Shanequa's Shower

We had a great time on Saturday celebrating the newest Baker Beauty to be born in April. With so many boys being born in our church in the past year, we all had a little extra fun with the fact that Shanequa is having a girl. Obviously, we two beautiful big sisters, we anticipate she will be a healthy and adorable little one.

Thanks Emmy for the great game... it was truly disgusting, and even more hilarious. She melted different chocolate bars into diapers and we had to examine the evidence in order to guess which diaper was which candy. Gross, but highly entertaining. Thanks to Grace, Nikki and Stefany for all the help. I know Shanequa appreciated it.

Shanequa Shower 3/30/08 10:09 PM

Easter

I am about a week late, but better late than never on getting pictures up from Easter. Ellie looked adorable in her little dress- thanks Cece! Eliana's favorite part was that the dress allowed her to examine her belly button... a new favorite pasttime. She calls it her "butty." We had a really nice day together. We had a few families from church over for a late lunch/early dinner- we dubbed it "dunch"- before heading over to worship for the evening. It was really nice to have them and to spend the day with our larger church family.
After church, Noah laid down to read the Bible for a while on the platform. He loves to read and has begun reading through the Bible on his own. Wow... I wish I had that discipline when I was in 2nd grade. We are really proud of him. He didn't know I was taking pictures of him until later when I took a few with Elijah and Jonah who had joined him. What a bunch of cuties. Once it was known I was taking pictures, Eli was more than happy to pose as long as he could be "crazy." He is such a character.

Easter 3/30/08 10:19 PM

Time with Nana

We had the privilege of spending last week with Nana, my mom. Milan was in Orlando for a conference and she came to visit and lend a hand with my little brood. We had a great time and she helped me play catch up on several of the projects that I have gotten woefully behind on. Scrapbooking seemed like such a good idea when I began (5 years prior to becoming a parent). Now that I am into the commitment by like 15+ albums it is hard to stop, but I just don't have the time


to stay on top of it. Mom graciously spent several nights burning the midnight oil with me doing page after page. While I am not quite caught up, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, it will probably be short-lived as we are heading out on vacation in about a month. C'est la vie. At any rate, it was fun to have her here and to see my kiddos with her. I only wish that they were able to spend more regular time with both Nana and Papa. We are blessed to have the problem of terrific grandparents- that live at a distance :0( . That goes for you too, Baba!
Eliana decided to cut molars at record-breaking pace last week, so Nana didn't exactly get to see her best side. Unfortunately, Ellie was up almost every night and was pretty fussy. She is still working on both bottom molars... they have been swollen and ready since last week, but just haven't finished the job. Thankfully, the top molars seem to be done giving her trouble. Hopefully, she will sleep tonight. (Code for "I am tired and I hope I can sleep through the night as well!") She sure is cute though, if you can get past the drool.
She is speaking more and more all the time. Her list of words grows daily, but she is still not really stringing much of anything together. I guess that the one exception is "more that." Not bad for starters. Walking is still not happening on her own. She does push around a little walker and loves it, but she has to have something to hold on to to keep her balance. Those little ankles still have a mind of their own as well. She has finally discovered her squeaky shoes, though. We bought several pair in China and she has just recently come to understand that she controls the squeak herself, by getting up and cruising around. She really lights up when she gets moving quickly. It is really a crack-up. I only wish I would have bought another 10 pair.

New Album 3/19/08 9:40 PM

Papa Would Be Proud...

Those of you that know much of my family, would know that my father is a veterinarian (actually the best veterinarian, ever). Well, today, the boys had a veterinarian visit their science enrichment classes to talk about animals and veterinary medicine. While he was a lesser man than their Papa, the boys loved it. They came home with some serious "veterinarian" gear and Elijah has been wearing it for hours. I actually had to pry it off of him for music class- kind of hard to sing and play piano with a mask and rubber gloves on. This evening, they got out a bunch of their stuffed animals and played vet all night. I don't think that the stuffed animals have seen action in years. Anyway, it was adorable and Papa would be proud.

The Fam from Snowy River

These pictures were taken on Saturday when we decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm and beautiful day by driving out to the South Platte River near our home. We are constantly amazed at how beautiful it is here in Colorado and are so thankful that within half an hours drive we can enjoy such incredible beauty. Elijah insisted upon wearing his Superman costume as he said we were going on an adventure (I think that the socks over the legging parts are supposed make his shoes more bootlike). He found a little "fishing rod" sans the hook- aka a stick with some line and a rock tied to the end- and enjoyed some impromptu fishing in the river as well as a large puddle. Noah took to trying to skip rocks and explore the river's edge. Eliana was fascinated by the gravel and the snow... we aim to impress. Milan and I were just enjoying the weather as we knew something wicked this way was coming.
On Sunday, the day after our lovely expedition, our little town was under a Winter Storm Warning and we even cancelled our church service due to the blowing snow and icy road conditions. Welcome to Colorado. When we moved here, people said, "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes." It has proved to be pretty accurate.
There are also a few pictures here of Eliana. She picked up Noah's recorder today and actually started blowing on it and making sound. She had just been watching him and figured out how to do it. She also loves to play the piano. She plays one note at a time and really listens intently to the sound. I figured I better snap a few shots now as she will probably be a world-famous musician someday.
Anyway, I am off to start wrapping up from the day. Enjoy the pix!

South Platte River 3/4/08 12:39 AM