Shoes make a girl happy.

This girl, probably like many other kiddos, LOVES her shoes. Any time of the day, when she spots a pair of her shoes lying around she hurries over to them, picks them up, and hurries back to me squealing "shoes!!" or "boots!!" (depending on which pair she got). Obviously it doesn't matter what she's wearing at the time, she just wants to wear them, and now! It's pretty funny. The other day she wore her furry boots over her footed pjs for most of the morning. And today it was just a long sleeve onesie and her tennis shoes.

She also has figured out that you can lock the front door and turn the knob to open it. She's not quite strong enough to actually pull it open when it's completely closed, but she knows how as soon as she's got some more muscles.

Adios Plugs!

Yes! We've FINALLY gotten rid of the plugs! I knew that I for sure would have taken them away as soon as she turned one, but that didn't happen. She wasn't ever one to cry for her plug or cry when we took it away from her. She didn't use it that much...just at night and for naps so it really wasn't that big of a deal when we didn't let her have it over the weekend when she went to bed. Although she did scream a little harder and for a little longer. Daddy, who normally puts her to bed, said that the she kept searching her crib for a stray plug. He said it was sad. She'll get over it. I've just always said that I can't STAND to see a 3 year old walking around with a plug in their mouth...and here I was still letting my 15 month old go to sleep with hers. It had to stop sometime!

Some Fresh Air.

Anna and I went on another ride in the ATW (All Terrain Wagon!) just before sunset. I normally just pull her around the neighborhood. She did her usuals which included pointing at and saying "geesth" (geese) and "ducks" as they flew back and forth from the lake by our house. She also would talk back to them. Her "quack" noise is pretty impressive. Ha! I didn't teach it to her, she just imitates well. She would bark at the dogs and also shush them while putting her finger over her lips. Pretty funny. She would even blow into her fists like I would to warm up her hands. She thinks that's a pretty neat trick. We both got some much needed fresh air. The mall didn't have enough of it today when I went...BY MYSELF! YAY! Ha!

Brrr.

Last weekend we had another ice/snow storm. The forecasters acted as thought it was the end of the world and informed people that they needed to stock up on groceries, gas, water, etc. But, of course, they were wrong. We did get some snow and ice and it did happen on the days they said it would, but not the end of the world. I went out and took some more ice pictures. Some of them turned out rather metallic looking. Kinda cool I thought.

Puppies!

These are rather old pictures...taken just before Christmas. I just got them off of another camera that I had borrowed from my mom because my other camera (not the new one) gave out. Anyway! We were at Grandpa's house up by Amarillo. His house is down in a canyon and right by a lake. So there were many deer wandering around. Anna called them "puppies" and even barking at them as though she could call them to her. She would take a few steps towards them and the deer, of course, would take a few steps away.

Anna M.D.

Anna has an old stethoscope that she plays with a lot. I think it helps her with nerves in the doctor's office knowing that she has a "toy" that the doctor also has. She likes to sling it around her neck then walk over to us, try to put the ear pieces in her ears and listen to "things". Sometimes those "things" she listens to turn out to be the couch or the pillows. But we end up helping her place the ear pieces in her ears and let her listen to both our hearts and hers. She thinks that's pretty great.

ICE!

I braved the cold one of the days it was super icy here and took some pictures at the park next to our house. They turned out pretty good. None of them have Anna in them (thankfully, because I was doing well just keeping my camera happy in the cold temperatures). They say it might get up to a whopping 40 degrees tomorrow so we'll for sure get out in the wagon or play in the park before the blizzard hits on Friday. Yuck!

Light socket?

OK, I finally downloaded the pictures on my camera... On this day Anna's hair would NOT stay down. I tried getting it wet and combing it down, then sprayed some of that detangler stuff on it. Nothing helped. It was super icy outside and we definitely weren't going anywhere so I guess it really didn't matter. But MAN! She didn't care much. She did get a little tired of me fussing over her hair and just wanted to help Dad with his crosswords.

Slackerville: Population 1

Yeah, I know... Everyone has been getting on to me about not posting anything on the blog in forever. Sorry! I don't really have an excuse. AND I was all bragging about my camera on the last few and still have yet to take very many pictures of Anna with it. It's just been so dang cold outside. I like taking pictures outside. They seem to turn out better.

Yesterday we did get outside for a little while. At around 4:30 (estimated temperature outside about 30 degrees) Anna got a serious case of cabin fever. So I bundled her up with her puffy coat, mittens, hat, and about three blankets and we headed for the wagon. The tires were a little flat, but they were still inflated enough to go for a walk. Off we went, through the neighborhood, the ice, past the barking dogs, and the drivers on our streets that seemed to look at us like "Man, I'm sure glad I'm in my warm car!" I, of course, worried more that Anna would be too cold, didn't think about bundling myself up much and only put on a scarf and a sweater. Obviously I froze! But, Anna was happy. Every time I looked back to make sure she hadn't bailed out along the way, she had a huge grin on her face...her icy nose and red cheeks didn't bother her. This weekend they have predicted another winter storm. They say it'll be the worst on in six years. Or at least the most snow since then. I bet Anna will need some fresh air then as well. I'll remember to put on my coat this time.

Laughter.