Happy Birthday, Maile!

Before too much time goes by, I wanted to post our pictures from Maile's birthday.  Due to a variety of illness, we had a smaller than planned birthday celebration.  Our little princess was even fighting off a double ear infection.  Despite nearly everyone in the family fighting off something, we still had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday.

Over the weekend, we had a mini Luau with Jodie's parents.  Her Dad had business trip in Dallas that just happened to coincide perfectly.  Here's our little birthday girl.

She got a little help from her brother blowing out the candle.

I believe this was the first time she had a frosted cupcake- she was definitely fascinated by the frosting.

Especially stamping it across the tray on her high chair.

It didn't take too long for her to start attacking it.

Enjoying every moment...

...and not being shy about it...

...well, maybe a little.

When it came time to open presents, Joseph started getting a little impatient and started jumping in to help her.

Pretty soon she started getting the hang of it on her own.

On her birthday, we had another small little celebration for her.  

Joseph was more than willing to help her blow out her candle.

She wasn't quite as sure about the cupcake on her birthday.

But she was all about the ice cream.

This time around, Maile was a little more prepared for the presents.

However, brother was still more than happy to assist her opening presents.

 He also had to inspect them first too.

It was definitely a fun-filled day.

1 year older and wiser too!

Happy birthday, Maile!

It is hard to think that this little girl joined our family a year ago.  It has definitely been an exciting adventure to go from this...

To this...

Happy birthday, Maile!

Walking with Style

Before I get into the main reason for the blog post, I wanted to do a few other catch-up pictures.

We were at Toys-R-Us the other day because Joseph needed a birthday gift for a friend's party.  While we were at the store, he says, "Look, Grandpa's jeep!"  He was pretty excited to see one his size.

A few days ago, we decided to have some ice for dessert.  Maile was in heaven- she even used her spoon.

However, with mixed results.

However, the spoon just wasn't quick enough- so she just picked up the bowl and drank it.

After seeing her success, Joseph decided to follow suit too.

Last week I got a fun visit at work too.

Over the past little bit, Joseph has been very interested in playing my guitar.  So, we've been working on strumming.

So, the main reason for this post is Maile has taken off walking this week.  She's been taking a few steps, standing, but not really going too far.  One day this week when I get home from work, she was walking around the kitchen and then to the front room.  I commented to Jodie and she said that she had been doing that all day.  Ever since then, she has been walking almost exclusively and even standing up on her own without any support.

Here's our star...

...walking in style.

Yesterday, I caught her taking a quick break from walking to talk to "Da da" on the phone.

She also found some bags to go shopping.

Later that night, Maile started pushing Joseph around on his truck.

Both of them were having a blast with it.

These last two pictures from today made me laugh.  Joseph was wearing his cowboy outfit, but was wearing his hat sideways.

Meanwhile, Maile was rocking it with her own style.

11 Months Old

Seeing as her birthday is practically around the corner, I decided I needed to get on top of things and finally send out her 11 month old picture.