Animal Crackers In My Soup!

I have been the worst blogger the past few months, actually the entire year. I won't bore you with the details, but many changes have taken place in 2012. Great changes! Our family is just very busy. I need to take more time to update and I thought that tonight would be the perfect opportunity since I needed to show off Stella's costume to out of town family. I'll try to play a little catch up and post some updates from trips and happenings over the past several months. Shirley Temple!

The many faces. . .

To say Stella is an animated child would be a gross understatement. I can't imagine what she has in store for us in the years to come! The many faces of Stella Turner:

San Diego Zoo

Stella, Mom, and I were able to travel with Sis a couple of weeks ago to San Diego while she attended a conference. We had a fantastic time! There were many firsts on this trip. All of us traveled to California for the first time, and Stella enjoyed her first plane ride. I was most nervous about that, but she really did well. I'd give her a B- on the way there and an A on the way home! At first she didn't want to sit in her seat, but after a few minutes she settled down and we had no more tears. She slept for about two hours each time. We arrived Wednesday and enjoyed some time near our hotel and went to a great seafood restaurant. Our hotel was on the bay and it was beautiful. There were lots of stores and great things to eat in the shopping district behind our hotel. On Thursday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a great experience. It was huge, so we were pretty tired by the time we made it back to our hotel that evening. I'm so glad that we were able to go!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to me! It's hard not to have a great day when this little one keeps me smiling and laughing. I'm blessed to be Stella's mom and also to be surrounded by other great women in my life. It's been a great day! Stella wanted to pose with her best friends today.

Easter 2012

Yes, I realize that I am quite behind. I plan on catching up this week, so you'll all be seeing lots of cool stuff in the coming days. Here are a few shots from Easter Sunday.

Daredevil

Stella is in love with her little four wheeler and she is becoming a little daredevil. She now prefers to ride it while standing up.



I thought I'd list some of my favorite words that Stella is using so I don't forget how she pronounced them. I'd been very adamant about speaking clearly and correctly to Stella because I want her to develop good language skills. She is really great with sounds that lots of kids struggle with, but she still mixes up some things. It's hilarious. Although I want her to learn to say all these correctly soon, it sure is cute right now!

Strawberries : Brawstrerries
Water : Badder
Chips : Pucks or Puffs (She thinks all chips are puffs and then sometimes gets puffs and chips scrambled together.)
TV : Tee eee
Nene : Leelee
Blankie : Bobbies
Movie : Voovie

Her entire life, when Stella sees someone she knows or we're on the phone with someone, we've made the habit of telling her to, "Say hi, ____" So now, when she sees anyone or talks on the phone she automatically says, "Say hi, Sis" or "Say hi, Lele."

Water Table

Stella got a special package in the mail from Aunt Sis for Easter. I'd say it was a big hit!