Build-a-Bear

Marley's Grandma Rimi (my mother) thought it was so cute when she saw all the little kids at the mall holding their Build-a-Bear boxes, so she decided to give that to Marley for her birthday.





Marley picked out her 'bear' (which was a Hello Kitty).






Then she got to pick out the noise it made (which was a meowing cat) & put it in the Hello Kitty's foot.

Then she got to help put stuffing in the Hello Kitty.

Before finishing putting in the stuffing, she got to add a heart.

Then she gave it an 'bath' with a blast of air.

Then she picked out some clothes, shoes, & underwear.

It turned out so cute!

She typed up a birth certificate for her Build-a-Bear & named it 'Marley'.

Then she got to ring the birthday bell.

Even though she loved Build-a-Bear. I think her favorite part was playing in the mall's play area!

Bumbo Buddies

Look at these little bald heads: Grace on the left and Evey Stephens on the right.  They look so cute together!

Sunnies

Marley found these sun glasses that I got her awhile back when she was much smaller. Of course, she had to try them on, and they really look goofy! Much too small!




FIRST BABY FOOD

This is Grace's first experience with food, other than breast milk. I made some pears into baby food. She seemed to enjoy it a lot. However, she, like Marley, skipped over baby food. She really didn't want to eat baby food much when she realized that she could eat more 'regular' food. So after the first few times of eating baby food, I gave up & started feeding her more table foods that were small & more soft.

Since I was taking pictures of Grace eating, Marley thought she need to have her picture taken as well. She's so funny! I love this girl!

MOPPIN'

Mack will come over every once-in-awhile when his mom, Maren, has to go somewhere. Both Marley & Mack saw the mop & broom (aka what Marley calls her 'sweep'), and they had to go around the house & pretend like they were cleaning. If only they would really clean! That would be lovely!

NEIGHBORS & FRIENDS

This year has been a hard one for our church ward. We have had several people near & dear to our family pass away. Even though I love our ward & the friends & neighbors we have, it is very hard to have so many more funerals than baby blessings!!! One particularly lovely lady was Marge Nelson. When we first moved in she immediately came up to us & told us that she was a Yeates as well (Kevin's mother's side of the family are Yates, spelled a bit differently that Marge's). So we always called her 'Sister Yeates'. She had a fiery personality & we loved visiting & talking to her!! We will miss her so much!!

One of our friends who passed away this year came as a shock. Even though Wendall was older, his death was so unexpected. He developed a cough that turned into pneumonia & within a week, he was gone. I was so shocked to hear the news that I broke out into tears. He was such a wonderful person. He was always so sweet & conscientious with his lovely wife, Eda. He had a great sense of humor & always had a Werther's candy for Marley at church. When we'd visit, he had great stories about the various things he did through out his life. We loved him so much, & will miss him so much (I close to tearing up as I type this...)

Booty-licious!

Marley has doing pretty well at potty-training & is really good about making sure she washes her hands, but not so good at putting her pants back on after using the restroom!!



Play Time




Since Marley's room has most of the toys & it makes the messes more easily contained, we play in her room a lot!!





Miss Puppy Girl

I just love how easily Grace is to smile. It rarely takes a lot of work to get her to smile, unless she's tired or hungry. Otherwise, she is so willing to smile! I sometimes call her a 'puppy' because she's as cute as a little puppy!

Marley & Grace

Does Grace look super surprised? I don't know why she looks so surprised!


Looking as these pictures & pictures of Marley at this age, I can't believe how bald Grace is compared to Marley! She doesn't have nearly as much hair as Marley did!

Since I was taking pictures of Grace, Marley wanted me to take hers as well!

Sweet Girl

I love my darling little Grace. She's so sweet & adorable. It is so easy to get her to smile & laugh! I love it!!




Pretty Lips


Marley isn't new to the application of lipstick. Ever since she was really little, she has always liked putting it on & I have lots of photos of that. But I had to take a picture of this particular lipstick application because I couldn't believe how well she had put it on. Most it made it onto her lips versus the rest of her face!





BITTY BABY

Marley will often play with her Bitty Baby. I found her carrying it around & giving it hugs & kisses!

Egg Boobies

As with most kids, Marley is always doing goofy, silly things. She has several plastic eggs that she is always playing "Easter Egg Hunt" with by hiding them all over the house & taking a little Easter basket around to find them (she sometimes likes me to hid them so she can find them or she wants to hide them so I can find them). Well one day, she though she'd play a little differently! She put plastic egg halves under her shirt so she would have "egg boobs"! She never fails to make me laugh!



SLEEPY-TIME



Occasionally, Marley will put herself down for a nap if she's feeling tired, even if I don't ask her too. Since it was so quiet in her bedroom, I had to investigate, & this is what I found!! She fell asleep among her dolls & stuffed animals!




A HAIRY MESS


I love Marley's hair after a nap! It get so messy and unruly!

Pretty as a Picture

My friend Meriann has all of this fabulous camera & lighting equipment that she was so gracious enough to let us utilize for pictures of Marley & Grace. Some of these pictures turned out well! Some are a bit goofy!!


This was Marley's version of a 'surprise' face...doesn't she looked surprised?


Marley looks cute, but I wish her smile was more genuine & not so phony looking!


This smile is much better!


I don't know if it's how she's positioned, sitting, her face or a combo of everything, but I LOVE this picture of Grace!


This is a cute one as well!

Meriann took SEVERAL pictures of the girls together, and this was the best one there was! I guess I can't expect the girls to cooperate as much as I'd like!

I really like this one of Marley!!

This is Marley's version of a 'sad' face...very cute!

THUMBSUCKER

Marley attempted to suck her thumb when she was an infant, and it looks like Grace is trying to do the same. Even though it looks so cute, I refuse to let them suck their thumbs as it can cause so many problems as they grow older. Grace HATED the binky but I persisted making her use it and she will now use it for sleep, but for sleep only. She refuses to use it any other time, which is fine for me because I really only want her to use for sleep anyway!!

WATERING CAN

Marley got a new little watering can. The large one that we actually use for the garden was much to bulky for her to use so I got her a smaller one, since she loves to water the garden. Apparently she likes to water other things as well. She had filled up her watering can and was watering all the dried flower that I have downstairs by the fire place because she thought they needed to be watered!!

MY LITTLE GALS

I caught Marley playing with Grace on the bed & thought, photo op! These gals are so cute, although I'm a bit biased!!

JUST LOUNGIN'

Even though Marley likes to be girlie and dress up, she's also all for comfort & relaxation. She loves to lounge in her mini recliner!

BASKETBALL LEAGUE

(where has-been basketball players attempt to one-up each other in a stuffy, sweaty middle school gym!)

My brother Seth got Kevin to join an adult version of Jr. Jazz Basketball league. I didn't get to go to many games because it was always in Provo & the games were always around 8 pm, which is too late with the girls (I mean how old do I sound? Eight o'clock being too late? Oi vey!) It was fun being able to watch them play. They made it to the 'finals' but unfortunately were barred from finishing due to an unfortunate issues with uncontrolled anger (and, no, it was NOT Kevin who got them tossed!)