Dr. Seuss

 

Last weekend, Abilene held the first Children's Arts and Literacy Festival (CALF). This year's theme was Dr. Seuss and we were excited to be part of it. Bogie's was open for the kickoff during Artwalk on Thursday night and opened on Saturday as well. Emily, Anna, Pearlie & I attended readings of Dr. Seuss books and various other activities during the weekend. We got to hear The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Horton Hears a Who, Yertle the Turtle and The Sneetches (Papa joined us for that one). It was really a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to next year when the theme is "I Spy, Walter Wick."

The Cat in the Hat

Emily on stage at The Grace

 

Emily & Pearlie listening to Horton Hears a Who

With Horton Hears a Who statue

 

Emily & Pearlie

Mommy & Emily

Emily & Yertle the Turtle

Swimming!

Yesterday was Emily's first day of swim lessons. As any good mom would, I stayed and took pictures! She did great and loved Teacher Sherri. I didn't get to take her today because I was working and I really missed it! But, I'll get to take her again every (week)day for the next two weeks.

Emily loves her new goggles and wore them for breakfast last Friday

Listening to Teacher Sherri tell the rules

Swimming with Teacher Sherri

Splashing on the side of the pool

Jumping to Teacher Sherri

After naps yesterday, Emily wanted to swim again, so I set up her swimming pool at home and the girls played for a little bit in there. Anna wasn't too sure about it and kept wanting to get in and out of the pool. (Emily would tell you that's the first rule Teacher Sherri told them...don't get in and out of the pool!) Weird, because she LOVES baths! I guess I need to make sure to get toys in there before they're in the water next time.

Firsts and lasts

We finally got Emily's hair cut last Friday and, while I like the ease of the new cut, I miss the curls my baby had! I don't know if they'll come back so that's a little heartbreaking. I do not, however, miss the screams and fighting we had while combing her hair every night, while she was overly tired anyway. That much, at least, has been better. So, now, the pictures.

Before

After

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Monday night was Emily's end of year program at preschool. Hard to believe that it's already been a year! She did great and sang with her class like any proud mama would want her to! She's second from the left on the front row (actually doing the motions!).

First day

 

 Last day

What a difference 8 months makes!

Ok, so I'm starting to stink at updating this! Anna is now 16 months (and 4 days) old. She's getting into everything, rarely stays still unless she's sleeping and will hardly eat anything unless it's bread. Yes, we're still fighting that battle. She will pick out purple fruit loops and grudgingly eat the others. She will eat eggs most of the time, chicken some of the time and a few bites of yogurt. Yet, she's still growing...some, anyway!

She's running and climbing and loves to be tickled. She's very happy most of the time and she adds so much joy to our family.

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Emily is in the throes of the terrible twos. Yes, I know she's almost 4. Whoever coined that phrase hadn't had a 3 year old yet! She'll be just fine one minute then throwing a huge tantrum the next. It's very wearing on this mama, but I'm surviving. She'll be finishing her first year of preschool next month and she has done so well and loves going.

15 months

One more post for the month...(please forgive the quality of the photos...trying to make the iPhone my only camera, but indoor lighting is quite an issue)

Slightly unhappy, only because I put her down

Much happier

At Anna's 12 month check up last Thursday (yes, you read that right), she weighed 18.6 pounds (2nd percentile), was 30" (39th percentile), and had a head circumference of 16" (0 percentile). The good news is she's on the charts where she has been all her life.




She's talking more and more (2 new words just today!) and signing some too. It's rare that we can't figure out what she wants.

She's quite the ham and keeps us laughing. She loves to wave at people. She'll sit and wave to customers in a restaurant and they've never even seen her!

She has 9 teeth now, including a molar that is coming in and, perhaps, causing her a bit of trouble. She's been clingy at bedtime and had a little fever tonight. :-( But, she's still sleeping well, so I'm grateful for that.

She's eating a little better, sometimes. At lunch, she ate an omelet muffin easily, but wouldn't touch her supper of chicken, corn, broccoli and beans. But, I'll take what I get. If she eats, she eats. If not, she'll eventually be hungry to eat what I give her.

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  Guess who else is 15 months. ;-)

Mish-mash of thoughts (and some pictures :-) )

To the seven of you who still check this blog for updates (LBE, you know!), I frequently have blog posts written in my head, but by the time I leave the bathroom in the morning, they're gone. :-) All that to say, when I started this blog four years ago, I had no idea I would ever have over 22,000 visits. I started it to keep my family updated on my pregnancy with Emily. So, thank you for visiting!

I've heard that, in your busyness, you will make time for the things you really want to do. Cleaning is not one of them for me. It is definitely a chore. This blog has become a chore to me...one more thing I have to do. And, for now, I'm doing it once a month, on Anna's birthday, because that's what I did for Emily. And I'm all about being equal. (Starting to learn that fairness and equality are not the same thing.) But, it's where I am right now. I don't often just get a chance to sit and enjoy quiet time on the computer. Usually, it's a mad rush to get the finances taken care of or get an email or two sent or a giveaway entered. All that to say, I'm still here and I'll still post at least once a month until December, but I probably won't do much more than that. It's hard to put yourself out there when there's very little interaction on the part of the reader.

What usually goes through my mind is questions. So, I'm putting them out here today. Answer them or don't. At least I've asked. And there's about as good a shot of them being answered here as on Facebook where I usually post them.

How do you know when to cut your daughter's hair for the first time?
How do you really get kids to eat veggies & fruits, not just crackers and goldfish for snacks?
Will feeding my kids always be a struggle?
Will I ever feel like I know what I'm doing? (Ok, I know the answer to this one!)
How do you break into a group of people and start real friendships?
Does anyone have suggestions for good, portable, non-carbohydrate snacks that 15 month olds and 3.5 year olds will eat? (read: no crackers)
(Can you tell food is a big issue right now? For the past month, Anna would eat only crackers or goldfish or bread or some spoon-fed things. The doctor said it's time to start playing chicken...literally. Force her to eat fruits & veggies, meats, cheese before giving her breads. A snack and 2 meals have been awful so far!)

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In other news, the weather has been awesome lately (at least some!) so we've been going to the playground. This week has been especially nice because we can use the one at the elementary school just a few minutes away. One of the perks of spring break! Here are a few shots from the playground (from a couple weeks ago and this morning.

 At Fort Imagination a couple weeks ago...now a favorite picture!

 At home, jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone

My little hams this morning at the playground

50 weeks and other stuff

Anna continues to take more and more steps. I think she'll be walking by her birthday. She's had a few stomach issues lately leading me to think she has an issue with large quantities of grapes. No big surprise...Emily did too.

Friday night, Highland had a Mother & Daughter Mad Hatter Tea Party. Emily and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had tea party food (she loved the cupcake that said "Eat Me"), made hats, painted tea cups and Emily painted our fingernails (mine & hers!). Then we got to watch a little of Alice in Wonderland, but I think she wasn't quite ready for that yet. Maybe next year.

Saturday morning, we went to Breakfast with Santa at Westgate Church of Christ where Robert & Lauren go. As you can see, I got a picture of the girls with Santa. :-) Typical! But, I also got 2 great pictures of the girls and Emily made frames for them to go in on the tree.

Mom and I spent a couple hours yesterday getting food and the house ready for our annual Christmas party. It's nice to be able to share that responsibility!

Tonight we're off to a Christmas program at the Paramount. I can't wait to see what Brandon has put together!

49 weeks

Thanksgiving was so much fun that I forgot to post Anna's picture. And, somewhere in there, Anna cut a tooth that I just found today! No wonder she's been grumpy! She's starting to take more steps at a time. She may be walking by her first birthday, in just a couple weeks. Wow!

This picture shows her new thing...holding out her hand to you. So cute!

48 weeks

 
So here we are on Monday again. :-) But, I actually have something new from the post about Anna's 11 month birthday. She's been very drooly for awhile now and FINALLY, her upper right incisor popped through! Yea! But, that meant for a very unhappy girl Saturday night and Sunday. We all took 2-3 hour naps yesterday and it was wonderful. When Anna woke up (when this picture was taken), though, she was (and still has been) clingy and a bit grumpy. I guess I can't really blame her.

Back in January, we received a box of goodies from my good friend Laurie. In the box were 2 sets of 12 month and 4T pajamas (2 sets each). I finally broke them out tonight. So, Laurie (I know you're reading!), the girls say thank you!!!

11 months

Can it really have been 11 months? I mean, it feels like Anna's been with us forever, but she's still my baby (I know, she always will be!). She'll be walking soon and she's starting to wear some clothes that make her look big, not like a baby. :-( (Yes, I know I'm the one dressing her...but these are the clothes I have!)

Some fun pictures...(notice Anna's mohawk in the one on the left!)






Yesterday, Emily and I had some one on one time and it was great. The Abilene Zoo has a preschool class once a month for 3 and 4 year olds. Emily and I learned about bears yesterday and got to see the bears at the zoo after learning what they eat and how they get their food. Such fun. I look forward to more of these classes with her.

46 weeks

This week has been big for us.

Anna has taken several unassisted steps and will walk anywhere you'll guide her on your fingers. She's so close to walking by herself. Possibly by Thanksgiving!

Emily is now diaper-free! She'd been dry overnight for a couple weeks so we decided it was time to try panties at night. After one wet morning, she's been dry ever since. We do, however, take her to potty just before we go to bed, just to make sure! She's even woken me up in the middle of the night to take her to potty. So exciting!!

44 weeks & a Weekend Visit

I'm late in posting because we took a weekend trip.

 Friday night, we headed to Austin to visit our good friends, Kevin, Kellie & Jake. We arrived in time for spaghetti and garlic bread. Yummy! (Kellie went out of her way to make sure I had stuff to eat this weekend too!) We got the kids ready for bed and visited a little before heading to bed.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed to a local garden center to look at their pumpkin display, petting zoo, bounce houses and, of course, candy. Emily enjoyed looking at the animals but wanted nothing to do with actually touching them. No biggie. Just means we didn't have to use hand sanitizer! Jake was fired up about the bounce houses. Guess who wasn't! Emily said she wanted to watch "him" in there. So, we stood off to the side and watched. After a little while of that, we went and picked out pumpkins to take home. Emily & Jake picked theirs out immediately. Easiest decision Emily's made in a long time!

   

We went to Cheddar's for lunch. It was beyond time for lunch and the kids (all three of them) let us know! We finally got some food in everyone (even me, though it was made a bit more difficult by the fact that Cheddar's doesn't have an allergen menu).

We headed home for naps and everyone crashed for a while! Then, it was time to play baseball in the front yard. Everyone had a great time and we got to see just how well Jake (at almost 3) can hit the ball!

The boys cooked fajitas for supper, then we carved the pumpkins. Having not done that since probably middle school and certainly never by myself, I let Phillip follow Kevin's lead on this. (I did take mental notes so we can do it next year though). The kids really enjoyed watching and helping when they could. They turned out great. (Yes, they actually got carved. Unfortunately, my camera battery died after this picture, so I'll have to get the rest from Kellie. I'll post the family picture we got with the pumpkins later.)

Sunday was church (where we saw one of our employees!) then lunch at Pei Wei (yea for Honey Seared Chicken being dairy-free!). The drive home was a bit longer than the drive down there. I think everyone was just ready to be home and was cranky because of it. But, we made it home and got settled and ready to hit the busy week ahead of us (amazingly, one of the busiest weeks we've had in a while!).