JUNKIE

Before she was even born, Stella had an extensive wish list on Amazon.com with the movies her heart desired most. I thought it was a little silly to buy her movies before she was born, but obviously her movie-obsessed father thought differently. I, in turn, thought to let it go. Fast forward to 2 1/2 years later to find a young child absolutely obsessed with movies. Just like her father dreamed.

The obsession started innocently enough when I decided to put in the movie Annie and watch it with my daughter the same day I started reading the Hunger Games series which I couldn't put down. I was relieved to discover my child was obsessed with Annie. When it would end, she would want to start it over right away. I was just as obsessed with my books so Stella and I had an understanding. Soon I would catch Stella watching the end of Annie and singing as loud as she could "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, your only a DAAAAAAYYYY, AAAAAAAA, WAAAAAAAAYYYY!" I also have yet to get tired of her saying "Hardknocklife," like it is one word instead of three.

After the weeks and weeks of Annie we started to introduce more movies like The Incredibles (Stella calls it "Credibles") and Sleeping Beauty ("Bootie"). Soon, Stella felt her viewing of "Bootie" wasn't really complete without a slow dance to "I Know You" with her mother or father.

Last week Brent surprised Stella with Beauty and the Beast. Which she mainly calls "Bonjour." She loves to sing the opening song and doesn't like it if you try and sing with her. The first time we watched that one I realized what a true princess fan she is. When the dance scene with Belle wearing her yellow dress began, she gasped, "Her dress!" Her breath was taken away.

It is clear that Stella loves the musicals the most, but she is also now fond of two Japanese animated movies that don't have singing. Even without the singing, she loves them and asks to watch them all of the time.

These are currently the only movies she knows exists, so I am sure that as we show her more, she will only learn to love more. One thing is for certain though--I don't think she will ever change her mind about where the best spot in the whole house is to watch a awesome movie: on Mommy's bed, on her pillow.

FALL 2010

The fall pictures I took last year of Stella are still some of my favorites. So I dreamed of reliving the magic this year as well. Unfortunately, we kind of had a lame fall this year. The leaves turned late and then a storm came and knocked off most of the leaves. I still wanted to give a photo shoot a go though, so on Sunday I talked Brent and Stella into going to Memory Grove with me. It was such a lovely evening and I was feeling grumpy and needed to get out of the house. After family pictures on Wednesday and Halloween pictures, Miss Stella was in NO mood for posing. But I still caught a few great moments of her just being adorable, and even one of her flying!

YUMMY

Halloween is certainly never complete without a full-on photo shoot of my baby in her adorable costume. My fascination with Stella being an inanimate object for the holiday has continued into 2010 and will continue until she starts deciding on her own what she wants to be. Let me just say that I am so glad that stores make such cute costumes now that mommies all over the world don't have to learn how to sew just so they can make a Halloween costume. I saw this cupcake on OldNavy.com months ago and snagged it up right away. It couldn't be cuter and the only trouble I had with it was deciding if she looked best with or without the hat. Now prepare to be amazed--these pictures could be an ad for that silly cupcake costume...at least I think so!

SCARY DELICIOUS

I wanted to get some pictures of the girls together, but it started to rain so I lost patience pretty fast. As you can tell, the girl's mommies almost didn't recognize their babies because Ava looked super scary and Stella looked very delicious.

THE HAUL

It astounds me how delightful it is to take my little daughter trick-or-treating. She totally got the concept last year, so now that she is another year older and wiser she is like a Halloween professional. She would go up to the doors all by herself, give them a good knock and yell "Trick-or-Treat!" She was usually good at saying "Thank you" or "Happy Halloween" as well. She kept telling us how much fun she was having and loved running from house to house (at the beginning anyway). We decided this year to go through my parents' neighborhood, which turned out not to be a bad idea at all when Stella managed to snag a few full-sized candy bars while she was out. After being out for a good while, Ava was tired, but I asked Stella if she wanted to go home or to go to more houses. "More houses!" she yelled. And when she saw Ava head home: "Ava is too tired." However, as we went to those last few houses her pumpkin had gotten so full that she needed me to carry it in between homes. I was also pretty impressed as she would head up to the scary houses as well with no fear. She was, however, scared of some of the neighborhood puppies.

When we got back home to Papa, she showed him all her stash. She was mostly proud of her Princess cards that had Cinderella on them. But she did not forget about all that candy--she had sure worked hard for it!

[Editor's Note: This last photo is not Stella after being punched in the face, but rather, photographic proof that while M&Ms may not melt in your mouth, they will in fact melt all over your face.]

CHEERS AND GIGGLES

I always like to take a trip up to Idaho Falls around Cy's birthday. It is kind of a fall thing, fueled by my and Heidi's mutual distaste for the season. Stella of course always has the best time. On Saturday, both Cy and Catcher had basketball games. We missed Cy's because it was way too early in the morning, but we made it to Catcher's. Stella was so excited to see a basketball game (hopefully my fears of a sports-loving child will not be realized). She was the best cheerleader ever, always giving a shout out to Catcher while jumping and clapping. Catcher had a lot of fun at his game. Scores were not kept at either of their games, but in my book, I know they won on adorableness alone.

In the afternoon, Stella and the boys took a ride in the Beehive Bug. It is both a bug and a limo and apparently very rare. Craig's credit union bought it for promotional stuff and it was at the house because they used it for Cy's birthday party with his friends earlier in the week. Stella thought the ride was hilarious. With lots of bumping and noise, she was laughing like crazy with her boys in the car. And don't worry, we didn't really let her drive it. She is only two for heaven's sake and doesn't yet know how to drive a stick.

We did nothing on Sunday, just ate and hung out. When we finally got on the road at 7 PM it was raining like crazy and rather windy. As we started on the freeway I thought for sure that it couldn't last forever. But the weather was terrible for three whole hours. I thought for sure that we were done for several times. It was raining so hard that sometimes I couldn't see a thing, then the wind would blow and I thought we were going to blow off the road. Stella was in the back seat saying prayer after sweet prayer and we finally made it home in one piece, although my nerves were shattered.