Singing & Dancing

Violet is learning a lot of songs lately, and loves to sing and dance and do the motions to them.

Some of her current favorites include:
- The Wheels on the Bus
- Ring Around the Rosy
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider
- If You're Happy and You Know It
- 5 Little Monkeys

I've taken some videos of her, maybe one day I'll figure out how to post them...or at least try! I haven't taken the videos off the camera in almost a year! Pathetic, I know.

Also, I've discovered CDs by the Cedarmont Kids. If you have kids, you should check them out. I own the following:
- Toddler Tunes
- Action Bible Songs
- 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

They're good to put in, especially while you're cooking dinner or something. And they mix in good Christian songs for the kids, which is nice! Violet is still a little young for the Action Bible Songs, but it was only $4 and I think she'll like it once she's a little older! I remember a lot of them from when I was a kid!

Bubble Bath Unicorn

Date: 3/16/10

Sometimes I do those things as a mom you think you'll never do. One of those is taking pictures of my child in the bath with her hair spiked up. But it's just too cute!

So, yeah, here she is in her bubble bath (Tinkerbell bubbles, of course) and with a unicorn spike. In my defense, it does make washing her hair more fun, until I have to wash it out anyways! She is just like me and hates the water in her face!


Oh, and no, she's not using that Olay body soap. She uses Aveeno baby products, which I highly recommend if your child has sensitive skin! =)

Some other funny things she's been up to:
- It really bothers her when my hair is in my face. In fact, she'll come over and push it out of my face for me if she can!
- She LOVES all her stuffed animals & dolls. She isn't attached to one in particular, but she'll pick which one she wants to take with her to school, or hug before bedtime, or take to the grocery store. It's really cute. Maybe I'll do a post dedicated to all her animals.
- Speaking of dolls, she has her little baby doll named Emma that she is such a little mom to! She pats her back, gives her a bottle, tries to change her diaper, sings to her, puts a blanket over her when she lays her down, etc. Emma's even been put in the time out corner once!

She's at such a fun age (95% of the time, anyway!).

Trip to the Aquarium

Date: 3/14

So, I've been wanting to take Violet to the zoo and have just been waiting for a nice enough day one Saturday to go. I think she will just LOVE seeing all the animals! Unfortunately, we haven't had one yet, so this particular day, we decided to go to the aquarium instead. My dad and brother came with us (John was in Arkansas biking, and my mom was home with my sick sister).

So, here we are at the horseshoe crabs. They're one you can reach in and touch, but she would reach and almost touch the water, then pull her hand away and giggle. Right here it looks like she's saying "Look mom, I'm touching it!".


And here she is sitting on one of the exhibit ledges posing for a pic. The starfish in the background make for good color contrast!


And here's a picture of her with my dad and brother. My dad was so happy that he was in a picture with her where she wasn't crying! We've been making a lot of progress in that department lately, and this pic turned out too cute!


There were a couple exhibits she was scared of (the alligator gar stick out in my memory, not that I blame her!). She would say "sca-wy" and hide her head in my shoulder! I'd have to say her favorite thing was in the river room, where she saw raccoons running around. This just reinforced my thinking of how much she will love the zoo!

And here she is after we got home, being silly as always and showing off her cuteness!


Conclusion: Aquarium was okay, can't wait for the zoo!

Playing Around the House

Date: 3/12/2010

So, here's Violet one fine afternoon, looking at what I'm cooking in the oven. Please ignore her seriously crazy hair! If I don't put it up in a ponytail or pull it back with a clip, it's all in her face. It's almost long enough to tuck behind her ears, but not quite yet!


And since the weather is finally starting to warm up, we've been able to start playing outside and going on walks. This particular day, it was a little windy, but still good for bubble-blowing! Of course, she's at that age where she has to do it herself.


She hasn't quite figured it out, so I usually take over the duties (which keeps us both a little less sticky!).


Oh, and another note on that stage includes picking out some of her clothes. For instance, she loves this sweater and will wear it over any of her jackets if given the options. It's a borrowed-hand-me-down from her cousin Kate who always has the cutest clothes! When we put on the "sweat-a" she makes sure to tell me to do the "but-ton", and if I miss any, she points it out! Same things with her "jac-ke" (no t at the end yet) and the "zip-a"! She is so smart and is getting so good at communicating with us!

February 2010

So, the end of January/early February we got MORE snow, and of course, Violet wanted to play in it! So John made her a big pile and she had tons of fun climbing in it!


Also in January/February, our daycare was closed for 3.5 weeks due to issues with the sprinkler system freezing & busting, so Violet got to spend a lot of time with her grandmas! My mom even made her a couple of bows, one of which she's modeling for me below!

Obviously she likes it! =)

Another milestone in February...my 25th birthday. John bought me tickets to the ballet...Sleeping Beauty. It was awesome! And I got to pick the restaurant...PF Chang's! What a great birthday date! Unfortunately I got the flu on my actual birthday and was out for 4 days! Bummer.

January 2010

Over the New Year weekend, we drove down to Hot Springs, Arkansas so John could do some crazy trail marathon. Violet doesn't like to sleep in her pack & play anymore, so she shared the bed with us (good thing we got a king!). So, she woke up with this humongous smile and I just had to take a picture. Seriously, this was like within 5 minutes of her waking up. She is probably one of the happiest morning babies ever.


And here she is dancing to the music and smiling for the camera while Trent looks at her like "what on earth are you doing?". Being silly, of course!


So, I bought this hat for Violet for her 1st birthday...and she hated it. Well one day (in December or January, can't remember now) she picks it up and puts it on and decided she liked it! Here she is modeling her hat on the couch. What a goofball, but a cute one!


And then in late January, I was busy in the kitchen cooking dinner and I heard her opening drawers and entertaining herself, but wasn't paying too much attention. I look down, and she has her hat on and has draped a kitchen towel around her like an apron! I don't ever wear an apron, so she had to have learned it at daycare (maybe like a paint smock?). Anyways, I thought it was the cutest thing!


I mean seriously, I know I'm her mom so I'm a little biased, but isn't she just too cute?!

Christmas 2009

So, I know I'm WAY behind on my posts, so I'll keep the catch-up ones short and sweet so we can get back to present-day faster!

Here's Violet on Christmas Eve, posing by the tree.


I told her to say cheese so she gave me her best smile! Unfortunately, she squinted a little too much, but it's still a cute pic.


Here she is on Christmas morning, modeling her new pj's and playing with some of her new toys! She absolutely loved her little pot & pan set, and pretended to cook for us all day. Also, check out that crazy bed hair! Oh, and the Tinkerbell doll leaning against the fireplace was her special gift from Santa.


And here she is a few days later, playing in the snow, which she just loved! I had to practically drag her into the house because she was all red from playing in it and I didn't want her to catch a cold!


That's our Christmas in a nutshell!