Easter 2011

We had a fun Easter weekend in Knoxville!  Grandma joined us on Friday and stayed for a long weekend.  We headed to the ball fields on Saturday for Grace's second game of the season.  She had a couple good hits but was once again BORED playing the field!  By bored, I mean completely sitting down in the dirt yelling, "Hi Grandma!" while she was supposed to be playing second base!  WAHAHAHA!!  To Grace, the best part of the game is the snack they get after the team huddle.  And last week she got a snack AND an Easter egg......BONUS!!  Oh and she got her hat too.  How cute is she!!!  

On Easter morning, Grace found some goodies that the Easter bunny left behind.  What was she most excited about........the CANDY!!  She is my daughter after all!  Making it to the early service (ON TIME!) + actually getting a decent family picture + having a delicious lunch + watching Grace hunt eggs = A GREAT DAY!!!  The order of these pictures got all jumbled.  Here's a glimpse of our Easter weekend....in no particular order.

First chocolate bunny on Easter morning!

Grandma and her girls

WHO HOO!!

Coloring Easter eggs

Next year you can help too kiddo!

Anna found one!

Easter egg hunt!!

Cades Cove Photo Shoot

Here are some of the pics from our photo shoot at Cades Cove.  Oh and one of the BEAR!!  Enjoy!

THE BEAR!!!

First Hike of the Year!

Last Sunday, we packed up the girls to head down to the mountains for our first hike of the year.  Last spring while I was pregnant with Anna, I bought a "hiking backpack" (for lack of a better term) and I've been dying to use it.  I got it for $6 and it was in perfect shape which of course made me want to use it even more.....LOVE a good deal!!
We picked a spot in Cades Cove, had a picnic, and a mini photo shoot.  This was our first time going through Cades Cove since the road was paved and it was SOOOO much better than it used to be!  We were used to driving over enormous pot holes and now it's smooth sailin'!
After getting some pics, I got the girls in their "hiking" attire and we were off to find a good spot to hike and do a little mushroom hunting.  Matt seems to think that people mushroom hunt down here, but I've never heard of the like.
While we didn't find any mushroom, we did spot something exciting........A BEAR!!!  Ok, so we were in our car, but we still saw it!  He was just a little fella', but enough of a reason to NEVER want to go camping!  Especially when we would have two nice little bit-sized treats along with us........NO THANK YOU!!!

We planned to do some horseback riding on our way out of the mountains, but Grace was beat so we decided the next best thing to do was get some ice cream......of course!!
Fingers are crossed for a mild summer so we can have many more weekends like this!!

It's Red Sox Time in Tennessee!!!

Time for a little warm-ups

Last Saturday, Grace had her first t-ball game!!  I'm not sure who was more excited.....Grace or me and Matt!!  We had a perfect weather for the game:  warm but a little overcast.  We loaded Grace up with carbs and were off to the fields with our Big League Chew.
You might notice that Grace is the only kid without a hat on.  The previous practice we had 30mph winds and I thought it was a better idea to keep Anna at home.  Coach Jimmy handed the hats out at practice and Grace and Matt came home without one.  No problem......she'll have one for her next game!
Before the game started, the Red Sox got to take the field for a bit of practice.  We got more videos than pictures but one word that comes to mind is HILARIOUS!!!!  I'm sure Matt will have a video put together soon.  And for those of you who aren't on Facebook.......well GET THERE so you can see it!

Pre-game pep talk

Each game consists of two innings or one hour.....whichever comes first.  Each player gets to bat twice and they play a different position while fielding.  Grace seemed to grasp more aspects of the game on Saturday and she certainly made her mommy proud!  The first time she walked up to the plate you can only guess what happened......WATERWORKS!!!!  Serves me right for always making fun of my mom!  Thank God for sunglasses!!!  She just looked SO little with her gigantic, pink helmet on!  She took a big swing AND hit the tee.  No problem.  She took another big swing AND hit the tee again.  Ok, third time is the charm, right??  She took another big swing AND SHE HIT IT!!  WAHOO!!  She dropped the bat and ran right to first base just like we rehearsed all morning!!!  The next batter came up and she she ran right to second base.  She had a slight mishap when the next batter hit the ball and she started running back to first.  WHOOPS!!  Good thing there's a "coach"/dad at each base to direct them because he quickly grabbed Grace and directed her towards third base.  I'm pretty sure Grace's favorite part of the game was running to home plate to our cheering section!!  HYSTERICAL!!  After every player ran home, all the moms went crazy and clapped and cheered.  She got a HUGE grin on her face and headed towards the dug out.
The fielding was a different story because she would much rather play in the dirt than worry about what ball was coming her way!!  And if you want to know the truth, it took FOREVER for the other team to get all their players to bat.  BUT that's just between you and me.  I do have to share a story of a little player from the Yankees (the other team).  Let me give you a mental picture.  He was as skinny as can be.  He had his uniform shirt tucked into his pants that were pulled up to his nipples.  He steps up to the plate and swings with everything he has.  He swings a few more times and finally makes contact.  And THEN he runs at FULL SPEED after the ball!!  He even tackled our player trying to get to the ball first!!  WAHAHAHAHAHA!!  I think all of the parents nearly tinkled in their britches after that one!! Bless his little heart!  Maybe football is his sport!  
Anna (in her usual fashion) watched patiently from outside the fence "cheering" for Grace and eating her puffs!  She just goes with the flow wherever I drag her every day.

Serious dug-out conversation

AND SHE SCORES!!!!

Grace's biggest cheerleader!!

The girls got a little bored while fielding!

Team huddle after the game

After the game, the team got together for a team huddle and snack.  Coach Jimmy (love his heart for all the patience he has with these 3-4 year olds!) said he would give out a game ball to a player after each game.  He said, "I saw someone who worked really hard and ran really fast.  And this week's game ball goes to GRACE!!!!"  WHAT!?!?  Matt and I nearly peed right down our legs!!  Everyone was clapping, hooting and hollering and Grace got a little embarrassed.  Way to go kiddo!!

On the way home, Grace was more interested in "the brown thing"/brownie that they got for their snack than she was about the game ball, but Matt and I had swollen heads that barely fit into the car.  We did have to explain to Grace that she wouldn't get the game ball after EVERY game......we'll let you know how that turns out after tomorrow's game!!    

AND the game ball goes to......GRACE!!!

GO

RED

SOX!!!

Game Ball!!

Tongue-A-Waggin'

Anna had TWO TEETH pop through last week and since then, her little tongue hasn't stopped wriggling around. It appears as though it has a mind of its own and looks like someone wound it up to super-sonic speed! Take a look at it in action while she was eating her cereal. And just in case you're wondering, she didn't miss a morsel!!

Do I Hear a Distressed Sheep Around Here Somewhere??

As promised, here is a video of Anna demonstrating her new laugh. You will also get to see her "spit trick" she always does with Matt. She's quite the little character these days! Enjoy!!

8 Months Old!!

I'm a tad behind on Anna's 8 month update!  I'm going to try to keep it as accurate as possible and not overlap what's already happened for her 9 month update!  I will tell you some exciting things have been happening around here!
First, I am happy to report that Anna is taking to her baby food MUCH better than she did when she first started!!  WAHOO!!  Currently, she LOVES sweet potatoes and her rice cereal mixed with apples!  YUM!  She has now eaten carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, apples, plums, and bananas.  She tolerates her green beans as long as I mix then with carrots or sweet potatoes.  Peas, however, are another story!  At this point, she would be ok with omitting them completely!  The plums are a bit tart and they aren't at the top of her list either.  The first time I gave her bananas, I mixed them up with her cereal in the evening AND a toddler-size meltdown ensued!!  WHOA!!  I quickly got rid of that cereal and gave her some without bananas and I'm pretty sure she ate the equivalent of what Jeff Saturday eats the day before a big game!  WOW!  This girl can put the cereal away people!  I recently bought some puffs for her to try so stay tuned for her next update to see how she did.
Anna is SO close to crawling and I see it happening any day now!  The other day she actually scooted across the entire bonus room floor on her bottom!  Her right leg gets in position, but she can't quite get her left leg to cooperate.  And to be quite frank, it down right ticks her off!  Matt and I will try to help her and get her up on an her knees, but she just falls to the floor like a lump of jell-o and immediately starts crying.  I know I said I was going to keep this accurate, but I have to pass this along.  Literally as I am tying this post, Anna scooted across the floor over to the chest where we keep several books.  She opened the door and started pulling book after book out!  Things are about to get A LITTLE busier around here!  
Anna said her first word this month:  Dada!!  She now says it all the time and we are feverishly working on Mama.  Her babbling continues to increase and I can tell within the next year our house, between both girls, will never be silent!  :)

Lil' Hoosier fans!

Park playdate with Libby!

Green Beans........GAG!

She is also REALLY trying to pull herself up on different things around the house.  She can get herself up on her knees, but can't quite get herself all the way up on her feet.  How is this happening already!?!?
Anna has a few new "tricks" that she has started doing as well.  She likes to stare at someone until they make eye contact with her and then she gives them a big slobber monkey SPIT!!  It's almost as if she's doing it to show off.  She LOVES to do it to Matt and she always gets a kick out of herself!  This is especially fun for me when she does it mid-bite while eating!  So when you see me out and notice some orange sprinkles all over my face, you know why!  Another new "trick" is the sound she makes when she laughs.  It sounds somewhat like a sheep in distress and she can also incorporate this into her cry as well.  Believe me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you hear it!  I got a video of her doing this the first night she started doing it so stay tuned!  She has also started clapping and every time you look at her and say, "Yay Anna!" or play some music she breaks into a clapping session.
Poor Anna girl got her first ear infection during her 8th month!  BOO!  She had a cold and started pulling on her left ear.  She wasn't real fussy, but I decided to go ahead and have her checked out.  Turned out, it was a good thing I did!  Note.......Anna LOVES amoxicillin and would get VERY excited when she saw me filling up the syringe!
I still have no teeth to report quite yet, but two little white buds are now visible on her lower gums!  While I'm excited for those suckers to finally pop through, this will only make my anxiety level rise every time I feed her!  OH DEAR!!  Be nice to your momma please and don't bite the "hand" that feeds you!!!
That about wraps up our latest update.  Meet us back here in a couple weeks for her 9 month update!!