The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down! 

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Anna's first swing ride.

rub a dub dub

translation please

We know Anna understands lots of what we say to her, but we're pretty sure we don't understand all but a few words she can say. Anyone know of a good baby translator?

dance baby dance

Anna trying out her dancing skills.

dolls

I made this black apple doll for my life long friend's daughter, Lauren.  She turned two last week, she was tweaked to look like her, complete with pigtails.

This doll I made for Maria's playmate, Sophia, who turned three last week.  Maria went to her first ever birthday party...outside of family anyway!  She had a great time, and I even left her there for a while by herself.  They played, watch The Little Mermaid, ate some goodies and just had a good time!  Now her newest thing to play with her dolls is have a birthday party instead of a tea party! :)

Faker faker, belly acher

Yep, Anna likes to fake cough and now cry.  I caught a bit of her at dinner the other night on video...and a couple pictures...yes, we did have carrots for dinner in case you couldn't tell!

what skill

check out Anna's skills...

in the navy now

bad hand

She was at it again...the hands talking to each other. She told me that her right hand was the bad hand, she couldn't tell me why though.

At dinner they are often getting into trouble, her hands that is. She said she told one to stop touching her food, and it didn't listen, so it had to go in time out!

She was so sweet at dinner tonight, saying "Thanks for dinner mommy." She must have liked it, no "you have to eat two bites before you may be excused." I think we'll have this one again.

The Big Mess

Maria made up a game complete with rules.  It was called The Big Mess...and it was a mess as you can see by the video.  Basically she dumped all the colored pencils and crayons that we own on the floor.  Then you have to  pick up some and drop them, then you have to get the same ones and twirl them in the air.  We thought it was pretty cute of her to make up a game all on her own and have rules for it.  Enjoy.

these days

Can't say what makes some days just delightful and other days that seem to drag on and on, but when you reach the end you know what type of day it has been.

Yesterday was surprisingly a delightful day.  Since we had a doctor's appointment, grocery shopping and other errands to run, it had every inclination for being one of those dreadfully long days!

We headed up to the doctor for a 9am appt.  We arrived about 10 till and barely had time to get coats off and hung(how we won't miss the coat, hat, gloves part of winter!) when Nurse Erica(our favorite!) called Anna's name.  She did the usual routine measurements(30 inches long! off the chart) , progress questions, weight(20 lbs. 80%), and told us the Doctor would be in shortly...and he literally walked in as soon as she walked out.  He did his usual checkup routine, pronouncing that Anna was right on schedule, and she only cried a bit for him and PTL no shots on the 9 mo. appt.  On the way out Maria was a very polite girl asking the receptionist for a sticker...she chose Scooby Doo, although she has never even seen it?? We also hit the bathroom and Maria didn't have her usual public bathroom paranoia of, "is this toilet loud?", "it is going to flush by itself?"  (curse those automatic toilets!)

We left and headed to the grocery.  What delight for Maria to be able to have her very own shopping cart, perfectly sized for her.  She was a very courteous cart driver I must say, not toppling too many groceries and only ramming into me once or twice. She did however block the aisle a few times, insisting that she stay beside me and not behind me, which may have been better for my calves!  Other shoppers thought she was a cute little shopper.  She didn't fuss and ask for anything, and was a great helper actually.  By the way, if you plan on Kroger shopping, Tuesday in the morning is a great time...Senior Citizen's Day...meaning all the other shoppers are usually going at the same pace as a mom with two kiddos, and they are joyed to see the girls and their smiles!

Lowe's was the next stop for a piece of glass for a frame.  It proved to be quite an interesting show for Maria to watch the worker cutting the glass.  She was full of questions and informed me that adults shouldn't use small ladders, they were meant for kids.  (There was a small step ladder in the glass-cutting area used to reach to the top of a large piece of glass.)  We looked for a couple other items they didn't have, which gave something for Maria to talk about to the cashier on our way out.

We had to go to JoAnn's next.  Anna was getting a bit sleepy by now so we opted for the stroller instead of the cart for a bit more comfortable ride.  I needed to get a few things and by the time we were finished sure enough she had dropped off to sleep.  Maria did get a bit ornery at one point by thinking that the aisles of fabric were a perfect place to practice skipping...off from mom especially.  At some point she found a penny and told me that she was going to pay for our things...if only a penny would stretch that far Maria...if only!  

After finishing there, we stopped in at Penny's, mainly because it was next door and I could let Anna sleep for a bit longer, and I wanted to look for a bathing suit for Maria in anticipation of warmer weather to come.  Anna did continue to sleep and Maria enjoyed "shopping" for her friends.  Basically she just grabs some clothes and carries it around until I tell her to put that piece back and then she gets something else.  

We were getting hungry at this point and headed to get some sandwiches to eat on the way home.  Maybe we are hitting the stage where errands aren't such a pain with both girls.  Both were well behaved, pleasant, and added joy to SO many other people as we encountered them throughout the day.  To top off the good morning, both girls napped simultaneously for 3 hours, yes, 3! 

Later that night we had the joy of seeing Maria make up her own game, complete with rules.  I took a video...look for it to be uploaded soon.   I hear a little girl waking up from a nap...so off I go.  Just wanted to share a bit of our day...as these days won't last forever, this stage of the girls life is short and fleeting.  

We have plenty to praise God for; no matter what type of day it turns out to be, God is there through it all.

9 months

It's amazing how much this child has changed in 9 months.  I guess we forgot that it happened with Maria too, but it did.
Anna is finally acting like she wants to move around more.  She sits up very well, with an occasional topple.  She will often lean way over to get something and end up in a crawl position.  She also rolls easily from back to front or front to back to get things.  She has masered scooting on her back.  I will lay her all the way at one end of her crib and she is usually at the opposite end in the corner by the time she has woken up.

She is a vocal little girl too.  Saying "uh-oh" is her newest "word", especially after she drops something on the floor.  If you tell her "clap your hands" she will, most of the time.  She still waves bye-bye, when she feels like it, not always when we are leaving or someone is going anywhere.

Have I told you already how much these two sisters love each other.  Anna can't get enough of Maria and just the other day Maria commented on how Anna was much more fun now that she is older.

We noticed another new tooth pop in a week or so ago.  It made her a bit cranky, but nothing intollerable.  And then yesterday, I spied more loose gums flapping her mouth, rather disgusting actually, but tooth number 4 just popped in...and no crankiness to warn us.

Overall Anna still sleeps, naps and eats well.  She is in a pretty good routine of napping around 10:30 and 2:00 during the day.  Bedtime is still 8, but lately she has been waking up early for a feeding.  So, I generally feed her and put her back down for a few hours till 8 when we normally all wake up.

She's starting to get much better at actually getting finger foods into her mouth, when she isn't smashing them in her hand.  She likes just about anything, but definately have some favorites...cheerios are high on the list.

She is certainly attached to mom and dad, as evidenced by the fact that it's hard for anyone other than us to be able to hold her without a pretty dramatic cry.  But we're fine with that as we know a time will come when she wants nothing to do with us for a while...oh say the teenage years perhaps.

Here are some 9 months photos to show of out little ham...she does like to flirt, especially at church, trying to steal the show from Daddy.  She does this head tilt and smile.

Hey up there!

Checking out the wall.

Definitely doesn't have the blue eyes that Daddy and Maria have...but not quite brown like Mom, more hazel like grandmas.

Looking toward the noise that she heard Daddy make.

Something sure was funny!

now look what you did

Maria's newest thing...she has been having her hands or feet talk to each other.  Like they are friends, one will say to the other, "you know I don't like that, please stop."  "No, don't put a sock on me."  But the best was her saying to one hand, "now look what you did, stop playing around, you made a mess"...hmmm, where has she heard that uttered before??

Bonjour Fancy Nancy

Our local library had a Fancy Nancy tea party again this year.

Can you tell Maria enjoyed eating the cookie that she decorated...gone in about 60 seconds.

Story time

She picked out most of her outfit all by herself.

Get a look at last year when she was still SO little!  How much they change in one year.

We have plenty to praise God for; our little girl still likes getting fancy and having a good time.  (My friend has a girl about 8 who said she was much too old to go to a Fancy Nancy party!)

Focus on Haiti

This is a great video featuring the work of a mission in Haiti. A good friend has done multiple medical mission trips to Ruuska village and her adopted daughter's baby sister, Bella, is in the video. Amazing work is being done, remember to keep praying, the people still need help.

Fat Tuesday...bring it on!

Yummy Fat Tuesday meal made totally by Daddy!  

Crepes with Chicken, Mushroom and Asparagus filling.

King Cake- typically a tiny baby jesus is baked into the cake and whoever finds it will have good luck...we opted no baked in Jesus!

It has a yummy cream cheese filling throughout.

By the looks of Maria, this won't be lasting long!

Before and after

We spent a week of vacation up at our lake house.  It was a working vacation as we still had things to accomplish around the house.  Some wallpaper scraping, painting, adding ceiling texture where it had been taken off under the kitchen overhang...other odds and ends.  We can finally say we are feeling like it's our home!  Next time we go we can actually enjoy all our time there without having to work too much.

I'll have more pictures later...I should have taken a few more, but we had napping girls!

let's go read books!

yes, we hear that quite often, much to our delight Maria is indeed a lover of books.  We do feel bad when she just wants book after book after book and we have to tell her no eventually.
Maria managed to get Aunt Therese to read every Pooh book we had at the lake house, luckily we only had a small selection of them.  At our Culver house it would have been a long story time!  Thanks Aunt Therese!

can you clap your hands?

Anna just learned to clap her hands, and she has been saying uh-oh for about a week now.  And she popped her third tooth through on the top.  Thank goodness, because she was a bit off schedule and cranky for a couple weeks.
Enjoy

Happy Valentine's Day