Someone Turns One!
Enjoy some preliminary pictures from Bristol’s first birthday! We had nicer photos taken by our amazing friend, Kristen, but those aren’t back yet.
Bad idea of the day…take photos of Bristol right when she wakes up! Ah, memories.
Ok, we calmed her down and she’s looking more awake. Only partially dressed, however. We had a 50′s themed party for her, so the rest of her outfit is a poodle skirt with a tutu underneath.
No sewing for this mama! All I did was iron on some appliques to a white onesie, cut a simple felt poodle skirt, iron on a poodle, and cut & tie a simple ribbon tutu. Easy peasy!
Bristol was a tad frightened of her pokey tutu. It was better once we got the poodle skirt on.
And these are all the photos I have! Totally left the camera behind as we had at least 14 adults and 5 or 6 kids in the house that day. Happy birthday, Bristol!
Christmas Videos
In the first video, Bristol shows off her present-opening skills. In the second video, she does something unexpectedly sweet.
Bolton Christmas
Videos to come soon!
Merry Christmas! Well, for us anyway. We opened up all the Bolton presents we had in the house, including presents from Norma Jean.
Bristol was very excited to begin! ”Where’s my presents, Dad?”
Titus and Rogue were very excited too, but they weren’t quite sure why.
A photo of one of my presents, though this is nowhere near all I got. Thanks, Gma Norma Jean!
Bristol was a pro at opening gifts! Good thing since she got so many! She got a baby doll, a baby doll blanket, a BIG blanket, puzzles, books, and socks, among other things. Wow!
Part of Tobin’s haul: a shadow box! We were stoked about this one, since there is a lot of military paraphernalia we would love to display as Tobin collects it.
In Bristol’s stocking was a coloring book and crayons; here is her first attempt at coloring! As you can see, she has minimalist tendencies, more about precision really than about volume of color. Look at that little hand in the corner! Precious.
And once we finished opening gifts, I wrapped a bunch. Now we’re ready for the Rumley Christmas next weekend! Sad, none of these are for me. :)
Surprises from Bristol
Every day I find out how much I’m underestimating my daughter! Today, for instance, I was reading her a book about animals. I pointed at the duck and said “quack”. She crawled off and I rolled my eyes, thinking she was done with reading. Then she turned around and handed me her toy duck. I always say “quack” when she plays with that duck. It’s crazy that she can put that together on her own!
The other day I was dressing Andersen and she had crawled off with his socks. She came back but had left the socks behind. I said “Where are his socks?” And she crawled back to the foyer, opened the dog’s crate, and went inside to get the socks she had left there! She even brought them back to me with a tad bit of coaching. WHAT?! I had no idea she understood me so well.
At the table, Tobin decided to give her food on a fork. She picked it right up and fed herself! I would never have thought to let her try on her own yet, but she was definitely ready. My goodness.
And last but NOT least, she’s taking teeny tiny steps all on her own! I wouldn’t say she’s exactly walking on her own yet, but she’s taking adventurous attempts at it! She does the best when she tries all on her own.
Making our home more beautiful
One pillow at a time!
This is a super belated post, but I made these lovelies ages ago to make our living room a bit more homey. Not homely. Homey.
Couches before:
Couches after:
Halloween 2011
Here they are…the long awaited pictures of Bristol’s Halloween costume. We had the great pleasure of having Tobin’s parents in town for the holiday and his older brother as well.
Template created from cardboard and some handy-dandy online instructions:
Fabric pieces cut to the shape of the template:
Modeling the pieces sewn together…almost done!
Our sweet Bristol Sprout! The hat was stitched up by her grandma Jacque, and I think it really brings the whole ensemble together, don’t you? Hehehe, we couldn’t stop laughing when Bristol tried bear-crawling in this get up!
Bristol Sprout and her buddy Davy Crockett. :) He thought her costume was very comfortable.
Bristol is shocked by Uncle Bill’s choice of reading material.
Maybe I’ll have Thanksgiving photos up by Christmas!
Ponytail
Bristol this morning. She’s so grown up these days!
Visitors
We got a visit from some good friends (from college), Jesse and Mallissa. And their sweet pooches, Piper and Ziva! We spent yesterday bowling, visiting the El Dorado buffet, and walking the boardwalk.
But today, we got to take a tour of the B52 on base! It was my first time getting to see the guts of the plane!
Mallissa and Bristol driving on the flightline!
Tobin driving to the Buff.
Jesse ready for a good time!
Erin and Andersen enjoying the ride!
The tiny little hatch the crew has to go through to get inside the plane. Can’t even believe it. Tobin’s nav seat is just crammed in there. It was an eye opener for sure!
Sorry about all the red eye. I’m not feelin like editing online at the moment. Well, off to enjoy the rest of our visit and some homemade soup and bread!
Sneak peek
Headed to a 1920′s flashback party yesterday evening! Here we are on our way (better pictures to come):
A little glimpse into my day:
I failed at my attempt at putting up a picture. Maybe next time, folks.
Temporary Picture Hiatus
Just until my little laptop is feeling better. Tobin’s gutting the poor thing, so I don’t have tools on hand to edit photos. Anyone know a way to compress pictures to document size without using an office program? In addition, anyone know how to do that in Picasa?
Until then, I’ll try to keep movies and little wordy posts coming!
Where in the world are the Boltons?
Going next?
Minot, North Dakota! Tobin will be a part of the 23rd, a B-52 squadron at Minot AFB.
At this moment in time, a little snow & cold sounds good!
Family Day
We have a little cruiser on our hands! I snagged this picture after Bristol walked along the coffee table to get the buttons on Papa’s shorts. I can’t believe how grown up she’s getting! She can even pull up on the furniture by herself now. See the video below the picture.
Saturday morning, I found a great deal on craigslist for baby girl clothes. I got 19 outfits, 2 extra bottoms, and 1 pj set for $40! They are nearly brand new and will pretty much replace her current wardrobe, which she is growing out of quickly!
A little later that morning, we headed out to go bowling! Gobowling.com has free bowling games for the 6th only. Unfortunately, the website was wrong and the base bowling center was not participating. We still played two games and had a lot of fun! I broke 100 for the first time ever, in fact.
Family time:
Action shot…I’m not so great at these, sorry it’s blurry:
PS, he got 4 strikes in a row on one game! Pretty stellar.
How to bowl with a baby:
And proof, I broke 100 and allllmost beat Tobin!
We got one of those ginormo-burritos from Taco Bell. Has anyone else seen those commercials? If not, you won’t really appreciate the next picture:
And Saturday evening, we babysat for our friends so they could go on a date together.
We’re looking forward to church and a cookout tomorrow. Weekends are so wonderful!
July in Fast Forward…and a bit of August
I don’t know how the blog manages to escape me for so long! This time I blame it on travel and general busy-ness. (Do you spell that busyness or business? I’ve typed it so many times they all look wrong now) So, I tried to pick the most poignant photos from the stack to show you. Those of you who don’t read my mom’s blog, these won’t be repeats. For those of you that do, they won’t ALL be repeats. :)
Besides training, what have Tobin and I been up to?
A white trash Christmas (in July) party, of course.
Babysitting. Yes, these are the 4 hooligans I watch out for all day. I even had an extra this week when a friend needed their 5-year-old watched for the first part of the day. That was crazy but still fun!
And I made a solo trip up to Chicago/Terre Haute for my college roommate’s (Dani’s) wedding. Well, solo if you don’t count Bristol, who tagged along in a Baby Bjorn and made the trip 6x’s more interesting in every way.
College buddies! Tobin was very disappointed to miss meeting up with them.
Me ‘n’ the bride ‘n’ groom. Love that girl! I miss being able to see her in the same living room every day!
And the hidden heroes of the trip, my baby sister Elyse and my mom, who watched a tiny girl while her mama was galavanting around the Haute. No small feat, considering she was having major separation anxiety PLUS it was a 12 hour (maybe more) babysitting gig. I have new respect for babysitters, let me tell you.
Guess who we saw while we were in Terre Haute for the wedding? That’s right, the resident Hautians! It was wonderful to see Carol, Fauniel (neil?), Rosemary, and Kayla! They came by and the girls swam (Kayla, Elyse, AND Bristol, haha) while we watched. This is the best overall photo I got:
I did manage to spend a couple of days in Chicago as well while I was up north. No relief from the heat, but I did have loads of fun with my sweet family. Here’s grandpa with his little granddaughter!
I didn’t actually get a picture of Uncle Zach (bad sister, I know), but we definitely had lots of laughs playing Mao (sp?), Last Call, and making-funny-noises with Bristol. Z is currently recovering from a broken collarbone, and I was trying desperately not to bump him or hug him too hard. I think I was successful!
Oh, and I accidentally stole Elyse’s shirt. Elyse, I’ll send it back I promise. My bad.
And the moment you’ve all been waiting for…Bristol pictures! Let this tide you over until the next posting session, which will undoubtedly happen when you least expect it.
In her big-girl car seat. She loves being able to see us now! All the following photos were taken on her 8 month birthday.
Good times
For the 4th of July, we headed to downtown Shreveport and camped out on the top of a parking garage. It was a great view! Here’s our redneck setup in the back of the truck. It felt so nice, since there was a storm blowing in to help ease up on the heat.
Sure enough, the storm started pouring on us and we headed inside the truck. Here’s Bristol, she’s starting to stand while holding onto sturdy objects. So grown up!
An hour later than scheduled (and far past a little squirt’s bedtime), the fireworks show began! It was beautiful, and you can see some of it in my earlier post. Bristol looooved the fireworks! She was so excited, her whole body was shaking! Here she’s watching in papa’s arms.
We headed to brunch one day at a southern breakfast joint (Another Broken Egg), which we found out was quite the preppy place to be! Good thing Bristol came dressed in Ralph Lauren (see below). What a sweetheart!
The week before the 4th (ok, my pictures are a tad out of order, I’ll admit), we got a visit from Grandma Sue, Aunt Emily, Aunt Betsey, and Aunt Elyse! It was so awesome; I have lots more photos, but haven’t sorted through them yet. Here’s one of Gma Sue & Aunt Elyse with B. Bristol has never been held so much in her life as that week! Except maybe the first month of her life. Aunt Elyse was her buddy all week long!
We flew to Ohio for Tobin’s younger brother’s wedding. It was such a wonderful ceremony. Made me tear up! Here’s Bristol in the dress Gma Jacque got for her. I call it her Minnie Mouse dress. So cute!
And just this weekend, we spent a day at the races…a local racetrack (Louisiana Downs) with a group of aviator friends. All the ladies got together and made fabulous hats for the event! Here’s mine, oo la la! Hahaha!
Bristol is learning things so quickly! She’s trying desperately to crawl now. These photos show her planks or baby push-ups. Girl’s stronger than me!
And after she fell down:
I’ll attempt to not be so delayed next time. Enjoy the photos!
overdue Bristol videos
Enjoy!
June news
I have so many pictures to show you all, but not right now. I have this feeling that I’m running and running and getting absolutely nowhere sometimes! This is one of those times. Pictures will come, I swear.
Tonight was Bristol’s last swim lesson. While it was so fun to see her learning to love something new (and that is so TERRIFYING to her mother), I’m also kind of glad it’s over, if only to have my evenings back (yes, dishes will finally get done around here).
Air Force update: Tobin is heading to the flightline on Thursday! He is taking his final ground school test tomorrow. Then, pretty soon, those giant, graceful metal birds flying over our house will mean so much more to me!
Tobin officially received his Achievement Medal for the work he performed in Pensacola with the new AF squadron from the time he received his wings until we moved to Barksdale. I’m so proud of him!
Flying out this weekend for Tobin’s little brother’s wedding; we are looking forward to seeing the Bolton side for a couple of days. We are so thankful that we can go at all, considering Tobin is in the middle of training; also, our last minute ticket price got almost cut in half when Tobin decided to call and see if they had a military discount. We even got special permission to carry extra carry-ons! No lost luggage for this family. This will be Bristol’s first flight, so keep us in your prayers!
Bristol Swim Videos
Bristol’s first time in a pool was this evening for her swim lesson! Here’s a couple videos:
Towards the end she was comfortable enough to let me float her on her back and pull her around the pool! Tomorrow Tobin wants me to dunk her. We’ll see. He has one lesson that he’s taking her to; maybe I’ll let him do the torturing. Not me.