Part Monkey

I'm noticing a pattern in these pictures...

Apparantly it's more fun to be on or in something than just playing on the floor! She has become such a little climber. We switched her to her big girl carseat in my car this week and she LOVES playing with the infant carrier now. She will climb all over it forever.

She also had her first painting experience this weekend. Instead of fingerpainting, it was more of a full body painting, but she thought it was fun!

And she had her first playing in the sprinkler evening of the summer. She loved it and I see much more of that to come during this long, hot summer!

$2.50 worth of happy!

Noelle has a fascination with ice so since it was 95 degrees today and she was so hot after playing at the park- we made a stop by Sonic and got her a whole bag of ice!! Oh happy day! I'm just rationing it out a little at a time in a bowl and she has 15 minutes of entertainment! Hooray!

"thanks mommy!!"

yummy ice!

"uh-oh- where'd my ice go?"

some nice wet clothes and diaper after this adventure!!

she didn't want to miss a drop

Gotta love cheap, simple entertainment!

Daddy's best helper

Somebody wants to be just like daddy when she grows up!

Noelle's first camping trip!

This weekend we joined my parents for an event they have been waiting for since before Noelle was born- her first camping trip! And when you are going camping in this:
it's not too bad!! My idea of camping definitely involves AC and running water! She had such a good time and had so many "firsts" while we were there. She went on her first (very short) hike! And loved it! Thanks to Travis' parents for the great hat- finally one she will keep on!!

Can you believe those long legs?

We were at Lake Mineral Wells and it had some really nice scenery!

She also had her first watermelon (and brisket, and onions, and hamburger- camping made her very hungry!). She ate like a little piggy the whole time we were there.

She looks like such a big girl in this picture! (Don't worry we were only going 10 miles an hour, barely any distance to the swimming hole)

Not quite sure what to think of swimming in the lake.

Still not quite sure....

And then she decided it was super fun! She splashed and LOVED it! We've got a little water baby on our hands.

She really likes to walk holding hands now.

Of course what's not to love when you have 2 adoring fans "floating" you around the lake?

Jumping and splashing with Gramps.

"wheeeee daddy- this is fun!"

Camping was such hard work- of course most of the time she didn't want to nap because she wanted to PLAY

This was Noelle's personal "junior suite" aka the walk in closet. She's dangling lovey in this picture. She would "drop" all of her animals, loveys, and pacis out of the bed- it's kind of a bummer she's gotten so tall!

Sweet girl also had her very own lawn chair to sit and read in.

She looking forward to lots more camping trips (in air conditioned comfort of course :))

Time flies....

Today was Noelle's last day of "school" and it makes me a little sad! She had such a good time with her teachers and friends and it really helped her with her social development! It was a crazy year! She started in September and then when I quit work she quit going to Sprouts. Then we both started going again in December (with me teaching 2 yr. olds) and I quit two weeks ago to go back to nursing. The teachers made her a sweet "memory" book filled with pictures that we LOVE!

Here's a quick comparison- Noelle on her first day of school:
So little!

And this morning:

She's come a long way! I was sad to not be able to take her on her last day of school, but today was my first official work day in my new clinic. It's a HUGE change from PICU, but hopefully will be a good one. Noelle has done really well with her sitter this week and hopefully will continue to do so.

Noelle's her own clean up crew after dinner!

As a side note- Noelle has continued to get a nasty cough/runny nose/fussy time about every 2 weeks since she had bronchiolitis in early April. So this week we have her back on her nebulizer and we have started some allergy medicine. Hopefully this will help a lot and we won't continue having these problems once spring passes.

A little bit of everything!

What a weekend we've had. Busy, busy for sure. On Saturday we went to the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History. It has a fun children's museum as well as lots of interesting things for adults. The picture below is as we were leaving- she had worn herself out for sure!
She LOVED the grocery store section! She can clear a shelf in 5 seconds flat!

Her daddy loved the section about drilling for natural gas. It may be a children's museum, but it's pretty interesting for grown ups, too!

She loved, loved, LOVED the dino dig. She thought the idea of a giant sandbox was GREAT! And she ate quite a bit of it- she's speedy and sneaky! Please excuse the paci in many pictures- she has been having a terrible time with teething this week and definitely has needed her comforting paci.

Not so sure about what to think sitting in a dinosaur's footprint!

She had a great time in the baby section. She crawled around every square inch and checked in all out.

Helping daddy make bubbles.

We were very impressed with the FW museum and got a family season pass. It should be a fun place to hang out during a hot Texas summer!

Oh this girl LOVES some blueberries! She can shovel them in so fast.

Friday night we went out to dinner to celebrate her Grammie's birthday and my 28th birthday.

She was fascinated by the lights in the restuarant.

Hanging out with her great-Pa.

And Saturday night I got to go out with my girlfriends and they surprised me with yummy cake and presents. So fun! I love my neighborhood girls and we have been really blessed to find such wonderful friends in our neighborhood. I met almost all these girls after Noelle was born (our kids are super close in age) and we've become great friends.

Jill, Susan, and Caroline (our kids are all within about 2 months of each other)

Kathy and I- Kathy and her husband were our first neighborhood friends.

It was so fun to have a girl's night out.

And this is my baby girl's newest feat! She's standing! For about 20-30 seconds at a time sometimes. Don't worry- we don't usually let her play near all the cords.

She's superwoman lifting the bathroom scale. She seems to like to hold something while standing!

And here's a compilation video of a few of her new tricks- standing and clapping. So proud of her!!