Goodbye 2011 ....Happy 2012

We had a wonderful few days leading up to New Years Eve. It feels like a 100 years since I've been to work in the office and I must say having this past week off overall has been great. Here are some pictures leading up to our friend Oliver's birthday party. Oli was due 1 day before or after (we cannot remember) Stella. I'm surprised Oli is almost 1 yrs old but because I'm with Stella everyday, she doesn't seem to age as fast. haha funny how that is. She is really catching onto things - she enjoys putting on and taking off lids especially while eating. She still loves honeydew ..I caught her two fisting as much cut honeydew into her mouth the other day! I was proud of her  at the birthday, there was a guitar singer who did kid songs and when the Itsy Bitsy Spider was sung ...Stella was the only kid (I saw) who did the "wipe the spider move". I might be biased but she works her "one song move"! :)  We've been working on many sign language "signs" too for quite some time to no avail but in the past week she's started consitentaly saying "all done" when she is done eating. We're very proud of her. She knows the Milk sign but has yet to do it and she is waving hello and goodbye here and there. I think what has been most amazing of late is what she understands ...we can say "go pick up your bat" or "get that ball" or "go see mama/dada" and she will it. If I'm in the other room and say, "Stella come here" I can hear the bitter patter on the hardwood floor. The new squeaky shoes we got her for xmas is one of my fav presents. They are seriously the cutestest shoes ever I wish I had gotten black so she could wear them with everything instead of red. Tonight we watch movies, relax (I'm about to get into a hot bath) while Ron takes an "early nap" and I expect to wake him up at midnight to watch the ball drop. Shooot, who am I kidding ....I might need to set the alarm. We're going to church for a short Praise time and then meeting up with our dear friends for a brunch at Henry's. We've never been but we're starving ourselves to eat "all we can" to get our moneys worth as Ron said. :)

Enjoy our last pics of 2011 and Happy New Year! Love - Sequoia, Ron and Stella

I did have to do some work during the week but it was so hard. Here I captured Stella at her "new game" when I pull out laptop. She loves to "type". She is really feeling in and has her eyes closed too.

Baby girl and I went to Chipotle where she ate so much guac that I began to worry what her next diaper was going to look like. She loved the bean and cheese burrito too!

These cute little animals came with her stackable house Laura got her for Christmas and this day she took it along as her friend.



I got this outfit for her at Christmas ..says "1 Perfect Chick" and has a hen with a pink bow on it :)



Another day of the week we just had to get out of the house so we put on Granny Ranson's new pink sweatsuit outfit and went to our local coffee shop Poises where they have a cool kids room. Stella liked to sit at the table and watch the other kids.

On Friday we had to get my car fixed in Beaverton so we asked Godmother Laura and her daughter, Maya to join us for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes ...one of my fav places. Maya's too! haha We enjoyed lunch and Stella loved all the different food at the buffet. She really liked the turkey soup and hardboiled eggs.

Ron and Stella making faces at each other



We stopped to visit Granny Ranson and play for a little bit. Mrs. Ranson has so many glass collectible items strategically placed at eye level that Stella goes seriously coocoo there! We spend the whole time chasing after her and stopping her from breaking everything. I brought 50, 100 million toys but nope, she only wants Granny's glass prayer hands on the coffee table or glass candy bowl.



Oliver's 1st birthday party today, 12/31



My girl in a new dress we got her at Christmas and her purple Converse shoes. They are size 3 and we barely fit so we might need to wear them for the next week before we retire them :)





Stella was the only girl there but she had a great time walking around. It is fun to see everyone's amazement that she walks.



Oliver (birthday boy) and Sarina his mom



Stella and Oli sharin a red ball



Nicely sharing ..pic above is actually Stella teasing Oli that she was going to share.



Here is my girl listening to the guitar singer.



NEW PURPLE EARRINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN THE HOUSE. Belated Christmas gift from Daddy that I found at TJ Maxx.

Bday boy, Oliver. Not yet walking but talking!

Oliver is going after her purple daisy in her hair and she is oblivous and listening to the guitar singer playing with a puzzle piece. The big Melissa and Doug puzzle pieces are great. She often loves to hold one in each hand and smack them together to make a clapping noise. Actually, she likes to do that with anything --smack, smack, smack