At the Museum

My sister Jenny invited me to join her at the Children's Museum last week. This was the perfect snowy day activity. The museum has recently redone their toddler area, and we spent most of the time there. If you live nearby and haven't seen the update, it's definitely worth a trip.

The Music Room: 

 Poppy, Avo, and Prim getting their groove on.

 Cetty preferred to chew on the instruments rather than play them

The Physics Lab:

I love the mad scientist look with the pink goggles…upside down

The Park:

With the water table that looked like a stream, the trees, the bird noises, and the big sunny windows, this room was as close as we were going to get to a warm spring day outside.

Notice Poppy looking ever so lady-like in the background with her little green bum in the air

Before we left, we stopped by an old favorite exhibit to see the dinosaurs and dig for fossils...

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at Luke and Jenny's house. Thanks, Jen, for the fun distraction from the cold weather!

On Makeup

While applying eyeliner yesterday morning…

Poppy: What are you doing?
Me: Putting on makeup.
Poppy: Why?
Me: Because I like the way it looks.
Poppy: I don't like the way it looks. I like your eyes when they're clean.

Considering that I wear eyeliner every day, I'm not sure whether I should take this as a compliment or an insult. Either way, you have to love the honesty of children.

Ten Months

 What Cetty has been up to…

+ Clapping when she's especially pleased with something

+ Dancing to music…rocking her little body and bobbing her head

+ Pointing at any and everything with her itsy bitsy pointer finger

+ Surviving the eruption of her third tooth (finally)

+ Letting me kiss her over and over and doing this cute thing where she rests her forehead against mine…I think physical touch might be one of her "love languages"

+ Standing up on her own more often and for longer amounts of time

Dinner Conversation

Bry didn't come home last night for dinner because he had to work late and then went straight to campus for Bible study with the college boys. And this was after he had been gone for four nights on a snowboarding trip to CO with the guys in my family.

Not that I'm complaining.

And I really shouldn't complain because with Poppy around, I'm never at a loss for good conversation. Last night was no exception.

While Poppy was helping me make dinner, she was also helping herself to a handful of mushrooms from the carton on the counter (yes, she eats raw mushrooms). Later at the table, she realized that one of the mushrooms in her hand was missing the stem. This was apparently a very important detail. She wasn't satisfied until she'd solved the mystery, though I'd say there wasn't quite enough evidence to substantially support her theory...

"Mama, I think somebody came into our house while I been sleeping, went to the fridge, and ate the point off this mushroom."

OK, you mushroom-point thief. We're onto you, so you may as well turn yourself in now.

Winter Things

So, I think most of us agree that winter is horrible. And those of you who do like winter are weird. But there are a few bright spots in this dreary season. I'm choosing to focus on those...

1. Christmas (of course)…and all of the festivities, decorations, and overall celebrating of Christ that are involved in that

For the first year ever,  Bry and I actually had a Christmas tree. This was the  night before Christmas Eve, when I stayed up until almost 2am wrapping presents by myself while drinking Yogi tea and listening to Christmas music. It was very peaceful and nice. 

Our little doll ornaments…this is Cetty with the brown hair and Poppy with the "dark orange," as she prefers to call it.

My favorite gift of the year from us…Poppy's very own Bible (an awesome version for kids)

2. Twinkly lights

3. Time with family 

These are the little cousins from Bry's dad's side.

(Note: Don't worry, there will be another post about Christmas with the immediate families to come)

4. Purdue basketball. Boiler up!

5. A new snow suit for Poppy, lots of snow, and a cool dad who is willing to brave the frigid temps to make memories with his little girl

 6. Snow slushies

Vanilla, maple syrup, milk, and snow. Maybe not the most hygienic of choices, but one of the flavors that reminds me the most vividly of my childhood. 

7. Snow days!

 We have been snowed in with some of my family for the past couple of days, which means a winter wonderland outside and craziness inside. There has been a whole lot of Settlers, science experiments involving boiling water and subzero temperatures, QuizUp battles on our iPhones, mom's pumpkin cookies, Loaded Questions, Lord of the Rings, and a crazy night walk during the blizzard because we're just that adventurous.

Nine Months

What Cetty has been up to…

+ Posing for pictures with a charming little smile   

+ Somehow managing to without fail find the most dangerous thing in the room (scissors, knives, razors, shards of glass…)

+ Dropping to the 11th percentile in weight

+ Creating her own language of very strange sounds involving lots of tongue-rolling (Bry calls it Cettinese)

+ Being drawn like a magnet to anything she can climb, such as stairs or a certain stepladder we use as a nightstand in our bedroom.