june super pool fun month

June has been a busy and exciting month.

Rory's been having a lot of fun lately, especially in pools:

Here she's been caught by surprise,

entranced by a bubble,

and exchanges meaningful looks with Bella when Aunt Kathy visited.

After a relaxing soak in the driveway pool, she often likes to scramble around on the concrete and find things to play with, like this yucca flower stalk:

She is also the proud owner of a new kitchen set, an early birthday present from Aunt Kathy. It's kept in her tupperware cabinet and is very useful for us when we'd like to do something in the kitchen and Rory feels a need to participate.




She spends every Monday here with her friend Nya,



and then Tuesdays with Nya and Donylle at their house, or at Deep Eddy pool. Sometimes she has such a grand old time that she won't nap and comes home ready to call it a day, which makes bedtime a little easier:


Thanks, Donylle!



She's getting ready to stand on her own now, and everything in the house is a potential aid- chairs, tables, couches, wagons, papas, dogs, wobbly computer tables, lamps, and even windows.



Of course, today is her first birthday, but we haven't uploaded any pictures yet, so we'll save that post for later. She did get a sweet hand-me-down chair from her uncles Chris and Matthew in Houston, and she enjoys it thoroughly. So here's a sneak preview of those birthday pictures:

11 months, 2 weeks and counting!

So this baby has almost made it to a year and she is really coming into her own! Usually I make sure that you see all the adorable pictures we take of her, but I wanted to write this blog to tell you about all the things she's been doing:
She's been trying so hard to walk and she pushes her little wagon all over the living room and is branching out into furniture rearrangement. She's even trying to talk a little. She has been very successful with "uh-oh", and is practicing "mik", "ah-dun", and "tank-u"...we believe these are attempts at "milk", "all done" and "thank you". She's also really loving just about any pool. She has a big floatie to sit in for big pools and she also loves her little baby pool on the back porch. We're even trying to teach her to blow out her candles... 2 weeks left to acheive that one!

Babies Gone Beach Bums

So this weekend we took our first family vacation to the beach in Rock Port/Port Aransas with our friends the Guillory's and the Seals'. Rory was less than impressed with the ocean water but she loved the sand and sea weed.



She even built some sand castles with her friend Cypress (more like demolished).

She fell asleep in Papa's arms during a stroll down the shore and then napped on the towels.

When it was time to clean up and go she got her 2nd wind and decided to streak down the beach.

Also, her fabulous mama kept her greased up like a piggy so she didn't get any sun burn!

April Showers

We've been hit with a couple of rainy days lately so I'm finally getting around to posting new pictures.
Luckily Rory has a a new toy to practice walking:

(she was getting frustrated because she can only go backwards right now)

She was needin some pants that left her enough booty room so I made her some out of a vintage pillow case!







Since she's getting ready to walk, we've been practicing pottying too. And she's really good at it!!!

she could be a part-time model

Rory was posing so nicely for Papa

playing catch up

Sorry if anyone has been waiting on pins and needles since christmas to see a new blog about this spectacular baby...she has lazy parents. But really we've just been worn ragged by this busy little baby...blah blah blah...I know you all just really want pictures.
In January she toured South Jersey and met her Papa's family.




When we got back she began practicing her dance moves in the hopper:


The bottom 2 teeth finally burst thru & some memorable baths were had:




She is currently attempting to crawl (on tip toes). Yesterday was a particularly lovely day so she put on her cute little spring dress and posed for a few pics:





So now we're all caught up and will try to keep on top of things!

Rory Baby's 1st Christmas!!!

Rory must have been really good this past 6 months because Santa was soooo good to her! We spent lots of time with our family in Houston and got lots of goodies. Now we're getting ready for our upcoming visit to Mom-Mom's in New Jersey!
Here we are at Uncle Mark's house where we had a little early Christmas. She really enjoyed the paper and bows...




And Gummy even hooked her up with a snow suit for the Jersey trip.

Here she is on Christmas morning at Mimi's house. She thoroughly checked out all her loot, read a little Frosty the Snowman, played with her LeapPad, and then passed out like a trooper.






She got more gifts today from Granddad. Then she test drove her new bath tub, with ample splash space...thanks Aunt Kathy!






Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas! See you all in the New Year!