Brought to You by the Letter "D"

Dora: When we got home from church tonight, Anna Claire went straight for her Dora book. Tonight, she was tapping into her left-hand drawing skills, although she typically prefers her right hand. Dogs: After drawing, she went to say hi to the dogs. She likes Sophie and Holly because they are small, but she is not a fan of Mesa because she is a large dog. Here's a video of her saying their names. She can say Sophie and Holly, but when you ask her to say Mesa, she's quickly says no.

Gone to the Dogs....

Lately, Anna Claire has been into showing off her outfit. She'll dance around and twirl if you ask to see what she is wearing. Well, this morning, I had her all ready for church, and I said, "Oh, you look so cute! You'll have to show your dress off to Daddy!" and she was out the bedroom door on a hunt for Daddy. I told her that Daddy was already at church, and jokingly, I said, "Go show your pretty dress to the dogs!"....Needless to say, she did just that. I heard her saying, "Sosie! Sosie" (for Sophie, our miniature dachshund) and ran around the corner to catch her twirling in front of the dog gate, showing off her dress to the dogs. I'm sure they were thrilled.

Teen Camp....and more!

Brad went to camp this week with our youth group; Anna Claire and I chose to wait until Thursday to go and spend the night. Here's the happy camper on our drive up to see Daddy. Every 5 minutes or so (when she wasn't sleeping), she would point out the window and say, "Daddy! Daddy!" as if she kept remembering that we were on our way to see her favorite person.
Anna Claire often forgets that she is still of the age to ride in a stroller and opts instead to push her baby in a stroller. Here she is on her way to see her daddy!
Here's Anna Claire being a good PK and sitting next to the SNU table for a quick picture:
And then the fun began...Anna Claire discovered the playground:




This morning, while we were waiting for Brad to come back to the room, Anna Claire found great entertainment in the empty paper towel roll.

This picture is just funny. I was trying to get her to show me the rocks she had collected at the campground. Clearly, she was a little annoyed with me.
Before heading back home, we stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch. I sent Brad up to the counter at the end of lunch to get AC's ice cream treat that came with her meal. There were a variety of options and he chose....the patriotic star on a stick! Anna Claire was in heaven. What a mess! She is still sticky! But it didn't seem to bother her any.
And here's our little happy camper on the drive home:

And now for the drum roll......WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! WHOOP! After a year of looking at nearly 75 homes in this city, we have found a house that is wonderful for our little family! Praise the Lord!

Amazing

My friend, Lindsay, told me about these popsicles that are "slow melting" - perfect for a little toddler. While we were at our favorite Wal-Mart neighborhood market, I picked up a box and decided to give them a try. Wow. They really work. No major mess to speak of, and AC is not the fastest popsicle eater. Thanks, Lindsay, for the suggestion!

My Little Helper

For lunch today, Anna Claire helped me make pizza pinwheels. She even wore the apron Aunt Elizabeth brought back from Spain for her.

Fun in the sun!

Today, Anna Claire played in her little pool (read: glorified bath tub!) for the first time and loved it! I think she is part fish. She started out wearing a hat, but after a little while, she took it off, put it under water and wasn't about to put it back on.
Here are a few pictures for this adventure:

"No Elmo!"

AC refers to her diaper as "elmo" because Elmo's picture is on her diaper. Since we have introduced the whole potty training concept, she often tries to take her diaper off herself, and says, "No elmo!" A friend suggested putting her diaper on backwards and we've tried that, but she still wiggles out of it. When AC wakes up in the morning, she typically knocks on her wall or stretches her arm to knock on her bedroom door to let us know she's awake. This morning, she started knocking and I heard her say, "No elmo!"
When I went in her room - this is what I found....happy child jumping in bed with no pajama pants or diaper on. Nice. And I'm not sure about the one arm out of the shirt - maybe she was going for the toga look or something.

A busy walk

While Brad was working over at the church, AC and I decided to take a little stroll. Of course, her baby in the stroller had to accompany us, which always makes for an exciting trip because AC will abandon her baby at any moment if she spots a rock. By the end of the summer, our street, driveway, and church parking lot will be rock free; however, our front porch will become the newest rock quarry in Baton Rouge. Nice.
And the poor doll...she gets a little dirty when AC is on a rock hunt because AC picks up dirt, grass, and all when she finds a rock. Today, the doll was also the lucky recipient of a head of cabbage and a potato from AC's plastic grocery food collection.
We went by the church to see Brad, and Anna Claire wanted to show off her piano skills.
Joy Lou - this is for you....if you need someone to play for you at church, just call Anna Claire. *grin*
And what trip to the church isn't complete without a visit to the nursery?



The walk back to the house was crazy. AC was distracted by a dog that kept barking, so she wanted nothing to do with her baby. I ended up carrying the baby and stroller home while convining AC that the dog was going to stay behind the fence and not bother her.
Whew.

Giddy Up

AC received this "rocking" horse from her grandpa for her fist birthday. We keep it upstairs because of its size, and when we bring it down, AC will ride for hours.

"I ride!"

Anna Claire is always asking to ride (aka - sit in the driver's seat) whenever we leave to go somewhere. She will usually run to the driver's door, and say, "I ride!". Last night, when we got home, we let her sit in the driver's seat and she thought that was something else! ha! She even leaned over to change the radio station! That's my girl!

Happy Father's Day!

Today has been a special day! We've been able to celebrate Father's Day and our first "anniversary" at this church. It's hard to believe that one year ago, Brad gave his first sermon as the senior pastor of this church! We are blessed beyond measure to be at this church, and we enjoy serving here.
And Father's Day....I remember when we brought Anna Claire home from the hospital and Brad looked at me and said, "I don't know what to do. I don't have any experience with babies!" If you have seen Brad since having Anna Claire, you have seen that he knows exactly what to do! He has fallen into the "dad" role very naturally and loves every minute of it!
When I think of my dad, the first thing that comes to mind is a quote we often heard him say at Boy Scout Eagle ceremonies (and if you know my family, you know we've been to a few!) when giving the "Dad" pin to the father of the Eagle Scout. He would always say, "Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad." My sister and I usually give Dad a hard time about this...but truth be told, this quote could not be more accurate when describing my dad. I'm blessed to call him "Dad".
We had an "ugliest tie contest" at church to celebrate Father's Day, and we have some creative men in our church! Posted below are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.
3rd Place: Our youth leader, Rick, is a huge (that might be an understatement) LSU fan. He called me this week to ask if he could borrow one of Brad's OU ties. Now, while Brad loves his OU ties and wears them proudly, Rick had something else in mind.
2nd Place: Paul has been at our church for about a year. He has a great sense of humor, and apparently he found this tie in a box of old ties used to teach local Boy Scouts how to tie a necktie (his wife helps with the Scouts in the area). This one was pretty ugly.
1st Place: David is a funny man! He made his own tie by taking pictures of Brad's face and drawing on them and then adding them to his tie with huge artificial flowers. His tie also played music! Greatness.

Play Ball!

Let me play Captain Obvious for a moment: AC loves to be outdoors and she is full of energy!
I'm pretty sure she would run for hours in the yard if we would let her! Whenever we go outside, she usually picks her baby doll stroller or her school bus ride-on to take with her, but today...she went for the pink ball.

G is for Goofy

Our little darling finds great delight in ignoring me when I ask her to smile for the camera now. Case in point: Tonight, a packaged arrived from my mom with a cute yellow dress. I quickly put it on AC so that I could take a picture and e-mail it to Mom because she was anxious to see how it looked on AC. After several attempts...this is the final outcome. Goofy.

Take A Friend to Church Day, Maybe?

I guess Anna Claire thought it was 'take a friend to church day' yesterday because when I said it was time for us to leave, this is how she met me at the door! She was ready to go - purse, doll, stroller, the works. When she carries this particular purse, she keeps her arm in the air the entire time so that it won't fall! I finally convinced her that her doll would be waiting for her when she came home from church, and I let her take her purse.

Fun Family Saturday

Today, we went on a family adventure! First stop: Home Depot. Anna Claire enjoyed riding in the cart b/c it wasn't your typical cart. At one point, she was leaning back with both feet propped up on the other seat!

Then, it was off to a local burger place for lunch. Again, AC demonstrated her "I myself will do it" mindset by not wanting her burger cut in small pieces. She wanted to hold it and take bites herself.
Third stop: the lakes near LSU's campus to feed the ducks. When we were little, if we had extra bread, we either made croutons or went and fed the ducks. I'm not of the cooking type, and feeding the ducks sounded like more fun! Anna Claire enjoyed throwing the bread at the ducks, and the ducks were happy to have bread thrown at them! Aunt Elizabeth showed her how to wear her sunglasses on her head while she was here this week, so now Anna Claire thinks this is the best way to wear her sunglasses!






On our way home, we were talking and laughing. Anna Claire loves to laugh with us, even though she doesn't understand what we are laughing about. She cracks herself up!