Decorating for Christmas

O enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree this year. She especially enjoyed putting on her own personal touch . . . beaded necklaces.

Daily she asks us to turn on the lights and when we do, without fail we get a "wow" from her. It's been fun this year as she is old enough to enjoy the decorations and lights - every lit house and even every Christmas aisle at Wal-Mart is "wow" worthy.



She was such a big helper with the star too (yes, we have a short tree).

All By Myself

Just call her Miss Independent. She won't let us feed her any more. :-( She can do it all by herself. And she's pretty good at it too!

A trip to the zoo

For the month of November, all KCMO residents get into the zoo for free. Note to self . . . pay the money and go in the summer. Most of the animals were put away for the winter as it's getting too cold. But, it was a nice day and we had a good time walking around and seeing the animals that were out.



O's favorites were the baboons and lions. She growled and growled and growled at the lions. It was the cutest thing. Her daddy tried to convince her that she wasn't scaring the lions - did she care? :-)

My new favorite picture

I just love this picture. The fall colors and my two loves! Doesn't get much better than this!

Here V and O were watching the hippos at the zoo.

Paradise Park

We went to a place called Paradise Park the first weekend of November. O had a blast. This was just about a week after she had started walking so she had so much fun walking around and seeing all the other kids. She could have stayed there for hours - but Mommy wore out before then. Next time we're taking Daddy with us so that Mommy can sit around and Daddy can play with O! :-)

It's really a cool place for young kids. Here is O playing in the pretend kitchen.





Here she is getting her face painted - all she would let me do was a green streak on each cheek. :-)




I think this room was her favorite - the water table. She had so much fun playing in the water. That is until she started pouring it over the side and ended up with soaking wet socks and tennies!

And then there's the ball pit - imagine a 5 month pregnant lady carrying her 27 lb toddler into a ball pit and then trying to move around. Got the picture? Yeah, that was us!

Our Future Soccer Star

V has always wanted a soccer player. I think he got his wish with Baby E. This kid is much more active in utero than O ever was. As I'm posting this new pic of him I am getting kicked left and right. His new fetish is internal organs. I don't know what it is he's been kicking in there lately but whatever it is it doesn't feel too good! I can't imagine what he'll be like when he's out here in the world with us . . . watch out KC Wizards . . . you've got your next pro soccer player coming!

(This pic was taken at 23 weeks.)

Happy Halloween

O was Tinkerbell this year. We had trunk or treat at church and set up our trunk as Tinkerbell's fairy land.

I made a magic wand for her out of a magic marker and some sparkly, gold pipe cleaners. Man, I felt like the mother of a toddler when I was doing that! It was one of those "ah-ha" moments. She loved the magic wand and had a great time waving it around at everyone who came by our trunk.



O decided that walking was a good mode of transportation just this last week (FINALLY). She had a great time toddling around the parking lot in her stocking feet. Here she is toddling up to a fat mommy. :-)









"Up, Mommy." Who could resist that face?

O, the Chef

I decided to let O help me cook the other night. She did a great job. Here she is not too sure of what's going on.



Then she started to get the hang of it . . . "Oh, I'm supposed to stir. Ok, I can do that."




And here's the fun part . . .
putting the crunchies on top. Yum!









The only problem now is that she thinks she needs to sit on the counter EVERY time Mommy or Daddy cooks. :-) Such a big helper!

Nothing but Trouble

I promised you a picture of O in her new shirt. Very fitting these days, don't you think?I know, I know, she looks innocent in this picture . . . don't let it fool you! :-)

Be Patient

So my dear friend (you know who you are) is giving me a hard time about not having more pictures up yet. I figure an explanation is in order . . . we are remodeling our house to make room for baby E. Our study is in a state of complete disorder which means the computer is not even plugged in. I promise to remember to bring the camera to work tomorrow and download/upload (still don't know the appropriate word) some pics. Just be patient with me . . . they're coming.

In the meantime, here's O about 2 months ago proudly displaying her big-girl princess jammies. This was when I believed she really was a princess . . . before she was in her "independent, I-can-do-anything by myself" stage. Now I'm not so sure about these princess jammies . . . they seem a bit deceiving. We bought her a shirt last weekend that says "Trouble is my middle name" . . . I think that's a bit more appropriate these days. :-)

Oh, but I love her just the same if not more!

Downloading Pictures

Here's the latest downloaded picture series of O. I have more recent ones but I need to get them off the camera.


So, here she is being the ham that she is . . .

And I promise to download more soon.

Or is it upload? You download the picture to the computer . . . then you upload it to the blog.


Hmmm . . . better learn the proper blogging lingo.

3 Becomes 4

It's a BOY! Baby "E" will be joining our family in late Feb/early March 2008. We are so excited to be adding a boy to our happy little family. Though to be honest with you, I'm kind of scared. We have a lot of work to do to get ready for this little guy and not much time! This pregnancy is going so much faster than the last!
Here's our family as it is now. This was taken in July 2007 for O's first birthday.

First Try

Well, we're going to give this blogging thing a try. So many people have been asking for a way to view pics and updates of our growing family . . . so here we are. I'll do my best to keep this thing updated so please check back from time to time and see how the Monteblanco Family is doing. :-)