Flat Stanley and Penelope's Room

Our nephew Collin is doing a Flat Stanley project at school. We had to decorate Stanley and take him on an adventure and take some pictures. So, of course we took him to Mount Vernon. This is Stanley in his George Washington costume.

A historical reenactor was kind enough to take a picture with Stanley. She said she knows Stanley well and has taken lots of pictures with Stanley.

Stanley wanted a picture with George Washington.

We couldn't let Penelope hold Flat Stanley, because she would eat him. I thought about laminating Stanley so that she could hold him, but I'm not sure where the laminator is since we moved. I'm also not sure Stanley would appreciate being encased in plastic and then being eaten by a small child. She still tried to hold him whenever he got close, as evidenced here.

Random photo interjected: Penelope's winter hat made her look like a gangsta! It started in the correct position, and I found her like this after our trip in the car to pick Dave up from the train station.

I finally put the decorations up in Penelope's room. I started this project last Christmas. Dad cut the wood for me, I painted it at my parents' house last December. When Caitlin came to meet Penelope last April she printed the vinyl text.

The text is "I am a Child of God" in six languages: (top to bottom, left to right) Zulu, Swedish (w/ a typo...oops), Spanish, German, French, English! You can also see the blanket my mom made Penelope. She's started using the blanket since she has outgrown her wearable blankets and I can't find any big enough. And yes, Penelope is hanging out on her changing station in her towel after a bath. She's content to suck on her towel and a wet washcloth. So funny!

I'm not sure if I've posted a picture of the name garland I made yet, but, here it is again. This is the one thing I sewed for Penelope. We don't call her Penny, but Penelope was too long to fit on her crib.

More of Dave's Request

These are reversed, because I forgot to upload them in the right order. Here is where P ended up after one of her rolling extravaganzas: staring out the window, and actually screaming and crying because her head was right at the window and she was stuck.

Before she rolled one more time to look out the window she took some time to eat the vertical blinds. Oh, how you've got to love apartments and their glorious furnishings.

P rolled from her blanket in front of the TV over here. She is about to roll onto her back so she can eat the blinds.

This video is essentially the second half of the other video. It shows where she rolled to after my last post.

At Dave's Request

When I told Dave that Penelope has been rolling all over the front room today, he requested I post a video of it. The problem is getting her to roll on command. Out of nowhere she will roll from one end of the room to the other. When I try to catch it on film, however, it doesn't happen. Or, the video ends up too long to post. I will post two videos that happened fairly close together so you can kind of get an idea of what she's been up to. Even as I sit here typing she has rolled about 6 times, which of course she wouldn't do when I was recording. And now I've got the camera plugged in to my computer, so there is no hope of catching it. Oh well! Enjoy!

Halloween at Rebecca's

I know there are a lot of pictures, but I just think each one is so cute! Her little personality shows in each picture, and I couldn't decide on just a few! Dave and I went to my friend Becky's for Halloween. We had dinner and helped pass out candy. Of course Penelope had to go in costume! We also took advantage of Becky's white couch as a backdrop for more pictures of P in her costume. Go Huskers!

7 Months (a week ago)

Penelope turned 7 months old on Oct 28. As you can see she really likes to grab for things. She thinks what's yours is hers, be it the camera, TV remote, food, my hair, etc. If it's within grasp, she'll reach for it!

Of course when she gets her prize she puts it in her mouth. Lately she likes to grind her teeth on whatever she can. Especially since she now has 4!

Here are the new top teeth. They have come out farther than you see here. They broke through about 2 weeks ago. Obviously the left tooth broke through first, followed by the right one a few days later. It's there, I swear!

Penelope also makes funny faces now. She is good at mimicking what we do. She'll spit, stick out her tongue, blow air out of her mouth and jabber. Anything we do she tries to do too. It's super cute!

Trunk or Treat 2011

Penelope went all decked out to our ward's trunk or treat and chili cook off. All I can say is I'm never bringing chili again! There were like 30-40 crockpots full of chili. I'm pretty sure everyone brought home their crockpots just like they brought them...full! We definitely did. We'll be eating chili for the next two weeks.

Penelope was a cheerleader, complete with homemade pom pons. I was a hair stylist (hence the excessive make-up and giant hair). Dave thought I looked like a woman from Texas. No, thanks. I couldn't stand that look for real! Dave was my client for Halloween...his cutting cape was in my bag.

Penelope even did a few cheers for the crowd!

Halloween Preview

Here's a preview of Penelope's Halloween costume. Any ideas what she's being this year?