An Alfresco Lunch

We continue to take advantage of the great outdoors. We LOVE being outside. We ate on our front porch yesterday and got to visit with the neighbors as they passed. AK loves to exclaim "HI!" and "chat" with everyone. She talks 100 miles a minute and of course, you cannot understand a word...but she has a smile you can't resist.

Food face

How broccoli ends up on her nose, hair, ears with ME feeding her is beyond me. Mealtimes are a haze for me right now. She fights to feed herself and does a spectacular job with a fork (she fed herself an entire container of ravioli by herself last night) but has not perfected the spoon. She turns it over, dumping its contents into her lap, onto my newly mopped floor, or into her highchair that is becoming increasing hard to ignore its need for a complete take apart for cleaning purposes. AGH! Independence is overrated.

Bed Head

Just thought she looked so cute and cuddly after waking yesterday. I loved the mornings!

Street Sweeper

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." Martin Luther King Jr.

Boo Boo

This child is as accident prone as I am. She falls ALL the time and then pops right back up with blood dripping down her leg. She is tough! Every night when we get in the bath, she points out all her "boo boos", both new and old.

Friends and Daughters...

We had a shower for my friend Jodi this past weekend and we laughed about how we have all had daughters! Guys that want sons are out of luck when you marry a Sallisaw girl....Not really. But it is so weird....must be in the water. So the first pic is just of the girls and the second is all my friends and our daughters.....

More Zoo....

Abby Kate and Kourtney, Spring Break!

As promised, here are our pics from this week. I have to say, AK ADORES her big cousin. I have never seen anything like it! I was the oldest on my Mom's side and always took that role so seriously. I watch Kourtney, her sweet spirit and kindness and I am so glad AK has her to look up to. She has been tireless her whole time here. She just plays and plays with AK. We went to the aquarium on Monday (the first pic) and went to the Zoo yesterday and had a BALL. We stayed for hours and even got to hear a lion roar. That is what they were watching in the last picture. I cannot wait until summer when she can stay a whole week!

Time with Poppy

As I have mentioned, Ak loves being outside. That is one of the reasons why Poppy is her hero! He plays with her countless hours when we visit. She LOVES it!

15 Months and other musings....

Hmm....appetizing huh? A bare bottom while I fix dinner. I so wish I had grabbed my camera a few seconds before this as she was laying on the ground with it in the air.

All kinds of new stuff to update you on...first up, the exploding vocabulary. I am shocked each day to hear new words come out of her mouth. Like ABC, 123, mouth, nose, eyes, shoes, Bob (Veggie Tales), Bow, whoa!, yea!, Mickey! (always said with enthusiasm thus the exclamation point), blue, and shockingly, can name every family member in her photo album. I sound like a braggadocios parent and I really don't mean to...she is behind or normal in many other areas, but not surprisingly (with me talking her ear off all the time and the fact she is a girl!) she is talking up a storm.

Her personality has emerged. She is still ultra observant, sometimes still pausing for a while to size you/or a situation up. However, she is mostly just happy. She smiles a lot still doing the nose crinkle. She is super dramatic and always exclaiming loudly! She loves her books, loves to snuggle with her dolls or animals and loves exploring. She LOVES being outside and squeals when our playground comes into sight on our walks each day. She loves the swings and sometimes likes the slide if I go with her (which I am beginning to hate due to the excessive amounts of static electricity). Other than that, she is simply fun.

But best of all, she has become super affectionate. She latches onto my leg numerous times a day just squeezing with all her might. She will come to my chair, lift her arms and squeeze my neck and then smile sweetly. She gives wet sloppy kisses and now says please and thank you. Basically, my every dream for motherhood is accomplished in these moments. Thanks for letting me goo all over this post but I love to share her with those that do not know her well yet! I love each of you! More pics soon, I promise. We will have our niece here next week for her Spring Break so the pics of our many activities will be fun to share!

The Bunny

This morning Bobby forgot his phone so when he came in the front door, he shouted for us to "Come Quick!" We found this black and white rabbit hiding under our tree on the front porch in the middle of a storm. Abby Kate was squealing loud enough for the neighborhood to hear. We brought it inside and fed it carrots. By 10am, it was part of the family, laid out on the carpet, and following AK EVERYWHERE. I have never seen a rabbit act so much like a dog. I then let in out in the backyard while I showered and went out to find it gone. I went next door to our neighbors to tell her not to let her dogs out until she checked her backyard only to find out it was her missing pet! YEAH! Now I am just hoping when I go to get AK up from her nap, she will have forgotten the whole thing...or else think it was a dream :) A Mom can only hope right? I am NOT NOT NOT adding a rabbit to this drama that is my life, no matter how much she loved the rabbit (I am serious Mom...they are NOT cute Easter presents)!

Playdate with Adison

These two are so fun together! Adi is so laid back and happy! It really is so fun to have a friend you have known literally all your life come beside you in the same stage of life. I just looked at her and laughed this last time we played saying, "Can you believe these are our daughters?" Abby Kate got a bit, okay a LOT, territorial when we tried to give them a bath together before bedtime. She guards this bedtime ritual I guess! We had super fun though!

Going to the "store"

So though I am daily amazed at the things this child notices and then tries to duplicate, this may take the cake. She got her push toy, tucked snuggle bunny in the front and took off. I was cracking up! She does not like sitting in the cart any more due to her wanting to walk EVERYWHERE, but she deals with it.