HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Love, Alice.

Bday Overflow

WOW, Uncle James you sure have let yourself go!

Hey...you're not Uncle James!!

Auntie Annie, Augie, John, and Wes in the background.

We throughly enjoyed our time visiting with Grandpa, Cindy, and James. It truly was a wonderful weekend and Alice seemed to love every minute of it (so long as she had some medicine in her that is). Thanks for coming to visit Cindy! Oh yeah, and James and Old Man too. :)

And like I said before, wish you all could have been here!

The Cake

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Alice!
Happy Birthday to you!

Stop singing Daddy! You're hurting my ears!

Hmmm, what's this??

Cake? CAKE! I LOVE CAKE!

This one

is

all

mine.

GET YOUR OWN!!

For Those of You Who Couldn't Make It

Saturday went very well despite a sick baby and a crippled daddy. Thank the Lord for family for with out them we wouldn't have been able to pull it off!


Like I said, Alice was sick for her big day. At least she wasn't the only one at the party who was. Augie and Amanda (whom I'm betting were the ones who shared this delightful bug) had the same thing Alice did, but they were already well on their way to getting over it. Daddy was laid up on the couch, Auntie Mary was laid up in a chair for she had gallbladder surgery that week, and Auntie Annie's boyfriend Mike was miserable due to shoulder surgery he had that week. You would have thought the living room was an infirmary!


Good food was had by all. We seemed to have outdone ourselves on the appetizers though since we ended up taking 5 pizzas home with us that night!


Phase 10, a Bathje Family tradition. If I remember correctly Grandpa Rice was apparently cheating. :)


Everyone was incredibly generous! Alice lost interest about half way through so my nephews and I opened her presents for her, but I have to say Alice is very much enjoying all her new things. One of Mommy's favorite toys is a kid camera. Uncle Fred and Kathy know how much Alice LOVES to play with mine and so far she is really digging having her very own. I'm sure I'll be posting pics taken by her soon enough!


MMMmMMmMMmmMMMm...cake. Even though they didn't look as nice as I had hoped, they sure did taste great!

A Day In The Life Of My One Year Old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE RUTH!!

It certainly wasn't the most exciting day ever, but it was definitely a very special one.

10 AM: Little Miss Sleepyhead awakes. Mommy and cousin Amanda grab the camera and head to the nursery where Alice is quietly watching her own private ocean. WARNING: Mommy breaks into crazy ridiculous high pitched squealing. My not be suitable for K9 viewing.

I wish I had Amanda every morning! Today was the first day in ages Alice wasn't a Crabby Appleton straight out the gate.

10.15 AM: Time for a world class breakfast, bananas a la carte.

1.20 PM: A package arrives for the birthday girl. I decided Alice had better get some practice in before Saturday.

2 PM: Alice had herself a feast of green beans, ham, and Cheerios. Then it was off to bed for a LONG nap.


6 PM: Up from her nap and just in time for dinner, then a GIANT cookie mommy made just for me!

MMMMMMM...COOOOOOOOOOOKIE!!

8 PM: Play time with Charlie...then it's off to bed.

NITE, NITE!!

What's New?

--My kitchen floor. Saturday my BIL Fred came over to help lay tile in our kitchen with Matt. We're lucky we had him b/c we needed to lay a sub-floor since the sheet rock was so badly damaged and Matt isn't the best in the home improvement department. And now I can say that I know how to lay tile...well the peel and stick kind anyway. :)

--Matt threw his back out, badly. So bad in fact that my SIL took him to the ER this morning. They think it's his sciatica acting up big time, but the ER couldn't order an MRI to be certain so they sent him home with pain meds and orders to follow up with his doctor. He's probably going to be working from home all week.

--Alice's birthday is on Wednesday! I can't believe a whole year has gone by already. I'm feeling sad and happy all at the same time.

--Alice is now the proud owner of 5 teeth (and soon to be 6). One more bottom tooth made it's appearance today and it's partner on the other side is making it's way out as well.

--She's no longer eating anything baby related. As of about a month ago she's been strictly on table food and whole milk. And I threw all but one bottle away!

--No walking yet. She's been cruising furniture for a month now and she's just now getting the courage to try and stand on her own. Maybe in another month or so (just in time to see Kaylee)!!

--My is she being SO ornery lately. The kid has such an attitude...at least she comes by it honestly, eh?

--Clothes shopping is such a bear. She's so tall that she needs pants that are 18-24 months, but she's so skinny that anything that size falls off of her. I think she's going to be in floods until she is big enough for adjustable waistbands.

--She's my little helper. Alice LOVES to sit on the floor with a basket of clean laundry and hand me up a piece of clothing when I ask for it.

--Communication is finally starting to get easier. She'll now shake her head yes or no and really mean it.

--She is STILL on a "Momma" boycott. I swear she thinks my name is Daddy.

--She's not allergic to peanuts. Matt convinced me to let her try peanut butter a while ago (even though she's not "supposed" to have it until she's 2) and thank goodness she didn't have a reaction.

--She's still as cute as ever!

Curly Alice

I got a better shot of her curls this week, just thought I'd share.
I sure hope they stick around!

First Blood

Alice had her first draw blood injury that wasn't mommy's fault today (cutting her with nail clippers does NOT count!). She was busy cruising the furniture when she fell. Nothing abnormal, but the screaming that followed was. Of course my mommy sense told me that something was wrong and I rushed to her side. It wasn't bad, thank God, but sure enough she bit her tongue when she landed. Poor baby.

Baby Love

Mommy love baby...

Baby love Daddy...


(And no last night wasn't a better night for Alice sleeping wise. In fact it was one of her worst nights EVER! Mommy and Daddy need sleep!)

Pearly Whites

You can't see them in this picture, but Alice officially has all four front teeth! Almost 3 weeks ago the top left one came in and it's buddy has been VERY slow to break through. I swear she's been looking like she has a pink tooth for weeks now. This morning it finally broke through. Hopefully her waking every 20 minutes or less starting around 1 am stops now, of course I doubt I'll be that lucky since my MIL swears she can feel molars on their way out. Fun. (and I know it will be a LONG time before we can tell for sure, but it looks as though alice might just get GG's gap! :) )

Well She Certainly Doesn't Get This From Me

Slowly but surely Alice's hair is going curly. There's no way she got it from me so we have Daddy to thank for this one. These pics don't do it justice, but most of the time you'd swear I took a curling iron to her hair b/c they are such perfect little ringlets. BTW, that face on the left is her new favorite face to give when she's POd. I have NO idea where she would have got that! ;)

While I've Been Away...

Just a sampling of what I've been up to while I've been away. Now if it would only get cold so Alice could wear all of her new creations (it was 90*F here today)!

PPPPPPPANCHO!

Augie and Amanda in their Auntie Becky hats.

This one is Mommy's favorite.

Just call me Meg Griffin.

A gift for a friend's little boy.