in the garage, clothes under her crib, clothes in the closet, with no means of organization by size, etc. First off, I swear I washed that stuff before putting it away. I don't typically shove puked-on things away to store. ALL of them had yucky yellow stains on the front. Baby spit up must re-surface after several months! So I have loads of clothes soaking in Oxyclean in the washer right now....
Second, this same friend loaned me some 18 month and on clothes, so I was sorting it into the tubs I keep for future sizes. I pulled out some stuff I had bought long ago or been given for Quinn in larger sizes. Interestingly, there were several things I looked at and thought, "This just isn't Quinn." Then I realized--she has a personality now!!! Same thing as I was looking back through her tiny baby things. I had several "I can't believe I dressed her in this" moments...not because it was something tacky, but more because it didn't fit her personality. Guess I just didn't know it then! Anyhow, it just struck me how we are finally getting to know the little person inside our baby! ...And enjoying it immensely!

The best kind of water?

Right from the hose, of course!

chugga chugga....

CHOO-CHOO!
Our neighbors gave Quinn this little wagon train that their girls had outgrown and it is a big hit! She has already had lots of rides around the backyard and the neighborhood!

My crazy babies

Last week Quinn and I went for a run and we finished before Daddy got home from work. We decided to hang out at our little park and wait for his truck to drive down the street. It was getting rainy before Daddy made it our way, so we headed back to the house. Quinn opted to walk along next to the stroller, so Beaux stole her spot. THAT, of course, made her want to ride in the stroller, so they had a bit of a wrestling match over the rolling real-estate. Quinn won. I might have to look into a double stroller, huh? :)
Picture is from my phone.

Chuy's Adventure....

Last Thursday evening Matt had a CE downtown so we knew he wouldn't be home until after 10. Quinn and I decided to meet him for lunch so we could get a bit of time with our boy. We tried out a new Chuy's in Humble. As our waitress was bringing the tray of our teas, she accidently spilled the whole thing right on Quinn's head. It was cooooold, so Q started screaming bloody murder, and it made for quite the scene. Long story short, she ended up with a free Chuy's shirt, which she is modeling here!

Yeaaaa for Girls Night Out!

I totally borrowed this picture from CB (thanks, dude!)....Saturday night Quinn and Daddy chilled while I went to dinner and a movie with the girls! Matt is the greatest about encouraging me to get out and about whenever available sans my little sidekick. It's much needed and much appreciated, and of course I missed them both.

Major Yum

I use this book: Feed Me, I'm Yours for recipes of fun things to cook for Quinn (and the rest of us, too!). I have been eying the English Muffin recipe for a while now and got up the guts to try it last week. It took a long time, but if you are ever having a bad day (not that I was....just if you ever are!) you definitely need to bake bread from scratch. There is something calming about kneading warm, soft bread dough! Our verdict on these muffins? They turned out quite tasty!
Here is our favorite recipe for using them (besides toasting and eating slathered in preserves!)

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches

*Split English muffin and toast in toaster.

*In a small bowl (preferably one that has a diameter about the same size as the English muffin--I use a little custard cup) break 1 egg and scramble with a fork.

*Add desired toppings--cheese, spinach, crumbled bacon, ham, onion, tomato, whatever!

*Stir all together --Salt and pepper if desired.

*Microwave for 45 seconds.

*Flip with a fork and microwave the other side of the egg mixture for 20 seconds or until firm.

*Place cooked egg mixture between toasted English muffin halves and enjoy!

One last birthday hoo-rah!

Quinn had one last birthday celebration today with some sweet friends...a fun picnic in the park complete with a guest 3 year-old photographer.
I love guest photographers because I get to be in some pictures!

...had fun playing around in the DD. Plain ole' pictures just weren't my cup of tea today, I guess!

Look what we caught, Oma and Opa!

For reference, this is a giant peanut butter jar...This guy is huge!
Wednesday is picnic day for me and my crew. Since we had already done playgroup at a big park this morning, we opted to downscale our picnic to the little walking park next to our house. Plus Alie and Beaux love that place, which makes Quinn love to watch them roam all over. We took a little walk after our lunch and found this monster of a hopper. Matt had just finished his yucky chunky pb and I had washed out the jar for *something,* not knowing then what. Perfect timing for it to become a hopper house!

"Rain, rain, go away...." That song is banned at our house! Raindrops are most welcome by Quinn and I. Me, for my thirsty fall vegetables growing happily and Quinny, for splashing, drinking (gross, I know, it was before I could catch her and make her stop) and general gutter-enjoyment. So gullywashers of Texas----be our honored guests!

How do you make orange juice?

Let a little person play with three oranges for ten minutes....But oh what fun it was!

Our snake!

Look closely...it's our snake! We have a park right by our house and we know this little slithery fellow's hiding spot, so we say hello to him or her every day when we take a little walk there.

A little trim....

On Saturday Quinn got a little trim from the barber Mama. Just enough to remove any doubt whether or not she was sporting a mullet. It's nowhere near perfectly straight, but it'll do.

Some days dressing her is akin to saddling a wild bronc....

Shower drama

This morning Matt got Quinn all ready for church and then set her down with some toys to play in the bathroom while he took a shower. She didn't want to play with her toys, she wanted Daddy....

When she found him, she went and got her bath toys and dumped them in the tub. "Here, Daddy, don't you need these?"

Her face is all red because she got VERY mad that Daddy wouldn't let her get in with him. She kept trying to climb over the side and he would get her back down, all the while she was screaming and crying. Can you believe Daddy would enjoy nice, refreshing water and not include her??! The inhumanity.....

Beach clean

Matt has a favorite expression that he uses. "It's camp clean." That means that whatever he just cleaned really isn't that clean, but he wants you to leave him alone about it. Camp clean means you wouldn't necessarily use it (object under discussion) to serve food upon, but if your hotdog happened to DROP on it, it wouldn't kill you to pick it up and eat it. Anyhow, this is his newest version of bathtime. Beach clean.

I have finally raided my stash of beach pictures from our vacation with s'more Lahmeyers in August. Enjoy!

We'll call this the beach-hawk

Mermaid wanna-be

Those Lahmeyer boys make cute babies....

Not that I'm partial or anything.

p r a c t i c e

Not many things better than beach-toes.