Our Big Girl

Miss Quinn Marie has been doing so many of new and adorable new things this week. One thing I think is incredibly funny (and naughty) is that she'll say "no no" when she knows she's doing something she shouldn't like throwing food on the floor, pulling wine out of the wine rack or running toward the special glasses from Grandma Meis. That little stinker. She has the most adorable little grin on her face when she says it making it impossible to be mad (she's learning boundaries right?).

She's also started dancing. When she hears music from one of her toys or her iPod (Justin Roberts, of course) she'll bend her little knees and bounce up and down a bit. Tres presh.

This week she also had her one-year doctor's appointment. She's grown 11 inches in the past year making her in the 95th percentile for height and 50-75% percentile for weight. Such a big girl!

Quinn's Crazy Crab

Quinn got a sweet little kiddie pool from Nick & Kylee for her birthday. And by sweet, it has a little crab to shade her and it sprays water into the pool. Basically it's one-year-old Quinn's version of heaven. It was the perfect way to spend a hot Father's Day afternoon.

Down the Road Came a Little Red Wagon...

Quinn received a wagon from Grandma Nan & Grandpa Gary for her birthday and she absolutely loves it. Sunday was our first wagon ride and Quinn had an absolute blast. I'm pretty sure she smiled the entire time, despite the heat.

She didn't like to keep her sunglasses on her head, but she held on to them the entire time. She's warming up to those big shades!

Jay and his two little girls -- I think there's lots of wagon fun in our future. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Father's Day Then & Now

It's hard to believe that this is Jay's second Father's Day. Jay is an amazing father to Quinn and it's been so fun to watch the two of them bond and grow over the past year. Quinn loves her Daddy SO much! Happy Father's Day JP!

Jay & Quinn on Father's Day 2010...

and Jay & Quinn Father's Day 2011.

(Quinn fell asleep on Daddy yesterday afternoon. Soo cute!)

Quinn's First Drake Visit!

We live a mere 12 minutes from Drake's campus, yet Quinn had not visited the space that houses trillions of fantastic memories for her parents...until Saturday that is!

We stopped for lunch at Jethro's, a delicious meal for all three of us. Quinn totally dug her sweet potato fries, mac & cheese and people watching. Then we decided she would like running around campus, so it was off to Drake for Bulldog fun!

We let her ride the Bulldog outside of Meredith. Instant Bulldog love.

We stopped at the law school where she quickly bonded with Dwight. Here are our former and future Oppermans. (Quinn's got your nose, Dwight!)

And speaking of future fun for Quinn, we found the DG square on the Painted Street! Yay rah, rah!

Quinn absolutely loved the Painted Street. It was hard to get her to leave! (She's never walked on anything that colorful before. We recounted other "colorful" memories from that street for her as well.)

We found that there were a lot of changes around campus and for the better! There is a ton of beautiful landscaping and now a new amphitheater and reflecting pool. It all looks fantastic. Quinn is a big fan of the new little pond.

Jay had a hard time holding her back!

We took a family photo in front of another new Drake addition, the "time element." Not sure what it means or does, but it's a family photo nonetheless. :)

We're so glad our little Quinn enjoyed hanging on our campus as much as we did years ago. New memories are to be made for our Drake family!

Reading with Grandpa

Who doesn't love their Grandpa? Quinn is very fortunate to have two awesome Grandpas who love her so much (and a Great-Grandpa too!).

This past weekend Quinn got to spend time with both Papa Dave and Grandpa Gary. What a lucky girl! She loves to cuddle up with them for story time, but when it's not snuggle time both of her grandpas are excellent at making her laugh! She loves them both SO much!

Gimme the Ball, Gimme the Ball, Gimme the Ball, Yeah!

One of the activities at Quinn’s party was a kiddie pool filled with “pit balls.” First, a big thank you to Erin Bemis for the idea, and second, Quinn LOVED it! Way safer than a pool filled with water and tres fun for little Quinn Marie.

We went through a couple of outfits because the ball pool got a little close to the water table, which probably made Quinn love it even more.

The “tough chick” onesie comes courtesy of Quinn’s great-aunt Sue, a cool and tough chick herself.

(By the way, there are bonus points for the blog readers who can note all the musical references in our blog titles.)

Quinn Marie is ONE!

It’s hard for me not to get sentimental thinking about this day. My sweet little baby is one year old! It has been an amazing year and Quinn has brought us more joy than we could ever know.

It’s unbelievable to think how much Quinn has grown and developed. Her little personality is so fun and she’s making new discoveries and accomplishing more and more each day.

At one year old she can say the following words: mama, dada, uh-oh, Millie, Papa, GG, book, bath, night-night, ball and bubble. We might be the only ones to be able to decipher them, but that’s okay right? She also is learning to communicate via sign language and did the sign for “more” at daycare on Friday! She’s also walking everywhere and is getting more stable each day. She still looks a bit like a drunk old man every now and then, but there are definitely less falls.

One year ago today we were blessed with the most amazing little girl we could ask for. Quinn Marie we love you with all our hearts. It is an honor and joy to be your parents!

(Photos courtesy of Lemon Tree Photography. Thank you Cristi for capturing our little girl so wonderfully!)

Quinn's Button Party!

It was a big, big weekend for Quinn Marie – it was her first birthday party! We have a ton of photos and had so much fun with our family and friends, so I’m going to spread the weekend updates out over the week. (This is also my way to bring you more Quinn pics while she’s away with Grandma Nan & Grandpa Gary.)

So first things first: the party.

We had a “Cute as a Button” theme and even though I’m biased, I must say Quinn certainly was cute as a button. She’s got a few molars coming in, so at first the theme was more like “It’s My Party & I’ll Cry if I Want To.” But once we got some teething meds in her, she was back to her happy little self (for the most part).

The highlight of every first birthday party is the eating of cake and ice cream. Everyone wants to see how the little one will react to their first big sweet treat and how messy they’ll get. Quinn’s reaction? Well I don’t think she was digging it a whole lot. Either she doesn’t have a sweet tooth or she isn’t comfortable with 40 people watching her eat. And if it’s the latter, can you blame her?

She was very fortunate to have so many friends and family at her party to celebrate with her. She got a TON of amazing presents and had so much fun playing with her friends. Thank you to everyone who could join us! We had so much fun!

Bunny Ears

Quinn's got a thing for bunnies. It must have started with that sweet gift from Kylee & Nick, and then us making her sit by it month after month. She also carries her little bunny from G.G. around all day long at daycare and it's her sleep pal at night-time too. And then there are the bunny ears from Grandma Connie...

What started as an innocent early Easter gift are now Quinn's favorite entertainment. We just have to grab the ears and she's a happy girl. We're just hoping the combination of bunny ears & nudity wears off soon. Otherwise we're keeping her away from old dudes with big mansions in California.

Exploring with Quinn

Just watching Quinn has always been quite entertaining, but it's even more so now. She just loves to walk around and check things out. Most times she's getting into things she shouldn't but other times she's just so darn cute. Here are some pictures of her exploring this morning in her cute outfit from Erika. (Started as a dress, had to add leggings for our tall little girl)

First reading about Pinkalicious. A very good color for a little girl to discover. (And way better than purple!)

"Uh, mom, this pink stuff is fascinating!"

How big is Quinn? "So BIG!"

Where's Quinn?

"My oh my, a Kate Spade diaperbag? I must see more!"