Wordless Wednesday: Sidewalk Chalk

Her: Currently

Age: 15 months, 4 days
Height: 31.25"
Weight: 22lbs
Words:  mama, no, yeah, hi
Animal Sounds: chicken ("bok, bok"), cow ("mmmmm"), and alligator (snapping teeth)
Body parts she can identify:  nose, ears, toes, belly, hands, teeth, hair
Favorite Foods:  black beans, refried beans, blueberries, watermelon, pizza, cream cheese with or without a blueberry bagel, goldfish, fruit pull-aparts, milk
Nicknames: Bean, Annabeans, Annabellie, Beanie Weenie, Sugar Puff, Turd Bird
Things that make her happy:  brushing her teeth, stuffed animals, playing outside, her big pink ball, pictures of grandpa, her Dora couch, books, trying to pick up the giant column in Mommy's showroom, singing Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, upside down baby
Things that make her belly laugh:  Mama chewing on her tummy, when you imitate her crying, when we sing the hiney song at bath time
Things that make her cry: the word no, shots at the doctor
Things we especially love about her right now:  how easily she goes to bed at night, how well she eats, the way she waves and blows kisses, her sweet squishy face, cuddling with her on weekend mornings, her hugs and kisses

An mini-trip cut short

This is it, the last day of my Spring Break.  The weather is gray and melancholy, just like my mood.  It's like the whole universe is sad to see this week come to an end :)  I've loved *almost* every single minute of it - time with my baby girl, time organizing and cleaning my home, time in my craft room.  But of course, it wasn't enough time.  It never is.

We tried to end the week with a long weekend up in Sedona.  We've always had good times up there eating, hiking, a hotel we really enjoy.  However, that was before we had 15 month old in tow.  Holy high maintenance, Batman!  Her eating schedule, her nap schedule, her poop schedule.  She wouldn't sleep, she wanted to run everywhere and touch everything, she hated being cooped up in her stroller, and did I mention she wouldn't sleep?  Aieee.  Not vacation, torture.  She was uncomfortable out of her space and her routine, and it just wasn't fun for anyone.  So we went up Friday morning and came back Saturday afternoon.  And really, I'm ok with it.  Truth is, I'd rather crash on my own couch on a cold, soggy day than be anywhere else.  We did have an awesome dinner Friday night at Picazzo's.  Annabellie was in a great mood, making friends all over the patio, the wine was killer, the pizza delish, and the fire toasty.  It was a long damn drive and a LOT of money just to have one lovely meal, but no regrets.  Also, we did manage to grab a couple nice photos.   And that's enough for me.

Hello, Spring

I'm not much of a sketch/challenge girl.  I read A LOT of scrappy blogs and I constantly see challenges and sketches posted.  Sometimes they catch my eye, most of the time they don't.  But this one on the October Afternoon blog today?  Totally called my name.  The inspiration piece:

Becky Novacek's amazing take on it:

 

And finally, what I did with it.  I had these two sweet Instagrams from the park recently and the green and pink combo was calling my name.  I craft-knifed the title letters, used some Estate Green and Piglet Mister Huey and a cut out mason jar from Dear Lizzy's Neapolitan collection.  The rest is pretty much all bits and pieces of OA goodness.

 

I had a blast with this.  Just might have to participate in some blog challenges more often. :)

What vacations were made for

Time with my sweet, beautiful girl

Almost spring

Today is seriously one of the most gorgeous days I've ever seen.

Leap Day

How nice is it, in a life where I'm constantly complaining, "Where did the time go?? I need more time!?!" to have a bonus leap day?  Awesomeness.

I celebrated by staying home with my baby all day - we cleaned, we played, she napped, I crafted, and we played some more.  It was utterly delightful.  Part of our day looked like this

And some of it looked like this

And my time alone ended up looking like this

Overall, an excellent extra day.  Time very well spent indeed.

Amazed

You know you're a scrapper when you steal doilies from the restaurant where you have dinner and immediately come home to use them on a project.  When you have 400 photos on a phone you've owned less than 4 full months.  When you use your baby's nap time to take pics of a layout and post it online. 

When a simple, everyday picture of your daughter like this takes your breath away.

At 1

Lots of hidden journaling behind the photo on this one about what she can do, what she loves, and all that she means to us.  I really wanted to capture the joyful, amazing, adorable whirlwind she is.  I absolutely adore this girl.

A gray day

I'm feeling much like the weather, gray and dreary and dull.  I had high hopes for returning to this place and typing out a complete update of our life. I wanted to blog about Annabelle's first Christmas, or going back to work after winter break, or new year's resolutions. I considered a post about losing my mom, the gut wrenching sorrow of her passing and hearing the sound of my father's heart breaking.  I should write about the Bean's first birthday, how awesome the decorations and the photo booth were, and how great it was to come together for a fun celebration after the darkness of December.  But I just don't want to.  Instead, I'll share a layout and that will be that.