What is there to blog about?

Will and I are sitting on the couch together, so what better time to make a blog entry than when we are together AND logged in to blogger.....

- Our friend Cindy (and Brian, but really only Cindy) just had her baby tonight!!!

- I'm annoyed with the snacks at Daniel's daycare. Morning snack: sugar cookie. Afternoon snack: chocolate chip cookie. Come on!

- Hmmmm. (That is a direct quote from Will.)

- Happy Birthday to Aunt Julie!! Looking forward to seeing Julie and Charlie on Thursday.

- Why do I need a turn? (Another quote from Will. Now you can see why his blog contribution is so high. :>)

- Annika is really enjoying "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Remember those, from the late 1970s? We checked some out from the library and she LOVES them. I thought she would be freaked out about being eaten by piranhas, but no, now she wants to learn more about piranhas. Tonight, she told me a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story that she made up where I got to choose things like "was it an old or new castle?" (Of course, when I said "old," she said, "No, it was a new castle.")

- Annika really enjoys taking pictures with the camera. She is actually decent sometimes! Will showed her the zoom tonight and she is quite delighted by its features. I think the fact that it has an LCD screen that shows the picture really helps with the immediate gratification part.

- Daniel is a Whirlwind of Destruction (copyright Will). WATCH OUT! He will take the house down. I'm trying not to imagine life at 18 months.

Hope you are all doing well!!

Haircut

Annika had her first real haircut today at Cool Cuts for Kids in Sanford. We've talked to her for years about getting it cut and she has always said that once she turned five she would get it cut. The hair place was great and had lots of TVs, video games, and toys for kids to play with as well as cool chairs to sit in that look like pedal cars. We really like how the cut looks and are also happy that it should be significantly easier to brush (most of the really fine blond hair from her first year or two are now gone).

What Makes You Happy?

I am stealing a move by the fabulous Exciting Life of CPAs. What are 10 things that make you happy?

Annika

1. Eating Macaroni and Cheese. A 24-pack would send her in to orbit.

2. Unicorns.

3. Going back to Magic Kingdom on May 22 when Aunt Julie and Uncle Charlie come down. She is so excited that she has been marking off the days on her calendar.


4. Being carried "up high" on dad's shoulders.

5. The planets. Do you need to know a random fact about any of the 9 (or 8) planets? Annika can help.

Daniel

6. Eating yogurt.


7. Climbing. About anything will do.

8. An army of people all clapping for him at the same time.

9. Being carried around, as long as said person keeps moving.

10. The pieces from the game Battleship. Don't they look like they will make such a tasty snack?

Birthday Pictures

Look who's 1!


He doesn't need a push-toy now, but they are still fun to play with!



1st bite of cake - a half-second later, we learned Daniel was Not a Fan.

Opening presents!

Annika at her birthday party at the park the next morning. Our friend took must of the pictures at the party, which is probably the only reason anything is documented. :)

Will made both of the cakes!

Cake - yum! Bonus points if you can Spot the Difference.

The D chilling under the table.

Holy COW, It's Been a While

WOW. I knew that I wasn't doing very well at blogging, but I was thinking that it had been about 2 weeks. Time flies when you are....I'm not even sure what.

Here's some rambling facts on what we've been up to in April and beyond:

- Will had his official dissertation proposal on Thursday. He did really well!

- I turned over my entire dissertation to my committee on Friday with my advisor's blessing.

- Daniel is a TODDLER. With ALL CAPS. I don't know what happened - at the beginning of April, he was 11.5 months old, didn't know how to chew, moved rather slowly, and seemed destined for a lifetime of sipping milkshakes out of a straw and grunting at the back window. At the end of April, he was walking everywhere, CLIMBING EVERYWHERE, destroying everything in sight, and generally a Tornado of Activity.

- Did you know that it is possible for a barefoot toddler to climb up the curvy slide on the swingset in the backyard in 2 seconds? Or that if you turn your back for 20 seconds, he will push a chair to the counter, climb up the chair to the counter, and start banging on the stove burner? Neither did I.

- Along with that, Daniel moved up into the Toddler Class at his school this past week. He is eating all real food there and isn't using bottles during the day. (Praise God!) They are on a more regular schedule there, so he has been taking a good nap every day, and sleeps really well at night.

- Annika is gearing up for her dance recital in June. She has a "red costume." Her class will be doing a tap dance to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." I think the performance will overlap with when Grammy and Gramps are here in June.

-Annika is registered for kindergarten! She is also all signed up for the after-school program next year.

- Our house is a disaster.

We had to reformat our computer yet again, but Will put some birthday pictures on Facebook that I will try to post. I promise, promise to send out pictures once I get them.