I Never!

So, Stella's new thing when she disapproves of something is to say "Never!" or "I Never!".  We don't know where she picked this up, but it's definitely a regular part of her vocabulary now.  If you don't believe me, check out the video:

Whatever She's Got

David Nail's Whatever She's Got came on the jukebox today at Timbuktu and we were treated to the following:

Metal Drum Solo

While at Doo-Dah Diner today, Stella showed us that she's added air drums to her increasingly vast music repertoire:

Pizza and Tunes

One of our new favorite places to eat at is Picasso's (they have really good pizza and sandwiches).  Today, Stella entertained us with a combo dance pizza eating session while we were there:

If you watch closely enough, you'll see the lady to her left trying not to laugh while Stella stares at her and groves!

Feeling the Music

This girl loves the music!

Frozen Fanatic

Stella is a huge fan of Disney's new Oscar winning Frozen movie.  Here she is jumping, clapping, and spinning to the Let it Go scene that she's already seen about a thousand times:

Fun fact: my cousin Scott Peters worked on this film as a character technical director.

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeg

I asked Stella what sound a pig makes and was delighted with her hilarious response:

So funny; I never get sick of watching it!

Mommmmmmmmmmmy, Daaaaaaaaaaad, Babieeee

We are so blessed to have a gifted singer serenade us during our family dinners!

Her table manners at the end where she throws the bowl down leaves some room for improvement though.

A Doc Christmas

Christmas morning, Santa had a Doc McStuffins house setup for Stella to enjoy when she got up.  It's a lengthy 10 minute video, but the very beginning captures when she first sees the house.  I love her reaction!

Her present opening skills have drastically improved this year.

Checkin' Up

Stella dressed up as Doc McStuffins today for school for Halloween.  Here she is afterwards making sure that both Ember and I have stellar tickers:

Two Year Birthday Partay

Stella LOVES Doc McStuffins.  So, naturally, Megan planned a Doc McStuffins themed party for her second birthday.  Complete with themed center pieces:

Cupcakes:

And a band-aided smash cake:

We had a good showing of friends and family and all had a good time.  I was especially warmed by how happy and how much fun Grandpa Peters had watching and playing with Stella:

As I did last year, I put together a photo montage of my favorite pictures from Stella's second year and had it playing on repeat in the background:

Big Shoes to Fill

Stella's a big fan of putting our shoes on.  I finally caught her in the act on video.  The best part is that it ends in a big hug:

Santa's Helper Doing Laps

Apparently putting a Santa's hat on Stella encourages her to do laps around the house:

1 Year Birthday Party

Today, we had Stella's 1 year birthday part at my parent's home in Derby, KS.  We chose to have it there instead of where we live so we could increase the chances of as much family coming as possible to celebrate this special occasion.  We were fortunate to have a good group of friends of family that made it (with Grandma Judy bearing gifts from others in MO that couldn't make it).

Megan did a great job of planning and getting everything ready for the party.  The party was princess themed complete with tiara topped cupcakes and a crowned smash cake.    We also had plenty of BBQ from  Hog Wild.

It was basically like Christmas for Stella based on all of the great stuff she received from everyone.  Here is the princess herself decked out in a tutu before opening her gifts:

In addition to all of the party pictures, I also have several videos to share from this momentous occasion:

• A photo montage that we played on repeat at her party.  This is only a small special selection of the 1000+ pictures I have taken of her so far
• Opening gifts
• Gingerly getting at her smash cake (despite previous practice with a cupcake)

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Stella turned 1 today.  Although cliche, time really has gone so fast, and I can't believe she's already existed for a complete revolution around the sun.  We've enjoyed every minute of it, and there's nothing I'd rather being doing than spending time with her.  I'm so proud of her that she's already managed to become such a cool little person in her short time on this earth.

To prep her for her actual birthday party and smash cake to take place on the 20th, we got her a cupcake.  Below is a video of her getting at it.  She seemed really shy and unsure of this new experience at first, but she became comfortable and messy in no time.

Assisted Walking

When we were in Wichita the last time, we picked up Braedon's old Gobble & Go Hippo to help with Stella learning to walking.  She picked up the concept pretty quickly.  Although kinda bow-legged, you can see her cruising along in the video below.  As a reward, at the end, we put her in the hippo and pushed her back and forth which she loves.

Talkative Climber

Previously, Stella would avoid the stairs as if they didn't exist.  However, she's recently started this new thing where she will try to climb them if Megan or I are at the top of the stairs.  I took a video of it below where you can see her pointing and yelling at us as if she's trying to command us to the bottom of the stairs so she can abandon her accent and get some attention.  I promise that her tumble at the end looks much worse than it actually was!

Standing Up

Megan has informed me that Stella has been pulling up to stand against various objects in the house.  I haven't really witnessed it on a major scale until today.  As I've previously mentioned, Stella is a big fan of her reflection in the oven, so I guess it's only proper that some of her first pulling up and standing experiences revolve around this beloved appliance:

Lovin' the Oven

Stella has loved her own reflection as far back as I can remember.  You put her in front of a mirror and she absolutely lights up.  Apparently, it's a genetic inclination that comes from the Moss side of the family (we sometimes call her Morgan).  Lately, she's found that the oven door shows her reflection so she's been spending a decent amount of time in the kitchen with it:

Multitasking

Megan had told me about it, but I had never witnessed the elusive "Stella + holding her squeaky giraffe + crawling" combination until today.  Even better, I was able to get it on video.  It cracks me up every time no matter how many times I watch it.