Let it snow...sort of

It snowed(sort of) in Tennessee last week. One night last week the rain changed to slushy snow and a few inches blanketed the city. Of course traffic was at a stand still because no roads were clear and school was cancelled the next day, even though it was supposed to get up to 45 and melt by the afternoon:) How funny! But we were excited to go out and play in the snow. We had to get dressed for the weather, more because mommy loves the snow suit! As you can see by the video, it can be quite tricky to walk around in the cute snow suit Grandpa and Grandma Dalby found up north. Dalby actually got outside and didn't want to move. She wasn't so sure about the snow. I don't think I got one picture of her smiling in the snow. She also has understandably been a little cranky. She has a cold and is working on getting several teeth. Which it is about time, she has had 6 teeth forever, so I guess if you have 6 teeth and you are seventeen months old then you have some catching up to do. Either way, she did enjoy her time out in the snow, although I carried the bundle of pink around most of the time.

I wear my sunglasses at night....

Just fun pictures with the sunglasses she loves to wear around and play peek-a-boo with.....and we broke out the Christmas pajamas early because they were warm and Dalby loves to point to Santa and say, "Ho"

Attempt at a Christmas Card

Well we had a fun idea for a Christmas card....however Dalby did not think it was such a fun idea. Pictures on the black background - I think that they are out. Even when Curious George is sitting on the cloth she will not go near it. Believe it or not these pictures were the same night the pumpkin socks on her hands were taken....her mood significantly improved once we took her off the black felt background. Merry Christmas :)

Great Grandma Barton sent us a cool Christmas music card and have we enjoyed it! The videos are soon after we got the card. The last picture is her sitting on a diaper package she carries out from her closet and sits on it and reads, plays or talks to the packaging (the baby and Elmo on the package). It is quite a sight to see because the packaging is awkward and heavy for her, yet she is determined to carry it around the house. It doesn't matter how many times I put the diaper package back in the closet, I usually find it out and about in the house.

Sock Mittens

I was putting laundry away the other day and Dalby found her pumpkin socks. She carried them around, we put them on George and then she wanted them on her feet. Well she made the request for the socks to be on her feet when she already had her socks and shoes on and we needed them to stay on so we could leave the house in a bit...so I put a sock on her hand. She was MAD at me and immediately took the sock off her hand. Later in the evening she found the socks and brought them to her dad and asked for the socks to be put on her hands, even though she was barefoot. She walked around for awhile with her socks on her hands quite happy.

Bundled Up

We had a wonderful, but very quick up north to see family. We stayed in Detroit and then drove over to Concord, MI to visit with Ryan's dad's side of the family for Thanksgiving. Luckily we started toward home on Saturday morning and missed the massive snow storm that hit Grand Rapids. It was such a snow storm that school was cancelled in GR...which is basically unheard of...so it is cold in MI. The wind blows right through you and it can especially feel chilly to the Southerners. We are very grateful that Grandpa and Grandma Dalby found this great snowsuit for our little tyke. She has worn the coat in TN but hasn't had much need for the full suit until we got to MI. We have since found some mittens, but at the time we didn't have those yet, so we put the booties from the snow suit on her hands. She was happy as a clam in the stroller when Grandpa and Grandma took her on a walk, so happy and relaxed that she fell asleep. She was so bundled up that her little body(barely 20lbs) almost doesn't fit into the stroller.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...

We got the toy in the picture from our cousin Aricin. It has some little pieces that she would put in her mouth and then walk around...it made Ryan and I nervous so took the pieces away but left the toy for her to play with...but now she takes it from room to room, turns it upside down and pops a squat. As you can see in the photos, she is quite proud of her little seat. She has also found another "baby" toy, it is a teddy bear that talks and sings and she is in love with it, pressing it to perform for her and dancing to the music.

Good Night My Angel...

"George" is a treasure here still and he is a companion now that we rock in our big rocking chair, cover with our little blankets, carry around the house and take with us a lot of places. Two nights ago our pumpkin pajamas came to bed with us too...how can the world get any better...George, pumpkin pajamas and a blanket all while I get to snooze the night away(the only thing better might have been if I had my pumpkin socks on too).

Going for a little dip...

We sort of started Parent/Tot swim classes on Saturday, but there was a little problem with the instructor not showing up. We had signed up for a class in September and found out the first day of class that we were the only participants and there was no instructor, so we tried another Y's Parent/Tot class. This time another little boy is in the class but there was no instructor. Next Saturday there is supposed to be an instructor. Anyway we did get some cute shots in our one piece...we decided a bikini might be a little showy for the first day of class...and a cute movie of dad and daughter in the water. Which by the way she loves the water, she cried when we took her out of the water, but we thought with her lips as blue as they were we didn't need a frozen baby...

A tisket, a tasket, a pink bicycle basket?

We have a pink bicycle basket that is for some reason seen as a good hat. Well, anything, tupperware, toys, etc seem to need to be worn as a hat. The pink bicycle basket just happens to stay on her head. (Sorry about the blurriness of the pictures something is going with our camera and its settings).

Animal Sounds

We have been trying to catch some of the animal sounds we have been learning on camera....here are a few. You can also hear: "Bumpin". Mama has gotten some of the Halloween decorations away but it is hard to put the pumpkin bowl on the kitchen table away because it is such fun to have her notice and "count"(the faster finger pointing and the "du, du") the pumpkins on the bowl. We like to count a lot , every time we are anywhere(especially the grocery store) we are "counting". I miss the pumpkins on the bales of hay. For now we are left counting the ceramic roosters above the meat refrigerators:) Also our bear, lion and anything that growls gets the fancy one armed movement because Aunt Lyndsay started teaching her to "claw" like a bear so therefore anything that growls must have the arm movement.

Halloween Giggles

One of the ways to announce "I am ready to play" for Dalby is to lay her head back on the couch, a chair, anything and just wait to be tickled. She has gone into the living room from the rec room(while we were in the rec room) and arched her back on the couch and then starting grunting, waiting for us to come in the living room to "get her".

Happy Halloween - no really, this is fun!

Happy Halloween! Daddy's favorite holiday! As you can see the "photo session" for the Halloween costume did not go as planned - for either of us. But luckily we had already had a costume fitting and we were successful with some happy pictures in the costume.

We are ready here for Halloween...

This little onesie got so streched out because all she wanted to do was look at the pumpkin:)

My "Bumbin"(Pumpkin)

Dalby LOVES pumpkins. She figured out how to say pumpkin("bumpin") around the time the Halloween decorations starting coming out and she can't get enough of seeing pumpkins. We count the pumpkins at the grocery store, we watch the inflatable pumpkins(that are advertising candy) at the grocery store, we see them on our walks, car rides, tv....she can spot a pumpkin from a mile away. And once she does she says, "bumbin, bumbin, bumbin..." until you acknowledge that you saw the pumpkin too. Dalby has now also sort of figured out that a pumpkin doesn't have to have to be a jack-o-lantern to be a pumpkin so we are spotting a ton more. Ryan and I got her a plastic pumpkin that she carries around the house like it is her purse. All of this has really made Halloween so much fun. I am thinking of leaving a few pumpkins out until Thanksgiving...and who knows maybe until Christmas. Today we went and got a pumpkin and she was so proud of her pumpkin. It sat on the car seat next to her on the way home and then she sat next to it on the front step. The joy of running in a big circle... I have to make sure I get all of the grass off my hands after I fall...yuck!Please swing me daddy!

Gentry Farm

We went with our friends Rodney, Courtney and Clinton to Gentry Farm. It was a fun trip. Courtney made the cool video, but I thought I would put pictures up of our visit.

Ok...this farm thing sounds like a lot of fun.......

A John Deere my size...although Great Grandpa Luttenton's John Deere is pretty cool too...

Grillin' with the Family

This weekend the whole Dalby family came in.....Damon is home from Iraq(as of last Monday)!!!! We had a great weekend! One night we grilled one of Uncle Damon's favorite - steak! Dalby could hardly stand being inside while Grandpa, Uncle D and Daddy were outside. So we bundled her up(over her pjs) and sent her outside to hang out with the grillin' team.

Another cool movie....

So I still haven't updated my blog with my pictures yet....but Courtney has made another movie....this time of our visit to the zoo.

Check out the cool movie...

Our friends included us in a movie of all of us going to Gentry Farm on Saturday. I will get some pictures up soon of our visit!

Look at my ride.....

What a cool find that Grandpa and Grandma brought down from MI. Here Dad and Dalby get ready to take a test ride around the block. Since we were all hooked up and ready to ride mom thought she would try a test ride to downtown Franklin today. After the ride we have a couple of glitches to work through - I lost the flag.....the helmet needs to fit better.....the sidewalks in downtown Franklin need to be wider or better yet, not blocked by telephone poles and overgrown bushes and peoples' brick fences......It was a fun ride but I think it would be better to get a bike rack and find a few local paths......Either way Dalby drank her milk and read a book in her buggy.