Eating up the outside

We had a beautiful weekend and Raeann had her fill (literally - check out the video) of the outside. The neighborhood kids love her and are very mindful of her toddling ways. You can see that she found her way to their chalk-made skateboard path.

For some reason Raeann likes the road the best, which is rather scary! Good thing it's a quiet neighborhood. I think it must be easier to walk on, because no matter how many times I picked her up and took her back to the nice grassy park, she determinedly went to the road again.

These are rocks from our neighbor's front yard. Good thing we have nice neighbors! It was all fun and games until she decided to put the rather small choking hazard rocks in her mouth. I managed to turn the camera off right as her little temper tantrum started. How dare I not let her eat them!

Oh my oh my

I had to take a picture of Raeann in this dress before church. She's just so stinking cute, everything I put on her is adorable and I want a picture. You can see how this might get a little cumbersome.

Sitting pretty...

And not so much...

A little closer....maybe too close!

Easter Egg Hunt

Look at Raeann's beautiful Easter dress. I received this dress at a baby shower and had no idea when she would wear it. I was so glad she could wear it today! She loves standing on Mike's old childhood stool - it's still in remarkable shape!

The church had the yard in front of the sanctuary fenced off for babies - 2 year olds. The ground was littered with eggs for all of us to pick up and place in our baskets. I wasn't sure how she would do or how many she would get, but she did remarkably well! She placed egg after egg in her basket and there were so many that it didn't take long for us to fill it up. I thought the older, faster children would overtake us, but the set-up was perfect and there were so many eggs that not one child walked away without a full basket!

Mike took a video of her putting the eggs in the basket, but forgot that you can't take vertical videos. Sorry. :( It's still fun to watch though.

Big Girl Food

We have been making the transition to table food this week while I've been home on spring break. Tonight was our first big break through! Raeann ate macaroni and cheese and diced peaches by herself! At one point she noticed the spoon I laid next to the plate (just to see what she would do with it) and she knew that there was suppose to be food on it, so she attempted to put food on it - what to do after that was lost to her, though. Oh well, that will come.

Yum!

She's getting so big so fast, I can't believe how much she's learning to do!

Fun in the Sun

We've had some really nice days this week in the 60's and Raeann loves the outside. As soon as we get out of the car and she sees the outside she starts reaching and talking about it, so I took her to the little grassy park across the street from our house yesterday. She loves picking up the grass and rocks and examining each piece.

Looking pretty in the sunlight.

A rock! (That's our house directly behind her)

I had no idea what she was doing here at first - I thought she had something itching her head or ear and I kept checking but couldn't find much. Then I realized that she was trying over and over to make grass and leaves either stick to the back of her head or go down her shirt, I'm not sure which, but she succeeded quite a bit in making this happen.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Mom and Dad were able to come for the weekend of Raeann's birthday. They sure had fun with her, especially Grandpa! I guess it's true what Mike says..."Dads are for playing, Moms are for business."

Happy 1st Birthday, Raeann!

Can you believe Raeann is already one year old? I refused to give her an entire cake, so we did cupcakes instead...call me what you will. I blew the candle out for her rather quickly, and it's a good thing too, because she grabbed the wick shortly after I had blown the flame out.

Raeann loves to play in the dirt and grass, but she wasn't so sure about that sticky frosting. And not one piece made it into her mouth!

"I don't know about this."

As you can see, she managed to destroy the cupcake without eating one piece of it.

You can tell how much she's grown intellectually since Christmas. She had no idea what to do with wrapping paper then. Here she's more interested in the paper than the item inside.

Reading a book from Travis and Claire.

This is the great push-toy Mike and I got for her. She knew exactly what to do with it. The best part is that it will lay flat into a little rider and she can ride it around!

I love this picture!

A good one with Daddy.