phoebe's flamingle

To celebrate our baby girl turning ONE,

we threw a Flamingo party!

It was a beautiful day!

It rained right as I had set up everything, but stopped within two minutes.

Then right after we started eating, I looked behind the pool house 

and it was raining -- but somehow, 

it wasn't raining on the pool or the rest of the party!

-- [a little miracle from Mimi, I have no doubt. 

She would have loved this party so much!] --

We had pink cotton candy, and a lemonade bar

crab sandwiches, surf & turf kabobs

shrimp cocktail and ceviche

-- it was all so delicious! --

And to top it all, we had a soft serve machine

full of Pineapple Dole Whip! 

It might have been one of my favorite parts.

We had a "Ring-A-Flamingo" game

and Flamingo Croqette

and of course, a swimming pool full of flamingo toys. 

We are so grateful for our friends and family that celebrated with us!

We truly have the BEST Flock!

I made a pineapple strawberry cake

and made flamingo cupcakes with chocolate wings and fondant heads.

They turned out SO well!

Miss Phoebe wouldn't eat much of her cake without a fork...

Ha! She ended up eating half of the back of the cake.

It was the best day!

Happy Birthday to our Phoebe Girl!

phoebe's one year

A whole year with this darling girl!

Oh, how time is flying -- but we love spending

every minute with our Phoebe Be-Be!

Phoebe is:

... starting to walk! She stands on her own pretty often now, and has started taking a handful of steps by herself. She is ultra confident if she has something to hold on to - fingers, furniture, wagons, and even just a toy in her hand and will walk everywhere - but is starting to spread that confidence to taking steps on her own. She's getting so big! She's completely mastered the stairs -- up and down -- and keeps up with her sisters all day every day.

... getting to be quite an independent eater. She likes to feed herself, and will shake her head if I try to put something in her mouth. But if I hand it to her, she'll shovel it right in by herself and ask  for "more!" She likes to use forks and spoons by herself as well, and is pretty competent at getting food into her mouth. While she is still nursing, she is an excellent eater, and like my other girls, will eat anything with flavor. Some of her favorites are garlic croutons, meat, oranges, broccoli, beans, any fruit, chips and popcorn. 

... proficient in waving and blowing kisses. If I say "bye!" it's like she has an immediate reflex to do one or the other. It's so darling. She also loves to give hugs, and is still the best snuggler. She's such a loving girl!

... a builder. She loves to play with blocks! Anytime the girls are playing with some, she'll race over and build with them for like an hour. She's so intrigued by them, and loves to put them together and take them apart. It's so fun to watch her figure out how things go together. She's such a smart girl. 

... learning new words every day. She's a chatter box and will compete with her sisters when they start singing or yelling... ha. Our house [and often our car] is a cacophony of sound! It's quite entertaining. Phoebe may be the smallest, but her little voice can carry with the biggest and best.

We love this girl so much!

Happy Birthday, Pheebs!

Flashback:

Afton's One Year

Golden's One Year

phoebe's eleven months

I say this every time, 

But I'm r.e.a.l.l.y ready for time to just pause for a bit.

It's flying by too fast, 

and now I have an 11 month old!

 Phoebe is:

... a budding musician. She loves to play the piano, and will sneak up on me while I teach piano lessons and start playing at one end of the keyboard. She loves to feel the rhythm of music and bounces along to the beat anytime she can hear it. And anytime her sisters are singing, she absolutely joins in at the top of her lungs. It's the best!

... a climber. Several times in the last couple weeks, I've found her on a different floor of our house than I put her on. She has mastered climbing stairs [which slightly terrifies me] and is starting to figure out how to get down, as well. She has started climbing up on little chairs and can almost pull herself up on the couch. Her determination is incredible. And her little arms are so strong! She's stood by herself for a little bit, but never wants to show off. But she's walking around anything and everything - including walls! As long as she can touch something, she's up and moving.

... full of personality. She has a little teaser streak that is so charming, and she thinks she is so funny! She knows when she's teasing me and she giggles away. It's so delightful. She

... the cuddly-est little pal. She snuggles me every day, and has started to share her loves and cuddles with others, too. Grammy is her other favorite, [obviously] and she has started to give hugs more freely lately.

... expanding her vocabulary daily. She tries so hard to repeat words with me. Its so fun to see her learn and develop new talents and different ways of communicating. My favorite thing she does right now is when she gets frustrated. She clenches her fists, grits her teeth, tenses her whole body for a second and then yells "AAGH!" -- It's too funny!

Flashback:

Afton's Eleven Months

Golden's Eleven Months

phoebe's ten months

Phoebe is ten months!

Phoebe is:

... everywhere! She crawls like a cheetah, climbs up to anything - tables, chairs, couches, legs... she likes to be on her feet. She's pretty steady now, and her new trick this week has been walking across the room pushing a little wagon. It's pretty impressive! She's getting quite confident in her abilities.

... chatty! She isn't quite forming many actual words yet, but she likes to talk to us all the live long day. She's also realized that she sometimes has to compete to be heard... so we're learning how to use our "nice voices" - ha! She says "mama" and is working on "more," "dad," and she has started trying to get Afton's attention pretty consistently by say "Aah aah" - so we'll see what that turns into.

... a book lover. She loves to read stories, and hold onto books. She is also very insistent on turning pages herself. And she loves pulling all the books off the shelf and laying in them. She's hilarious.

... becoming more friendly. She has had "stranger danger" from the beginning and now, is starting to smile at others without looking for my approval first. She is just a happy little gal, and she beams when people talk to her. Such a darling.

... a teaser. She makes a little scrunch-y nose face and pants when she thinks she's being funny. She likes to play peek-a-boo, and has started hiding things. It's fun seeing her start to interact more with her sisters. It's such a fun age now!

 [^^^ the scrunch-y nose face!]

Life with these girls is so good!

xoxo

Flashback:

Afton's Ten Months

Golden's Ten Months