Summer is finally here!

We had a packed weekend, and I have lots to update... but I need to go start packing for my trip. So for now, I'm going to just share a couple of pictures of Annabel and her friends Maggie and Joshua at the splash park at the zoo. They had a blast!

Annabel Cinema

I'm sure that every parent does this, but I find myself constantly saying "I love this stage..." Ok, well maybe I wasn't singing that tune two weeks ago, but in general, I truly have loved it all. The stage that Annabel is at right now is so much fun, I feel like I need to share it with all of our friends and family that are far away. So, tonight is movie night! We shot most of these videos tonight - she was so fun! Grab your popcorn and enjoy....

Movie #1: Annabel and the stroller. I got this stroller for Annabel at a garage sale last weekend, and she LOVES it. She has really started to play a lot more maturely lately, doing things like feeding her baby dolls, and pushing them around in her stroller. And she chatters CONSTANTLY. That's what we were really trying to capture here... it's a good sample!

Movie #2: Dancing Queen. We walked a 5k on Saturday, and shot this video beforehand when we were waiting for it to start. Unfortunately, you can't hear the loud music playing - instead you can hear the ladies standing next to us nice and clear. Annabel heard it though.... actually, she FELT IT.

Movie #3: I'm a little teapot. No explanation necessary.

Movie #4: Funny faces. We must make a lot of silly faces.... because Annabel makes them constantly. The one in this video is my favorite. I love this girl!

Annabel's new trick

Annabel is learning at a fast pace these days.... here is a new trick that she surprised us with this past weekend. For the first time she ate *effectively* with a spoon! She polished off an entire applesauce cup. It took a long time, but she was very into it - and did not want any of my help once she started!

It's the little things that make us so proud. :)

A weekend with the nice Annabel

Hi! I feel like I've been complaining about Annabel a lot lately... although she is more challenging than she used to be, she is still so sweet when she's not being difficult. This weekend, especially yesterday, she was an absolute sweetheart, and we had one of those days where we just kept thinking how blessed we are. Mommy and Daddy both got some individual special cuddle time, and at least for me I spent the whole timing wishing that I can hang on to the memory of it forever.... because I know I will miss it as she grows older!

Anyway, we spent most of Saturday doing yard work.... for the most part we took turns with Annabel so that the other one of us could get stuff done outside. Thankfully she napped pretty well.... we tried to bring her outside with us for a little while, but that didn't last long. She kept standing exactly where I was trying to weed, and kept picking up dirt and putting it in the bucket.... that was ok, but when she started eating it we had to find something else to do!

Eating Dirt

Saturday night our friends Julie, David and Drew came over. I work with Julie, and now that we've moved, we live very close to each other. Drew is about 18 months, so he's a little older than Annabel, but she tries to keep up. :) Here are some pictures of the two of them:

Drew & Annabel

I went garage sale shopping and came home with this as an surprise bonus... she wears them well!

Annabel won't wear her new sunglasses, but Drew was a big fan!

Just another Saturday night with a baby and a brew

Sunday we did some more housework, inside and out.... Annabel helped me spread some mulch, and this time was a good little helper and didn't eat any of it! She's such a little mimick lately, both in actions and words. The other day, Nate said "don't mess it up!" and Annabel repeated him plain as can be. Of course she had no idea what she was saying, but that didn't make it any less exciting for us!

We wrapped the weekend up by having our friends Ethan, Stephanie and Sean come over for dinner.... we didn't get any pictures from dinner, but Annabel had a blast playing with her Uncle E. He needs to come over more often to help us wear her out! She was still pooped when she got up this morning.

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Annabel talks on her play phone now. She says her own version of "hello"

Hanging out at home

Her expressions kill me. We make this face back and forth at eachother, and it cracks her up. The picture is made even funnier by the fact that she's standing on the a/c vent, blowing up her dress.

If Annabel is in the kitchen and left to her own devices, she always heads under the kitchen table. It's counter height, so she can walk under it with no trouble. Once she's there she pushes all of the chairs out as far away as she can get them. And if you put one back, she'll push it out again. She doesn't want those chairs in her fort!
Nate will think I'm ridiculous for putting this next picture up on the blog, but since when does that matter? I got Annabel a new pair of shoes this weekend because she's about grown out of her other ones. I think they are adorable, and she seems to like them, too! Gotta start the training early! :)

Bring on Summer!

We had a very busy weekend last week, and did our best to enjoy the beautiful spring-like weather. We went to the zoo, watched some softball games, went to a birthday party, had Brooklyn over to play, and had a BBQ with my parents. That's a lot for just two days! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

My cousin Theresa gave Annabel this outfit for her birthday.

To me, it says "Hello Summer!"

Bath time!
Annabel has just recently started to enjoy books - and pay attention to them when we read to her. She also likes to read them herself.

I'm posting this picture for the family.... I think she looks so much like Gretta in this shot!
Saturday morning we had a couple hours free, so we went to the zoo. It was our first trip of the summer, and the first since Annabel was about 5 months old. It was so much fun to see her get excited over the animals and check everything out. She liked walking on her own for the most part, and wore herself out good in the process.

This is during the dolphin show.... she really enjoyed all the tricks!

The girls and their daddies before the dolphin show

Annabel and Daddy checking out the rhinos

Unfortunately we had to leave before the petting zoo was open. So Annabel had to look at the goats from the outside. Next time we'll stay for the petting!

Annabel and Brooklyn at the Oceans Exhibit

Annabel has fallen in love with the chair her Grandpa and Nana got her for Christmas. The only challenge is keeping her on her bottom, instead of on her feet... she thinks it's real funny to get caught and then sit down real fast when I come to get her down. We do that over, and over, and over again - until Mommy gets smart and turns the chair upside down!

And that's all for now!

Again so soon?

One of my good friends actually told me that she was sad to see so many updates at once the last time, because that meant I wouldn't update again for a while. Not so! Here are some videos to enjoy... pics from our weekend to follow later.

Even though Annabel is challenging these days, she still is a constant source of entertainment to us. Here are some examples of why.

The final post of the night...

Part V: Life at home

Ok, so now I'm getting tired..... here are some misc pics from the time since we've been back. We're glad to have our sweet girl back (even if she's not as sweet as when we left). She's getting so big! She is having long conversations in her own little language, and tries to mimick what we're saying.... she says 'more', and 'bye-bye', and 'dada', and 'mama'. And when you ask her what a doggie says, she says "woof, woof". She also blows on her food now when it's hot. And, she is an awesome dancer. I will do my best to get that on video soon, because it really just might be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Annabel really gets into her food.... she loves anything covered with spaghetti sauce!

We went to my parents' last weekend on our way to Milwaukee for a wedding. She loves playing outside at their house!