Adventures of the Eubanks

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Julia Turns One!

Our baby girl turned the Big 1 on May 30th. This past year has brought its ups and downs as we adjust to parenthood, but one thing is for sure: Julia, you have your daddy and I wrapped around your little finger! Though you were quite mellow for the first 6 - 8 months of your life, your personality has burst through with constant smiles, talking, laughing, and squealing. You bring us such joy. We love your curiosity, your snuggles, your wet kisses, the sound of your voice, your gorgeous blue eyes, the little curls at the nape of your neck, and well pretty much every other thing about you. You make us smile and laugh all the time, and we are so proud of you. You are such a precious gift from our Lord!

From our perspective, there are only a few things that are still little about Julia. One of those is her tiny precious feet. She's just now in a Size 3 sneaker-style shoe, but her sandals are still a wee Size 2 with room to spare! But for the most part, she seems like such a big girl to us. She:

Walks like a champ

Points to everything in sight

Wants nothing to do with jar food

Often demands to feed herself the table food

Loves to eat with a fork, and enjoys sharing with others:

"Swims" underwater for 5-6 seconds (she actually does kick her legs - like a frog):

Absolutely loves being in the pool

Enjoys crawling up the stairs

Remains fascinated with books. You can put a bucket of books in front of her and it will keep her entertained for a solid 20 minutes as she flips through them. When mommy or daddy sits down with some books, she comes running for us to read to her:

Dances as soon as she hears music (even a store's background music that Jarret and I don't initially notice)

Is ticklish under her arms and will try to hold them down so you can't get her:

Loves kicking balls and is actually pretty good at it

Tries to get to the toilet paper roll when we're not looking or if we forget to close the door:

Has discovered how to throw a tantrum

Squeals and tries to run away when daddy gets her, but absolutely delights in this little game. This is so sweet for me (Katie) because she dives into my chest if I'm sitting or attaches herself to my legs if I'm standing. It was also particularly funny when she was younger, as in the following video, because she wasn't quite good at standing up or running away though she was trying so hard!:

Loves pushing the button to open/close the garage

Is mesmerized by the occasional Baby Einstein video we play for her

Explores every possible cabinet and drawer.

In celebration of the big day, we threw Julia a party at the park with her family and friends. We are so blessed by everyone in her life who has loved, encouraged, and helped us so greatly over this past year-plus.

Julia in her new ride:

Next up: Cake smashing! Well not really. She was quite gentle with it at first, picking off the icing bit by bit. But after a good 10 minutes, the whole cupcake had made it to either her belly or her lap. Suffice it to say the girl enjoyed her sweet treat, and she thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention as everyone sang to her and clapped for her!

The first bite:

Clapping with everyone else whenever they clapped for her:

Hooray-ing for herself:

It tastes better if you rub it together in your hands really well:

Smash it in there girl!:

The grandmothers cleaning her off:

The After Party (family came to the house to open gifts):

"Hooray for presents for me!"

Diggin' in

Excited over the new walking shoes mommy and daddy bought her, or simply high on all the sugar from the cupcake?

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. You are DEARLY loved.

Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Palestine

Still catching up from the last month...

For Memorial Day weekend, we packed up and headed to Lake Palestine for two days. Jarret's family has a group of friends that includes three other families. Luckily, two of those families own property in the same neighborhood at Lake Palestine and so we all got to hang out as a group. The ladies made it required attire for the girls to wear visors and the guys to wear hats with the weekend's theme: Lake-o-rama. Aren't we a classy looking bunch?

Julia had a wonderful time exploring her new castle. We stayed at the Douds' house, who also have grandchildren, and so Julia had no shortage of new toys to play with. Regardless, Elsie (her pink cow) always stays close at hand:

Wandering the deck, peering out, and clearly excited about something as dad caught her mid-clap:

One of the days we headed to the neighborhood pool, which was Julia's first trip to a "real" pool (outdoor, and not the indoor Emler swim school pool). She had fun hanging out in the kiddie pool and in her hippo float, while daddy had fun giving her a mohawk:

Julia's cousins hung out at the pool, too:

Jarret took some cool night shots from the deck:

And on our final day there, we took Julia out in the 3-seat tube for the first time. She seemed to enjoy being at the lake and in the tube, and didn't seem bothered by the tube one bit. That's a good sign!! (L to R: Katie, Kendall, Caden, Julia, Jarret):

Birthday Blog coming soon everyone. I know I'm not speedy Blogger...

Mother's Day

I haven't blogged in a month, so I'm finally going to catch up.

On Sunday evening of Mother's Day, we got together with the Eubanks clan for a Mother's Day celebration. We got a couple cute mommy-daughter and family shots. We also got some cute cousin pics. It's amazing how much Kendall, Caden and even 2-year-old Jacob love on their Jewels.

Above: Walking with Kendall and Caden

Below: With Caden and Jacob

Cousin Jacob loves holding Julia, feeding her, playing with her, and giving her hugs and kisses. Based on this photo alone, I'm not sure the feeling is mutual from Julia's perspective. In truth though, she loves being around her cousins. They keep her quite entertained!

4 generations! Julia with her Gran and Great Gran

To celebrate my mom, we went out just the two of us during the week for some shopping, lunch at Macaroni Grill, and Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D. Thank you so much dad for watching Julia so mom and I could have a truly wonderful celebration. I was in heaven to get out like that during the day!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

With Julia's new confidence in walking everywhere by herself, we thought it would be fun to see her use her skills while dressed in a tutu. A girl after mommy's own dancin' heart.

Enough with the bow, people!

Then today, I had the privilege of watching sweet Haley while her mommy went to a doctor's appointment. Although Julia was supposed to be settling in for a nap, I think she somehow knew her friend was downstairs and proceeded to cry until Haley and I finally got her. The two girls had lots of fun playing together. Just a few pics of how sweet they were together.

We love you Haley! Come back soon!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Community Group Family Cookout

On Saturday, we had a cookout at the Wood's house with our church community group , which includes the Garcias, the Selfs, and the Woods. And while us adults see each other regularly, and we see each other's kiddos often, the kiddos have NEVER all been together at one time...until this time. It was such a blast to have all four families together.

Travis and Aaron working hard at the grill...