Happy Birthday, Penny!

One year ago today, this sweet little thing came into our lives:

We are so lucky to have her, I can't believe how the time has flown by!



We love you, Penny!

Penny's Favorite Video

This is Penny's favorite video.  She makes me play it for her several times a day (I don't actually mind though because I like it too.)

If you don't get the end then you need to watch this one: (this is a real commercial)

And here is a video of her watching it.  She usually gives a good show of her own: clapping, dancing and singing.

Bathroom Wall Makeover

 Recently I walked into my bathroom, looked at the walls and said, "Ew!  I have lived here for over 3 years, and my bathroom walls have nothing on them!"

I don't know why I didn't even notice for 3 years and suddenly now, it's appalling. So I started on Project Dress Up My Wall. I went to Goodwill and bought 3 used frames, each for a buck.  Then I got busy finding/ making prints and dressing up the frames.  Here is the before and after:

 

Electric Light Orchestra is one of our favorite bands and Livin' Thing is definitely our favorite.  We have mini dance parties to it all the time.  So I made this print with a line from the song, and then sanded the frame down a little.

I found this blog a little while ago that has amazing printouts for Young Women lessons.  The author is a graphic design artists who shares them for free.  I found this adorable print there (not a freebie) and purchased it from her business.  

 

I had decided to do this project for free or almost free but I fell in love with this print and had to get it, and it was a good price.  Here is her graphic design website.   I then used this technique to get the crackle on the frame.

I found this design on this website.  They have a ton of free wedding stuff, including monograms.  I just edited a monogram to say "Smith", then painted the frame purple.

 

I am much happier now!  And total I spent about 10 bucks!
 

Books Worth Reading

Here is my next set of books that I have recently read and recommend reading.  Some of these I just could not stop reading, they are really good.

And don't forget to give me your recommendations!!

Click here for the previous "Books Worth Reading".

OC Zoo

A couple of weeks ago we went on a family outing to the Orange County Zoo.  We needed some quality family time since it was 2 days before I left to be a counselor at Girls' Camp.  I made sure to take lots of pictures of my favorite two people to bring with me.

If you haven't been to the OC Zoo, you should go!  It's in the middle of Irvine Park, which has lots of other things to do. It's a small zoo and is perfect for little kids, and it only costs 2 bucks to get in (And there is a coupon online for a BOGO on weekdays!).  We were lucky enough to be there during feeding time for the mountain lions (which is at 11:00).  It was really fun- the keepers fed them meat balls and made them do tricks, like grabbing onto the chain link fence with all 4 paws, to get their food.  Since mountain lions sleep about 20 hours a day, I highly recommend going during this time.

Penny loved watching the big kitties.

And then, who do we run into, but Scott's cousin, Kacey!  She has 2 little boys (and has a little girl on the way!), the younger of which is 3 weeks older than Penny.  We got some really cute pictures of them.  I especially love the first one:

"Hey, you wanna hold hands?"

"No, my daddy says I'm not allowed to."

 

"Well, I guess it's ok, since we're cousins."

Meanwhile, Easton just does his own thing.

It was a good thing we had such a great weekend together, because although I had a really fun week, Penny got sick (ear infection with a fever of 104) and Scott had a nervous breakdown!

10 Months

I hadn't planned on doing a 10-month post, but Penny has had so many changes lately, I felt like I should document them.

She is 10 months going on 2 years!  She has learned to throw tantrums, and will throw her head back and yell/cry/whine when she doesn't get what she wants.  Luckily it doesn't last long, but it makes me worry for what is coming.  I definitely don't enjoy the behavior, but there is something exciting about it (and sad), because it means she is turning from a baby into a child.

Wearing her Aunt Sandy's overalls from when she was a baby.

Penny also seems to be growing up a lot in terms of her speech.  She tries to mimic everything we say, and if you tell her to say something she will at least try.  For example, a couple of days ago, I spilled a large bowl of tzatziki sauce on the seat in my car, and said, "Crap, crap, crap!"  And then Penny said, "Crap!"  Yes, she said 'crap' before she said 'mama'.  BUT, yesterday, she did say "Mama"!  I think she said it to try and get out of taking a nap, and it almost worked.

On Monday, we went to the Larsens' for family night and Kellie read her girls a bedtime story, which Penny thought was really funny.

Unfortunately, the video cut out.  But on every page, this book says "Oops!"  And every time Gwen said it, Penny thought it was hilarious.  Scott thinks she is saying "Christy" right before she laughs.

She also is getting really good at standing on her own, although hasn't tried taking any steps yet.  We have a small chest of drawers in our closet that Penny uses to pull herself up.  A few days ago she was playing with it while I was around the corner getting dressed.  I heard a THUMP and when I ran to check on her, this is what I found:

She thought it was really funny.

One of Penny's favorite things is playing in the dirt.  She could do it all day.  She goes through the garden and picks up the dirt clumps and squeezes them til they crumble apart.

  

She also loves the beach, she thinks the sand is really fun and she likes the water too, as long as it's not too cold.

This is her friend AJ, who is the son of my friend, Shelly.  Shelly and I were best friends in elementary school and then lost touch through moves, but recently reconnected.  It's so fun to get together again, especially since we now have kids just a few months apart.

Penny is such a joy in our lives and we are so lucky to have her!  We can't believe that our little baby will be a year old in just a couple of months!

The Smith Curse

The Smith Family has a curse.  Every time one of them go to an Angels game, the Angels lose.  I am a die-hard Angels fan, and the season that I met Scott, I considered myself the team's good luck charm: every single game I went to, they won.  Until I went to a game with the Smiths.  Their curse is even stronger than my good luck.

This season, they've been doing very well: they are currently third in the league.  Until we went to a game yesterday.  They lost NINE to TWO.  It was rather embarrassing.

But, it was Penny's first baseball game, and we all had lots of fun!

(Scott needs to work on his finger placement when taking photos)

She brought her Rally Monkey and enjoyed watching all the action.  (I think this picture is really cute because it looks like she is watching the game intently, but you may notice that she is actually looking the wrong way.)

It turned out to be too exciting her for, and she cuddled up with her monkey and passed out.

We all had a great time, and thanks to Mom and Dad Dimick for the tickets!!