oh, the last few months

oh, boy! i haven't updated since labor day. okay, so in october the dance group had their annual campout, and this year we tied in the halloween party. we were the wolter family farmers. the first week of november, karl and i went to disney world for a week for our 5th wedding anniversary. amelia also had a vacation, she spen half the week with omi and opa and the second half of the week with granny, pap, tante aby and cousin b. she didn't seem to mind too much that we were gone! the last weekend in november, karl and i were aboard royal caribbeans new oasis of the seas for a 2 night preview sailing that i won at work!! yay, being a travel agent paid off big!! it is the biggest ship in the world and it was amazing!! so much to do onboard the ship, not sure why anyone would actually get off :) then, the first friday of december, we had the annual dance group christmas party. amelia really wanted nothing to do with santa this year, but she is enjoying the present he got her. tonight we have karl's masonic lodge christmas party, where amelia is sure to entertain. if i don't update again before christmas, i hope everyone has a very merry christmas and a safe and happy new year!!

zerna

okay, so zern is officially zerna according to the vet. so, now we have 1 male cat and 2 females. explains why snowflake is sooooo pissed!!!

zern

so karl and i went to zern's flea/farmer's market on saturday...just to look around. well, we are both suckers for poor, pathetic, sad looking kittens, so here is the newest member of our family, zern. well, we had to name him after where we got him. the boy at the store tried to tell us that he is 8 weeks old, but there is no way, unless he is an absolute runt!! karl and i are thinking probably closer to 5 weeks. he'll have to go to the vet's this week, so maybe they have a better guess. megoo and snowflake are pissed and all they do is hiss at him. thank goodness they don't really try to attack him!! actually, megoo may be pissed and try to act all tough, but if zern makes any sort of motion to go near megoo, he runs away :) amelia loves him!! she wants to love on him all the time, if she could actually catch him!! he's learned real quick to run away from the baby, so she doesn't sit on him or pull his tail :) we are turning into the crazy cat people!!! this is it for a while, 3 is enough!!!

fourth of july

so i know i'm almost a month late in posting these picss, but at least i'm posting them :) we had a great 4th of july! much, much, much different than last year. last year, john and karl just held cora and amelia all day, this year there was no stopping them!! once again we traveled to the davis house in wyomissing for the annual 4th of july party. aunt katie had set up a water table and ball pit for the kids to play in. i think will like the water table the most!! the three of them just looked so darn cute playing in the water together. at one point, it was girls versus will!! after the davis party, we had to go to granny and pap's and got to go in the big pool. amelia is not really a fan of the pool. if she can't stand, she doesn't like it. hopefully we'll get to go to the beach next summer, so she can experience the ocean! i hope everyone had a wonderful month of july and i'll try to post more frequently, i promise :)

r.i.p.

michael jackson is dead. this makes me kinda sad. i grew up listening to mj, and have even downloaded some of my favorite mj songs onto my ipod, and would break them out every once in a while. he's probably finally at peace. i guess i'll be listening to a little "thriller" tomorrow on my way to work, or perhaps "billie jean"

farrah fawcett also died today. not really my era, but sad none the less.

r.i.p.

helping daddy

playing with my bucket!

"are you sure i can't help?"

mmmm, dirt!

yea, i'm cute!

amelia and karl planted our flowers last weekend. she is such a good little helper and a daddy's girl. she loves to play in the dirt and play with mud, sticks and stones. i guess that's what happens when for most of the day she is at a greenhouse! they did such a good job with planting! the outside of our house looks beautiful!!

easter, first birthday and hair!!

so, amelia celebrated her first easter this year. what an exciting day that was. we got up, went to uhromi's house for breakfast (waffles!!), and did the easter egg hunt. dada helped amelia fine her presents and gather some easter eggs!! after that, we went to omi's house to get her easter basket, then off to granny's house to get more easter presents. after such an exhausting day, the three of us came home and took a nap.

amelia turned one year old on april 16th! we had a big party for her on 4/19 at the house. tante marlis (karl's aunt) made the turtle cake for us, for her under the sea/turtle themed party! she loves cake and cupcakes, as dada gave her one the morning of her actual birthday :)

do you like the funky hair? mama wanted to make amelia her little rockstar, so this is the look we created! mama loves it!! not sure how amelia feels about it, but i think she looks great!

now that she is a year old, we're just watching in amazement as she starts to become more of a toddler than our little baby. walking, saying more actual words, becoming more independent, and just becoming such a big girl. who knows what this next year holds, but it's bound to be full of "firsts."

baptism, friends, fun, and nakedness

so i know i don't post that often, i just can't seem to find the time, but i really do enjoy reading everyone else's posts and commenting. anyway, here are a few pictures from the last 2 weeks or so, just to keep you updated.
3/15 - we finally had amelia baptized. her godparents are, cory kegerise, aby deLay (my sister), alyssa raifsnider and martin lord. she was so good during church! she fell asleep after the actual baptism. i think she was a little disappointed that there wasn't more water to play in :)

3/13 - i know, a little out of order, but what can i say?! we went to the fream household for dinner and it was awesome!! amy made enchiladas, salad, rice, and the mose awesome cake/cheesecake/cookie dessert that i've ever had! but, once dinner was over the fun really began...we thought one child at almost 1 year was funny to watch, but put amelia and cora together and they are hysterical!! this is what happens when you let 2 almost 1 year olds into the newspaper bin! they loved it! i can not believe that they are going to be one in less than a month!!

the last two are just too cute! snowflake likes to sit on top of the radiator to get warm. amelia likes to bother snowflake no matter where she is! and last, she just likes to be naked, and has discovered her belly button and her diaper.

just chillin'

okay, so i'm still trying to figure out how to post and add pictures and not have them all over the place. i'm working on it, so bear with me. anyway, here are some random pictures of amelia that i just felt like sharing. when i get home from work at night, we just hang out and chill in the living room, and i just take random photos of her. the long pillow on the floor is a 6 foot caterpillar that she got for christmas. she loves it! yes, she does indeed pull herself up against the couch. it's not going to be too much longer before she is walking by herself. where did this last year go?! karl and amelia making funny faces always just cracks me up. she is too funny and she definitely gets that from her dad! the toy chest she is sitting on was made by one of our friends. isn't it just incredible?! way better than we could have ever found in a store. and last but not least, our daughter already loves the wine! she always crawls over to our wine rack in the living room. she's not going to be a cheap date when she gets older :)

new computer

holy moly! we got a new computer today along with a new monitor...22 inches!! wow, this changes how everything looks..i don't have to squint anymore to read things, and that is wonderful!! maybe i should have my eyes checked just in case it wasn't the monitor, but my eyes. anyway, amelia is definitely crawling now. can't get her to sit still anymore, and we definitely have a tooth on the bottom and almost one on the top. BUT, she won't let me get my finger in there to feel them, and she won't keep her mouth open long enough for me to take a picture of them...you'll just have to wait until the are bigger, so that when she smiles i can finally get a picture of them!!

goodnight

crawling and teeth

okay, so i know it's been a little while, but we've been busy. last weekend we headed to nh to visit some friends of the family. we had a great weekend, and it was nice for amelia to meet all this extended "family."
so, amelia has been getting around for some time now. rolling, scooting, doing the inchworm, however she could get from point a to point b. well, the other day she actually crawled like crawling is supposed to look like!! not that crawling is going to be around long, because she's already pulling herself up on chairs and other pieces of furniture, or by holding onto her cousin rylie's hair and trying to pull herself up. rylie was not a fan of that way at all!!
also, we can now see the white in her gums, so any day now teeth are going to pop! i think my poor little girl is going to get a few all at one shot! she no longer likes having her gums rubbed, so i can no longer feel exactly how close they are to popping out. okay, well, i must get going...satuday work!!! i'll post pictures soon!!!

finally better

thank goodness amelia is finally feeling like herself again. she had her 9 month appt. on tuesday, and is 16.14lbs and 27 inches long! she gained 2 pounds since her 6 month appt. and grew 2 1/4 inches. dr. tam said she still had some fluid in her ears from her ear infection, so he is going to see her again on feb. 2nd. after that, her next "well" visit will be for her 1 year check up! i cannot believe that she is already 9 months old!! hasn't quite mastered the crawling thing, but she gets around just fine with what she is doing. she's starting to pull herself up, so we've finally had to start putting up the side of the crib. she really, really wants to stand by herself, but she's not quite there....but she tries :)
she's still not sleeping through the night, and we just don't know what else to try. thank goodness that when she does get up, it's not for very long and she usually goes right back to sleep. right now she loves animal crackers and whatever other kinds of crackers and "cookies" her cousin rylie feeds her during the day at the greenhouse. she's working on getting used to using a sippy cup for water and juice. she much rather play with it and chew on the spout, but we're working on it. i guess that's all for now, i'm tired and i'm going to bed :)

merry christmas and happy new year!

well, christmas and new year's have come and gone and let me just say that it was sooooooo much different this year than last!! amelia had an ear infection, which we found out a few days after christmas, so for most of our christmas festivities she was either miserable or sleeping :) had a few days of christmas so far with our families. have 2 more to go. we had a wonderful new year's eve at the fream house with amy, john, cora, matt, katie, will, zb, and chris. the adults all made it until midnight and so did will (well, he woke up at midnight). we played wii, which is so much fun if you've never done it. john is the 2008-2009 wii olympics champ!! hopefully he's made his trophy by now!! it was just a nice relaxing night full of lots of fun with some great friends! zb is the queen of taboo, and the girls team rocked!! i hope everyone has a wonderful 2009!