Sleepover

Anna had her first Non-Mommy sleepover on Friday! Tim and I went to the Carole King/James Taylor concert, so Grammie and Grampy took care of her for the evening. She did WAY better than expected! When I left her in the afternoon, she was sharing a glass of sweet tea with Grampy and didn't cry at all. Then Grammie got home and they had pizza (she had 2 1/2 squares! sheesh!), and they went for a walk and to the bebow, and then had some ice cream later. She loved her "auxiliary" car seat that they have, because she got to be a forward-facing hotshot. When she got tired later in the evening, she basically told Grammie that she wanted to go to her cribbie (which they had set up in their bedroom). Went to bed with no incident, slept all night... and in the morning woke up and said, "Hi!" Never once did the little girlie cry or ask for me, and she had a wonderful time! I can't believe how big she's gotten, being able to have sleepovers without me! It definitely makes me happy that it was so successful, and we're planning on doing it again sometime soon!

Music Lover

It's no surprise to me that my daughter loves music, considering both her parents are musicians (not to mention that I'm a music teacher). It is pretty funny how opinionated she is about the songs she wants to hear, and how she wants to hear it ALL the time. She'll say, "Da?" and start to shake her hips - it's hilarious! If I put on a song that she doesn't want to hear, she will shake her head no until I find the right one. She even has her own playlist in iTunes, because one day I played a bunch of random songs to see which ones she liked best (I was getting just a tad tired of hearing "I Saw Her Standing There" 10,000 times a day). Turns out that, in addition to loving that song, she also really likes "Where You Lead" (duh), "Yellow Submarine," and "We Can Work It Out." That last one is the most recent favorite, and I'm very excited because that's one of my favorites too! Sesame Street is still her favorite CD, and now she knows how to turn it on when she's in her room. I will be VERY excited when she figures out how to sing along with these songs!

4th of July

This year's July has been warm and sunny... until we got to the actual holiday. It rained off and on, but still, it was fun. We went up to Tim's Uncle Mike/Aunt Terry's house again, since they have a big party every year. It was hot enough to swim, but Anna was slow to warm up to the water. I think she's completely forgotten about her swim lessons from last year. Eventually though, she didn't mind being in the water, and eventually she would even let us splash her. We got to borrow an innertube for her to sit in, and she loved that too. She also loved their little "bebow," which had a slide and a swing, so much fun to be had. Anna definitely wasn't a fan of the bouncy house though... I think part of it was that the first time she was in there a bigger boy got in there too and was a bit too rowdy for her liking. There was also a 10 yr old there named Kennedy, who was very good at acting like a Mommy. She took Anna under her wing and played with her, pushed her in the swing, and helped her climb the climbing wall. I've never seen anyone so good at playing mom before! It was a nice relief too to have someone play with Anna who isn't me!

I'm posting 2 pictures of my Squirt - one from this year, and one from last year. How time flies!!

Big Girl On Her Bike!

Last Thanksgiving Grammie picked up a bike for Ms. B in preparation for the summertime. It's actually supposed to be for 2 year olds and up, but it seems like it makes more sense to give it to her in summer, rather than January. The bike is awesome; it's Little Mermaid, the seat is adjustable (although she still can't reach the pedals), there's all these buttons on it that make noise and light up - including indicators that blink! - and it blows bubbles! It's a very cool bike, and Anna is thrilled to push herself around on it... and stick her fingers in the bubbles. She has some trouble getting off it, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of it very soon.

Sick Little Girlie

Poor little Ms. B has had a fever for most of this week. It seems to be the worst in the night, and it has been messing with her sleep... of course, ever since we got back from vacation, everyone's schedule has been a little messed up. We're not tired when we're supposed to be, so Anna hasn't been getting to bed at 8:30 like usual. I doubt that has anything to do with her feeling sick though. She's been a real trooper though, because other than being a bit clingier than usual, she hasn't been crabby or difficult or anything. If I had a fever of 102, I doubt I'd be as high-spirited as her! We were able to get her a doctor's appointment today, and they said it could be Roseola, but the only thing to do is wait it out. If she has a fever on Monday we'll need to bring her in again, so we'll see what happens.

The only thing that has been really bad about this is that I've been hesitant to take her to public places. I don't want her spreading the illness to anyone else, and I'd rather keep her excitement to low levels in order to keep the fever down. It sure hasn't been easy - or as fun! But hopefully she will get better soon and we can continue our summer of parks, pools, and other outdoor adventures!

Pool Time!

This week has been hot and humid, which is the perfect weather for splashing in the pool! We got a hard plastic pool this year, because our inflatable pool didn't last long last year. She loves putting her hands in the flowing water (like when I have the hose on), she thinks it's hilarious when she splashes me, she gets a funny look on her face when I spray her head, and of course she loves climbing in and out.

Anna absolutely loves the water, and she would probably stay in it all day if I'd let her!

My Favorite Day

The day we went to Thanksgiving Point was my favorite. It was a beautiful, warm day, so we decided to spend it outdoors at a farm in SLC. When we got there it was about time for lunch, so we did that first and ate outside. Then there was this fun little water sculpture that the kids had fun playing with (and it was free), so there were a bunch of different levers that you pull to make different things happen... like shoot out water or make silly sounds or make some of the gears move. Then we continued on, and there were some beautiful garden areas with lots of roses that the kids enjoyed running through. Finally we got to the main part, which had a big barn with this fake cow that Anna really loved sitting on (I have no idea why), and lots and lots of farm animals outside. We saw all sorts of sheep, goats (and a 1 day old baby!), horses, cows, roosters, turkeys, pigs, geese, ducks, etc. Included in the $3.50 admission was a ticket that you could use to either have a tractor ride or a horse ride, and since Anna had never been on a horse we really wanted to do that. She absolutely LOVED it! She was all smiles the whole time, and then when the ride stopped, she did the "more" sign! We walked around a bit more, but since we had one more ticket, we let her ride again. She was just as excited the second time, and once again she did the "more" sign when the ride was over. I joked that I think we should get her a pony for Christmas, but hopefully some play toys will do! Once that was over it was naptime, so we left. But it was just a really fun, happy time for all of us!