18 Month Pictures

Just wanted to do a quick post and say:

Happy 18 month birthday to my sweet and beautiful baby girl!!!

You are such a big girl these days!!

You are so much fun and we just cannot get enough!!

You love to run and always get those arms going to help!

You also have your first skinned knees to prove it!

You also love going to the park and we have enjoyed some beautiful spring like days for the past several days!

You are so happy and full of energy!

Running with "Da" (Daddy)!!

Checking out the world from Daddy's perspective!

We got your newest "trick" on video tonight!

You love for us to stack your blocks and then you knock them down!  We do it over and over again!  So, tonight, we thought it would be fun to go down the slide and knock your blocks down! You loved it and did it at least 20 times!!

We love you so much!!  You are my "bestest girl!"

More to come for 16 and 17 month updates as well as the rest of Christmas!!

Lighting of the Green & The Live Nativity

We kicked off our Christmas season this year by picking out our christmas tree at the boy scout lot!  They set-up at the front of Ross Bridge so we just walked to the lot at sunset one evening!  It felt special to just walk!   

The boy scout who helped us managed to snap this great iPhone pic with the moon, the sunset, and the clock tower in the background!  I love it!  Afterwards, he walked our tree to our front door!  So cool!

We also attended the Lighting of the Green Ceremony at Ross Bridge in early December!  We started off the evening with a song and dance performance by Santa and his elves.  I have to admit - Santa was a terrible singer and extrememly country.  It was a little awkward really!

Then, we decided to wait in line to see Santa!  Annie wasn't so sure about seeing Santa and thought about taking off out of the side door!  Silly girl!

Turns out she really didn't want to see Santa.  Poor thing - she cried so hard!  

Don't worry - we took these photos very quickly and were out of there in no time!

We should have just saved ourselves the 1.5 hour wait since Annie was so upset by Santa and since this was not the happiest Santa.  I don't think he smiled at all.

Oh these make me so sad to look at!

I do hope she enjoys Santa more next year, but I think we will have to go somewhere else to see him!  No more long lines again!  Whew!

On our way home, we saw the Clydesdale horses giving carriage rides and we wished we had done this instead!  Next year, we will know just what to do!

And finally, on our walk home, we stopped and saw our neighbors house who went all out with their Christmas lights!  Annie ended up without her boots on because she stepped in horse poop :(  But, she loved the Christmas lights and decorations!

Just a few days before Christmas, we went to the live Nativity at Mountain Brook Baptist Church!  It was a cold night with drizzling rain, but it was really neat!

Before the show started, we got to pet a live camel, donkey, and several baby sheep!  They were all so cute!

Annie loved petting the sheep the most!

She even wanted to feed them a little hay!

Such sweet excitement!

She was so good with the animals and they were pretty unconcerned (in a good way) with all of the kiddos running around!

Finally, the show started and it was really special!  I think Annie will really enjoy the show in a few years when she can understand better what is going on, but we may make this part of our annual family pre-Christmas tradition!

Adventures at McWane

Today was my first time to take Annie to the McWane Center.  Emily took her once before when she was much younger, but I have never been with her.  We joined our friends Sabrina and Lynlee and had so much fun!  

Annie was a little overwhelmed at first by all of the people and things to do, but she quickly warmed up!  We explored all 3 floors and had lots of fun!

Here she is climbing through the "playground."  I think we both got a little claustrophobic and the top and were ready to get out!

Annie and Lynlee loved the water table!  What a great idea!

We played with bubbles!  Sabrina and Lynlee were attempting to encase themselves in a giant bubble here!

The special Clifford exhibit was great and perfect for Annie's age! 

We dug for treasure, 

checked the mail several times,

went in and out of the house

watched a little Clifford TV,

 played the drums,

and climbed through the tunnel!

After the Clifford exhibit, we found the giant piano!

And finally, we ended up at a little activity house.  It was definitely Annie's favorite!

We turned the gears,

climbed up and down the stairs over and over again,

made smushy faces up against the plexi glass, 

and peeked out of the port holes at the other kiddos!

Thanks to Sabrina and Lynlee for showing us around and taking us as your guests!  We can't wait to go back again!

**New Post Below**

15 Months

Way back on October 28th, Annie turned 15 months old.  I never did a 15 month post, but I love reading her monthly posts so I want to keep it up as much as possible.  Here are pictures not including Halloween at the end of October or our Thanksgiving trip from the month of November when she was 15 months old!

Here she is enjoying the nice weather after church.  She enjoys opening and closing gates, doors, etc.

She also has this arm swinging thing that she does sometimes when she walks.  Whether she is holding our hand or walking alone, she swings one arm back and forth when she walks.  I'm not sure if it helps her balance, or helps propel her, or just for fun, but either way, it is so cute!

Annie continues to like to eat!  She has also gotten very good at feeding herself with both a spoon and a fork!

If you have food, she most likely wants to share!  Here she is mooching off of Granddaddy one night!

She loves anything to eat that she can hold like a sandwich!  Pretty much, if I eat it, she wants to eat it or at least try it.  On several occasions, she has tried my salad because she insists.  So far, she hasn't liked it and kind of chokes on it, but she is definitely interested!  I have also started eating blueberry flavored flax seeds everyday as yet another one of my health food adventures!  Some days I put it in our smoothie which makes them taste so good, but if we do not have a smoothie, I put the seeds directly in a cup of water.  To my surprise, Annie loves it and asks to have her own!?!? 

One night, we had sushi and she loved my salmon and cream cheese roll!   She also loved throwing the chop sticks on the floor over and over again for us to pick-up!  She thought it was so funny! I love her little laugh!

She continues to enjoy her Praise Baby movie.  Here she is enjoying a snack after church in just her onesie, bloomers, and church shoes!  Such a cutie!

Annie has started to climb so I taught her how to safely climb on her school bus and slide down!  She loves it and does it over and over again!!

Annie LOVES Layla!  She pets her, cares for her, wants her to be fed and wants to make her eat her food, wants her to be let in from the backyard all the time, and often times gives her treats!  Here they are snuggled up looking out the window in Daddy's office!

We went to our neighbor's birthday party at the Southern Museum of Flight!  Even though Annie was the littlest one there besides the little bitty babies, she jumped right in and participated like the big kids!  So cute to see her lined up with everyone!

My Mom bought Annie some new clothes so we were trying them on one night! I asked her to show me her new clothes and this is the model pose and face that she struck all on her own!  She might be a natural!

Here is Annie "working" with my Dad at my parent's house!  She is a big helper these days!

We had dinner with our sweet friends one night and these girls are really starting to enjoy playing together!  Annie still loves to give hugs as she always has!

We spent the afternoon with Grandpa, JoJo, Grandma, Nicole, and Taylor!  Annie enjoyed swinging and exploring in the backyard!

 Before our trip to Lexington, I realized that Annie needed to start taking big girls baths so that we could bathe her on the road without taking her bathtub along.  I had been holding out on the baby bathtub because it was easy on my back, she still loved it, and I could bathe her in the kitchen while unloading the dishwasher, folding clothes, etc.  She had also been scared of the big tub since we never used it.  But, I decided it was high time for Annie to enjoy all the fun of a big girl bath!  It took her a few baths to get warmed up to the idea, but now she loves it!

And finally, Annie has gotten so silly!  She loves to play and have us play with her!  Here she is with her Daddy one night!  She also still loves raisins!

Annie you are a silly, happy baby girl who laughs easily and sleeps well!  We are so thankful for each and every day with you!