What's cooking?

AnnaKate has gotten so inquisitive lately. I just love it!!
(She is turning the light on and off in the oven.)

*The rain boots were all her idea...she loves to dress up!!

Play Dates

After Christmas we scheduled our week full of play dates for AnnaKate. I mean FULL...

First we went to Taylor's house. He was sweet and even announced when we got there that he was going to share his toys with AnnaKate. We had a great time and Cassie baked this wonderful Apple bread. As I post this I am just remembering how good it was...I need to get that recipe!

AnnaKate and Taylor had a great time playing in Taylor's "cardboard cottage".

They took a nap...

and peeked out the windows...

Taking a break to play with a chopper...

Time for a snack...

We had so much fun at Taylor's house. AnnaKate even tried to say Taylor's name when we left!




That night we had a "Dinner and Bath" play date with Emerson. Emerson gave AnnaKate an Ariel bathtub Barbie for Christmas. She decided that it would be fun to take a bath together so they could play with it!! What a great idea.

At first they danced to a little NutCracker Suite...

Had a tea party with cupcakes...

Played tiger under the table...And took a bath
(I wasn't sure of the proper etiquette of tub pictures...I mean this is the internet...)

A little jumping on the bed...
Kisses

"Whew...we are worn out...let's have a snack"

Mommies need a "snack" too..

Dress up time!

Let's read a bedtime story

**Photography note...I am learning how to take night time pictures without the flash. These are not that great...any DSLR photography suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

The next day we went to Will and Melissa's house. Will was really sweet too share his toys with AnnaKate.

This picture makes me laugh...they look like they are keeping a close eye on each other while they have snacks!

Will got a good-bye kiss!

That night Lou-Lou and granddaddy came for a visit to see the Christmas gifts.

The next day Rebecca and Carrie came to our house. They loved cooking in the kitchen and playing together while Carrie and I caught up.

Whew...it was a busy week! I love being off of work so we can do fun things like this.

Side note: I do worry about days when playdates are not as plentiful. I know as special needs children get older they can appear more different and become less accepted by their peers. My hope is that the kindness of our community and friends will remain so as she gets older. But I do worry...

My word of the year

So last year Holly challenged me to decide on a word that would drive me throughout the year. Well...she did it again this year. I couldn't even remember my word from last year (purposeful) but I did remember that half way through the year I wanted to change it to something better. So this year I did a little research on "the Word of the Year" concept and it is a pretty popular alternative to a resolution. Ali Edwards has posted about it and so has Christine Kane. Christine had a "Your Word of the Year Discovery Tool" worksheet that was very helpful in helping me pick our my word for the year. In her words, "Your word is meant to teach you about you."

So, here goes.....drum roll....my word of the year is....

Balance

Balance work,
balance play,
balance being a Christian,
balance exercise,
balance finances,
balance being a wife,
balance being a mom,
balance scrapbooking,
balance being environmentally friendly,
balance LIFE!

So happy new year to you...what will your word be?