Birthday Celebration(s)!

**Warning!! This post has birthday picture overload!!**

This lucky little girl of ours got to have not one, not two, but THREE birthday celebrations. Partly because our condo isn't big enough to hold everyone at the same time (comfortably--I'm sure we could all squeeze in, but it's not the most pleasant thought) and partly because Aurora has a cousin who celebrates her birthday just 4 days before!

Celebration #1 - 1.8.12
Up north with my family to celebrate Koda's 2nd birthday, and Aurora's 1st birthday

Aurora with her cousins Dakoda and Hannah

Gifts:
Cute shirt from Perkins cousins

"Touch and Feel" texture books, also from Perkins

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics from Nanny & Gramps

(This picture is for Nanny & Gramps to show that she loves their gift already!)

1st birthday candle!
(Don't mind our serious baby. Haha.)

This 1 year old wasn't shy at all with smashing and eating her cake!

She was so proud of her cake demolition work :)

Bri showing Koda it's "cool" to wear the tu-tu we gave her for her birthday

Koda showing off her new tu-tu once she decided it was okay to wear it

Blowing out her candle!

1.11.12
Minor birthday celebration with Mom and Dad
We got her a kitchen set to play with while I'm working in the kitchen

Celebration #2 - 1.13.12
Party with Friends

Gifts:
More books, Crayola Jumbles, and Oreos (they're dairy free...who knew?)

A bath-safe book and toys

Rori-approved :)

2nd cake demolition!
(I promise, she didn't touch the flame)

Some of the friends at her friend party
P - age 14 mo., Carson - age 6 mo., Aurora - age 12 mo., Ethan - age 12 mo.

Birthday buddies, only 4 days apart

Aurora and Ethan at 2 months

Celebration #3 - 1.14.12
Party with Deming clan

Gifts:

Cute outfit from Aunt Andrea & Uncle Sean

More fun books from Deming cousins

Tu-tu from Rori's friends, Aiden & Khloe

The cousins all had fun playing with the bows on the gift from Grandma and Grandpa
Andrew

Emma :)

Allie. Haha!

Sloane

She was so excited she couldn't even wait for Dad to get the wheels put on!

Going for a drive in her new buggy car from Grandma and Grandpa. Look at that grin!!

All tuckered out and putting her feet up after lots of partying.

Poor, tired princess.

Happy Birthday, baby girl! We are all so blessed to have you in our lives to make us smile and brighten our days. What an incredible first year it has been! We love you!!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us and for all the great gifts. We're so blessed to have your love and support.

1.11.12 - 1 Year!

Wow. That's really all I can say. Does every other mom get emotional when their first child turns a year old? I know that's probably a dumb question, but I honestly had a really rough time with my baby turning a year old yesterday. I'm not ready for this baby to be growing up! She really is becoming more and more fun every day though, and watching her grow and learn new things never gets old!

Rori's 12 month stats:
Weight: 17 lbs 7.5 oz (4%)
Length: 28.75 in (40%)
Head: 42.5 cm (1%)
So basically we have a skinny, average height girl with a little head :)

At 12 months:

-Aurora's walking!! She doesn't go everywhere yet, but she will walk back and forth between Dar & I. She walked 1/2 way across our living room a few nights ago. Yay!
-She is an AWESOME eater, despite her allergies. She eats pretty much anything we put in front of her--all table food. She's refused to eat baby food for a while now. She even ate this Chicken Cacciatore recipe with me for dinner last night!
-She still LOVES to dance , and always makes people laugh with her little wiggles and what she thinks is "music" to dance to, such as my KitchenAid mixer. Silly girl.
-She is very good at folding her arms for prayers.
-She loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
-She knows who Jesus is and loves to give his picture smooches. It's seriously the sweetest thing ever & totally makes me teary-eyed.
-She's getting better at sleeping (finally!) since we started letting her cry herself to sleep sometimes. It's SUPER hard, but I seriously appreciate the better sleeping routine.
-She knows where your nose is.
-She loves to be chased around the house.
-She loves piggy-back-rides and can hold on all by herself!
-She is SUPER friendly and will even reach to go to a stranger if they seem friendly enough to her.
-She loves to wave and blows awesome kisses!
-She is so happy and pleasant and we LOVE having her around to give us loves and smiles every single day!

Rori's Vocab:

Momma
Dadda
Baba
Ha (Hi, it kind of sounds like she says it with a southern accent. So cute!)
Ba (Bye)

Rori's Allergies:
Dairy
Amoxicillin
Possibly eggs
Peanut Butter (as of today. Guh!)

Other pictures from the last month:
She sits with her legs like this all the time and she usually has something in her mouth too. Silly girl.

Eating Dad's shoelace. Awesome.

She loves spinning around in our office chair.

Giving the milk snake kisses ;)

Workin' on those pull-ups!

Taking on the Ramen noodle challenge.

Our healthy little eater--carrot stick in one hand and broccoli in the other!

Thrilled to be holding "the baby"

Giving loves.

"Helping" Dad with the laundry :)

We love you so much, sweet Aurora.
Happy birthday, baby girl!!

Birthday Girl!!

Happy Birthday, sweet princess!!

Thanks for making this last year the most incredible yet.
We love you more than you know!!
xoxoxo
Mom & Dad
(1 year update to come later)

Walking!!

I honestly can't believe it's taken me this long to put up this post. Seriously?

Our little munchk started walking CHRISTMAS EVE!

She took her first steps when we were with my family, which was great timing because my parents got to witness it too. She's getting more and more brave, taking more steps every day. And she thinks she's pretty cool for doing it too. Silly thing. We have yet to capture her new skill on camera though.

Way to go, baby girl!

(Some of) What Dar's been up to.

My handsome hubby is getting ready to go on a Klondike campout with the scouts in our ward this weekend (another post on that to come later), so they've spent the last few weeks putting their Klondike sled together. I think it looks great! The only question is whether or not we'll actually have any snow for them to pull it on :} We've had an unusually barren winter with hardly any snow. [High of 55 degrees today. Seriously?!] Especially compared to last year (although last year was an unusual year with LOTS of snow).
Also, as part of Dar's Christmas stocking I gave him a gift certificate to go shooting with our friend, Jared, whenever he wanted. Tracee did the same thing for Jared. They took advantage of it right away and went shooting last Thursday while Tracee, the kiddos, and I hung out with Jared's mom and sisters. The boys had a blast, as always. (No pun intended :)
When they got back we went to a nearby park and shot off a rocket Jared got as a white elephant gift from his work Christmas party. It was pretty cool, but the videos we took of it are tons better than the pictures. Sorry :)
Glad you've been able to take the time out of your busy schedule to have some fun!! Hopefully you'll have more and more chances for more fun and less work. Thanks for all you do! We love you, Dar!!