Eric and Jill

So since I normally write all about LaNea, I thought this time I could catch you up on what I've been up to.
For starters, a friend and I are starting a book club. We'll be meeting once a month to talk about the book we've read and begin reading a the next one. The only requirements on the books was that we must either own it or have at least 2 copies at the library. Most living here are very poor college students and we didn't want that to deter people from joining in. Our first meeting is tonight and I'm really excited since we'll be starting with the book I've chosen. I chose Summer's At Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn. (Thanks Als, for your endless demands that I read it, I now read it at least twice a year if not more!) I was actually nervous at first that some may not like it, which still may be the case, but as I've already had two people read it and both of them LOVED it...things are looking good.
Eric and I have also read the Hunger Games series. Now I've read it before but Eric and I like reading them together, normally. We had finished Catching Fire on Sunday evening and Eric was really excited that he'd only have to wait a couple days before the final book came out. I however, was planning on waiting till one of my many friends who had already pre-ordered the book, finished it and was willing to let us borrow. So I was able to resist having Eric buy it on Tuesday but by Wednesday, I lost my resolve and we bought it. So last night Eric and I began reading. I had a cold the night before so my voice was a little scratchy but I managed to read it outloud from 7 to 11. Around 10:00pm Eric started saying we should be done for the night but any who know me, knows this is not really an option. If I had it my way, I'd have stayed up and just finished it by myself. So our compromise was to let me read till 11. We are officially halfway and I won't beable to read tonight due to the meeting, we'll be finishing the book on Friday night. Addicted? Sure, but that's okay. Eric's keeping the book in the car so I don't get too tempted to jump ahead.
Other than reading, my life is full of this little girl. She is so funy and I love watching her go through the different stages. Right now, I think she's just starting to realize what the word "No" means and that she doesn't like it. I just have to say the word and she'll look at me as if I was a terrible person and begin to cry. Fortunately she's still pretty easy to distract. We've started to go to some Play Groups on Tuesday. She loves this as she always gets to be the center of attention. Little kids love her and she just loves seeing people her own age. Its crazy to watch her try to become independant. She'll start by only going a couple feet from me before circling back, then a couple yards and then she's good and I have to follow her if I ever want to catch her.

Finally, I've been trying my hand at a few various crafts. I have completed my first Quiet Book all by myself and have my second one almost done. I've also started a FHE set-up. I got most my puppets made and now just need a place to organize them. And I've been practicing my cake decorating skills in hopes of making a delicious cake for LaNea's birthday. I've done two so far and have made them small versions just so I don't waste money or have too much cake around my home. The one pictured below was my first attempt at Fondant with Amber's guidance. I realized that 1. I am very weak and 2. I am very impatient. My second attempt was a little more lively as I realized to make the cake an actual color. But that one only lasted the evening before it became too tempting and had to be thrown out. So I'm not pro but it's actually been fun learning and trying new things.

So things haven't been too busy but they've been fun. Now I'll get back to posting more about Lanie!

LaNea is still getting so big. She has learned to crawl up onto the couch and loves that I now have no where to hide from her. Her best friend is still Izzie and together they'll team up on Bella. She laughs so often especially with the animals.
We did attend our first play group yesterday and it was so much fun. LaNea's eyes got huge as she looked at the large table full of toys and so many little kids her own age. I also enjoyed talking to other mom's in the ward and making new friends.

This last weekend, we headed down to Seguin for the Texas Lineman Rodeo Competition. There were lineman from all over the state gathered together to see who could complete their regular jobs the quickest while still doing it properly. With every mistake they made they were given gigs. It started with all the apprentices having to take a written exam which would be huge in determining the winner. I don't know if Eric ever studied as hard for a test.
Heading off for the test! (Yep, they had to wear a hard hat and gloves to the event!)

Getting ready to show off his rope tying skills!

Hurtman Rescue. Eric's last event of the day

Waiting to do his next event. His group had a hard schedule where they were stuck waiting for over an hour at a time.

The competition ended around three-thirty and we ran out and got lunch and showered. We came back for their dinner and award ceremony that evening. Eric didn't place but his co-worker Bobby got 3rd overall. It was a total shock for him which is always a great surprise. We'll find out where Eric placed in a couple weeks. Since 3rd was only 6 points above Eric, he'll definitely be in the top 10! Eric did get 100 on every event but he only scored an 80 on the test. Everyone said the test was harder than usual especially since the top score was only a 92. With everything, he was awesome!!! It was so much fun to watch him work and to learn so much more about what he does every day while I relax at home!

LaNea was such a trooper the whole weekend. She spent most of her time either in my arms or in the stoller. She was so happy though that everyone made comments and would smile back! She did have a very hard time with taking naps both Friday and Saturday which resulted in her getting a touch giddy as the day progressed. As you can see, she was laughing at who knows what in these pictures. Just excessively happy! Also, they had some amazing grass by the pavillion where the dinner was held Saturday night. As this isn't very common in Texas, we let her crawl as much as she desired but she seemed to just enjoy making laps around me. She loved it though!

This is Eric's pole climb competition. He had to carry an egg up in a little bag. When he got to the top he had to hang the bag and put the egg in his mouth as he climbed back down. The fastest person made it in 20:14 seconds which is almost unheard of. Eric got 34:00 seconds which was still great.

With Adam and Karissa in town we were in search of some fun entertainment in our area. So we headed down to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream Tour. We don't get out much so we made sure to take enough pictures to guarantee that we did in fact go out! As you can see, LaNea wasn't sure what she thought of this trip and her lack of a nap didn't help either.

Adam and Karissa were great troopers, waking up extra early to accompany us!She's really not a big fan of hats but Eric just had to have her try it just once!

Pictures weren't allowed on the tour so this is at the end where we all got to try some of the different ice creams. We were going to let LaNea try just a bite or two of hers but she wouldn't let that happen. She wanted it all!

The tour was really interesting and we all learned way more than we expected about our favorite treat. I was amazed by how quickly the ice cream was made and how much they actually make in a single day. Blue Bell ice cream is known for being deliciously creamy and it definately didn't disappoint.

She is just getting so big, I could hardly believe it was already time for her 9 Month appointment. She is doing wonderfully though and that's always nice to hear. Her stats were still in the same line as they have always been. Weight was 17lbs (15%) and Height was 29 ins (86%).

She's a lot of fun to have around and her moods always make me laugh. She's be so so happy 90 % of the time and then you do one thing she doesn't like and life instantly becomes miserable till something goes right again. She also has learned the basics to what I'm saying but its a 50/50 chance as to whether she'll actually listen.
Now at a first glance you might just look and see a mess but me, I see my daughter FINALLY getting herself into the sitting position and being okay with it.

So LaNea has been getting bigger and a lot more daring. For starters she loves to climb and I'm having a hard time keeping her from hurting herself. She's not walking or even standing still yet but she has no problem walking along the furniture. She has gotten over her army crawl stage and now only does the regular one. She's quite fast at it and always keeps Eric and I on our feet. She is also starting to mimick our words and she's said both "Ok" and "yeah". She's still just as happy as anything and her best friend is definately Izzie. They spend a good portion of the day following each other around. Her favorite toy is the turtle in the picture below. She'll play with that all day long and just chew on his arms and legs. She just loves helping me out with the laundry. She climbed in there all by herself and has done it every time since.

She is becoming such a good eater. She's always loved to eat and hated drinking her bottle but its fun to watch her feed herself. She tends to eat two handfuls and then throw one on the floor. I wonder if she thinks its good luck or something.

And I finally figured out how to add videos online! Yeah me! I might just post some older ones that I have too now even if they're from a few months back. :)

This is Lanie playing in the pool. I tried to get it of her playing with Izzie but she likes watching the camera too much.