Anna Catherine is officially a toddler

Today I realized I have a toddler. Not a baby, not an almost toddler, but a real little girl. This is the first day in almost 2 weeks when just the 2 of us have been home together. This morning she vacuumed with her little toy vacuum. Then she pushed her baby in the stroller & kept getting frustrated when the baby wouldn't stay in the stroller just right. She told me "I want eat lunch." She said "I poo poo. Gross!" Outside playing she yelled "momma, watch this." When a dragonfly passed by she said "look! Bee!" I am amazed at what a big girl she is. I can tell her to bring me her shoes or put something in the trash & she can do it. I can ask her if she wants to eat hot dogs, applesauce, yogurt, or several other foods & she will tell me yes or no. I've always enjoyed her little stages of life, but this one is my favorite so far.

Another Day in the Good Life

Ah, what a day. Today was one of those days I want to remember (which is why I'm here after yet another long absence from blogging). Today was not a holiday for me. According to Joey it IS a holiday today since his best friend Brendan turned 11, but for most of us around here it was just another ordinary day. I just have this feeling tonight that after I blink a few times our family will have grown up even more & days like today will be long in the past.

I started off the day with a much needed haircut. Truth be told, I didn't need a haircut as much as I needed to go hang out with Renee, the most fun hairdresser ever. I had a pb&j for lunch with some of the yummy mayhaw jelly I helped momma make Friday. Anna's best friend Sadie came over to play for a little while, then the boys came home & we had snacks while doing homework.

Now we've made it to the part of the day I most look forward to--walking at the park. Let me clarify that I do not usually go to the park, but Jason takes our 3 precious children for a 2 1/2 mile walk & to feed the ducks. That little Anna is wild. Until they go to the park & let her ride around her stroller she is whiny & high maintenance. Poor thing reminds me of our neighbor's huge Dalmatian that needs walking a couple times a day. So what do I do while they go to the park? Today I swore to myself that I would never buy another house with carpet as I crawled around the living room on my hands & knees scrubbing stains off the floor. Yep, this girl here knows how to relax! Then I cooked some supper & decided how many bites of each food my picky eaters were required to eat. The verdict? A whole strip of fried tenderized steak, 2 bites of corn (bites, not kernels), 2 bites of homemade Mac & cheese, & 1 bite of brown rice. It took some sweet talking, but the boys accomplished their goal without any crying! Woohoo! Anna only dumped her plate once, didn't throw any food, & only spit out one or two bites after chewing. I actually had to fix her extras since she ate so good.

I was so thrilled supper went smoothly. Now on to bath time. Anna has to go straight to the tub after supper since she usually ends up wearing half the meal. That means Jason has to shove those last few bites of supper in his mouth pretty quick before she goes nuts from boredom & tries to escape her chair. As I'm cleaning the table I hear him asking the boys to bring him paper towels. Yippee, Anna has pooped in the tub. Again. Here lately that bath water is just what she needs to keep her regular. Only this time she wanted to play with the "new brown toys" & got mad at her daddy because he wouldn't let her. I scooped out poop while he held her, then we started again. After she was done we had our nightly ritual with the boys--tell them each half a dozen times to get IN the tub while they whine that they don't want to, followed by telling them each repeatedly to get OUT of the tub while they whine that they don't want to.

Tired yet? Cuz I am! Now we get to entertain Hurricane Anna until 8:30 so she can go to sleep (even though she's tired already). That's where this story is gonna have to end tonight because it's 9:20 & the princess is trying to convince us (& herself) that she's not tired. She whined & cried in bed for 20 minutes until her daddy rescued her. Now I need to go find some missing pacifiers.

Bibs, bibs, bibs

This afternoon I had a GREAT time running both of my embroidery machines at the same time. My regular sewing machine was winding bobbins too, so I was working at full capacity during Anna Catherine's nap. Here are the gorgeous bibs I made for sweet Lincoln's first birthday.

Playdates are Sew Much Fun!

Rain rain go away! We've got another dreary day outside here. Anthony was so excited about having his friend L from school over. While I visited with L's mom before she left, she mentioned needing a baby shower gift for this afternoon. I told her I'd be more than happy to make something. While the boys played & Anna slept, I made a burp cloth & onesie. She also wanted to buy the diaper bag I made last night. I made it for Anna last night, but decided there were some changes I wanted to make so I'm gonna make another one. I had wondered what to do with the first one, but that problem worked itself out nicely! After she left
I realized how terrible my phone pictures were, but it's too late to retake them now.

Quick & Easy Biscuits

This morning for breakfast Anna & I tried some new biscuit mix. They were pretty good! I was surprised at how light & fluffy they were. I also cooked some sausage. It was ok, but not as good as momma's.

Lunch with Anna

Here are some pictures from lunch yesterday & today.

Breakfast with the Princess

The boys FINALLY went back to school today! They've been bored & going crazy since this Christmas break had such yucky weather. I'm not sure what happened to Anna Catherine's hair while she slept last night, but it was wild when she woke up! We had a yummy breakfast of eggs & toast. I'm so proud of what a good eater she is. Neither of the boys will eat eggs. Jason doesn't like them much either. I took a picture of her plate when she was done to show how good she ate.