Little AnnaBella Miller

In this season's We Joy Sing classes, we learned a song about a caterpillar.  Ms. Kelly does such a great job of mashing songs together, I don't know if it's really called Little AnnaBella Miller, but that's what I call it.

Anyway, between that song (to the tune of Twinkle, twinkle little star, a favorite) and her love of bugs, she was THRILLED when I point out this crawly guy at grandma's house.  I don't REALLY think it's a caterpillar, but what do I know?  it works.

"Little AnnaBella Miller

had a fuzzy Caterpillar

First it crawled upon her mother (EEK!)

Then upon her baby brother (Boo, hoo, hoo)

All said AnnaBella Miller,

TAKE AWAY THAT CATERPILLAR!"

Grandma grabbed a piece of paper to scoop him up with, then she held her arm out to let him crawl up, JUST LIKE THE SONG!  It was so adorable to watch her enjoy that and not run screaming.  She has REALLY made me aware of how much kids mirror what we do.  I can't claim that I would let bugs crawl on me, but I'm so proud that she does :)

Mother's Day shopping

Mother's day for me is all about spending time with my girls.  I don't need or want to go out to dinner, or anything fancy, just something fun with all of us.  This year, Eric surprised me with a number of great treats--a hand made garden stone, complete with Cora's fist print, Mrs. Prindables apples (a favorite for both of us) and a beautiful Lilac bush.

We've been slowly landscaping (and unpacking STILL) over the last few months and we're putting work into the yard as we can.  Eric has it looking green and weed free, now we want to add some pretty things.  Since we moved in August and had no idea what we really had plant-wise, we decided to wait till things bloomed. 

We wanted to go to one of our favorite greenhouses, Oakland, to pick out a nice Lilac speciment to start our back landscaping.  While Eric hunted, I entertained the girls in the play area (so smart) and since we went on a weekday, it was pretty empty!

We also got a rose and peony for my mom (must be where I get the desire for yard work) and headed home with our finds.  Baby sister Cora was asleep in my sling for most of the trip--I'm kind of proud of this self-portrait of us that I snapped while Beanie was playing :)  We also went to my old Elementary school, Harrisburg, to play for a while over the weekend, and really enjoyed the time together with my family.  Thanks honies!

COSI

 On a cold, rainy, Spring Ohio day, we decided to hit up COSI before running out of leave time with the girls.  We hadn't been in a while, but this time we decided to hit up some of the exhibits, not just the kids play zone.  I didn't get any pics of the geckos, but those were a HUGE hit for her! 

She also enjoyed the ocean exhibit, where she tried several different fountains, the wave machines, etc.  We also ventured into the submarine room, where she enjoyed this contraption that made a little scuba man dive and surface under her control.

She started tuckering out after all the excitement, but quickly revived after seeing all the kids.  She shouted "I love this place!  Thank you mommy and daddy for bringing me here!" That certainly makes you smile.

Playing with a litte friend to race balls down the track never gets old.

We hadn't played with the fog machine before, that was different and fun--I think it was actually supposed to replicate clouds, but I hate it when kids ask questions that you can't answer (AT 2 years old) so yeah, I called it fog :)

As usual, Cora tuckering out on dad's shoulder.  Clearly neither of them mind :)  He has to ward off the adoring moms at COSI with this one in his arms!

The water table area is always the last stop.  Between being DRENCHED, hungry, tired, etc.  it's a good way to wrap up the visit.  Next time I'm sure it'll be summer and warmer, but there was still a little chill outside.  We packed it all up and headed home for some dry clothes, lunch, and a nap :)

Cora beating up on dad

I had to jot this story down.

Yesterday the girls had their checkups: 3 years and 3 months.  We expected shots for both, so we played it low key, ordered pizza, and played inside.

Grandma stopped by and took Amara to pick up the dogs, so for a bit, it was just the 3 of us.  Eric was walking Cora around (who was a tad fussy from HER shots) and he started noticing a pattern...

She was waving her big left arm kind of in a windmill motion, in essence clubbing Eric on the shoulder every time Eric would stop walking with her.  Then he'd start walking and she'd stop hitting.  He repeated this for me while I watched several times, and each time she did it.

Doctors say we don't give kids enough credit, but especially with Cora, I've seen time and again her efforts to communicate to us.  She wasn't fussing, and it's POSSIBLE it was all coincidence, but man was it funny.  We're keeping our eyes fixed on this smarty-pants!

Jahn's egg hunt

After church on Easter morning, we headed to grandma and grandpa Jahn's to meet up with the cousins.  Amara had her hunt with the older boys first, then she decided to jump in and help Gideon with his eggs too.

The boys did a great job of hiding the eggs for her--I guess years of practice with each other!  The yard was so fluffy and green, you actually did have to hunt for them, even in the grass!

Our attempt at a girls picture :)

Cora making daddy swoon.

Even though it was warm, we bundled Cora up for the outside portion of the day.  Funny enough, a few hours later, we were all sweating, literally!  That's Ohio, 4 climate changes in a day!

Garhett helping Amara hunt :)  They are so cute together.

I LOVE this pic of Amara and the tulips!  Mom's flowers look great and I'm amazing that Amara left them alone.  Clearly she was focused on her eggs with candy and coins!

Running for a long one

I think this is a cute picture too.  Jackson was wanting her so badly to find some of the ones he thought were super obvious :)

Digging around in grandma's flower beds for the eggs.  Good thing this is now and not in another month!!

I think by this point, they were all looking for bugs more so than the eggs.  She is DEFINITELY not as afraid of bugs as the boys are.

This must be Garhett helping her out with a really heavy egg, either that or they are playing with bugs again.

FINALLY, opening all of her treasures!

You think you're going to share this candy?  I don't think so!

Sweet little Cora enjoying being outside and watching big sister run around.

Everyone was egg-stausted after all that running around and hunting.  Apparently the chocolate high hadn't kicked in yet!  It was a great hunt and we all enjoyed the brief dry spot in the day.  It's always fun for the girls to get to see their cousins.  Amara especially loves those boys SO very much, I hope they all continue to be close and not "too cool" for each other :)

Coloring Easter eggs

Prepared with our special egg coloring apron (courtesy Grandma Young) we were ready to tackle our eggs this year!  I got the eggs prepped (while we headed to an ACTUAL egg hunt event) and cooling, so all we had to do was the fun part. 

My little helper started out by carefully measuring the vinegar, to make sure the eggs were bright and colorful one we added our tablets.

The the special part of adding the tablets (and the un-fun part of waiting for them to dissolve SLOWLY because mommy didn't get the water quite as warm as she thought she did.  We didn't get any pics of me jabbing them with a butter knife to speed up the breaking down, but trust me.

She really cracks herself up and has this tremendous fake belly laugh she lets out when she's anxiously waiting for something :)

FINALLY! We are ready to start dipping--now, I am more a "freestyle" dyer, where Eric is a traditionalist.  I just plopped the eggs in the cups with my fingers, while Eric and she had the balancing act with the eggs on the wire.

I tried to get one with their names, but Amara picked blue (of course) and we used a blue crayon, so it's barely visible.  Apparently the kits don't come with those white or colorless wax crayons anymore.

Standing at attention with all the focus she can muster, she dips her precious eggs into the favored blue cup :)  We had to "suggest" other options to her, lest we have two dozen bright blue eggs!

Boy were they pretty!  We all really had fun playing our special parts in the egg dying adventure.  We had every color of the rainbow and her favorites were the beach ball egg, the polka dot egg, and of course the blue eggs.  Can't wait till next year :)

Teachers

Starting tomorrow is teacher appreciation week, since we appreciate Amara's teachers, Miss Kelly and Miss Amber, we wanted to do something special for them.  Last year we did rainbow cupcakes for the class, and it was a big hit--but we thought since everyone is so health conscious and there seem to be a lot of food allergies now, that we'd just focus on the teachers themselves.

We picked out these cute flower pots, where Amara could color and decorate the insert.  

We then came home and dad filled the pots for us, where Amara planted her Zinnia seeds and watered them through.  We placed them by the back door for optimal sun exposure and wait :)  We have sprouts already, very quick I thought, and can't wait to give them to the teachers!