Paint the town Red

This past weekend was going to be nice and relaxing with just a couple small things on the schedule... until Derek decided what better way to relax than to paint a few more walls in our house! So far, we have painted our family room, living room, kitchen, and now, our entry way. I think everything looks fantastic! Derek did a great job with the rolling and I did the majority of the trim (Derek helped a little bit as there was a lot to do). All that we have left now are the upstairs and downstairs halls and our bedroom. Nothing that I am wanting to tackle anytime soon though.
Della has been so busy growing. I can't believe how big she is getting. Everyone had said how quickly she would grow but it never hits you until you see it yourself. She for sure isn't the squishy ball of goo that we came home from the hospital with. Everyday she looks more like a little girl. She is starting to mimic us when we clap, put our hands in the air and make faces. She definitely loves to be around us and has started noticing when we leave the room when she goes down for naps (she doesn't like to see us leave!) Della is talking up a storm too! We hear lots of bababababa and dadadada and her voice is starting to have inflictions so she is developing a language of her own. It is so wonderful seeing her take everything in and process it.
For Valentine's Day, we attended a Rotary dinner dance named "Wise Guys and Dolls". Everyone was supposed to come dressed in 20s mobster attire. We had a great time and it was fun to dress up. My coworker had a fringe dress that she let me borrow that was perfect! Also for Valentine's Day, Derek surprised me with a new microwave! It was something that I had wanted since we moved in but the old one kept working so we dealt with it for a while until the other night, Derek put a bag of popcorn for 5 minutes and I came downstairs to NOT A SINGLE KERNAL popped. I had to put it on for an additonal 5 minutes. I still was planning on dealing with a slow microwave but Derek was sneaky :) Our new microwave has a popcorn button, a soften button and even a button for baby food. I'm so excited!! While he was at the home supply store, he picked out his own Valentine's Day gift from me - a new cordless drill set which he is thrilled about so I got kudos by default for gift giving :)
Needless to say, our weekend was a good one and I am getting caught up from the cleaning and laundry that got pushed aside while we painted.
We miss everyone and love everyone too.

A dedicated Della

This past Sunday, Della was dedicated at our church. It was a very special event and it was made even more meaningful because Pake and Beppe were able to attend. We do have a video (taped by Pake)and are working on getting it formatted to put on the blog.
We had a wonderful time with Pake and Beppe and it was so neat to see them interact with Della. She is learning so much, so quickly, that is's fun to share her skills with everyone. Beppe taught Della how to use her two teeth to eat an apple and how to dress very stylishly with all her new clothes while Pake let her wear his special hat (he also helped me learn how to play my new guitar :)
As we learned only a few minutes after Della was born, she has a thing with her tongue. It is usually sticking out; when she is "in the zone" and also when she is happy blowing raspberries. It also comes out when she is concentrating hard - I think that this comes from Pake
Thanks for the fun weekend and being here to attend this special day for Della! We love you!!