Allary's 7th Birthday

We had a family birthday party for Allary on the 21st.

I made her a "Fancy Nancy" birthday cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute, given my limited abilities in this area.

She really really wanted a DreamLites unicorn. :)

That's Kevin, Haley, Chase (hiding), and Tanner.

Jenna and Taygen.

Megan, Allary, and Paige.

On the 24th, we had a friend birthday party, Fancy Nancy style.

They made candy necklaces and decorated fancy sunglasses. (I bought super cheap sunglasses, as glamorous as I could find at the DI, and painted them pink. Then, I let the girls color on them and glue sparkly decorations and ribbons and whatever on them.)

They decorated their own fancy cupcakes. That's Emma, Allary, Mariah, Aftyn, Joey, and Abby.

Blowing out her cupcake candle.

On the actual day of Allary's birthday, I checked her out of school and took her to a special lunch at McDonald's. Then, after school, I picked her up and took her and Paige to the bounce house.

Timpanogos Caves

On September 22, 2012, we went to the Timpanogos caves with some friends. It was a lot of fun.

We had a lot of kids in our group, and they all did great, on the hike up and in the caves.

Taygen fell fast asleep in the backpack.

Inside the caves.

I was getting a little claustrophobic.

September 2012

Taygen - 23 weeks old

Practicing sitting up on her own.

Our ward had an activity where we invited the local firefighters so that we could thank them with applause and cheers, hand-made notes, and dinner and treats. They brought their fire engines and let the kids explore them a bit. It was pretty cool.

Taygen, all dolled up for church. This cute dress was given to her from Liz.

Taygen - 24 weeks old

The beginning stages of crawling.

Taygen - 25 weeks old

More sitting up practice.

Neither of my babies have really loved the whole eating experience. These are some first attempts at baby food. 

Taygen - 26 weeks old

It took a long time before Taygen enjoyed bath time. It took a great deal of coaxing and distracting. She did not love the newborn sponge baths, we finally got her used to the baby tub, but then she hated the transition to just being in the sink. So, I copied an idea I saw someone post online, and we put an empty laundry basket in the bathtub so she could sit up and have some sides/handles to hold on to. This finally worked, and we are still using it as I write this post (almost 17 months old). She is finally getting to where she will want to play with bath toys and splash around of her own free will. She'll even allow water on her face without having a panic attack. Whew! 

I love this photo of her (above), because for a while there, getting out was her favorite part. And seriously, who doesn't love a cute squeaky clean, smellin' wonderful, roly-poly baby wrapped up in a hoody towel?