cali-forn-eye-ay

we had sooo much fun this weekend. we flew out thursday morning (it was penny's first time and she was awwwesome! so much better than driving 12 hours.) and stayed at my folks' house in fullerton for the weekend, and then flew home sunday night. on thursday we got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, rutabegorz, and strolled through the fullerton farmers market, and my mom bought penny a super cute hand appliqued dress.

on friday we went to disneyland! my parents surprised us with tickets and paid for a sitter for penny for the whole day so as to properly enjoy it. :) it was so fun - i hadn't been to disneyland for a couple years and i used to go all the time with an annual pass when i was growing up.

waiting in line for space mountain (paul's favorite ride).

club 33...oooooohhh....

then we hopped over to california disney and went on tower of terror twice. LOVE that ride.

my mom made us go through the tortilla factory...but we got free tortillllllas! i really liked mine...

on saturday we visited with some friends. here's kristine and penny and me and anna. i think we have the same picture from when we visited for christmas except our babies are bigger...anna totally showed up penny with her cool tricks like sitting up by herself and crawling.

me and penny, heather and wendy. i hadn't seen heather since our wedding and it was so fun to catch up and meet cute wendy! (penny looks like an elf).

aunt rubi! she just survived her first year in law school in new york and needless to say, i am amazed.

then on sunday we celebrated father's day. i got paul a smokin' nixon watch. happy first father's day paul! i love you!

i love you too, dad! (i love how penny is grabbing my dad's suit).

my little brothers, brian and derek, with penny.

isn't this picture so cute of my mom and penny?

sorry this post was so long, but i always love visiting fullerton. the weather was great and i felt like we packed so much stuff into 4 days so it was really busy but so fun!

9 months!

9 month stats:

* says “bah bah bah” all the time in this cute little raspy baby voice. I LOVE it. it makes me smile every time.
* sneezes twice every time she goes in the sunlight. yep, twice.
* still loves new people and going out. i think she’s more excited than i am to get out of the apartment.
* still needs a little help sitting up, as you can see in the pictures with my oh-so-subtle boxes.
* so good-natured. even when we go to church for 3 hours she doesn’t make a peep! all you have to do is hold her and she is so content.
* gets anxious whenever we leave the room and becomes definitely NOT content. even when i'm in the same room but she can't see me she starts whimpering. kinda funny.

and most importantly...

* no more nursing! YES! the freedom is so delicious.

hairclip madness

so i've been on this recent creative kick lately...well, obsessed is probably a better word to describe what i've been doing the past 5 days. i don't have to chase around a crawling baby just yet so i find i can get a lot of stuff done while penny plays on the floor. i found a few hairclip projects online (i'm sure some of you have seen these) and 5 days later...i've made over 70 clips! paul has come home from work every night this week, sees me sitting at the table bent over a hairclip and just shakes his head. i guess he had no idea that he married a crazy craft lady.

believe it or not, they're not all for penny. i was kinda thinking...i already have craft fair booth...who says i can't sell cards and hairclips?

the online tutorial called them yo-yos, but i call them poofs. (can you see the one with the seashell? i love it). they're so easy and take barely any time or materials.

my little hair model.

i then discovered the world of felt and became even more obsessed.

fruits! (and one veggie)

more felt madness.

bird model.

next came the snap clips which cemented my hairclip adoration. these are more for big girls with more hair (i can't wait to use them on penny).

and last but not least, FEATHERS! again, the colored ones are more for big girls but i am in love with the natural colored ones. i may or may not wear them...

if you have the urge to create hairclips, just google "hairclip tutorial" and i guarantee you will find more than enough ideas to keep you busy. and by the way, i do actually do other mom things like clean my house, cook food, etc. i just always keep my eye out for a new craft project, which i'm sure drives paul crazy. i keep reminding him that i may make some sweet change off these babies.