Mall of America!

The next several posts will all be using pictures taken with my iPhone. I haven't downloaded the pictures off our cameras in some time, so I'll do some back-tracking after I finally get around to doing that! =)

April 2nd and 3rd, we flew up to Minneapolis and went to the Mall of America. It was a fun little weekend getaway, and we made it home in time to spend Easter with our families.

Here's a great picture of John & Violet on the plane leaving Minneapolis Saturday after a long day of shopping Friday.


And here's Violet showing off her cute piggies while waiting for our next flight in Chicago.

Those crumbs are from my blueberry muffin, which she loved!

Easter was great, I don't have any pics from my phone so you'll have to wait! I'll do all my storytelling when the pics go up.

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!