Mini-Mehok-Mohawk

Who loves bath time?

Julia does!

I combed her hair up in a mohawk.

A Mini-Mehok-Mohawk, to be exact.

Julia was loving bath time even more than normal on this particular day. Her puney fingers were so pruney, I had to take a picture.

Halloween

Better late than never, I say. Oh well. If you can't tell, Julia was a monkey for halloween. I wanted a costume that fit her personality, and she is certainly more of a monkey than anything else.

Playing on Nana's decorations.

Lifting pumpkins is serious work! That's one strong monkey.

John gave Julia this piece of licorice when we started out and she actually ate the whole thing. Of course it was a slimy, slobbery, mess by the end of it, but she had fun.

And they're off...pink princess trick or treat bucket courtesy of Grandma Marlene. Julia spent the morning with her and they went all over the place filling her bucket.

Posing with Pebbles. Kristen took Julia with her and her friend to go trick or treating. John just took her to a few houses at 5 and then he had to go to work. So Kristen took her, without a stroller, and they were gone a long time. I couldn't believe how good she said she was.

Now, when we were kids they were called candy cigarettes. Some even had paper wrapped around them and a powdery coating that puffed like smoke when you blew on them. I suppose that's no onger appropriate because the box these came in just said "Candy Sticks". We ate them as kids and I like to think we turned out okay. I've never had a desire to try a real cigarette. Anywho, I let her have it because it was one of the softer things I knew she could eat. This photo op was too hilarious, though. If I catch her like this in 15 years, watch out!

My Growing Pumpkin

October 31, 2007

October 25, 2008

My, how my little pumpkin has grown!

Oh, the Personality!

My Gulley Grandparents got Julia this chair for her birthday. She loves climbing on it, it's so funny. I was out of the room the other day when she got quiet for a while. When I came in to check on her, I found her in this chair (which she got into herself), wearing all these necklaces (which she put on herself). And when I got the camera to take a picture, just one, she started making so many faces and performing acrobatics that I took ten instead! Here are a few. No doubt this child has a personality all her own.

Pumpkin Pickin'

These are some pictures of the day we took Julia to Scheeringa's big pumpkin pile to pick a pumpkin. We posed on the big pile (With the sign in the background that said not to climb on the pumpkins, oops!), and then she picked a smaller one with Daddy that she didn't want to let go of!

She wouldn't smile, probably because it was freezing, but funny faces are cute, too!

My Sweetest

Roof day also happened to be Sweetest Day. Now, Sweetest Day is a Hallmark holiday, that much is understood by both my husband and I. It is not something we observe. I wouldn't have even remembered it if I hadn't been at the hallmark store anyway getting a baby card and a birthday card. But since I was there, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get my man a card. I did it because I love him, but I was fully expecting nothing in return, least of all, more than I put out. But, come Friday night, in walks my husband, returning from work with yellow roses and taffy apples, two of my favorites. Needless to say, my card paled in comparison. Now, I could care less about Sweetest Day, but as for My Sweetest, I couldn't love him more.

Donut Dialogue

Blaine: "Julia, would you like some donut?"

Julia: "Oh, I suppose I'll have a bite."

"Actually, maybe I should take that."

"Okay, this is better than I thought!"

"Mmm..."

Roof Day

On October 18, we had a new roof put on. The Builders for Christ group from our church came and did the labor. They are a missions team that goes every June to help build churches across the country. They also do work for church members sometimes. And no, we're obviously not needy (although who isn't at least a little needy, really?), so we're donating to their cause as a thank you for all the help. And when I say "all the help", I mean all of it! They showed up at our house bright and early with more people than I could have imagined. I think there were somewhere between 25 and 30 volunteers here. It was humbling to see them all work. They had the old roof scraped off in minutes, it seemed like. Those that couldn't be up on the roof took loads to the dumpster and cleaned up nails. It was a sight to behold. Thank you so much Builders for Christ!

Julia slept through the noise at first, incredibly.

Here they are, all in row, scraping the old shingles off.

Julia kept trying to reach all the people up high. She's smart enough to know that people aren't supposed to be up there!

Kristen took this picture of John.

This contraption looks like a ladder, but it's motorized and it has a plate on it that they loaded the shingles on and then it lifted them all the way up to be unloaded.

Kristen loved being up there.

What's this? Supervisors' meeting?

All jokes aside, they could be discussing the fact that we're running out of shingles. We were just short, but John took a trip to Menards and came up with the last few we needed.

Rich, Blaine, Chris, and my Grandpa Gulley stuck around to tack down the last few. Thanks, guys, for seeing it through!

Towel Dried

Too cute not to share. I think this photo captures her "wild child" personality well!

Jeep Jamboree (Last Day)

Before hitting the road to home, we stopped by the Ranch where the Jamboree was held to take some pictures by the covered bridge just inside the entrance. You can't come to this part of the state and not get a picture of a covered bridge!

We're microscopic, but there! John put the camera on the bumper of the truck parked way down the road, set the timer, and ran to us before it took. Julia was cracking up. (Okay, maybe I laughed, too!)

These next photos were the kind that just sort of happen, and I absolutely love them. And since I know I'm not the world's greatest photographer, I just must have the world's cutest baby for these to look so good!

Jeep Jamboree (Day 2)

Yeah, come Saturday morning, Julia was tired! Sleeping in the hotel room was rough. She's old enough now to know her own bed and bedroom and she did not enjoy sleeping elsewhere, even in bed with us. Consequently, John and I didn't sleep well either. But come dawn, or before it really, we were on the go again. Julia slept on the way to the "barn" for breakfast and most of the first leg of the trail rides. She needed it!

As you can tell, she looks a tad unhappy. Or like she's sleeping with her eyes open.

This is John's brother's Jeep. He and his girlfriend Reyna were there with us.

Hi Reyna! Say cheese! We took many pictures of each other. That's the trouble with photographing Jeep adventures, you get the best pictures of other Jeeps. I also spend a lot of time getting in and out to play photographer.

Quick family shot.

It was cool in the morning and then really warmed up that afternoon, so people were ditching there doors all over the field we parked and picnicked in. I thought it was funny to see them there. The red ones are John's of course.

Cool photo. The trees were cut in this area to lay a pipeline. We were moving from one trail to the next.

Oh, you know me and random flower pictures. They're weeds, I'm sure, but I love taking pictures of flowers away from home.

Eeek! No caption necessary.

(No Jeeps were harmed in the making of this photo)

Have I mentioned how much I love baby toes?! Especially MY baby's toes!

I'd say she looks relaxed, wouldn't you?