Stuff

We've been really enjoying our Disneyland passes and usually end up going about once a week or every other week. It is so fun to experience it all through the eyes of an almost 18 month old! Liv loves going on all the rides she can and is itching to grow a couple inches to get on some of the more intense rides! It rained this day and it made for some beautiful skies!


I love this shot of Liv & Kurt. Liv always has to step on anything that looks different than the regular ground around her so she was having a ball stepping on the rails. :)


This past week Cassi (who is due with her baby boy in just a few weeks!) and I went out to visit Bretta and her kiddos again. It's so fun to see Liv with my friends' kids! She's finally getting big enough to actually play with other kids. She had a blast playing dress-up with Hannah & Jackson! They are both so sweet with her.



Yesterday we had a little shower for Meghan & her baby girl, Skyler (also due in a couple weeks!) It was a lovely afternoon with good friends!

It's 85 today...

It feels like summer. It's supposed to rain in a few days but it sure feels like June, not February around here. I decided it was high time to get Liv her first pair of flip flops.


They were much needed after I gave her a little pedicure this morning! :)


She thinks both the flip flops and the painted nails are pretty cool. That's my girl!

Hey!

Happy New Year! We had a lovely Christmas and New Year's and are now sick. Yuck. I hate being sick. I hate when Kurt is sick and I really hate when Liv is sick. So I guess I'm full of hate right now. Hmmm... Here are some pics from the past month:

We've really been enjoying our Disneyland passes. We finally stayed for the snow after the fireworks one night. Liv LOVED that! I can't wait to take her to real snow someday!


Liv loves the carousel! I tried to fix her red-eye but I think I made her look possessed!


We had a lovely Christmas. Kurt's mom bought the cute little pram for Liv and Kurt thought it would be fun to just have it out waiting for her. When she came down Christmas morning she saw it and said "Oh WOW!!" and went running over to it! So cute!


We spent the morning together as just the three of us and it was so fun to open presents with Liv! Needless to say she was a bit more into it than last year!


Can I just take a moment here to brag about my husband? Not only is he a true man's man (he went to a shooting range just last night with some buddies!) but he can make beautiful bows! Look at this beauty that sat atop one of my presents. I know it's not a super important life skill but I love that he learned how to do that for me. I love making packages look lovely and he has perfected this so that I have beautiful packages too. Thanks, babe! :)


Later on my parents, my uncle, Michael & Pam and Gray & Heidi came over for more gifts and a delicious ham dinner. It's really nice to have a bunch of family around for Christmas! Last year my brother was in Iraq, Pam was with her family and Gray & Heidi were in North Carolina so it was good to be with all of them! We had a great meal and played games til way too late but it was really fun! Liv just adores her aunts and uncles. Here she is playing the ever-popular "Smash your face against the plastic" with Gray.


Lara & Joe's boys made a surprise entrance to the world a few days before Christmas. Xander and Jax are doing just fine and are both home now! This was taken when they were 8 days old. They are so sweet and so tiny! I can't wait til we are healthy so we can go visit them again!


Liv is really good at being a messy eater... and don't you love that haird0?


December 29 was Pam's birthday AND the long anticipated ultrasound day! They found out they are having a GIRL! Yay for baby girls! My brother was convinced it was a boy because he wanted it to wear dickies and be cool just like him. I found this little girl Dickies outfit and bought it a few weeks before the ultrasound on a hunch! We can't wait to meet this little girl in May!


Liv likes hanging out with Uncle Mike! He's really sweet with her. :)


New Years Eve started out as a mellow gathering but the guest list grew and it was such a fun group to welcome in the new year with! Kurt and I always forget to take pictures of us together so before everyone came over, we did!


Drew spent a lot of time by himself in the corner, wistfully looking out the window and wishing Leslie didn't have to work. ;)


We played Beyond Balderdash (love that game!) and some mean Boggle... Gray won, of course.


Dick Clark even stopped by... told you we had a crowd!


New Year's Day we went to Disneyland for a few hours and Liv got to meet Santa. This picture is pretty awesome! Love that we have this for her to look back on!


Liv got this little baby for Christmas and she is so sweet with her. She snuggles her and cradles her and pats her. And then when she's done, she throws her on the floor. We have some work to do before we leave her alone with a real baby!


Finally, Liv has a new trick... undressing herself. This is how she was when I went to get her after her nap yesterday. Silly girl. She thinks it's hilarious and says "Uh-oh!" over and over. I never know what each new day will bring!

I'm excited about 2009 and what is ahead. I turn 30 in a few months, big changes are coming to Hilmerson Photography, there are lots of new babies coming (no, not in this house!), and so much more. I think it's going to be a great year!

Major catch-up

I've been a slacker. Yes, I know. So, here's a bunch of pictures from the last month and a half!

Liv thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Halloween candy... the wrappers made crinkly noises so who wouldn't? :) We didn't have a single trick-or-treater so all that candy went to work with Kurt the next day!

Our view of the smoke from the Yorba Linda fires. We used to live right there. Crazy! You can also see that our little neighborhood is now complete. I am so thankful for the peace and quiet after months and months of construction!


My friend Lara is expecting twin boys in January! We had a shower for her here in November and unfortunately I didn't take many great pictures! She's going to put this & sign on the wall in between their two cribs... so cute!


I attempted to copy Sprinkles with the little fondant circle on top of my cupcakes. They were pretty cute but Sprinkles' taste a whole lot better!


Loungey girl!


Love those big blue eyes and check out those eyelashes!


Cat was here from Ohio so we had a Monday Night Girls get together with our boys! I love these girls!


Eilee came over to play and once again she pushed Liv around! One of these days Eilee is going to realize she's getting the short end of the stick but for now they both enjoy it! Eilee loved wearing Liv's sunglasses!


I'm so glad these two are friends.


We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and this year is so different than last! Liv wanted to help Daddy make sure the tree was straight in the stand! She loves the tree and goes over to it every morning to smell it and give it a little pat-pat. :)


Blurry pic but cute anyway. My mom gave her this shirt and it couldn't be more appropriate!


My friend Tanya got a new job in Washington DC and they moved out there a couple weeks ago. :( Before they left we had a fun girls night out!


We went to Koji's for some shabu shabu for my brother's birthday last week. Liv had a ball with the VERY sticky rice!


Michael & Pam. They find out what they're having on Pam's birthday, December 29! I can't wait to know if I'm getting a niece or a nephew!



Liv & Wallace had a blast on the little train in Crystal Court. They smiled and clapped and waved the whole time!


So... there you go. Mom, are you happy? ;) I'll post more soon!

Happy Halloween!

We went to Treats in the Streets yesterday afternoon. Liv liked her pretty little butterfly costume!

scowly face

Liv has been discovering some muscles in her face this past week which has resulted in some new expressions... namely a fierce little scowl. Here's the evolution of the scowl:

This is last weekend. It started as an innocent little squint.

Then the brows started to furrow a little further...

Today at lunch... a full-fledged scowl.

Fortunately she doesn't really associate it with being angry or upset, actually she's almost always smirking underneath the scowl. :) I know that will change at some point but for now it's kinda cute.

In addition to some new expressions, Liv has also become a little more fond of snuggling! Kurt and I are both so excited when she decides to be a snuggle bug for a few minutes! (And check out that curl above her ear! Yay for hair!!)

Tagging

I've been tagged by my friend Jenni and I'm supposed to say 7 random things about me. So here it goes:

1. I'm a blog stalker, okay? I just admitted it. I read people's blogs who I don't even know that well. For some reason people are just super interesting. It's one thing to be up-to-date on the lives of friends you see periodically but quite another to know all about their friends, too. So, chances are if your blog is linked to on one of my friend's blogs, I've taken a peek (or three!) at your life. I really should start commenting. If you're stalking me, feel free to leave a comment! I'm probably stalking you too!

2. I've gotten kicked out of Disneyland. Apparently they don't appreciate you wearing your own costumes there.

3. When Kurt and I got back from living in London we watched the Nickelodeon cartoon Kipper whenever it was on... it's super babyish but the two dogs on there speak with British accents and we craved hearing not only the accent but the "funny" words too. (Did you know they call a flashlight a torch?) The other night I happened to flip through the Sprout channel (never heard of it til then!) and Kipper was on. Of course I stopped and we watched it... Liv thought it was pretty cool. :)

4. Kurt gets me a glass of water every night before we go to bed. He's just nice like that.

5. I am a procrastinating, messy perfectionist. What?! Yes, you read that right. In my head I have grand plans of having the perfect birthday/anniversary card/gift purchased weeks in advance but I will usually get to the big day and either not have a card (which should have already been mailed!) or the card that I did buy weeks in advance has gone missing. So, I often don't do anything. Because in my sick twisted perfectionism, if I can't do it totally right, I seem to think "what's the point in doing it at all?" Hmmmm. Also, I LOVE the idea of a completely organized closet, pantry, garage, you name it. And, sometimes my perfectionistic side takes charge and I organize like crazy. At other times I am a complete failure in this department!

6. I don't have any cousins. Not. even. one. My mom has two brothers who never married and my dad has one brother who never married... so I also don't have any aunts. Needless to say our family gatherings and holidays were quite small and I've always longed for the big family holidays you see in movies and some of my friends actually have in real life! I keep telling Kurt we need to have at least 8 kids so we can have those wonderfully chaotic gatherings, but he's not buying that idea (& I'm not that crazy!) Fortunately, it's not just us contributing to this dream... Liv is gaining THREE cousins in 2009! Lucky little girl! We are so excited that my sister and her husband are in the process of adopting the two foster boys they've had in their home for the past 2 years! We've already had one very fun Christmas with them last year and we are looking forward to many, many more! And, we are thrilled that my brother and his wife are expecting their own little bundle next May! That makes 4 grandkids for my parents with the potential for more in the years to come!! Yay for cousins and insane family get togethers!

7. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. I've had different themes & colors for our tree - blue & silver (way back in the day!), pink, lime green, turquoise, black & gold, red, white... you name it. That being said, I have WAY too many boxes of Christmas decor. :) I also really love wrapping presents. I usually find awesome wrapping paper for Christmas at K-Mart. I don't usually like K-Mart but the Martha Stewart Christmas stuff they have is usually pretty cool & the wrapping paper is cheap! They also have great deals on cool glass ornament balls too. I'm a nerd and love to coordinate my tree with the packages underneath it. I haven't decided what I'm going to do this year... but I'm thinking about it!

So there you have it! Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more friends to do this. Don't hate me, ok? I tag: Meghan, Missy, Alissa, Erin, Jen, Cassi & Lara.