One Potato, Two Potato....

I had a box on my porch today- which is ALWAYS exciting! It was a big one too!! I thought it was some of Annistyn's party stuff, so I got my camera and took her to open it. But I was really confused when I started pulling stuff out and then I realized....
MY TRUNK SHOW WAS HERE!!!!
It wasn't supposed to be here until Thursday, but it came early. I love Potato Saks brand because you will find VERY FEW pieces in stores. If you do find it- it will be at least 50% more than retail- if not more. Annistyn has a few pieces I have managed to get at good prices. I can tell you that the clothes are really good quality- otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to do a show.
Here is a preview of what was in my trunk. My favorite two are not even on here. I will post some more later this week or you can see it all on my facebook page- look for the badge on my left sidebar.



This is the seahorse outfit:


Here is what came in the trunk- the capris got left out.





















*The last three dresses will have double ruffles at the bottom. I have pictures of the final product.

Some additional notes:
Shipping is FLAT RATE! This really cuts down on costs.
NO TAX!!!
Any orders taken through my trunk show get 15% off your ENTIRE ORDER!

Also- I spoke with the owner and she confirmed that if you order an Easter outfit- they WILL arrive back to you in time for Easter.

Do you just love what you are seeing??? I am having a preview party Monday, so if you are local- you are invited! Let me know and I will email you details.
Also, if you want to throw together a party between now and the 11th- you'll get a great discount off your order.

Not local? I can take orders online with a credit card or you can mail a check.

Okay- now some other business.

I wanted to note some of Annistyn's accomplishments before I forget. I can't believe how much I have used this blog to remember dates and what she has done and when.

She is very loud, very wild, and talks ALL the time. Her latest "favorite" words are "No" (because she likes to tell me "no" or look at me and start doing something she knows she isn't supposed to do and saying "no" while she does it), "Keys", "Uh-oh", "Oh, weeeeee", "kitchen", "boohh" (blue), "Gittem" (Get him), "Eat", "Bath" (one of the most used for sure!), and EVERYTHING is "Yay" with clapping. She'll do something that she knows is good- like sit beside Finley and pet him gently and then she'll look at me and say Yay and clap. Everyone has to watch her do things. She likes being the center of attention. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not...
I'm sure I'll think of more words later. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly. The thing is- I can understand her most of the time, even if no one else can.

She sings when she isn't talking. I think she has a little too much of her Aunt Shelley in her. She sings "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" song and the "Hot Dog" song and does the dance. You can hear the words "Dog and Diggity Dog" in it and then she'll go "Dah, dah, dah," for the part with just music. She likes Patty Cake and does the motions- even "rolls" her hands. She LOVES "No more Monkeys jumping on the bed". She'll point her finger and do the motions. She'll even say Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh when I ask her what the monkey says. The sweetest thing EVER is when we sing "The More We Read the Bible". She makes a Bible and sways back and forth while she tries to sing it. It is PRECIOUS!

I don't understand how children get to Kindergarten without knowing basic things- especially things like colors.
I can get out lotion or Germ-X and Annistyn will rub her hands together to put it on. I can tell her to "Put Your Lotion On" and she will pretend like she is doing it.

I can tell her to count something and she will point at each one and make a sound that doesn't sound quite like the number yet, but she understands the general idea of it.

She stops to turn off the light when we leave a room. I pick her up and let her do it.

We sing the "Clean Up" song to clean up and tonight she put her toys in her basket by herself. Then she realized there were two books in the toy basket so she got them out and put them with the books.

Anyway- the point is- if you TALK to your children, there are things that they pick up without you having to "teach" them.

Here is our bathtub learning time:



This is Annistyn pointing to the "big, yellow, duck".



We have numbers and letters that we play with. I put numbers 1-4 in the bathtub. We play with 1-3. 4 is in there because it's the same color as our "A" and I want her to distinguish the difference.



Everynight we say what they are and we put them up on the side of the tub. She loves to put them up.
Then I call them out and she takes them down as I say them.



Then I leave them floating in the tub and I ask her where they are. She finds them one by one and puts them on the wall.
This is what she does with no help:



Not bad for 11 3/4 months! The letters A, I, T, and S are also in the tub. When she gets really good at doing those, I'll add the other letters of her name. Then we'll put them together and I'll eventually add the other letters.

As far as colors, she knows red and blue very well. She even tells me when things are "boooh". Green and yellow are the other two we work on as well as basic shapes. I'm not really focusing on shapes right now.

Can you tell I'm a teacher?

I just know that a love of learning develops very early and right now- it's fun. In a few years, it'll be work. I'll play letters and numbers every day as long as she is interested. Her mind is a sponge right now.

On a completely separate note- we drove to Dothan last night to pick her birthday present. I think we are going to give it to her this weekend so she can enjoy it while we're home all day. It's supposed to be warmer- mid 60's maybe- so we will be outside hopefully. Today was COLD- especially when you have traffic duty. I think I could have lived in Alaska this winter and not known the difference between Alaska and Alabama. GO AWAY WINTER! It's usually flip-flop weather already!!!!

P.S.- When it's 110 for 3 strait weeks in July and you can't even breathe because it's so humid, I'll be begging for winter to come back.

Well, hope you enjoy the pictures of the trunk show! I'll be back later this week with a picture of her 1-Year Announcements- which came in yesterday and are SOOOO CUTE!