Sula is 9 months old!

Sula in deep thought.

Sula helping with laundry.

Sula trying on her new Roxy surfer suit, all ready for the pool.

Last Friday Sula had her 9 month check up. I am proud to report that she is in perfect health. Here are here stats:

Weight: 18 lb 1 oz (37 percentile)

Height: 2' 4.5" (82 percentile)

Head size: 43.2 cm (27 percentile)

Her stats read tall and skinny with a normal sized head!

She is doing the full crawl now and pulling her self up on things. It's a crazy time keeping track of her.

Happy First Birthday Ivy Tierney

Ivy enjoying her first birthday cake.

Look at those baby blues.

Girl power.

We attended Ivy's kid-crazy B-day party today. Many of our friends had baby girls this past year and it is so much fun to watch them grow up.

The Annual Blizz Birthday BBQ

What a nice smile. Do you notice anything different?

The spread, well some of it at least.

Sula eating puffs the day before.

Sula helping her papa open his birthday present.

Happy Birthday Corey (aka papa Blizz)!

Another year, another successful Blizz BBQ. We managed to have lots of fun despite the rainy weather. I will post the recipe for the magical punch we made another time.

Missing Grandpa

Sad news to pass along, my grandpa (Bud) died this past Thursday. The thought that he is really gone is still sinking in. A memorial service is being planned for the first week of July. I am not sure if we are going to be able to make it. No matter what we will be there in spirit.

I am finding a lot of peace and closure in the fact that we got to say good-bye to grandpa over Memorial Day Weekend.

He is loved and will be missed dearly.

Alexis Bailly Vineyards

We enjoyed a lovely picnic with the Trudeau family today at the Alexis Bailly Vineyards. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of Minnesota wines at this vineyard, both red and white. After tasting a variety of wines, ports, and an ice wine, I decided to purchase a bottle of Seyval Blanc. It is a nice crisp white table wine made with a variety of grapes from France that that they no longer cultivate (something about the plants not being hardy enough... too difficult to grow).

And WHOA... what a lucky find at the vineyard, Mary Ann and Jerry Hines (Corey's Godparents)! Lise and I were just checking out the sites and discovered them having a picnic with friends. That just made the day extra good.

New Pictures here!

Lots of firsts

Sula loves the water and took her first swim in a pool during Memorial Day Weekend. She is such a water baby, I can't wait to take her swimming this summer.

Sula is talking, her first official word is CAT. She will also sometimes say "kitty cat". This past weekend she was also saying a lot of "ba ba ba ba," and we think we heard "ba ba ba ba......ra," as in Aunt Barbara, WHOA! No "mama" or "papa" yet. It is so exciting.

Sula is eating puffs and LOVES them.

She is getting around the house now and finding all kinds of things on the floor, including days-old puffs. She hasn't quite mastered the full crawl with her knees up but does really good job doing the army crawl.

New pictures here!

Family Time during Memorial Day Weekend

Sula was crawling all over the place, trying to find trouble and those cats.

Sula taking her very first swim at the hotel with grandpa.

Sula loved playing with grandpa's walker.

Taking a break and watching some news.

Grandpa with Kenton. He really wanted to put his boots on and had so much energy during this day.

We went on a whirl-wind trip to South Dakota during Memorial Day Weekend. Despite bringing along a stomach bug to share, everyone remained in good spirits and tried to make the best out of a tough weekend. Yes that is right, we passed along a nice stomach bug that I think originated with Sula, making just about everyone sick. Thankfully grandpa and Kenton were spared. To make a long story short, it was not a welcome surprise.

Sula kept the mood light with her silly laughs and persistent interest in grandpa's walker and other things around the house. I am so happy that Sula got to meet her great grandpa Stafford. He gave her the nickname, "baldy."

I am thankful we made the trip and got to share a few precious moments with grandpa and the rest of the family.

New pictures here!