Charlize is 16 Months Old!

My friend Michelle (whose little girl is in my Kindergarten class) gave me some clothes for Charlize, and there was this *aDoRaBle* cowgirl dress! I've been so excited to get out and take pictures of her in it! I know that flower may look a little out of place, just on top of her head - but she won't keep headbands in so I just clipped it in her little bit of hair. She wouldn't leave it for long. So, here's a little bit about our little girl. . .

She carries on conversations with hand gestures and eye expressions. She says: "Hi Baby", "hot", "off", "on", "Whereishe", "ball", "horse".

She still signs and we've been working on "please".

She is a milk-a-holic! She loves it and even tips her sippy's to the side. I think its so she can still see what is going on around her.

She loves to eat, just about everything. She does however have this funny habit if she doesn't like it, to chew on it for a second and then just drop it out of her mouth. Even if she liked it before.

She loves to watch Nate cook and is usually involved in the process (she's good at stirring).

She knows that you are supposed to squeeze the lime in the Diet Coke, and enjoys doing so.

Charlize loves to take baths and plays for quite a while. She knows where the bubbles are and surprised me by picking it out herself. She has washed her hair by herself a couple of times, but still hates the water running down her head.

She loves to wash her hands and brush her teeth. She gets Nate's and My toothbrush constantly while I am getting ready. If I put one away, she knows where to get the other one.

She carries blankets around the house, hers and ours. She is determined to carry our large, full size ones around as well.

Charlize loves to read and be read to. I will find her sitting in her room, on her chair, just reading away.

She crouches down for dogs, other little kids, and imitating me when I am taking her pictures.

She loves music and dancing. While we are driving, she bobs her head and taps her foot to the beat.

She opens all the doors in our house (with lever handles) and is very good at throwing things away. (Nothing too important yet, *knock, knock*)

She is very sociable. Loves to visit others, go for walks and of course, be outside.

She loves her grandparents very much.

On Tuesday's and Thursday's, Nate's mom comes to get her and she wakes up saying "Poppa, Gmpa and still working on Gma". She adores Grandma's dog Libby.

She loves my mom "Una" and never sleeps around her because there is always so much going on!

She likes to listen to my Dad's band and adores the animals he has given her.

She is a climber! She knows how to climb up on the couches, the toy trunk and onto the bed (from chair to bed) and likes to jump on them.

She also loves to ride bikes. I push her around at the arena and we've looked at them at the stores. She is fearless and wants so badly to do it by herself.

She can say the sounds of a: horse, cow, dog and lamb.

She sleeps in on the weekends! Yippee for us! Charlize loves her sleep,

but doesn't want to miss out on anything! She won't fall asleep unless she has to

(which makes for a very crabby baby sometimes).

She wakes up talking to herself and her toys.

If you hadn't noticed, I cannot get my child to look at the camera for me! And her 'photo shoots' are usually more stressful than when I go take pictures of other kids. I think its because there is always a mom behind me jumping around and helping me get them to look, Charlize know's she can roam free when that hunk of black is in my face.

I had to share this last picture. Bummer it is out of focus, but o how this child makes us laugh! What a personality! She looks like a little soldier marching. Aunt Eleanore said she looks like the munchkin soliders on "Wizard of Oz" with that flower looking like a little hat. Either way, I hope you get a chuckle out of it too. ;)

2.15.10

On President's day, we had fun just being together! It was such a nice warm day, perfect for going riding and watching Nate rope.

The kids had fun playing together and eventually mud got added to the equation. We always love a mud mess. The 3 youngest kiddos (all around Charlize's age) didn't really get into the whole mud thing. They mostly watched the others having fun.



Charlize ended up wandering into the arena, away from all the mud. She doesn't really like to smile for the camera, and when she's on the go - watch out. I chuckle every time I look at this picture (don't judge the quality because I know it is out of focus) because it totally looks like she is booking it!She made her way over to the fence to watch at the mud-mess progress.

She is definitely a chatterbox and talks up a storm

(in a sweet sing-song voice, mixed in with a loud roar now and again).

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without a few pictures of Charlize

and her daddy while riding Zima.

Help me WIN!

Hey!

Can you do me a favor?
(if you didn't receive an email this is new, but if you did and this is a repeat - sorry!)

Go to Brooke Snow's Photography Blog and vote for me! Juanita Brinkerhoff to try to win her For the Love of Photography mentoring session.

Pretty please?! It says one vote per computer, so if you have more than one, please put in another vote for me!

Thanks! (Voting ends Feb. 28th)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*Updated*
Thanks top all of those who voted for me and helped pass the message on!
I did not win the mentor-ship, but came in the top ten. She said that around
7000 votes were cast! :P Thanks again!

2-13-10

Miss Stephanie is in my Kindergarten class and her mom is a good friend, who helps in the classroom alot since it actually was supposed to be hers but she took the staff developer (vice principal) position and I was able to fill in her place. Anyhow, she has been asking to come ride our hores for quite some time, but bad weather had put it off for a bit. Finally it was such nice warm weather I asked if they could come ride for a bit. Those girls were in heaven! Her mom's still confused where this love of horses came from, but I'm sure she'll be looking forward to come riding again.

While I was walking around the arena with Stephanie and her family, Nate was watching Chralize while he ate lunch. What a perfect babysitter already ;)

Here's Jess and Charlize enjoying the show.

Charlize's hat says, "Future Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader" on it. Its still a little big, but I'm glad she'll wear it for a little while to keep the sun off her cute little face.
Nate was going to Steer Wrestle a few, since they were going to get new steers soon and its been so long since he's done it. He got close on a few, but didn't get down on any - they kept ducking to the fence too quickly and even though I know Nate likes to do it, I'm glad he doesn't jump off when its not safe to do so.

Jaycee was getting the roping dummy all set up with a saddle blanket, the kids saddle and reins to play on. She is so patient with Charlize and its fun to see them play together.

We definitly enjoyed the close to 50 degree wether and were looking forward to the rest of the week being in the 60's.

Valentine's Day

We have lots of love at our house & hope you all had a great Valentine's Day too.

My sweetheart helped me start a project I've been so excited to do . . its for the munchkins room, lots of sanding and red paint! Excited to show you soon!

January Roping in Mesquite

We went to Mesquite for another saddle roping. I apologize for not posting about Nate's saddle winning back in November/December. I took pictures of it after we were done riding one day, but can't locate them. Bad wife I know! Urgh, well the guys were all hoping to bring one home after this roping...

Charlize has so much fun watching Dad rope and at times seems to really get into it. (Ok, so these pictures were taken while she was watching other ropers because when Nate's up I am taking pictures of him)

She definitly acquired a rodeo princess wave somewhere - or perhaps its her just being friendly, but of course when I get the camera out she stopped.

Jacee let Charlize play with her hat for a bit. Those girls are so sweet to her!

Charlize just loves to ride and Nate lets her ride anytime between runs. We love that she is such a cowgirl, especially after certain grandparents made specific comments that she wouldn't be.

I let the girls play with my point&shoot camera while we were there. They did great taking turns snapping pictures and I get the biggest kick out of seeing these random shots. No, they aren't always the most complimentary angles, but I just love how it is their point of view and they had so much fun!

In the end, all 3 guys (Nate, Kason and Kade) all went to the short go (final run) which meant they all had a chance at a saddle. Unfortunately roping is quite the chance and lucky for Kason he got one. We tease him about not riding it (I love the one Nate won, it has a higher back so I actually feel like it holds me in better) but he's just as proud with it sitting in his living room. Either way, we're glad he got one.

Nate's Saddle

Nate won this saddle back in December.

Instead of diplaying it in the house, he uses it and asked if I'd take a few pictures

before all the coloring came off.

I love riding with it because the higher back holds me better.

We are very proud of him!

He's had a great year of roping: belt buckle and money in July and now a saddle in December. :)

Great Job Nate!

Playing in the snow

We went to Pine Valley to show Charlize what snow was. She didn't really go exploring in it all (perhaps it was because she couldn't really move too well) but rather watched us all and soaked it all in.

I still don't know how to transfer the video from the video camera here (need to finalize the discs and such first and its not full) so I can't share the sled rides down the hill, but it wasn't a huge hill but still we went fast enough to have a good laugh when we came to a tumbling hault.

We went with our friends the Graff's. Charlize just loves them! She would chill with Kristi while I took pictures and loved riding on the four wheeler to pick the kids up.