I want to love you...P.Y.T...pretty young thing

QIANA IS 8 MONTHS OLD.

This is really trippin' me out.
They say time goes by fast, and although I love each new stage she enters it just seems so crazy to think that she is growin' up so fast.
It kills me to be away from her so much each day, but until I find some sugar daddy to support me or aquire some skill that allows me to work from home, I know that I am doing what I need to in order to provide a good life for my family.
Hopefully she understands that.
But judging from the smiles she gives me on a daily basis...I think she understands.
Although there are times of frustration with her, she is still a pretty good baby
and as long as you feed her

change her
let her stand up as much as she wants

look mom..one hand!

and take her outside for some playtime

she is content as can be.
She still isn't crawling, and has chosen her mother's method of rolling everywhere instead. The only problem is, like derek zoolander, she isn't an ambi-turner and often gets stuck and can't figure out how to go back to where she came from...it's actually quite funny to watch.
While rolling though, the girl steam rolls by anything in her path..as illustrated in this video (both the video and picture were taken with my phone so...not the best quality)
Look how she navigates around the piano bench...

and then gets stuck in the corner by the couch

...she was crying, but of course I had to take a picture before I tried to show her how to get out of it.
Qiana is also getting to the stage where I have to be in her eyesight or she kind of freaks out, but she is learning how to play by herself (at least for a couple minutes) while mommy eats, cleans, or just takes a breath

She still absolutely adores her auntie em, and pretty much can't concentrate on anything (especially eating) when emily can be seen or heard. It's a bit frustrating, but emily is really entertaining so how can you blame her.
Qiana also is loving other kids, and often can't stop staring at other children when we go out to eat or in the store. there was this one boy at tsunami sushi that I swear she was flirting with...I think i'm in trouble. hahahaha.
Qiana loves dancing, and just giggles everytime mommy shows dances for her. She is starting to do this cute little shimmy move, and it makes me so happy. You know those fathers that buy their little boys sporting equipment as babies hoping they are athletic when older...well I'm one of those moms...if Qiana doesn't have rhythm and can't dance I just don't know what I am going to do. :)
But so far she is doing just great!

I wanna have some fun...

*very long memorial day weekend post ahead...I'll try and make it interesting*

Emily and I started off the weekend extravaganza on Thursday night with a little sushi and SYTYCD

Tsunami Sushi (a restaurant here in town) is our new favorite place, and I crave pretty much everyday. We have started to make out way through the "rolls" list, and have to try a new one each time. So far they have been delicious.

Thursday night we filled our bellies with shrimp boats

and the tidal wave and marino rolls.

DELICIOUS!
Qiana wanted to order something

but I let her knaw on some place rice instead....but I think that got boring after awhile.


Friday Carson, Kaiya, and Chloe came to play.

We ate some good food including some popsicles we had made ourselves


played outside and


got wet with a fun little sprinkler I had picked up for the kids.


We all took turns running through it

but kaiya had more fun watering the flowers

while carson had more fun doing this

and chloe just wanted to get wetter and wetter

We also watched movies, played dominoes, and saturday morning hit up the farmer's marker for some fresh food and sno cones.



Saturday afternoon Michelle, Qiana, and I went to the park to watch Emily host the Springfest idol, it was more hot than entertaining, especially since 3 out of the 4 adult singers chose to sing christian pop hits instead of music than anyone knew. We walked around for a bit after, and got some food then headed home for some cooling down. That evening we headed down to the parade. I'm not a big fan of the local parade here, but I thought Qiana would like it and I enjoy mocking the people in the parade..so why not go. Plus it gave Emily an excuse to wear her snuggie in public.


Two funny stories about the parade.
#1 I got Michelle acosted by silly string from a white trash carnie selling light sabers and other crap. We were sitting, waiting for the parade and this vendor is walking up the streets yelling something very inaudible. nobody around us could tell me what he was saying, so I started echoing him...or atleast my interpretation of what he was saying, and the exact volume he was yelling. The people around us thought it was hilarious...maybe he didn't. He then decided to get out his silly string and come towards us. Well I grab Qiana, and Michelle gets up to run away...well apparently that, to him, was a clear sign that she was the guilty party in his mocking, and he goes after her. I, of course, help take the blame off of me and shout "troublemaker" at michelle. We all thought it was pretty funny, and I continued to mock him as he walked away.

#2 Emily is pretty famous around these parts...and for those of you that don't believe me you should have been sitting by us in the parade when multiple people (even out of towners) shouted to her "hey weren't you the host of the lip sync? you are sooooooo FUNNY!". Seriously...it got annoying. But it was just one more thing we get to bug emily about so..winners all around.

Monday the girls and I headed to Leavenworth for a little daytrip adventure.

The weather was gorgeous and it was fun to get out town for a little bit. Of course we had to enjoy a brat, with some delicious sourkraut and mustard...yummy.

Our first stop was in this amazing hat store. They had so many fun hats and glasses to try on that of course we had to get really annoying and put on everything. I'm sure emily will do a whole post about it, but here are the pictures featuring me...

these are my elton john inspired shoice

They had multiple glasses featuring your drink of choice...why would somebody actually wear these?

these glasses make me CRAZY!

My 1950's school picture pose

My little princess...


Emily playing around with the bears in Leavenworth...better be careful

I warned you...

emily apologizing to mama bear

Although there are many things I love about Emily my #1 is the fact that she is willing to do PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING FOR A PICTURE AND/OR A LAUGH. That is how we were able to convince her to try this climbing wall they had set up in town square of Leavenworth.

Hey buddy watch your hands...

Emily tightening things up...looks pretty comfortable?

There she goes...

and there she is...

Oh emily!

sunny days sweepin' the clouds away...

Shows are ending, which is always a weird time of the year for me. I always feel like it's the end of the school year, or summer camp, and I will miss my tv friends..some for a few months, and some forever (R.I.P prison break, reaper, without a trace, and my name is earl). But alas, life goes on.

Qiana and I have quite enjoyed the great turn in weather and love our time outside each day.

We lounge on the blanket

play some music
eat some ice



(apparently I should start calling her "winnie the pooh")
and play with some toys

....she can't get enough.

(her diva glasses)
Although it is starting to heat up so it will be nice to have a pool to cool down in, cause right now I get a little toasty and Qiana refuses to go inside.

(a battle of wits)

Saturday I finished my weeding and lawn project, and man I got seriously attacked by some of those plants. I should have taken a picture of my arms, but it looks like I got into a fierce battle with a nasty cat...and lost! But now it's done. I told myself I would do one really good weeding job, and if they came back then good for them...we will see what happens. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out...i didn't even really get ready. Emily and I watched Frost/Nixon which was very interesting, and very good. Sometimes when I'm watching historical movies I feel like I should check out some "us history for dummies" book, cause I either never heard of this stuff or have completely forgotten. But it's nice to watch these kinds of movies and feel slightly more educated.

With the change in weather Qiana now gets to wear her "summer pajamas" and she LOVES the free feeling. She is so funny. I got these pajamas cause I thought the candy theme fit great with her "cookie" nickname her cousins gave her. Carson said he started calling her cookie cause her skin looked like the color of a chocolate chip cookie and her eyes looked like the chocolate chips...so cute. Here she is modeling her new pajamas in her three "poses"....or the positions you are most likely to find her in.



Yesterday, Nena had a couple sick kids and couldn't watch Qiana. It was a last minute thing, so I packed up some of her toys and took her in to work with me. I would have stayed home, but I needed the money, and I had already gotten ready for the day. If I hadn't, things may have turned out differently. Qiana did great... considering. She played on the floor, rolled around until she hit a roadblock, was visited by co-workers, and even managed to sleep a little in a bunch of blankets I laid out in an exam room. I am so lucky that I have a job that I could do this!

Then last night Tom and Gail were kind enough to watch Qiana for a couple hours so I could join Emily at showing "Angels and Demons". Good times!