Buddies

A few days ago I was cleaning up the kitchen and peeked in the playroom to make sure Adelyn hadn't escaped or gotten into something she shouldn't be messing with. I was surprised to find Chauncey in there just hanging out with Adelyn. I'm convinced that he really likes her. I caught a few of their interactive moments on camera.

And a few more from another play date they had.

Three Things You Should Know

1. If you haven't made this homemade popcorn recipe, you are missing out. I pretty much had this for dinner two nights ago. (I ate so much that I was too full to eat anything else).

2. Try this yummy pizza recipe when you get a chance. We had it tonight. It was DELICIOUS! I must say, it was a high maintenance recipe so give yourself a little time but the results were totally worth it. Austin even commented that it tasted like something you'd get a nice restaurant. Score!

3. Adelyn is "so big!"

http://youtu.be/91PzGqpKlwk

Lions, Camels, and Cows... Oh My!

We have had a very animal-filled weekend!

Friday we day-tripped it to St. Louis to visit the grandparents. Despite the chilly weather, we spent quite a bit of time at the zoo. While Adelyn is a bit young to appreciate what she is seeing, she seemed to really enjoy the afternoon stroller ride along with the occasional face to face with a monkey behind the glass.

Grandpa (he hates being called that) and Adelyn.



Lions!



Checking out the monkeys.





Happy camper! Must have been post snack :)



I couldn't pass up a picture of this guy.



Saturday morning, the animal adventures continued here in Columbia. The MU Veterinary School had an open house which included a wide variety of close encounters with animals of all types.

Adelyn was very concerned about the "baaahing" goats. It almost brought on a meltdown. Apparently she not only sympathy cries with other children but goats too.



She got to touch her first horse!



There were all sorts of fun activities to watch and see. Check out these Clydesdales.



We also got to see a really interesting demonstration of a K-9 unit. It was neat to be able to ask the cops all sorts of questions about how they train dogs and other random things I've always wondered about K-9 units.



Daddy and her girl.

Later that day, Adelyn got to poke around (literally) with Mollie. They both seemed equally intrigued by one another.








Molly is trying to put Adelyn's hat back on here.



As you can tell, we've had a super busy weekend. We're worn out!

Snack Time

This lady loves her some food.

The ONLY thing we've found that she doesn't prefer is asparagus. Every other veggie or weird food we've put in front of her, she's gobbled down without complaint. I keep waiting for the day where she'll snub the broccoli and ask for a pancake but for now, she's chowing down the greens.

It's so fun to see her learn how to pick up her food, piece by piece, and get it to her mouth one way or another.

Here are some shots I got during a snack time a few days ago:

This one just makes me laugh. She's upset because of being reprimanded for throwing banana on the floor to Sophie. 

Don't worry, she can bounce back fast. 

Yeah for the pincer grasp!

Our Weekend

It was a rainy weekend but we made the most of it!

On Friday night, a couple on Austin's Veritas support team invited us over for dinner. What they didn't mention was their home is INCREDIBLE! We were spoiled by them with good wine,  great food, and fun people who couldn't get enough of holding Adelyn. After the husband plopped some whipped cream on Adelyn's plate, I don't think Adelyn would have minded staying a bit longer either.

Saturday morning we went to Kaldis and then to Steven's Lake Park. I got some more practice with my camera.



As you can see, I have some learning to do when it comes to exposure settings. :)



When I took this, I squealed... seriously. I was so excited at how good it turned out.



Little lady loves the swing!



That night we dropped Adelyn off at some friends' house and headed to a wedding reception. It was nice to be baby free for the evening and enjoy the company of adults.

Here are a few videos we've snapped over the past few days.

http://youtu.be/20h3JsAAXl4

I'm slightly embarrassed by this video but I laugh every time I watch it so I think it's worth sharing the unedited moments around our house.

http://youtu.be/ky_GbDr2Mz8

Snap Happy

Thanks to the success of my garage sale, I was able to purchase the camera I have been saving up for months to buy. Seriously, I've had an envelope of cash that I've been working hard to add to. I sold a few things on Craigs List, saved my budgeted spending money, and stashed away any cash gifted to me. After last weekend's garage sale, I had more than enough to make my purchase! Which one did I get, you may ask? I went with the Canon Rebel T3 with a 50 mm f/1.8f lens.

Three months ago those numbers and letters would mean nothing to me. That's for sure not the case now.

Anyway- as you can imagine, I am going totally snap happy with my new baby camera. Austin even found himself as an impromptu model while he was studying Hebrew on the couch. He's a good sport.

Here are some of the pictures I've taken over the past two days. I'm sure you're also NOT surprised that Adelyn has been my primary model for my picture taking practice.

I'm so excited to learn more!

Garage Sale Superlatives

As a lot of you know, I had a garage sale this past weekend. It was a HUGE success. (Check out Thriving Home to see my top 10 tips and tricks on having a good garage sale). Most of my stuff was sold and I ended up making enough to buy my new camera! My Canon EOS Rebel T3 should be showing up on my doorstep tomorrow... whoot whoot!

I almost feel embarrassed to say that I really liked having a garage sale. Yes, it was a ton of work and yes, I had to get up very early (what's new), and yes, my feet hurt after but I still really enjoyed it.

I thought it might be fun to do a few garage sale superlatives:

Partners in Crime: Erin and Rachel

First Sale of the Day: a baby towel and baby shoes

My Biggest Complaint: "It's so cold!!" Seriously, it was close to 40 degrees in the shade when we got started. My toes were numb.

Biggest Sale of the Day: $80 for all of Austin's baseball cards. He is refusing to share any of his earnings with me. Grinch.

Most Memorable Shopper: They guy who waved $7.00 in my face trying to convince me to take it for a $10 item. Not exaggerating- he literally kept repeating "seven dollars, seven dollars" in a foreign accent and began waving the cash in my face as if I was desperate for the money.

Biggest Whoops: When Rachel found a men's hat in her car and decided to sell it only to find out it was her father-in-law's hat. Her husband was not happy with her.

Appreciated Comment: "You put a lot of work into putting up signs. They were great."

"Grrrrr" Moment: When my whole family went out to breakfast without Austin and I leaving us to fend for ourselves in an oncoming rainstorm. Luckily we had some neighbor kids who helped us bring things inside.

"Really, you're buying that" Moment: When a 40 year old dude bought my mom's plastic lobster. Random.

"Seriously, right now??" Moment: When as we were setting up on day two, Austin decided he wanted to chop off the dead branch of our tree in the front yard. He was hacking, chopping, and sawing at this huge dead branch as shoppers were showing up. He eventually got it down but not without a few concerned looks from people.

I think that about sums it up! It was a great Easter weekend. Here is Adelyn with Aunt Les and Uncle Will.