Discovery Center

Anna and I had a fun morning at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. Anna helped me get the house cleaned up before we left, sweeping the broom around the whole house:

Our first stop at the Discovery Center was the turtle aquarium, where Anna waved and said "Hi, turtle" to every turtle in there. Then we were off to the padded play area for 0-2 year olds. Anna had a blast running around, exploring, and making friends with the other kids.

Towards the end of our time in this area, Anna simply fell over and started cracking up ... at nothing. It was ridiculous. She just laid here laughing, overcome by all the fun, I guess.

Next was the art center, where Anna painted two pictures for Daddy. We also had fun drawing with markers on this big wipe-off board. I kept drawing the ABC's and smiley faces, which Anna found amusing as well.

Analyzing the mechanics behind marker caps:

We ended our trip with the "choo choo" table. Anna did a really good job sharing with a few other kids who came by to play ... their parents even commented about how nice Anna was to their kids. I was a proud mom!

What mommy-daughter date would be complete without a lunch at Chick-fil-a?

One tired-out girl!

Anna drawing:

Anna playing hide-and-seek:

Chef Anna

Anna's been having what I like to call "toddler moments" lately. Case in point: this top picture is from last night. Anna wanted to wear her mittens while I dried her hair - weird. Then, this morning, when the bottom picture was taken, she wanted to wear them while she played in her room. I don't know if her hands are cold or if she's convinced that mittens are a cool accessory, but I think it's pretty funny.

Thanks for the cute striped sweatshirt, Emily, Derek, and Aunika!

Yesterday I told my mom that Anna and I had yet another snow day together today. Now, I love spending time with my Anna more than anything, but not when that time is trapped in the same cold house together with no other adult interaction for the fourth day in a row. My mom sweetly suggested, "You should make cookies - that's what I always did with you guys when I needed something to do!" My first thought was How can I make cookies? I don't even have any chocolate! Then I remembered that cookies don't need to have chocolate (although it is a perk) and that I had a tub of raisins in the pantry. Anyway, Anna and I had a great time making oatmeal raisin cookies together today. It took up about an hour of our day, and Anna was into it the whole time. She took every step in and tried repeating everything I said. The cookies weren't half bad either!

The pictures are a little out of order. Here she is sitting on a chair with her baby watching the cookies bake. I turned on the oven light so she could see them - she found this fascinating.

Running around with the fruits (or cookies) of her labor (looking so big, don't you think?!):

Helping:

Thanks, cousin-in-law-once-removed Cynamon (right?), for the cute aprons! Anna and I both wore them while we baked!

Here are a few short videos of Anna helping ... she kept saying "more" after everything:

Maybe she can help me make veggie pizza tonight for dinner - yum!

Snow!

Anna and I are have a snow day today! Nashville got about three inches of snow overnight which warrants a day off school in these parts. Not that I'm ever one to argue about a day off work. Anna and I ventured out into our snowy backyard this morning to play.

Getting ready:

Crawling around in the snow ... not really liking it when she tried to walk and the snow covered her whole boots:

Trying to walk ... marignally successful:

A really whiny video ... not representative of the fun she actually had:

We may venture out again later today. I wouldn't be surprised if we had another day off tomorrow too. Hope everyone's staying warm!

New Jammies!

Anna and I have a nice schedule going these days: I pick her up from daycare around 3:30 or 4:00, come home and play for a while (or go grocery shopping, like we did today), eat dinner around 5:00 (early, I know), and then do the whole bath/stories/bed routine so the munchkin's in bed between 6:00 and 6:30. It's early, but so is her wake-up time (6:00) since I've got to drop her back at school on my way to work. The only positive to this craziness is that Anna LOVES school right now. She runs into her classroom in the morning to grab her favorite baby (imagine that) and show it to her teacher. She's even getting to the point where she's sitting down to play on her own and waving bye-bye to me. Sometimes it makes me feel a little sad that she's not quite so dependent on me, but I'm also thrilled that she's comfortable where she spends the bulk of her days and feels loved by her caretakers. Today her teachers put her hair in a Pebbles-esque ponytail which I found mildly amusing. See for yourselves:

I'm not big on kids and television, but Anna enjoying a fifteen-minute video about farm animals allowed me to whip up dinner tonight. Amen to that! I love the baby wrapped up sitting next to her ... that's Anna for you!

I love these next few pictures of Anna in her new bug jammies. She now knows how to say "jammies" and repeats it the entire time I'm putting them on her. It's so cute! Her hair is crazy from post-bath play. It's almost long enough to fit behind her ears when it's down. She's also learning how to scoot on her belly off the couch, the bed, and the stairs, but, as you'll see from the last two pictures, sometimes she gets a little stuck ...

Oops!

Poor girl! She kept saying "Help, Mommy" over and over. Of course, I had to keep her waiting a few seconds to snap some pictures :-)

Christmas Pics

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Jimmy's cousin Rick took them Christmas morning. We had a great time in Ohio --- more posts to come!