Random April Stuff

I made a mistake in deciding which smart phone to get. I should have gotten a better camera and not cared about the skype thing. Oh well, this just means that most of my blog pictures are crappy because I use that camera all the time! Here are some of them from April.

I love it when Elliot cooks. He did these gyros that were, holy crap, so incredibly delicious! I'm not kidding. So good that I took a picture of it.

Malcolm loves Stella (that's also my Instagram name).

Also another Elliot discovery is our new spice rack.  He's pretty excited about it.

I started making my own baby food.  Here's yellow squash and spinach.  Yummy.  Malcolm loves it and it's even good to me because I know exactly what is in it.

Malcolm likes to help with the laundry.

I'm growing my hair out.  I hate it.

Elliot falls asleep almost immediately when he sits down.

Stella officially has big girl teeth.  Still very proud of them.

Malcolm loves his little pony for about one short ride, then he will do anything to dismount.

Bouncing is tiring business.

See, Malcolm loves homemade baby food.

Stella found a new little pet.

I finally helped in Stella's 2nd grade classroom.  I need to be better about doing that.

The Dibble family finally agreed to sing in sacrament meeting.  I've refused for the last several years as my bff asked several times (she was the music person in the Ward), but since she moved I decided to accept as payback for moving.

You can't really read the plate very well, but it says CPTNMAL (pretty sure he's a Firefly fan, as am I).

Oh, it looks like I went back to the gym in April.  That didn't last long.  Malcolm hated the gym.

Big stinky poopy.  And baby butt crack.

I can't remember why they all came, but lots of my cousins were in town in April and we all got together.  If you'll notice, they are all on their phones.

Stella got to play with her cousin too.

And Malcolm got to play with his cousin too.

Who wouldn't love being woken up with a punch to the face?

Such a good sister.

Random

I won't spend too much time on it because I'm not quite ready to talk about it, but I'll just say that my very best friend in the world moved last month. I can't talk about it. But I can talk about her crazy kiddos. I got to watch them while she packed up 9 years of our best friendship and moved . . . fine, it was just 2 miles away, but it's not next door. Don't tell me it's going to be fine because it's just not.

Anyway, Mr. Franks here was being ignored by the girls who were jumping on the trampoline, and I was feeding Malcolm so after a while when I didn't hear him, I decided to check on him. Poor little guy was exhausted. I should have just left him there for his nap. It was so cute.

Maybe a little distance will be good for Macy since I'm sure Stella's weirdness has rubbed off on her.

Stella has been learning a ton about bodies in school. They went through all of the systems of the body and even did a report on the nervous system. She has retained quite a bit more than I expected her to. After the projects were all over, Stella brought home this guy. Actually, it's her and all of her organs. It freaks me out. Stella taped it up on the wall by the piano, so when I'm folding laundry (sometimes after bedtime with very few lights on), I'll look up and just see the skeleton head peeking over the couch. Freaky.

Best pet ever. Stella named it Francis and planned on it becoming Fran when it became a butterfly. It died though. Stella was so excited to have it and even paid attention to it (we can't say so much about her poor beta fish). It got to the point of molting (if that's what you call it) and turned into what looked like a cocoon, but then it kind of just disintegrated.

Stella was pretty sad about it until we found a dead moth on the floor and I told her that it was Fran. She wasn't as sad to see it go (she has an irrational fear of moths).

Never a dull moment with this girl.

Malcolm likes to play cards with us. Stella got the giggles big time.

I don't know. I really don't know.  But I love her.

Malcolm is 7 Months Old!

WAIT! Time is going by way too fast! Malcolm is already 7 months old and next week I'll be doing his 8-month update. Here are some stats and things Mal has done during his 7th month in our family:

I thought Malcolm would even out around the 21 pound mark, but he continued to pack it on during his 7th month. I never weighed him at the end of March, but I'm pretty sure he was at least 23 pounds.

Malcolm has thighs that you could just bite.

Malcolm finally figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. I actually missed it, but made him do it again right after. Malcolm can finally touch his toes . . . and they are amazing.

Malcolm is pretty confident in his sitting up abilities, so I finally let him sit up in the shopping cart. He loved being able to look around more and I tried my best not to barf every time he went in to lick the cart.

We started in on some baby food, all of which he loves after he gets past the first bite.

Malcolm absolutely LOVES his sister . . .
 

. . . even when she dresses him up like a princess. She can procure the best giggles and most excited spasms from our little man child.

He was a champ at his doctors appointment and only cried for 2 seconds when he got his shots.

Malcolm went to the gym with me for the first time and he cried A LOT.

Malcolm can wave his fingers like he's saying "hello" or "goodbye" but he doesn't know what it means yet. He gets pretty passionate about it sometimes.

Malcolm wore shoes for the first time. Kicked them right off.

Malcolm went to his first Spring Training baseball game with the whole Dibble family.

Malcolm is not acting like he interested in crawling yet, but he sure can break dance! He spins on his tummy and rolls around to get everything he wants.

Malcolm tried out the Johnny Jump Up swing and LOVED it! He and Stella had a dance party.

Malcolm still looks at everyone like they are weird . . . well, in this case, he'd be right.

P.S. We love him to pieces.

South Mountain Hike

Elliot had President's Day off, so we went on a hike to South Mountain.

Malcolm slept and sweated the entire time.

Stella wasn't a fan for the first part, but once we stopped for a break and some sustenance, she perked right up and hiked way ahead of us the rest of the way!

Susan's Run 2012

Our whole family ran/walked Susan's 5K Run on February 18, 2012. Stella did a great job!

Special Valentine Date

Valentine's Day has never been one of my favorite holidays (least favorite, if you will), and even since Elliot and I got married I've somehow managed to crap it up one way or another. It was fun to make it special for Elliot and Stella this year.

Elliot asked Stella to go on a special Valentine's date at Dibble Diner. They got all dressed up, we put on some romantic music, and I served them dinner in the living room and I even let them use my China (4th use in 13 years). On the menu:

Appetizers - Nachos

Entree - Subway Sandwiches with chips

Beverage - Crystal Light lemonade packets and/or chocolate milk

Raspberry sorbet to cleanse the pallet.

Malcolm managed the whole situation calmly.

There was a little bit of dancing.

Then Stella caught her date making out with the waitress.

But the night ended well with an episode of Winter Wipeout . . .

. . . and giant heart cookies. And maybe a little bit more making out between the waitress and Stella's date. Happy Valentines Day.