Our friends Dale and Mary Frances Russell are expecting a baby this spring, so we threw them a baby shower today.  At their anatomy ultrasound visit, the tech kept calling the baby “Skeletor”, and the nickname has stuck.  So we planned the theme for the party around that name; incidentally, it was pretty much a Halloween themed baby shower.  :)  I made the food while our good friend Margaret planned the games and made the cake & favors.  (thank the Lord, game-planning is not one of my strengths)  Thanks to her creativity, we ended up with a daddy-long-leg (for the dad) and “Mummy” (for the mom) theme for the food.  Cute!  Here are the results.

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!

In the first video, Bristol shows off her present-opening skills.  In the second video, she does something unexpectedly sweet.

Opening presents I

Opening presents II

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.  :)

 

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.