Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall....Why doesn't Alabama get them all????

Good-bye winter, hello summer! Is it just me, or did we completely miss spring???? One day the high was in the 40's, the next week it was 60's, and I got in my car Monday and it was 90 degrees!!!!! I won't complain, I was tired of the cold.... but we seem to always miss fall and spring around here.

If I could do one of those heel-clicking jumps, I would do that right now because tomorrow we have our Field Day Field Hour and then if we make it through the rest of the day (i.e. Our Field Hour is over by 9:30) then we will be out for A WEEK!

I know I am ready and my students are too. We could all use a break.

I found a good sale (I know- you're shocked!) and I bought this cute outfit...



It is super cute and now I wish I had bought more outfits. I may have to go back and do that...

I have been slowly gathering Annistyn's beach attire.



Here is her collection of sunglasses....



And her hats...



Only 3 hats? (GASP!!!!) Don't worry- her hot pink one and the green paisley one arrived today. So she has five now. She only has 4 swimsuits to take (DOUBLE GASP!) but I will have my eyes out for a couple more when we get down there. I don't have one that fits, so I will be getting one for sure.

Annistyn's beach chair came in yesterday!

TOO CUTE!





She loves having her own chair and she climbed in it as soon as I got it out.



She sat in it a while and read her book in it. She is such a bookworm (like her mommy). When we get home in the afternoons, you would think she would run strait to the toys but instead she goes to the book shelf. She will sit there for 30 minutes or more pulling the books out and "reading" them. The other day it was so funny- she was reading the "Peek-a-Boo" book and she was on the doggie page. She would mumble something and hold up her "question hands". Then she would open the ones without the dog and say, "nooo..." and she would open the doggie one and squeal and clap for herself.

She is getting really good at pronouncing words correctly. The other night she said, "Mama...?" and I said, "What, baby?" and she pointed at the books and said "book". Not booh, but booK.

Her new favorite song is "This Little Christian Light of Mine" and now I can ask her how old she is and she will put up 1 finger. I also found out that she knows what it means to "tee-tee" but the "in the potty" part is still under construction. I found that out the other night when we were about to get in the bath tub and I asked her if she needed to "tee-tee" first and she looked down and then did it on the floor. Oh, the joys of motherhood!!! :) I guess for 12 3/4 months we're doing okay on this. At least we've got part one down!

I'm also pleased to say that instead of knowing the sound a cow, or kitty, or dog- like a normal toddler would learn first- my child can tell you that a turkey says "Gobble Gobble" (Thanks, Michael) and a rooster says "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" (Thanks, Nana!).

One more piece of exciting news... Tonight is the 5th night that Annistyn has gone to bed by herself! I just take her to her crib awake, put her in it with her blankie, turn the video monitor on, and leave the room and close the door (with lights out). She may fuss for a second, but by the time I reach the hand-held monitor and turn it on, she is already laying down and closing her eyes. She has done AWESOME with this. I was really really dreading it, but she has even done it during the day for naps. Hopefully it will continue.

Here's one more picture in her chair trying out a hat...



Monday a did a senior portrait photo shoot with a sweet girl, Meaghan. (Thanks, McKena for sending her my way!) I haven't finished sorting through all of them, but here are a few to share.







I love taking pictures! One last thing- if you haven't noticed the new banner on my left side bar, there is one that says "Blessings for Bella". Bella is the daughter of a local family and she was born at 26 weeks last Friday weighing 2 lbs. and 2 ounces. She is doing good, but I'm sure the family and Bella would appreciate prayers! If you've ever experienced NICU you know how emotionally draining it is. I always whine about our 5 days in there and I know that is nothing compared with so many others. Click on the banner or here to check out her blog. I designed it for them earlier this week and there is a banner on there that you can copy and paste on your blog too. (Copy the code- go to Layout, new gadget, HTML, and paste it on there. It will automatically be linked to her blog once you put it on there.)

Well, I'm off to bed! Tomorrow will be a wild day, but once we survive it- we'll be free for a week!!!!