Monday, June 28, 2010

My Birthday Invite

Mom made this adorable birthday invite, and even though we can't invite everyone (I tried, mom and dad said no). We thought everyone could appreciate the invite.
We will update this week with a couple of pictures from my and Dad's big weekend and mom and I trying out my new bike trailer.


Monday, June 21, 2010

Father's Day Weekend 2010

We had another fun weekend around the Gerken house. Dad had Friday off to watch USA play World Cup soccer. So we all had an extended weekend. Daddy was not to happy at the referee of the game, I guess our team should have won, but insted tied. I don't much care about the game, but it was fun to play with Dad's USA scarf. I hear we have 3 more weeks of soccer to watch.
On Saturday we got up early and headed to Joliet for Dad to run in a Warrior Dash. I've been to races to watch Dad before and none have been quite like this. I also got my first ride on a school bus. No carseats, no seatbelts, just sitting on mom's lap and looking out the window. It was so cool to be able to see everything passing us by. So we rode the bus to the race site and then we waited for Dad's time to start. Ther was a band playing (Dad said they were horrible). I thought the music was great and we danced around. Here I am posing with Dad pre-race.See how good Dad looks before the race, now look at after the race. I told you it was like no other race we've been to.Umm, Dad what is that stuff on your face? You are filthy I think you need a bath.So you might ask yourself how he got so messy. Well, the warrior dash is a 5K that includes obstacles like climbing over hay bales, up a rope ladder, across planks, jumping fire, under barbed wire through mud, over hills, over cars, etc. Mom and I weren't able to see all of the obstacles, but we did see Dad on the rope ladder, jumping fire and going under the barbed wire. It looked like a lot of fun and I kept begging mom to let me get out of my stroller and play, but she wouldn't let me. Since it had rained for days before the event, even the spectator area was muddy. When we got home we even had to hose down my stroller. (Dad is the one jumping over fire on the right in this picture)Here's Dad climbing through the mud under the barbed wire. I'm a champion crawler, I bet I could have beaten him at this obstacle.After the race Dad had to get cleaned up, good thing I brought my baby wipes with me. While he got cleaned up and changed I hung out in the car making some important phone calls and catching up with text messages.On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day by having Grandma and Grandpa Gerken, Gigi, Uncle Brett, Bakka, Aunt Jen, Isaac, Ellie, Uncle Doug, Aunt Chris, and Emily over. It was fun, but we missed Uncle Andrew, Aunt Wendy, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kim, Gramma, Carly and Molly (I hear this is my newest cousin, but I haven't met her yet). Daddy picked out my outfit for today, and everyone loved my party dress.
Before everyone arrived, Gretchen and I played outside. She played ball and I played cars and bubbles. Big news, I like bubbles now. They used to scare me, but not anymore. I even tried to eat them.These are the cupcakes mom made for Father's Day. She has been taking a cake decorating class. I guess that is her excuse for why there haven't been as many pictures taken of me lately. Luckily, the class is almost over and we can get that problem fixed. I hear she has an idea already for my first birthday cake, but she won't tell me. Ooh I can't wait to see it!Sorry no good pictures of the actual event because Dad was busy grilling and mom was busy getting everything set up. I guess I need to learn how to use the camera so I can be the photographer while they work. Hmmm, maybe we should hire a photographer to take the pictures of my first birthday party. Anyways, after everyone left, we watched Aladdin (well Mom and Dad watched while I played, though I did stop to dance whenever a song came on). Notice Dad has ice on his knee....an injury from that crazy warrior dash!One last picture that dad snapped while I was hosting a tea party. I invited Mommy, Gretchen and Bear, it was a wonderful event with tea and cookies.
I hope you enjoyed my update, who knows what our next update might entail. Mom is headed out of town for a girls 30th birthday weekend while Dad and I are left to hold down the fort. Oh boy it's going to be crazy!







Sunday, June 13, 2010

Trucks, Cars, and Farms...what more could a girl ask for?!?

I've been busy the last couple of weeks, playing, working on my crawling and my standing. Mom and Dad thought we should update with some pictures and video though of what I've been up to.

I am very mischievous these days. I have taken a liking to Gretchen's food and Mom and Dad don't like that. One day mom ran out to the car to get groceries (she was gone like 15 seconds) by the time she got back I had shut the back door on her, to buy myself some escape time. By the time she got the door open with all the groceries in her hand I was making a mad dash out of the kitchen. Mom knew something was up so she ran after me and she busted me. I had four pieces of dog food in my mouth. I have to work on my escape better. I also really enjoy taking all the books off my book shelf. Often times when mom and dad can't find me I'm sitting in the dark in my room reading my books and taking them off the shelves. I'm such a good reader, so they don't complain.
While Dad was at another work conference Mom and I headed to Dixon for my cousin Emily's Baptism. Here I am with my Aunt Jen and the cousins who were there that day. I really like Emily's hair, so I'm trying to pull it in this picture.
Isaac loves to play with me. He even unloaded what he was hauling so he could give me a ride.I also brought my car to show Isaac and then he showed me these cool dump trucks. We had a good time playing together at the farm. It was a little wet to play at Bakka Park so we just played on the patio instead.
Mom and I have Fridays in the summer off so we get to hit up all the garage sales early in the morning. This past Friday we hit the jackpot. We got a little people farm, a little people car wash (with all the cars, animals, and people) and a fridge farm all for $9. Mom later found out brand new the toys are worth over $100, yep we're bargain shoppers. While I napped mom washed it all and boy was I excited when I got to play with all my new toys. I even decided to wear my farm girl outfit today to fit in with my toys!
On Saturday my friend Kayleigh, who is 6 months older than me, came over to play. She is shy and it took her awhile to warm up to me; I guess part of that could be because I was really excited that she came and I couldn't stop touching her and the neat buttons on her shirt. I guess no one can call me shy. We had a fun afternoon until I got grumpy. What can I say when I'm tired, I'm tired, I hear I get that from my mom.
See all four of my teeth. I'm pretty proud of them and know mom and dad let me have cheese. It is sooooo yummy, and I found out Gretchen likes it just as much as me!

In other news I started standing on my own this weekend. It started with just a few seconds, but now I can stand for almost a minute, but usually when I realize that I'm doing it I get nervous and grab for something or sit down. Mom and Dad keep saying how big I'm getting.

And now some vidoes. The first one is of me demonstrating how I can climb stairs now. The one bad thing is I climb one stair and then want to sit down, which usually means falling backwards.



This video is of my trying out my rocking chair for the first time. The very first time I sat in it I figured out how to make it rock. Yep, I'm a genius!



Uncle Brett came to visit this past weekend to watch World Cup Soccer with dad, but he had some free time to play with me too. We were so busy we didn't get any pictures, but did get this fun video of the two of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKHyP3n8hLo

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

A Relaxing Weekend

Before the new update, I forgot to post my 10 month picture! Can you believe it I'm 10 months old, almost time for my first birthday party!
Last week was a long week of everyone in our house being sick, so we decided to spend the entire weekend at home relaxing, catching up on sleep, and getting healthy. It was so much fun and now we all feel better. Mom fed me prunes for the first time and I liked them. They were so messy that I decided to try to condition my hair with them. Bonus after doing that I got to get a bath; what better way to cool off. It was a hot weekend in DeKalb and Mom and Dad said no air conditioning yet. Mom is so excited about all the hair I'm finally getting that she decided to try out a new hairstyle. Gretchen and I love to play together, but she loves to play run away best. I don't understand why she always runs away from me. I even pick up her toys and bring them to her, but she just runs and hides. I even help her by emptying her toy basket for her, I'm such a good little sister.


I think Gretchen's tail is the coolest thing ever. It swings back and forth very fast, it's like it's tempting me to grab it. I can't help myself.Ha. I got the tail, now what do I do with it? Luckily Gretchen tolerates me very well. Lately though I'm not allowed in the kitchen when she eats because I like to interrupt her eating and she doesn't like that. I also LOVE her water bowl. It's soooo much fun to dump over and splash the water on the kitchen floor. For some reason Mom and Dad don't think it's as much fun as I do, and I even heard Dad's mean voice a couple times this weekend. I don't like that voice. He told me NO! Wait until I tell my Grandmas about that, they are not going to be happy that he was so mean to me.Gretchen relaxing from the tiring weekend spent with me. I guess she didn't want me to take any of her toys, she was guarding them all. I love to stand at the door and look out. Usually I bang on the window and talk to everyone walking by. There is always something to watch at the park across the street.






Here are some videos of this weekend since many of you haven't seen me in awhile I wanted to show you how big I'm getting. I even play with cars now! Mom and I are getting ready for some girl time this week since Dad is leaving us Wednesday to go to a conference. We are hoping it is much less eventful than his last trip.