You Are My Sunshine

Stella has become quite a song bird lately.

She loves to sing and read books,

so books that include songs are right up her alley.

Pretty adorable huh!

First Haircut

I have done a little trim here and there, 

but this was her first salon haircut.

She was a little skeptical at first

But thankfully Yo Gabba Gabba soothed her nerves

Ok, I think we're ready

She had some concerns that Kate might trim off her curls

"Please stop taking my picture Mom.

I'm going to be cool." 

I didn't end up taking an after picture because she

got a little bit squirly.

That's what happens when you take a tired girl to the salon.

Mommy's Helper

Stella LOVES to help out around the house.

Cole, of course, is baffled by her natural desire to help

as he would rather do anything but help.

So we just put her to work around the house

Emptying the dishwasher

Moving the air compressor

Look how hard she's working

And of course, getting a few loads of laundry done before bed.

Yep- this is why we have kids

So they can do all the work.

Easter Fun

Stella had a fun time hunting eggs with her cousin Calyn

at Grandma's this year. 

She got the hang of it pretty quickly.

It was like a giant game of "pick-up"

Here are Calyn & Stella taking a mid-hunt break.

"See Mommy, I put my eggs in here."

Looks like she found another one.

And then she had a post-hunt hangover!

Jingle Bells

Yes, I realize that we've been very absent for a few months, 

but we're back- at least for today.

If you spend any time around our house you would hear

this duet.

Stella and her Daddy have quite an act going on.

Enjoy!

Permission to Pacify

Stella has always used a pacifier

Maybe not always correctly,

but she's always been a paci baby.

Awww, look how cute and chunky she was.

Well, we had a paci emergency yesterday.

It seems that Miss Stella bit into the nipple on her

one and only pacifier.

And it was not fit for further use.

Being the tough guy that I am, I said:

"Well, I guess that's it then- no more pacifiers."

Except I kind of forgot to consult Stella on this development.

So bedtime came, and she was asking for her "Mommy"

Yes, she calls her paci "Mommy"

because I played a game with her where I would pop it out of her 

mouth and pretend to put it in my own

and when I did that, I would say:

"That's Mommy's"

And it stuck.

So for about an hour and a half

she cried and wailed and arched her back

and threw an all out fit

for her "Mommy"

and I broke.

I put my shoes on, grabbed my coat and 

made the quickest trip to Target

that I have ever made, and came home 

with the coveted Mommy.

And she was asleep within 10 minutes.

Jim was succeeding in the fight against the "Mommy"

but I was weak, and I caved.

I'm not proud to admit it, but I'm not going to deny it.

So now we have to decide how to proceed.

Do we care that at almost 17 months our daughter still uses a pacifier?

Our pediatrician cares.

She lets me know every time we're there.

But I'm not sure I care.

I don't know what harm it's doing.

And it makes her so happy....

So if you see Stella walking down the halls of her 

high school in about 15 years

with her paci hanging out of her mouth-

I tried, 

but I was weak.

SNOW!!!

I realize I've been MIA for quite a while.

I'll get to that in a different post.

But right now, let's talk about SNOW.

Snow has also been MIA this winter,

until this past weekend.

I know that not everyone is a fan

but at our house- we love the white stuff.

We kind of enjoy being homebound during a big storm.

We also enjoy getting out and playing in it.

This was Stella's first real opportunity to play in the snow.

As you can see, she liked it.

She especially liked sledding down the driveway with Cole.

And without him.

Now let's talk about the other aspect of snow that is not so awesome.

The damage it does to our trees.

See those limbs that are full and resting on the ground.

They're usually a good 12 feet in the air.

We lost some limbs on the trees in our front yard.

Well, actually, we lost at least one whole tree, 

maybe two.

Maybe all three.

Here is Cole trying to give our trees a little relief.

I think that shaking them off a bit probably saved them.

Whew- that branch found relief by resting on the trampoline.

There was one teenage boy who was just praying that the branch didn't snap

and crush his trampoline.

It didn't!