11 months old

11 months old and a post dedicated completely to today!! Matt was skiing with the boys today so McClellan and I had a perfect chance to get in a Mother-Daughter day. Here's is this month's shot ... wanna guess how many "out takes" there are this month? Needless to say McClellan is just as stubborn as I am so taking direction isn't really one of her favorite things. She decided that she would grab a book and read to Charlie. Even though this really didn't fit into my "perfect monthly photo" plan, it actually turned out perfect! This is one of her favorite books so it was only fitting that she grab this one and "read" it to Charlie. She loves pointing out the ladybugs and "counting" them on each page. And sometimes, in the midst of McClellan not following directions, really amazing things happen...like this. I got all choked up when I saw this one in the back of the camera and then again when I downloaded it.

For her "birthday breakfast" I made her a breakfast quesadilla inspired by one of my favorite websites http://weelicious.com/2010/11/29/mexican-egg-cheese-quesadilla/

McClellan took a close look...

and then chowed down. Eating 3/4 of the thing!! It was a soft taco size but pretty full and she went to town! I love that she is such a healthy eater and I love that she has, so far, not turned her nose up to anything.

Afterwards while I was cleaning the kitchen McClellan put on a little concert for me-singing and drumming her way around the kitchen.

And then singing turned into squealing.

Eventually the sunny day turned into a snowy day. McClellan decided to get a closer look at the patio door. She tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue through the glass...and I got no cleaning done because watching her and experiencing the world through her eyes was so much more fun.

How could I clean and miss this?

Looking up trying to watch the snowflakes fall...

Eventually all the fun had to stop and we had to head to my office for awhile. I was sick, seriously sick on Friday with a horrible 24-hour flu, so I had to run in and get an idea of where things stood before walking in there tomorrow. Not my idea of a fun way to spend the day, but when McClellan's around there's always fun to be had!

While I was on the phone with one of the Sergeant's who is testifying for us this week McClellan decided that the buttons on the phone looked like they'd be fun to push...so she did. She found every pen, every piece of paper, every paper clip, every.single.thing. on my desk and "played" with it. So about every other word of my conversation with this Sergeant was interrupted with something like "No. No thank you. Please give that to me..." It was funny, at least to me!

I love how in this picture she looks so serious and so all about business. Maybe I should put her in charge of some of my more difficult cases? With that look maybe she could get witnesses to return their waiver cards and defendants to plead straight up? HA!

After we got home McClellan was ready to crash after delaying her nap for quite a while...so she took a 2 + hour nap while I did some cleaning and cooking.

For dinner McClellan decided to play the "I Spy" game..."I spy asparagus on McClellan's head"...can you find it?

The perfect day with my girl is exactly what it was. I don't get enough of these days so when I do, I soak up every single second.

Happy 11 month birthday McClellan - Thank You for an amazing day!!

*~10 Months Old*~

Note: This is now a month over due...whoops! I had it started, worked on it and never finished it...so here it is, complete or not, in it's "original, unedited format." Our girl is 10 months old today!! I'm not even going to go on with the obligatory "where does the time go, can't believe how fast..." spiel. That's a given. This past month was full of more fun times and more firsts. Here's a peak at some of them... February 13th - McClellan took a look at the stairs and decided they were for climbing! There was no practicing, no trying to figure it out, she just "ran" right up them! Needless to say, those gates are more important than ever now! February 14 - McClellan celebrated her first Valentine's Day and her "school" had a little party-how cute! All the kids passed out little valentines and everyone brought in treats to share. Of course McClellan really couldn't have any of the treats but it was still fun. I had these grand plans to make "Love Bug" cupcakes that were going to be adorable. That was the June Cleaver in me planning though. The real life, working mom however, ended up making these. Very simple. Quick. Easy. Maybe one day I'll be able to pull off those "Love Bug" cupcakes. "Happy Valentine's Day!!" McClellan posing for an early morning shot with she and Daddy's Valentine's Day loot!

February 17 - MiMi came to visit us!! When MiMi comes to visit it means two things. An entire piece of luggage dedicated to just the goodies she brings out for McClellan and that we'll be shopping so that same piece of luggage doesn't go home empty! This trip was no different!

While MiMi was in town we headed to Champs to cheer on the Jayhawks and grab a yummy bite to eat. McClellan loved Rock Chalking with Mimi!

We hit up Snooze for the first, and if I have anything to say about it, LAST time. The wait was ridiculous, the service just "ok" and the food was "whatever"...McClellan however, loved sharing blueberry pancakes with her MiMi.

The weather was gorgeous so we headed to Wash Park for a day in the sun-we did the 4+ mile loop and McClellan got in some good "swing time", it was just what we all needed!

March 2 - We headed up to Estes Park for a weekend getaway. We were in desperate need of some R & R and this was exactly what we needed. We did some shopping in town, some site seeing, some elk watching and most exciting...we took McClellan on her first snowshoe trip! She loved it! The only thing she didn't like was when we would stop to check on her-she just wanted to keep moving!