Happy Birthday Penny!!

  LOOK WHO'S ONE!

I LOVE SHOES!

Today Penny turned 1 years old!  I can't believe how time has flown.  She is such a great little girl.  We couldn't imagine our life without her.  We remember when she was first born and she came out screaming like a banshee, not much has changed!  She is still Miss Personality and has to have everything her way.  Chuck says she is like me but I have no idea what he is talking about... She got lots of gifts from family and we like to thank you all.  Chuck and I got her some little gifts.  She got some clothes, books, and a toy lawn mower.  Now she can be like Papa B and Papa Burtis and maybe one day mow the lawn for them:)  But, the big ticket item we got her was her very first pet.  She got a Yellow Canary.  She loves to watch him. We decided to name him Geppetto.  He sings very beautifully and is so much fun!  In the morning she watches him and brings him her books.  It is very cute.  Here are some pictures to commemorate the historic day!  There is a lot of photos so make sure you look at them all and watch the videos:)

Walking Fiend!

What is new in the Burtis home?? Penny has started to walk! YAY! We are very proud of her.  She has been trying really hard since she was about 10 months and probably about the middle of February, shortly before she turned 11 months, she started to really walk.  She still gets wobbly but she also is very bow legged when she is walking.  It is so funny because she is so little and it is just this little person walking around.  I can't believe that in a couple of weeks she will be  1 year old!  This year has sure been fast.  I still don't know what to do about a cake, any suggestions? Check out this cute video.  Her hair is wild and she isn't wearing a cute outfit because she puked on her pajamas, But look how good she is!  I am so proud of her:)

  I haven't been very good at writing down what she can do at what month so I will just write what she can do thus far, so then I will remember it:)
* Walk
*Say mama and dada to appropriate people.  Sometimes she will say hi and when she tries to say goodnight she say gooooood.  She has been saying this when I put her in her bed.
*Drink from her sippy cup
*Plays well with toys.
*Loves books and being read to.
*She is a mover, she is always on the move and sometimes I lose her.  She gets stuck in the strangest of places and yells for me to come find her.
* Loves her baths and swimming
* can open and close the toilet seat, this is so frustrating since now I can not leave the bathroom door open or she will inevitably climb in the tub, play in the toilet, or unroll the toilet paper.
That is all I can think of right now.  I will have to keep compiling a list so when I actually print this blog off she will have something to look back and read. 

Nice Day to Play in the Snow!

This month we had quite the snowfall.  It mixed with wind and created a snow drift in front of my door that went up to my waist.  It was epic, but I have seen worse:)  It was deathly cold for about a week after and yesterday was the first time that it actually got into the 30's!  Today the weatherman said it was going to get up to 36 degrees and below he had the caption 'Warm'... I don't know what he think is warm but it does feel 'tropic' compared to the 5 degree high we were having.  So, Chuck and I decided to let Penny get wild with some snow. 

I went home for most of the month of January and I was TERRIBLE at taking pictures.  I had a blast staying with my family.  I started out staying with Shane and Stacey and their cute family.  It was so much fun and Penny had a lot of fun playing with her cousins.  Thanks to Shane and Stacey for letting us stay.

Even though I stayed with my family for 2 1/2 weeks this picture with my dad was the only picture I got with Penny and a family member.  I didn't even get one picture with my mom or with Chuck's family.  HOW TERRIBLE! Oh well, it just merits another visit right? I had a great time in Utah and I have a great family! 

 In other news Penny is almost walking!  That is right folks she has taken her first steps and just needs to keep taking steps.  I haven't gotten a video of it yet but Chuck and I can tell you that she has walked for both of us.  Penny just needs to perfect her skills and she will be running away from me and thinking that it is funny:\. 

Museum and Funnies

I haven't updated the blog for awhile.  I thought I would catch up people who read this on our awesome lives:) I have a couple of posts so don't stop at just this one!  After Christmas we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum with our friends Tim and Lynn and their little boy Kaden. It was a lot of fun.  We were originally going to see the mummy exhibit.  It looked AWESOME!  But somehow everyone else in the city had that same idea.  I have never seen a museum so crowded in my life.  I felt like we were waiting to go on a ride at Disneyland.  No joke!  So instead we just went for free and went to the butterfly exhibit.  Penny loved the butterflies.  She kept trying to touch them.  It was so cool to be in a room with butterflies flying all around you!  Here are some photos.

 Looking at all the butterflies flying over her head.  She was so fascinated!

 Can you spot the butterfly?  Just look where Penny's hand is going:)

I couldn't get a good picture with all the butterflies flying around but they were everywhere.  When you get out you have to check yourself in the mirror to make sure there aren't any butterflies on you.  Well, we checked ourselves.  As soon as we got back to our stroller outside the exhibit I looked down at Chuck's pants and there was a huge butterfly!  We had a really good time!
On another note, Penny's hair has grown in funny.  It is all long on top and in the middle of her head.  Do you know who else has this hairstyle? Kramer!  Here is Penny's impersonation of Kramer.

This pictures were taken after she had her piggy tails taken out.  She gets one good afro.  Also, here is a video Chuck got of Penny in the tub laughing.  If it doesn't make you smile and make your day, than I don't know what will!:)

Christmas and Other Stuff

This year was Penny's first Christmas.  She was very spoiled!  Thank you to family for the gifts.  She was pretty excited to get that wrapping off the presents.  She really would have liked to just play with the wrapping but she has a problem with choking on paper:)  Here are some pictures of her first Christmas!  Penny with ALL her presents and excited to open them!

     She got a tooth brush and toothpaste for her first teeth. That's right folks, she now has 2 on the bottom! She looks like Grandma Grace or a Chinese Lady:) haha!

Grandma B. got some really awesome books and outfits!  Penny reads them every night before bed:)

The biggest present under the tree, she was dying to open it! Thanks Shane and Stacey for the cool books, toy and clothes!

       

Here I am with my presents and Penny being the life of the party. I love my shoes and so does Penny, Thanks Shane and Stacey.  I also love my green sweater and movies Mom and Dad!

Not pictured was Chuck and his gifts. He was excited about his gift card, Thanks Shane and Stacey again.  He also really likes his movie and new dress shirts.  Thanks mom and Dad.  Charles and Babette got him LOR trilogy and we are going to be having a marathon after we finish the Harry Potter movies I also received from them! I also have to say Chuck got me a very pretty piece of jewelery.  I had wanted a ring with an opal.  Someone in my family, I think it was Mom or Paige or Stacey used to tell me that the little Mermaid lived in Opals.  So, that is what I wanted.  Thanks Chuck, I love you:)
 Chucks gift this year was a steel tool chest.  He had been asking for one for a while and so I thought it would make a good gift.  Penny thought so too, here she is with dad and his tools.

        If you are wondering why she always is squinting it is because of the orange light that appears before the picture is taken.  She will be all cheesin' it for the camera and then that stupid light comes on!  Still this picture was funny because it showed like father like daughter:)

Never can get a picture without the tongue sticking out! Thanks family, you all rock! We hope you all had a good holiday and New Year!

Just some pictures:)

The beginning of November Chuck's parents came to visit and we went to the lakefront and got some pictures.  Penny hammed it up for the camera so these pictures turned out good.  Lately she has been getting into EVERYTHING!!  She stands up on EVERYTHING!  She gets stuck EVERYWHERE!  Are you getting my point.  Her favorite thing is the potted plant.  She likes to get into the dirt and throw it on the ground and wipe her hands on her cute outfits. She likes to do the Indian pat on her mouth.  I don't know if you know what I mean, but you know when you pat your mouth and sound like an Indian..  Well that is one of her favorite things to do, she does it all day.  She also likes to turn on the radio and tap her foot.  Chuck has been busy with school.  He did a elective rotation this month and went to Ear, Nose, and Throat, and Urology.  He actually really really likes Urology and says that might be what he ends up going into.  Who would have thought?!  I definitely would like the lifestyle better than say a Orthopedic surgeon or General Surgeon. (ie, I would actually see him)  I am all for Urology!

HALLOWEEN!!

I have to say that I really like Halloween. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I think it is so fun when it is dark, cloudy and windy to watch a scary movie and eat caramel corn. Fall here is so beautiful. Chuck and I have been going running on this trail with lots of trees. I wish I had gone out and taken pictures. Today, the wind is supposed to be 50-60 mph!! So alas I can't get any photos. I think the leaves will all be gone. Anyways back to Halloween. This year Chuck and I are not going to be dressing up, but you better believe Penny got dressed up. She picked out her costume. You may be wondering, how did she do that she is only 7 months old! Well, when we went to the store I was really wanting her to be a ladybug. I had seen this really cute black and white dress with really cute wings. Of course, when I went to buy it, it was gone! Chuck wanted her to be a monster, I wanted her to be something pretty. I found this cute little butterfly costume. We held up the monster and the dress and she got pretty excited when she saw the dress. So, that is how she chose. There was a little trick or treat at Chuck's school, so we went to that. I went with a couple of friends. We tried to get a picture of the kiddos together but I think they were all sugar high. Below is the only one that 'worked'... Everyone was so adorable! I couldn't stop smiling because the kids were so darn funny! I think she was pretty darn cute, though I am biased and think that even if Penny went naked she would be a big hit! She had a good time and was exhausted by the end of it.








Doesn't she just look so cute?! We love our little girl and she is just growing more and more everyday. I have for weeks been trying to post a video of her crawling, but blogger will not let me:( Any suggestions. Every time I try it says I have to contact support. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Anyways, Penny 'crawls'. She does this lunge crawl thing. When she gets up she does a lunge while crawling with her legs. She has been doing it for a couple of months now but has now perfected it and gotten fast. She likes to play on the kitchen floor and slap the ground. But, it is hard for her to crawl on the hard floor. I guess at least I have it captured on video! Sorry world, you can't see Penny's awesome moves, for now:).