Family Pic...

We finally got around to taking a little family pic for our Christmas cards a while ago and I figured I should put it up on blog as well!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Self's!

Rock Gym fun...

We took advantage of the rainy day today and hit the rock gym... Everyone hit the wall and did some climbing, even my Granny and Aunt Terri! My cousin Cam even climbed all the way to the top of the big wall!! As for me I hit the slack line and small wall...(and did a lot of running around of course).... And as usual Caitlyn found a way to fend for herself amongst the craziness and had fun exploring the gym a bit too. :) Check out the videos below to see Caits and I in action... :) More Rock gym pics here

Christmas 2010

Santa came! Just like mom and dad said he would ... he even liked my cookies :)... He brought SO many gifts - I'm not sure HOW he carried all of them in his little sleigh.. our living room was over flowing with gifts and our stockings were stuffed full too. Everyone was there when I woke up (even my Uncle John and Aunt Jennifer who don't tend to be early risers :) They must have been excited to see what Santa brought too!




We all had tons of fun opening gifts and playing with our new toys. Caitlyn loved it too... She especially loved our new play tent - we couldn't keep her out of it!! She was everywhere... helping everyone with their gifts and opening a few of her own. Here's just a couple pics - you should go to our flickr page to see the rest... View Christmas Photo's

Christmas Rocks!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I learned all about Santa this year. I learned that he flies through the sky with his reindeer, comes down our chimney, and leaves us presents if we're good!! I made some special cookies to leave out for him with some milk because he loves to eat them (I told my mom and dad that that's why his belly is so big!!). We also made sure our chimney was clear so he for sure could get down it...



I was super excited when I went to bed... I told mom that I wanted to see Santa... but she said he would only come if I was sleeping so off to sleep I went... I told her that he would say "Ho Ho Ho" when he came and she agreed :)

Our very own Christmas tree

Since we would be hosting Christmas this year we had to hit the tree farm to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. We searched long and hard and finally found one that was just right :). Dad got the saw they gave us and began sawing it down.. and sawing... and sawing... but nothing happened? Luckily he came prepared with his OWN saw which he went and got from the van... back to sawing he went, but this time if fell down in like 3 seconds!! Maybe it was the saw after all :)
Once we got the tree all sorted I got to go check out the baby pigs, chickens, goats and a donkey. They were all so cute.. especially the baby pigs!!

It was a fun farm to go visit and everyone was super nice and helpful (Plumper's farm). Even Santa must think so because he took the day off to hang out there all day long!! (I waved to him :)

Cait's 9 months!

Well, it's been way too long since I've updated the blog!! Let's see, what all do I need to catch you up on... oh I know, Caitlyn turned 9 months old!! She weighed in at 20lbs and is 29 inches long at her 9 month appt... (so that's 60 percentile weight and 80 percentile length) .

She loves to crawl around the house and explore everything... and does not like to miss out in the action - she's always finding a way to get into the mix. She's a pretty good cruiser too... and also learned the but spin from her friend Thijs at school. Between the 3, she can get just about anywhere in a jiffy!! Oh - and I think she actually balanced standing up for a couple seconds the other day!

She's also pretty good at feeding herself these days... as far as her favorite toys - it's hard to tell but she does tend to carry around my doll with her around the house - oh and she loves to play with my magnetic letters too - I'm teaching her to spell her name :). Most of all she likes to hang with her big sis!! :)

Ready for a parade...

Caitlyn has discovered how to wave!! She's waves all day long and will usually wave back to you if you wave at her.. I have to admit it is quite cute... Here's a little video my mom caught of her... also note her curiosity of the stairs - she's climbed 2 stairs (and then proceeds to try to sit down and clap at which point someone has to catch her :).

Making progress...

Dad and I went for a bike ride and I went all the way around the block!! that's progress right...?

Tree lighting

We kicked off the Christmas season with a little tree lighting on Mississippi! There were dancers, singing, and of course the main event - the tree lighting!!! Check me out with Santa's singing "elves".... Bailey was there too! How cool are we in our matching coats and cute hats?!?

Giving Thanks...

I figured I should probably give you a little update on our Thanksgiving..! We had a super fun day... my dad made this HUGE turkey (..."Hey Mr. Turkey, how are you?".... sorry I tend to break out that song whenever I hear the word "turkey"... let's just say I sang that sound A LOT that day :)

After setting off the smoke alarm a few times and airing out the house, we ended up with a pretty darn good turkey.. ("Hellow Mr. Turkey, how are you?"... :). My friends Bailey and Parker came over the spend the day with us. We had a ton of fun... Bailey and I played non-stop all day long (I'm not sure who was more excited...us or our parents!!) We took care of our dolls, played in my room, jumped on the futon... I'm pretty thankful for having Bailey as a friend!


We had a great dinner and even Caitlyn got to partake! She had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry, stuffing, and pumpkin pie (which was by far her favorite item :).


After dinner we had some "chill" time on the couch and watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" it was a perfect way to end the day!

Caits in action!

Caitlyn has been on the move big time lately... She's crawling, standing, pushing stools, and even plays with the pups! I thought we should give you a little taste of her in action :)

5 Little pumpkins...

Break-through week...

I just had to share that I wore underwear to school 3 days last week!! And didn't have any accidents!! I think my teachers were shocked because I never used the toilet at school (why use the toilet when you can just user your diaper ?? :).... So I think when my mom told them that I was going to go diaper free they were a bit skeptical - but I made them believers :)... I was pretty excited to were underwear - I was sure to tell everyone in the class as soon as I got there ... "I'm wearing underwear!!!" We'll see if I can do a whole week next week!!

Caitlyn's 8 months old!

You should see my little sister these days... She's doing so much I can barely believe it!! She's pretty much mastered the "army crawl" - can spin on a dime, and be anywhere she wants to be in about 10 seconds.. She likes to sit up and clap alot too.... She trying to figure out how to feed herself but she still needs a bit of help so I try to help when I can. (plus I can sneak some yummy bites for myself as well :).
We had to lower her crib down because we kept finding her standing up in her crib. That's her latest gig - she loves to pull herself up on stuff. The bathtub is a favorite for sure... but the drawer under the stove and the coffee table work pretty well too... I even saw her take some steps pushing a stool across the kitchen!



The best part about watching her pull up on things is that she tries soo hard to get up there (grunting and groaning) and then once she's up she gets this huge grin (she's so proud of herself :). I'm pretty proud of her!

Trick-r-Treat!

Well, It's official - I fully took advantage of the whole Trick-r-Treat thing this year!! I even got to indulge in loads of chocolate that all sorts of nice people handed out to me just for standing there and smiling at them... probably helped that I looked pretty cute in my butterfly wings :) Some houses seemed a bit scary so I opted out on those, but for the houses that looked "friendly" I hung with the crew and waited my turn to get a fun treat. Caitlyn went too - but she's not old enough (like me:) to get candy yet... Maybe next year Caits!!

We were a pretty cute pair though as butterflies...(If I do say so myself!)... Dad on the other hand, now that was a different story!!

Colorado Visit!

I had SO MUCH FUN in Colorado! I was a bit under the weather the day we flew out but I made it through the flight w/o having to use the little white bag (which my mom was very relieved about!!)... Caitlyn and I got to spend lots of time with Yiayia and Papou since my mom was working from Colorado. We went on lots of fun walks, played at the playground and did some really fun "projects" at the house like making play-doh and baking cookies :).
I got to hang out with my best-bud Sam who moved to Colorado a few months ago. We haven't seen each other for a while, but you would never know it ... we picked up just where left off being silly, making each other laugh, and having tons of fun. He's a big brother now too, so we have that in common too! Charlie (Sam's little brother) and Caitlyn got some quality time together too on a nice little hike in the Boulder foothills....they seemed to have lots of fun and I think they liked each other... :)




I also got to spend the weekend with my cousins Leo and TJ. We had tons of fun playing at the house, hanging at the playground and having dinners together. I don't get to see my cousins much, so it was super great to get so much time together.

Yiayia and I had a special outing to the Butterfly muesem. It pretty much sealed the deal that I was going to be a butterfly for Halloween... I was on the fence, but once I saw all the beautiful butterlies I decided I HAD to be one! I decided Caitlyn should be one too :)

Colorado sure was beautiful and tons of fun!! Can't wait to go back!

Pumpkin Patch Fun...

Caits first road trip!!

Caitlyn got to experience her first road trip this weekend! We all packed up and headed to Boise for our cousin Jerome's wedding. She did pretty well on the drive - we only had to make one stop (I gave her some tips on how to keep yourself entertained while in the car - see my Jan 1 post.) I think the highlight was when dad climbed into the back seat with us... I was impressed that he fit between our car seats!!
We had a great time in Boise - we hit up the Farmer's Market, checked out the views from Bogus Basin, and went to a Football Game!! I loved the market and the "hike" was cool and all but the BSU game was definitely the highlight. I LOVED it!! I cheered really loud, danced to the band, and even got to see a horse run on the field!! I've even been working on my football stance. Watch out!!





The wedding was great too... Caitlyn decided to chime in here and there during the ceremony so I tried to do what I could to keep her quiet. I think I was a big help, but not sure mom and dad would agree :)

It was fun to hang out with David & Helen and Jerome & Jackie they are super sweet and take good care of Caits and I. I also got to meet my dad's cousins Gwen & Phil - I loved hanging out with Gwen - she was super fun! see ALL the pics here!