Two Cooks in the Kitchen!!

I finally gave in and braved the mess . . . Savannah and I cooked our first recipe together this afternoon. After being inspired by Anna and Heather who always seem to be cooking with their children (who are close to Savannah's age) I gave it a whirl today and tried a recipe from Donna's recipe blog, Strawberry Muffins. Although it was quite an adventure, I was impressed with the length of time Savannah stayed focused on the task at hand, as usually she does something for two minutes and moves right along. As I was cleaning up she kept coming back over with the chair saying "I cook, I cook." It was worth the mess to share such a fun prenaptime activity!

The Strawberry Patch

Savannah picking her first strawberry

WOW!! Look at my strawberry!

Caroline, Savannah, Anna Kate, and Caleb (under his hat)

This morning we ventured out for some strawberry picking. The weather here in Charlotte has been extremely hot the past few days until today, when it was very cold and windy out. We didn't let that stop us though as we had all planned to meet at the Hall Family Farm for some good ol' strawberry picking. It's been probably 10 years since I'd actually picked my own berries and I was amazed at how easy it was, even with a toddler. We had our baskets full in less than 30 minutes! What a neat experience it was to watch Savannah pick her own "stawberries" and to see that they come from a plant and not just Harris Teeter!

Kids In Motion

Savannah and Kathryn

On the slide with daddy

My friend Laura has been talking about the Junior League event called Kids in Motion for some time now so Dave and I decided that we'd take advantage of a nice Sunday afternoon to try it out. After a quick lunch we changed clothes and headed uptown for this fun kids festival. While there we met up with some of our friends from church, the Poplins and Taylors. Savannah had a blast on the big slide with daddy and loves her new construction hat too. After an hour she was ready to go though as it was definitely nap time (see hat picture below).

Time to head home . . .

A Night with the Neals

Enjoying Miss Julie's bears with one in each dress pocket.

Savannah can make just about anything into a necklace!

We have accomplished a lot today . . . everything from waiting in line at Coldstone Creamery to get free ice cream cakes on our birthdays, to installing Savannah's new carseat to replace the one she's outgrown, to buying and wrapping Father's and Mother's Day gifts, to finishing up a sale on Craig's list has gotten checked off of the list today. I feel wonderful and can relax a little now that my list is much shorter! To make our day even better we had a delicious dinner to look forward to. Our precious friends Julie and Charlie Neal invited us over for dinner tonight so we really were treated with a spread of delicious food. Savannah did pretty well, but only because Julie shared her bear collection and Charlie shared some of the pool balls with her. Here are a few pictures from our night out.

My Little Swimmer

Today was another very full day for little Savannah. We started the morning with lots of errands and then headed to her very first swim class. I was so worried that she would be afraid and scream the entire time, but she did an awesome job!! I was so proud of her, as she didn't cry even once. Some of you may be wondering what in the world we did in a swim class for 22 month old children, but honestly it was great for the kids. We practiced passing off the children, getting in and out of the pool, kicking, stroking, and blowing bubbles in the water. Each task meant a lap down and back in the pool for mommy and Savannah so needless to say I had another workout to accompany my 6am aerobics class. Whew! I wish I could have taken pictures of her because she was having so much fun she just laughed and laughed. Surprisingly she even kicked her feet really well too!

Then after we dried off and changed in the locker room (that's an experience with a toddler in tow), we headed to Savannah's friend Sara's birthday party. It was at the park and the kids had a blast. Chelle, Sara's mommy did an awesome job with the party favors and food. They went all out with a huge spread at the cookout and then some yummy cupcakes! Happy 2nd Birthday Sara!!

Fun-filled Weekend

Trying to climb the wall to get to the clubhouse

Savannah and her friend, Caroline.

Savannah and her friend, Jack.

This weekend was super fun for Savannah! She has enjoyed spending lots of time outside, especially now that it's warmer and stays light longer. What a relief that she loves to do something besides watching television. We also had a blast at Caleb's 3rd birthday party. Unfortunately, my pictures weren't all that great, but I did capture two little ones playing in the sandbox and on the glider. The cake was delicious and all of the kids had so much fun playing. Savannah was worn out by the time we got home!

This isn't the best picture of a picture, but I had to share Savannah's first school picture. Love the face, Savannah!

Haircut Pictures

Several people have e-mailed me and requested after pictures . . . these are the best I could get today. Notice the yogurt on my sweet girls face ~ today was the first day ever that she finished her yogurt on her own with a spoon, without any help from mommy! SUPER!

The Haircut

Yesterday I decided that I was going to take Savannah for a haircut. Her hair had gotten quite shabby since mom last cut it and I knew it was going to be a month before we saw "Gee" (as Savannah has started calling my mom) again. Several of my friends had raved about this one little salon in Ballantyne, Doolittles, that caters to children so I thought I'd give it a try. I have say that the atmosphere was great and Savannah loved watching Dora while she got her hair cut. She didn't care for the spray water or hair dryer, but sat quite still in the red race car for the lady to cut her hair. I was so proud!! Anyway, after it was finished (a total of about 5 minutes) and I paid the lady (more than I've ever paid for a haircut) we headed to Chick fil A for lunch. I noticed in the restaurant that the cut was quite short, but didn't think much about it until Dave got home from work.

Now, let me say that my husband is awesome and hardly ever has an opinion on things around the house, Savannah's clothes, or heaven help how our hair looks . . . I cut his hair so you know he really could care less about such things! However, he was quite opinionated last night about his dislike of Savannah's hair cut. I think it was more of a sadness than anything else that her hair was so short. I tried to tell him to relax that it would grow back quickly and then we could get my mom to cut it again. Even that he didn't like! "Don't you want to let it grow long?" he said. Well, actually no, but maybe we can think about it this winter, I told him. What I do know is that Savannah's hair will only be cut by my mom from now on!!

I think it's sweet how he really cares about little Savannah's hair and am glad that he can let me know what he wants her to look like, but I think we're going to have our hands full in a few years. Who will have the say on the haircuts then? Mommy? Daddy? or Savannah?

Our First Fort

Thinking that I was being pretty creative, I decided to try to build a fort with Savannah this morning before aerobics class. She had already starting begging to watch television and I was not willing to give in that early in the morning so I thought that this would keep her busy for a little bit. Well, what I quickly discovered is that she was more interested in tearing the "fork" down than playing inside my fort. I guess this is just one more reason that God blessed us with a girl instead of a boy . . . I don't know how to build a good fort or "fork" as she calls it. Sorry Savannah!

Weekend Wrap Up

Well, I finally took the plunge and went back to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning. After finding my old membership book, realizing that it was only 8 days away from being a year since I had attended a meeting, and also seeing that I hadn't lost any weight over the past year on my own, I knew I needed to go back! So, I did and had actually found out that I gained 1.2 pounds in the past year. Now I'm on a mission to get back to my goal weight. So, if any of you see me getting off track, please remind me that I am doing Weight Watchers!!! A little motivation for me is that if I hit my goal weight (21.2 pounds lost) before we decide to get pregnant again, then after the baby comes I can attend the meetings 6 weeks for FREE!!

Today has been pretty low key . . . the only exciting thing was going to wake Savannah up from her 3+ hour nap and finding her without her diaper on! This was a first for her . . . and hopefully a last! Thankfully she didn't wet the bed during her nap, but it sure was a funny picture.

Cooper River Bridge Race 2008

Dinner at Hyman's Friday night

Check out Dave waving . . . almost at the finish line!

The food afterwards is always AWESOME!

Playing on the boat at the Children's Museum

My brother and his family

Savannah trying to be like daddy!

This weekend we headed to Charleston, SC for Dave's favorite race of the year, the Cooper River Bridge Run. Other than the horrible traffic trying to get into downtown Charleston Friday afternoon and Savannah refusing to sleep in the pack n play both nights, we had an awesome trip!! The weather was perfect, warm and overcast most of the time which made strolling around downtown much more fun. We even met up with my brother and his family who were travelling back from Disney this weekend.

I have to say that one of my highlights of the trip was visiting the Children's Museum of the Low Country. It just so happens that our Charlotte at Play membership was also good here (never thought I'd use that feature) . . . and the museum was directly across the street from our hotel. We spent several hours there after the race on Saturday and Savannah loved it! It is WAY better than our museum here. I was shocked at how different this place was. It had some of the same features like the grocery store, but here they had registers that actually scanned the items and totaled the order. They had a huge boat that you could climb all on, an entire area that was made into a castle with all sort of nooks and crannies big enough for adults to crawl through, an exhibit with water where you could do boat races, drive cars on bridges, use turbines to power the lights on in the city, etc, etc, etc. IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it if you're ever in downtown Charleston.

Welcome Baby Jacob

Our precious friends, Jenny and Todd welcomed their first baby into the world last night. Jacob is absolutely perfect!! Just visiting with them in the hospital brought back lots of memories . . . oh how I remember that joy of finally meeting Savannah. Pray for them as they begin this wonderful journey through parenthood.