Happy New Year!

Our big New Year's Eve plans this year consisted of trying to get the girls in bed before midnight. Around 10 p.m. they were still going strong, and that's when I snapped this photo of them in their formal wear preparing for the countdown...

Welcome, 2011! We can't wait to see what fun surprises you hold for our family!

A Visit with Granny

During the holidays we also had a chance to visit with Granny...

Cille and Lucille...

While we were there, Cille showed off her mad new sitting up skills...

Teething much?

Stella enjoyed playing with EVERY ITEM IN THE ROOM...seriously...

Gosh, I hope his hands were clean...

I am almost positive Stella's were not...

As you can see, the girls have started playing together more and more...

Sometimes this makes Mommy a little nervous for Cille...

Haha!  She slobbered on Stella and totally grossed her out.  Way to go, Cille!

Cille Crawling

We told you Cille could crawl, and here's the footage to prove it!

This video was taken at Stella's gymnastics class.  I think we'll have another little gymnast on our hands soon!

"Mr. Grinch"

So, this post is not seasonally appropriate, but here is a song Stella learned during the holiday season that we wanted to share...

6 Months Old and Eating Rice Cereal!

When it was time for her first taste of food, Cille knew just what to do...

She really wanted to feed herself, but I insisted that she let me do it...

Stella, however, could not be dissuaded from lending a helping hand...

Such a good eater and a happy helper!

Please note that Cille enjoyed her first meal using her precious bowl from Mrs. Tracy Byrd.  We love this bowl!  It has precious drawings of farm animals on it along with their corresponding French names.  We have a French lesson every time we use it.  Thanks, Mrs. Tracy!

She was obviously overwhelmed by the deliciousness that is rice cereal...

Cille's First Time in the Highchair

A few days before Stella turned 6 months old I began sitting her in the high chair to let her get comfortable with it, knowing that on her 6 month "birthday" we would be trying rice cereal for the first time. Unfortunately, this bright idea slipped my mind for poor Cille until the day before her half-birthday. I did let her try out the chair on the 22nd...

She is so easygoing that she did not need a week of preparation.  She was happy and at home in her new chair right away...

Cille's temperament is truly a gift from God. She is always so content! As long as she can see people, she's happy. She loves to watch older kids and is already trying to imitate what they do. It had been killing her that she couldn't have food yet, so stay tuned for tomorrow's post when she will explore rice cereal for the very first time.

Stella's Backyard Camping Adventure

Daddy always has big plans for our family, and one of his bright ideas over the Christmas break was to take Stella "camping" in the backyard...

She "helped" him pitch the tent.  An hour later they were both exhausted.  Okay, maybe one of them still had a little bit of spark left in her..

She loved the zipper doors...

But naptime in the tent?  Better in theory than in practice...

At bedtime they did make a second attempt at sleeping in the tent. Cille and I got a free pass due to her being an infant. It was a pretty chilly night for South Louisiana, so around 2 a.m. Damon called me from the tent to come rescue them. Seems he had given all his covers to Stella as the temperature plummeted. This resulted in a warm, toasty Stella sleeping like a log spread eagle under a mountain of blankets, and a frostbitten Daddy curled into the fetal position and clutching his shorts and t-shirt tightly around his frozen body in a futile attempt to stay warm. Let's hope our next camping adventure is a little more successful...