jjp 11 Months

I seem to have forgotten to take a 10 month picture, but here's the Juney girl at 11 months (2 and a half weeks ago).  She seems to be feeling her big girl-ness lately.  

Same Ol' Same Ol':

happy, content,  same 6 teeth, takes 2 2 hour naps (if her mom isn't dragging her somewhere) , cries when you put her in her car seat, loves to push buttons on the TV, eat the remote controls, steal her brothers' sippy cups, eats LOTS of fruit, and unfortunately.....still wakes up several times during the night.  It sounds better if I say "She sleeps 12 hours" but quietly add *she just wakes up 3 times during those 12 hours* ha! 

New This Month: 

sticking her tongue out, clapping, peek-a-boo, horse sound with her mouth, and giving kisses (biting your face off).  She loves to point and is constantly pointing at things and "talking" about them.  Her little finger pointing is pretty cute. She found the toilet, and so brought on a new house rule of keeping the lids all down and doors closed. Speed crawling, cruising along furniture, at her first fist full of sand from the sand box, and has acquired a nice little baby tan.  (I put sunscreen on her, I just think she has darker skin).

This is one of her favorite spots in the house...she especially loves to get a hold of markers....an added bonus if the lid comes off.  grrrrrr.  The other day it looked like she was really trying to write with a marker on paper.  Guess she's watched her brothers at this table so much she knows what to do.  

If she's quiet, this is probably why.....this bag of wipes was brand new.  I stuffed them back in. No way I'm wasting a whole thing of wipes! 

Same story with Kleenex.  

The girl is an absolute bundle of sunshine and happy.  She's happy and squeally and that grin of hers gets her smothered in kisses every single day.  Its hilarious to us how much she loves being a part of the action and how she refuses to miss anything.  Her sweet pitter patter crawl can be heard just a few steps behind her big brothers.  Where they go, she goes.  For better or worse.  In all honesty, she's at that annoying stage where she takes their toys, ruins their games, and crashes their blocks.  klp has a particular dislike for her being anywhere near him while he's playing. I can't say that I blame him, but we're working on being a little more tolerant.  Ha! She's a busy little thing and I feel like this month she really seemed to make a big leap towards being a big girl.  Less baby more girl.  So as her mommy, I'm stuck in the age old pull of being excited about all the new "big" things she's becoming and absolute heart break that I'm seeing less and less of my baby.  I joke that kids do nothing but tear our hearts out....in the best way possible.  You know what I mean?? That physical feeling of an exploding, breaking, warm heart.  Sheesh. All 3 of mine are doing it to me all the time and I have a sneaky suspicion they always will.  

Albert Pike Arkansas Weekend

We have some good friends whose parents have a cabin at Albert Pike on the Little Missouri River in Arkansas.  We spent the weekend there at the end of June and had a BLAST! It was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the kids played great. It was an all around great weekend!  

We got there Friday evening and the kids hit the river ASAP. Us Moms got beds set up (the cabin is pretty small, especially for this big of a crew, but it worked great!) and got supper ready.  We ate, played in the river and then tried to get the kids to sleep.....I think it took at least an hour to get them settled and asleep! ha! Mine were particularly excited! 

Saturday morning the whole gang went on a little hike to "Bear Cave".  Kory was a stud and carried klp the whole way.  I think the other dads may have given Kory a little relief at some point, but pretty much KLP lugged that big boy the whole way.  What a Dad! 

Here is the group....

The Rotzlers: Hilliard (with Meg on his back), Rebekah, and Chandler

The Venables: Andy (with Beau on his back), Addie, Allie, and Mabry

The Phillips: You know us.  

{Addie and Rebekah are sisters....its their parents' place}

Just a little look-out point on the way up. Tried for a family picture and this was the best we got.  The bad news is that taking this picture woke Jaylie up.  So not worth it.  klp was head bumping Q (he does this all the time for different reasons but its pretty annoying..he was doing it in the big group pic too) and Q was having a bad attitude, my hairs a wreck......blah blah blah. I WOKE A BABY FOR THIS??! 

Here are the Dads in Bear Cave (my boys were only slightly disappointed that there was no actual Bear there. ha!) Andy, Hilliard, KLP

And the Mamas/babies

Phillips Pham

klp and Allie

The big kids..

Meg helping Hilliard in the kitchen

This was our dining room! 

Finishing the night off in the river.  

It really was the perfect place because the river was a little low so even the babies could sit in it (in most places) and the big kids could play without having to have on life jackets.  The water was a little chilly, but they didn't seem to mind! 

Beau went swimming without a swim diaper! ha! 

Mabry read the bedtime story....Q and Allie were being quite silly. They spent most of the time squealing and hiding under the covers....

but klp and Chandler were listening! 

Since the cabin is small, as soon as a kid woke up, we took them outside.  Nothing like throwing rocks in the river in your PJs! 

Baby jail

LET US OUT!!! WE WANNA EAT ROCKS!!!

This was Andy's cot folded up/klp's bobsled

Hilliard and Q catching crawfish

Mabry and Chandler

Y'all klp was a FISH! He was in this water ALL DAY and loved going under and trying to swim.  It was the perfect level for him because it was deep enough to let him "swim" but he could still just turn and sit if he wanted to. He would kick and flap his arms and try so hard to swim.  The current was really subtle but it was enough to keep him from being able to swim upstream, but gave him a little momentum if he swam with the current. It was SO FUN watching him do this and have so much fun.  Not to mention that he's got a set of lungs on him! He can hold his breath forever! Take that "PREEMIE LUNGS!" 

klp the Submarine!

Mabry and klp

KLP with Beau and jjp

This was our "spot". We went to a little swimming hole after the hike but other than that we stayed in the river right outside the cabin. It was perfect! 

Juney girl doing a little rock gnawing.  

Love these of j and Beau

Hilliard and Meg

After dinner that night we did s'mores

Jaylie June's version of a s'more (graham cracker)

This picture of Chandler says it all! What a great day....stay in your swimsuit all day long, play hard, and end the day with s'mores....all over your face! 

Allie and Q goofing off some more....oh dear. 

I didn't take many more pics Sunday...it was more of the same fun. It was actually a little chilly, but only the grown ups seemed bothered by that! ha!

This is what a weekend like that will do to a boy! 

We caught some tadpoles to bring home! These were huge! I'd never seen ones so big.  

klp loved trying to catch them...Q was a little more hesitant (shocker)

The current status of the tadpoles: 2 bit the dust, but the one we have left is almost a frog!! Its been lots of fun to watch! 

We had an awesome weekend with awesome friends in an awesome place!