Momzilla

Dear Baby Waider,

I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty sure that somewhere in my past I've said that I would NOT be the parent to plan a lavish, over the top first birthday party. Especially not for a baby who likely would hardly remember the bash. Well, needless to say it turns out that I'm not keeping my word on that if ever I did utter those words. I've become a "Momzilla" of sorts. "Momzilla" is a term that I created after the word "Bridezilla." A "Bridezilla" is a bride who is planning a wedding and rather crazed about it. A Bridezilla is overly focused upon their wedding and their special day. I am a "Momzilla." A Momzilla is a mom who is overly focused on their child's first birthday. I am Momzilla. I am super excited for your first birthday. And, to my standards I am planning a rather "over the top" birthday extravaganza. Rather, an "Over the Rainbow" birthday extravaganza. I had seen birthday parties all over Pinterest. Initially my thought was, wow! people sure get fired up about their kids' birthday. Then, my thought sort of drifted to, wow! That sure would be cute. And, finally, OMG! I'm doing it! I'm planning a super, duper birthday party. Now, calm down. It's not going to be that exciting. I have just done more than I expected.

1. I ordered custom made invitations from Etsy.

2. I baked a six layer cake. Okay. I helped auntie April make cake. She did all of the hard work. I panicked much of the time and made some awesome frosting. Cousin Harry was also a helper!

Auntie April with the cake before I had to dash out and help dad find the title to the truck he'd just sold. Not only had he lost the title, but he gave the WRONG title to the guy who bought the truck. Anyway I made it home to find the title. April and Uncle Kelly had to clean up the mess. Thanks, guys!



3. I'm planning on having people over to my house. Lots of people and I'm serving them dinner!

4. I have invited many small children to come into my home, possibly allow them to engage in wild behavior and do crafts! UGH! Am I crazy????

However, I am super excited for your party. I'm having the Wizard of Oz Birthday Party that I never had. (C'mon mom!!!) But, in grandma's defense super over the top birthday parties weren't really the deal when I was a kid. The roller rink was and I did have a kick butt roller skating party. I think I'm more excited for this party than I have ever been for any party. Your dad feels the same way. He rarely contributes his thoughts to the blog, after all I am bestowing my wisdom upon you, but this is his direct quote. "Birthdays are really some of the best times in your life. And now we get to recreate that for someone we love. Nicely said, dad.

The CUTEST DOROTHY EVER. And trust me, I've seen more than one Dorothy in my day.

The way I see it it is a celebration for you because it is your birthday. But, it is also a celebration for us. We made it through the first year of having a baby. We got to witness things that many humans accomplish in their first year. The first little cry followed by angelic sleep. That miraculous first smile. The first giggle. The first time you rolled over (actually that happened at Grandma's!)You sitting up on your own, crawling, and finally, most recently walking. We got to hear your first and favorite word, "DA DA" often times yelled at the top of your lungs. For awhile you called both of us DA DA, but that word is now endearingly reserved for your DADA. These little miracles have been priceless to see. Daily we are amazed by all you can do and how many new things you can do. You have such a little personality. So many ways like me. Funny, determined, smart ;), and impatient. Like dad in how you are thoughtful,quick to laugh, love to figure things out, and love the animals.

We had the opportunity to witness so many wonderful milestones right along with you. Often in amazement we would say, "I think she's really ahead on this one!" However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Let me tell you! We also made it through the first tooth, ear infection, sleepless night after sleepless night, and some majorly dirty, blown out diapers. The sleepless nights still haunt and terrify me. Phew, that was rough. I sort of wish I could have enjoyed those moments a little more, but I know that I've wasted very few moments with you as a little baby. Through it all I got wonderful advice from Grandma Halter who knows you almost as well as dad and I do. But, I really owe a HUGE THANK YOU to your auntie Katie, and Lynndee who mom works with. They spent a million hours troubleshooting so many questions and issues that I had with you. They were amazing and this first year would have been totally overwhelming without their guidance and friendship!

That being said; I am going to have a ton of people come out to celebrate you with all of us! And I'm going to be a total Momzilla. Our house isn't ready, the bathroom still isn't done, but we are ready to have fun and in the end that's all that matters. :) Your dad and I have been criticized for never leaving you with a babysitter during evenings and weekends. It is true that we haven't done so often, but I will never regret that. This year flew by and I feel like as it is I missed too much. I am grateful for every second I spent with you. After all your dad and I had tons of adventures in the eight years we were together before you were here! Of all our adventures, you are by far the best adventure we could imagine. I cannot believe how fast the year went by. It seems like just yesterday my belly was making it so I couldn't reach anything on my table at school, praying that my water didn't break during parent teacher conferences. Now here you are walking and laughing, and making every single day fantastic.

Still one of my favorites, thanks, Adam. Is it just me or does mom look younger because I hadn't yet had 100 sleepless nights?


I recently read a quote that is so true. It states, "While we try to teach our children all about life. Our children teach us what life is all about." I couldn't say it any better. Elton John also said it well, "How wonderful life is now that your in the world." This has digressed into a rather sappy blog, but I'm feeling pretty darn sappy. After all in 365 days I watched a human gain 18 pounds, grow nearly 8 teeth, go from a precious little helpless angel to a walking babbling playing maniac. No matter how you slice that it is a pretty big deal. So forgive me if I spend a little time getting ready for your totally sweet party crying and wishing time could rewind and I could have just one more evening in a rocking chair with you asleep on my chest. As always, I love you bigger than life little Ellie Belly.

Love,

Your MOM

This is something I will cherish forever and I am so grateful that your dad was able to capture it.

Say it ain't so...

Dear Baby Waider,

This whole summer I have told myself that I'm not going to think about leaving you in the fall. I wanted to be sure to enjoy every minute of the summer off with you. And I have. We have done tons of fun things, as have been mentioned in the previous blogs. Mainly just being able to wake up, let you eat brunch for an hour while I have my coffee, and check out the news has been a slice of heaven. Leisurely walks, and playing with cousin Finn have also been regular activities that have been lots of fun. To say that I'm sad to go back to work would be an understatement. Devastated and heartbroken would be more accurate.  Being with you has been a blast.

Tonight was the culminating activity for the entire summer. We went to the Central States Fair. It was a blast! We went with Grandma and Grandpa Halter, the Webers, Harringtons, Halters, and the Grrrr...I don't know how to spell their name. Grunstroms. Dad really wanted to get you a ride on an elephant. I was not in favor of it because it was $14 and you wouldn't even remember it. I know I've told you this before, but dad will totally get you anything. Seriously. Also, I didn't want you to fall off of the elephant. They are very tall animals. The whole concept freaked me out. Luckily I talked dad out of it. But now there is nothing that I would like more than to have a picture right here of you and dad riding the elephant. Oh well! Next year. Instead you had some awesome cousin time!

It looks like you rode this ride at the fair. Actually none of you rode it and because carnies LOVE mom, I even talked her into letting the four of you get into this little car to take a picture. Super cute, free, and AWESOME. And let me teach you this little lesson, aside from creepy germs and crusty boogers NOTHING is free at the fair. 

You and Finn playing bumper strollers!

You with Harry and Vern...Finn is making an escape. 

Maybe the best picture of the summer. Love this. 

We all knew that the summer had to end at sometime and no matter what it would seem too short. Also, you spent the last two weeks teething/diarrhea/serious diaper rash and dad had pneumonia so that probably cut into super family fun, but it was still amazing. That being said there are many worse things that can happen than mom and dad having to go back to work. After all I am grateful that I have a job to go back to. I also feel like I have a pretty sweet deal. Like the best of both worlds. I get to have a great career that I love AND I get to spend time with you in the summer. It works out well. On top of it I have a place to take you that you LOVE and grandma gets to have fun with you. It'll all be okay... After I get a little chance to snivel and cry. I'll miss you my little Ellie Belly. Thanks for all the fun.

Mama loves you,

Mom

Custer State Park, Pools, Parades, Hell's Angels, and Keystone...These are a Few of My Favorite Things!

Dear Baby Waider,

Summer insists upon speeding by at record speeds. It feels like I just sat down to write the post on the last day of school and it is already almost August. :( Quite a few people have asked me if I'm sad that summer is almost over. Sad...yes, but I've decided to live by a Dr. Seuss quote in this instance. "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." Words cannot express how thrilled I am that we had this summer together. Not to mention the fact that we still get to spend 22 days of fun together. Anyway I have been feeling some urgency to accomplish a few of my favorite things this summer to share them with you. So get our your checklist! Here's what we've done so far.

Custer State Park

Recently we took our first "camping" trip to Custer State Park. Mom worked two of the best summers (pre-Ellie) in her life as a waitress in Custer State Park. She loves CSP and has passed this love onto your father. This time, however, we were more than a little disappointed. First, it was BLAZING HOT! On the wildlife loop the car thermometer said that it was 119. MISERABLE. Then, when it would cool down the biting flies would come out. After the biting flies left the mosquitoes were out and it was humid. Oh, and because there was a raging fire near there and it is dryer than a cotton ball we couldn't have a campfire.

Since we couldn't have a campfire and it was too hot to cook we went to eat at the Game Lodge and the Blue Bell Lodge. The food was not too great, in fact at the Blue Bell it was HORRENDOUS. I was pretty disappointed over all. We didn't walk, hike, or bike. It was way too hot. Pretty much we pulled the camper to the park, sat in the camper, and entertained you. You pretty much just wanted to crawl. All in all, we had a good time, but would I want to repeat it? Probably not?

Lessons Learned?

Things are not always how you remember them. Move on and get over it.

Camping when it is hot is like sunbathing when it is cold. Kind of pointless and annoying.

Camping without a campfire is pretty pointless.

You and dad at the Game Lodge

POOL!

Another one of my all time favorite summer activities turns out to be one of your favorite activities too!! Going to the pool. We have a couple different experiences.

1. We go with Super Aunt Becky and the daycare kids to Parkview Pool. Super Aunt Becky and I have been swimming there for YEARS!!! Maybe since cousin Lauryn was a baby??? We feel like we own that pool, and you love it too. Your best pool pal is Super Aunt Becky. You splash, kick, and laugh all while your mom catches a few rays.

2. We had a pool party here! We had Finn, Bree, and Catelyn out to swim while mom, Aunt Katie, and our friend LynnDee chatted and hung out. You had a blast. Cousin Finn went up and down the slide 1000 times and Catelyn took really good care of you. All in all the pool party was a blast. I love pool parties.

Lessons Learned?

Pools are the best. All kinds of pools. Anytime. Anywhere.

Finn trying to climb up the slide. 

All the kids playing! 

Auntie helping you down the slide. 

You and the Fenster Girls! 

Parades

I dig parades. All kinds of parades. On Saturday we went to the Day's of '76 Parade. I remeber the parade from when I was a kid. First, I don't think that they had candy and secondly, there were gun fights. This one had a couple of shots fired, but nothing major. This time there was also candy thrown. We had a good time with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Katie, Uncle Robbie, Dad, Cousin Vern, Cousin Finn, and Cousin Brook.

Lessons Learned?

Sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy floats that go by for really no apparent reason other than to celebrate something...I love parades, the floats, bands, horses, and candy, but now that I'm trying to write about it...it seems strangely lame...Nonetheless we are going to lots of parades next summer!

I didn't take any pictures of the parade! :(


Hell's Angels

You are probably wondering why in the world I would write that Hell's Angels are some of my favorite things. Well, I'll tell you. I have always been interested in motorcycle gangs. My interest was heightened a few years back when I had the opportunity to meet Sonny Barger. The most infamous Hell's Angel around. He was amicable, for the hard core, 1%er biker that he is. I really would have had no idea who he was except everyone around me was super excited that he was stepping out of his huge stretch Jack Daniels limo. He oddly walked over to my little t-shirt shack along with an entire entourage of Hell's Angels, Hell's Angel's fans, and spectators. There were many bikers crowded in this tiny area and Sonny Barger was right up front. I felt the need to somehow entertain all of these bikers and I was sure what to do, so I asked a question. "How many of you here are Hell's Angels?" Naturally that would be my question because I'm a teacher. What's even funnier is that the Hell's Angels, including Sonny Barger all raised their hands. The only Hell's Angels that didn't raise their hands were Sonny Barger's HUGE BLONDE TWIN bodyguards. They just scowled. This strange encounter sparked my curiosity about biker gangs so I was anxious to read all about them in Sonny Barger's book. Don't worry, I'll pass ALL of my biker gang knowledge onto you on your 18th birthday.

Sonny Barger way back when. 

An old 1%er. This is what he looked like when I met him. 

You are probably wondering what this has to do with this summer. Well, Spearfish was having a Hell's Angel Convention. Naturally I felt that I HAD to get up there to see some Hell's Angels. We did see some, but only from our cars. Probably a good thing too because I wanted to get a picture taken with some Hell's Angels, and your dad wasn't thrilled with the idea. I'll show him. The rally hasn't even started. My point, which I'm getting to is that I meet REALLY COOL PEOPLE. Don't worry, I'll tell you in another blog about meeting Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister. That and that the Hell's Angels actually led us to Spearfish where you had a blast in the creek and at the fish hatchery. You loved the big trout and didn't seem to mind that the water was freezing cold. Your cousins Finn and Vern probably fed the fish $10 worth of food and we even had a chance to take a cousin shot!

Cousins! Minus Harry.

You and Vern

Lessons Learned?

Probably shouldn't chase Hell's Angels.

Chasing Hell's Angels leads to super fun activities.

Ellie Belly loves to swim. No matter the time or the temperature.

Keystone

Later that night after the parade and Hell's Angels hunt we went to Keystone. It is a little tourist town near Mt. Rushmore. You had a blast. You munched on peas and looked at all the lights and sights. Grandma and Grandpa Halter were there and so were Aunt April and Uncle Kelly with Vern and Harry. You didn't get a souvenir, but I know at some point in time you will be scoring tons of trinkets. What's funny is how you just take it all in. You loved it all. The fudge shop, creepy trinket shops, and walking down main street. Even though it may not seem that excited going to Keystone was one of my FAVORITE things to do when I was   a kid and I hope to take you there many, many times.

Chilling with the grandparents in Keystone. (I forgot to take other pictures.)

Lesson learned?

Your dad will buy you anything. Seriously. Hit him up!

I have loved all of our summer adventures and can't wait for the many, many more to come.

Love,

Mama

You are Going to be Rich...FILTHY RICH!!!

Dear Baby Waider,

Snowbama

This may be extremely hard to believe, but your mom and dad did actually have a life before we had you! Something that we were really involved in was politics. I'll take you back to 2008. It was an amazing year. Fortunately the reign of George W. Bush was over. The Dems had two very exciting candidates running for the presidential nomination. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were both exciting candidates, but your dad (after I got him to come around) and I were part of the Barack Obama hysteria. He was the first candidate that we ever got really excited about. I obviously didn't have much going on at that time because I used to spend HOURS on politics. Anyway, it was either the very end of April or the beginning of May. I actually think it was April 30th. We had a snow storm. A big one. I had even more time to obsess about politics so I began to stress out about the North Carolina Primary. Sources were pretty certain that Hillary Clinton was going to win North Carolina edging more towards Hilary being the nominee. Obviously I didn't want that, but really, what could I do in the middle of a blizzard in Western South Dakota? Well, as you will soon discover your mom is resourceful with a capitol R. I came up with the master plan that your dad and I were going to make a GIANT Obama snow sculpture. Keep in mind this was something like the 6th blizzard we had that year so we weren't excited about shoveling, but it needed to be done. And we both agreed that a snow sculpture would at the very least give us something to do.

We began shoveling out the massive drift that forms directly in front of our garage. According to your dad HE did all the shoveling, but I'm pretty sure I was a big help. We put the snow in a giant pile. We traced out some letters and carved out the world's largest yard sign. It. Was. Awesome. The whole time we were carving it out we were talking about how awesome it would be if 1. he won North Carolina. 2. Obama got to see our snow tribute to him.

One of those things actually happened. And...Obama lost North Carolina...

South Dakota Democratic Primary


Let me give you a little background on South Dakota politics.We are what is called a RED state, meaning that not many people who vote like mom and dad live here. Not only that, but because we live in a state with a pretty small population we really don't matter in primaries, let alone the Democratic primary. Until May 2008. Clinton and Obama had raced all the way until May. Typically races are long determined by the time South Dakota has their primary. Again, until May 2008. When candidates are trying to win primaries they come to the state and give LOTS of speeches. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton came to Rapid City. We were fortunate enough to get both of their autographs. Kind of a big deal, but that was nothing compared to the real thrill. We heard the word that Barack Obama was coming to Rapid City. People who volunteered for the campaign were going to get tickets to get tickets for the event. It was really confusing. Anyway, your dad was teaching summer school so I volunteered (I think with Auntie Katie!) YES! we drove people to the polls and reminded them to vote. I got my ticket and so did she and we were able to get tickets to the event.

Even in Rapid City lots of people hoped to see Barack Obama! The next obstacle we had to face was getting a FRONT seat at the speech. This would require that we were in line early for the event. We got there at 5:00AM. I had printed a picture of the sculpture that we built. Your dad and I were there as was your grandpa Halter, Auntie Katie, Uncle Rob, and I think the Webers. We were second in line. Things were looking good. And they were good. We got right in and right into the front row. It was excellent. While we waited I chatted it up with the Secret Service guy. Lots of times they are not very friendly, but he was super nice. I told him about the picture and his only comment was, "He's going to want to see that.That is awesome." That made me even more excited.

We sat through the speech. We were inspired, excited, and hopeful. Back then it seemed like things were going to get better than they had been for several years...It was a hopeful time.

That being said once the speech was over my new BFF, the Secret Service guy, brought Obama down to me so that I could tell him about my picture. So here I was, this teacher from South Dakota, and this amazing candidate for PRESIDENT was listening to me tell him about my snow carving I made of his name. And he listened!! And he liked the story. I wanted to take a picture of him, but I was just too star struck. His comments were that it was pretty cool, and that he's never had his name carved in snow before. It was a pretty special moment. Definitely something I will never forget. He then told me to write my name on it and that he would sign the picture for me.

Sign it he did. And from that moment on it has always been our hope that we could take the autographed picture to one of my favorite shows, the Antiques Roadshow! I wanted to tell them my story and hopefully make it on the show so that they could tell me about my prized autograph.

The Antiques Roadshow

I have been watching the Antiques Roadshow since it first came out in the 90's. I love pretty much everything about it. I love the treasures people bring in and the stuff that people think are of value when they are replicas or fakes. I started watching it with your grandpa Halter when I was younger, but your dad has faithfully watched pretty much every single episode with me since 2003. I don't ever like to miss an episode so it was sort of a deal. If you are with me, you are watching the roadshow.

So I'll have to admit that I was super thrilled to find out that the Roadshow was coming to Rapid City. I immediately signed up, as did your dad and pretty much all of the family members. Devastatingly we did not get tickets. :( I was really bummed. It was a lifelong dream. Shattered. Naturally I complained on Facebook because, why not? I was bummed out!! Luckily my sadness did not fall on deaf ears. I received a message from your Auntie Katie's former teacher and my current Facebook friend Leona Schroeder. She told me that she got roadshow tickets, but was unable to use them. She also wondered if I might like them. YES! was my answer.

The Roadshow was a cool experience. We met a man who thought he might have a Picasso painting and traveled all the way from Alabama to see if it was real. We also talked to people who had been trying to get tickets for the past 10 years. I suddenly began to realize just how lucky I was to be there and just how fortunate I was for Leona Schroeder.

As a side note you were 9 months old when we went to the Roadshow. This was the first time that we left you with someone other than grandma and grandpa AND the first time we had a sitter come to our house. It was Kayla, who helps grandma, but still I was prepared for you to be devastated that we were leaving you. After all we had spent all summer so far together. I was pretty sure you were going to be really sad we were leaving. You weren't. You were thrilled to see Kayla. When she left...you cried. Anyway it was good to know that you liked your babysitter!

So we waited in line to have our items appraised. Because this is getting entirely too long and I need to go to bed I will only tell you about the Obama picture. First I talked to an appraiser in photographs. The lady LOVED the picture, showed another appraiser and we chatted it up about it. Then she sent me to an appraiser that I am quite familiar with. He does books and manuscripts and his name is Ken Sanders.

He heard my story and of course LOVED IT!!! What it boiled down to was this.

1. The story was cool.
2. The autograph as it stands right now is worth $1,000
3. The more time passes the more it will be worth. (This is mostly due to the fact that it is personalized and clearly has a story with it.)
4. This autograph will be worth an undetermined amount, but beings that he is the first African American President and it is personalized the value is going to be high.
5. It was cool enough to show to 4 appraisers, however, it was not cool enough to get me on the show. :(

So there you have it. You are going to be filthy rich. Easy as that.

As we left we ran smack dab into the host of Antiques Roadshow, Mark Walberg. He was super nice also, gave me a hug, and signed the back of our Obama picture to complete the entire circle. It was awesome! He thought that it might reduce the value of the picture, but I completely disagree, mostly because it was on the back of the matting, but also because it is part of the story.

Wow, rereading through this story two things are apparent. 1. I might be nuts. 2. Your dad goes along with most of my nuts ideas. That makes us pretty lucky girls, and that makes for some major fun for all of us. Until our next adventure...

Love,

Your mama

Less Than 100 Days

Dear Baby Waider,

Nine months ago at this very moment I was pushing with all of my might hoping that you would make your appearance soon!!! Now I'm sitting here realizing that we are less than 100 days from you being one year old. Which completely blows my mind and makes me a little sad. As sad as it makes me you constantly remind me that you are NOT a baby anymore. It seems redundant when I keep saying how fast time is going and how much you are growing and changing. Several months ago I wrote a post listing the top ten things I love about you. I decided that tonight would be a good night to revise that list.

Top Ten Things I Love About My 9 Month Old Maniac!

10. The way you laugh. It is out of control and all of the time. You laugh at your dad and the dog. Your big toothy grin is contagious and makes my day all the time.

9. The way you kick your legs when you laugh. I swear you used to kick your legs like that when you were in my belly. All. The. Time. It cracks me up how excited you get. Sometimes you do it when you get a little sassy and that I don't love so much.

8. When you sing and say lalalala when you are playing and don't even know we are listening.

7. Your high-pitched animal voice. That must be genetic. The cats are already trained to run from you when they hear it.

6. How you listen to books and even look at them on your own.

5. When you cuddle with me. It lasts about 5 seconds per day, but I love it. The rest of the time you are go go go. You crawl pretty well, and are getting better and better every day.

4. How independent you are already and how much you want to do on your own. You have a little bit of an attitude, but I guess that is to be expected.

3. When you put your arms out to me and your dad so that we will hold you.

2. Your little teeth and little tongue. They just look so cute. You always have your little tongue sticking out when you are working on something really hard. It just cracks me up; You biting me with your little teeth is something I don't love too much.

1. That you are already so funny!!!

STATS:

To date you have three teeth and are pretty current on all milestones. You patty cake like mad, crawl like a little soldier, and pull yourself up on EVERYTHING. You are saying DaDa to your dad exclusively and seem to chew him out on occasion. You have the pincer grip mastered and love to use it to eat your favorite foods which include peaches, bananas,squash, sweet potato, avocado, and little crunchies. You wave bye bye frequently, but then you get sad when anyone leaves the room. Mia has been working with you on this skill. We have you wave bye bye to her and then we make her leave the room. She dejectedly walks away and looks like the saddest Newfie in the world. But you think it is pretty funny. You love to play with all of your toys, but your favorite right now is a doll named Jesse. You and your dad picked her out and you love her. I'm thinking she might be your bestie!!

For now I need to sign off because you will be up bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. Thankfully you now have sleep MASTERED so I will see you around 7-8 in the morning. Mom is eternally grateful that you are such a good little sleeper.

Love,

Mama

Road Trip

Dear Baby Waider, Well, we made it on our BIG cross country trip! I have decided that the easiest ways to tell you the story of your trip is through pictures. Because I am still pretty beat from our trip I decided that I would just load the pictures from the phone and not worry about the order that they show up in. Not really the best attitude to have, but I want to tell you the story of our trip before the details begin to fade from my memory. You had a wonderful time and were just the best little baby! Mom and dad were so proud of you. Everyone commented upon what a good little girl you were the entire time. You partook in most events and I think had a pretty good time. So, here is a snapshot of our trip, not necessarily in this order.

This is a shot taken of the St. Francis River leading into Lake Wappapello. It was at the coolest campground I've ever been to!! It is called Greenville Campground.

Here you are with your second cousin McKenzie. Her mom, my cousin, Kim is behind you. McKenzie LOVED you and wanted to hold you all of the time. It didn't last long, but she held you quite a bit.

Here you are at Greenville Campground. It is the first time you got to swing at a park! You loved it.

Here you are with mom eating and snoozing at the reception.

Here you are with Super Cousin Kammie. She was a big fan of you and you were also a fan of her! Here you are filling your pants just for her! ;)

Here you are at Super Aunt Cathy and Super Uncle Mike's house. They gave you a special gift. A GIANT rabbit named Max. Legend has it that your Super Cousin Chris won this rabbit. For some reason, he's convinced that he does not have space for this beloved creature. Luckily for you your dad LOVES stuff like this so he snatched Max up for you when Super Aunt Cathy offered him to you. I'm guessing that Max has had a wide range of travel and has enjoyed a good life. I'm hoping that we can give him a life just as good. Thanks again, Mike and Cathy for the gift of Max.

Bath time in the camper!!!

Watching fireworks with daddy at the fire station. More of a story to come...

Cousin Finn cutting a rug!

This rather blurry picture is you in your bouncer in the camper. We had to take down the dinette and put you up there because we didn't have very much space. You loved it, but really missed all of the space you have at home to crawl around.

Here you are with Super Cousin Jennifer and Matt. They are the reason that we took you 17 hours away from home in a truck with sketchy air-conditioning and made you sit next to a very smelly 145 pound dog. They do look fairly happy that we made it so it was worth it. Although we never did get to dance with Cousin Jennifer we did see her walk down the aisle which was an event we didn't want to miss.

Okay, the 4th of July story. Promise not to think I'm a horrible mama, okay? First, mom wasn't crazy about going downtown. We were in Kansas City and mom and dad had been lost pretty badly down there on the WRONG side of town a few days before. We had decided not to go. You were tired and so were dad and I. Anyway after hashing it out your dad and I decided that we needed to take you to fireworks on your first Fourth of July. It is a cool holiday and fireworks are the best part. So we loaded up the truck and took you downtown Kansas City at 9:30 at night to see fireworks. Naturally we couldn't find parking anywhere. What were we thinking?!! It was totally crowded and people everywhere were trying to get downtown. Dad drove around a little and went down what appeared to be a rather sketchy looking road. As he was driving down it he even said, "This looks a little sketchy, but I'm going to see where it leads." Low and behold it led us to a tiny parking lot with two spaces available. Your dad pulled in and so did another car. We didn't know what the parking lot was to, but when we looked we noticed it was a fire station. There were some friendly firemen having a BBQ and getting ready for the fireworks. Luckily it seemed safe enough. So we started our trek downtown. As we headed downtown we ran into some pretty sketchy folks. No one who would seem sketchy to me before I had you, but I was full on mama bear at this time. Oh, I forgot to mention that grandma and grandpa Halter were also down there and we were hoping to find them. I thought we were walking towards them, but turns out I wasn't. We had actually gotten on a bus leading to where I thought they were. (I was trying to make my moving dot on my google map meet up with their green dot that wasn't moving.) Alas as we were on the bus auntie Katie called and told me where they were and I finally figured out we needed to head back. We got the driver to let us off of the bus and we ran to the green dot on mama's phone screen. I thought the area looked familiar, and it did. The green dot I was looking at was the spot where we had parked that I had marked as our current location. Luckily, the firefighters were really nice and let us watch from their lawn! It was the PERFECT SEAT. Not too close or loud and we could just jump back in the truck and take off right after it was over. You loved the fireworks too. You just watched and watched. Now for the bad mama part. As we were walking back to the car I drove you off of a curb and you flew out of your stroller as in head first. Fortunately you landed on your new BFF, Jesse, and you landed on your side. Phew! I was so worried that I hurt you badly. You cried a little and once I picked you up you stopped. The firemen were there and we all decided since you were hardly crying and had no marks that you were okay. Lesson learned. Buckle baby in stroller ALWAYS. Oh, and this is a picture of a firetruck coming back to the station as the fireworks were going off. It was very cool. We never did meet up with the others until we were on I-35 South, that is, on our way home.

Happy 4th!

This was your favorite exhibit at the Kansas City Zoo, which was what we did the morning of the fourth. There were Chimps that would come up to the window. Grandpa took some pictures of that.

This is at the reception. Your cousin Vern was quite the dancer! He went right up and danced with this little gal!

Cousin Vern. This kid has mad dance skills.

I love this picture because it was this morning after you woke up from sleeping in your own bed! You were so happy to be home! You crawled and crawled and played with all of your toys! It was really cute.

This little guy, well 900 pound polar bear was one of your favorites to watch at the zoo too. He was so much fun and kept jumping in the water to catch fish!

Here are more pics of Greenville Campground. It used to be a town, but they moved all of the buildings because they kept flooding. The sidewalks are all still there and it is just the coolest place.

Okay, so mama gets a pretty hard time for wearing some short shorts. Now that I look at this picture these shorts are a little too short and maybe need to be retired, but we had a wonderful walk an you LOVED riding in the Moby.

Sleepy baby! This is after you fell out of your stroller at fireworks. You were sleeping with your BFF Jesse who earlier had broken your fall. Jesse has been a good purchase. We got her for you at the Disney Store Outlet in Branson. Branson was an interesting town. Your dad is determined to take you back there to go on go carts, zip lines, and to play minigolf. Personally, I see NO POINT to going to a town where they charge $100 to listen to a cover band and eat dinner, but maybe it will be fun.

This is your Super Cousin Billy and his FIANCE Ashleigh. They have you and Harry. I'm pretty sure they are ready to have twins. We will hopefully be taking Mia and the camper out to their wedding in CALIFORNIA next summer.

Ah, Titanic! One of my many obsessions that I will love to share with you. This is a replica of it and it is 1/2 the size. This is how bit it is compared to dad's truck. It is huge! I can't imagine how huge the real one was. I WOULD return to Branson to show you this for sure. It was wonderful. Oh, and we all survived our journey on Titanic.

This is another pic of Greenville Campground. It is gorgeous. Our trip was a really great experience.I learned quite a bit on our little journey. First, it is okay to be adventurous with a baby. Especially a good baby that is a good traveler! You more than exceeded my expectations which you do daily, so I am not surprised. Also, your Super Aunt Cathy and Super Uncle Mike shared a very good lesson about "writing a better story." And I really think this trip was all about writing a better story. This summer would have been good no matter what. However, by taking this trip we got to write a better story. At times it was hot with no AC, mom wanted to just go home, or just go to bed, but instead we got to write a better story. It is funny how things work out. All of the things I thought would be so horrible really weren't. Even though you cried from Kadoka to home yesterday (and that is a LONG WAY) it wasn't too bad. We made it, and for the most part, we had a blast. Love, Mama