my purple publix balloon...

i love it when mommy does the grocery shopping at publix because it's where "shopping is a pleasure." for me, this is because they give me a free balloon. most recently i have received purple balloons at the publix & i have kept them until they are pretty pitiful looking & almost deflated. well, today my almost-deflated-purple-publix-balloon popped!! i was SOOO upset! so on her way home from work, mommy stopped by publix & asked for a balloon, even though i was not with her! actually this balloon is not the *publix* balloon because they were out of those, but a special friend made sure that i still got a *purple* balloon -- as far as balloons are concerned to me, purple is definitely the best!

playing at the park...

here i am, just hanging out at the park. i am still a little afraid of the slides -- i won't slide unless mommy does it with me. but i am very good at climbing the ladder & going up & down the stairs.

school days have begun...

i started back to school on thursday this past week. actually the first real day of school was last tuesday, but we were still at the beach. this turned out good for me because my teachers said that SeVeRaL other children in the class had meltdowns on the first day & i know that would have made me have a bad day too. as it was, i was a little upset when mommy left me, but my teachers say that i adjusted very quickly.


here's the only pic that mommy could get of me in the classroom -- once i saw her, i realized that i WaS ready to go home! this year, my teachers say that we will do some new activities, like a more structured story-time & even go to chapel for worship. my teachers are mrs. tina & mrs. carol.


i am thankful that my teachers say it is still OK to bring some comfort items with me to school. i brought my purse & of course the purse was loaded with carrots, a rainbow, a star, a whale, and the all-important ducky. we tried to take some more pictures in the courtyard, but i told mommy that i was just TOO worn out. school is hard work.


and on our car ride home, i slept like a baby! but i will be ready to go again next tuesday!

thank you, panama city beach...

we have spent the last week at the beach in florida. first we spent two nights at the state park at grayton beach. we were really excited about this because we were able to arrive at the beach two days earlier than what we had originally planned. and any extra time at the beach is a 'plus' to me! the water at the state park was clear & free of seaweed. i was still a little fearless at that point, so i went out swimming a little with daddy. but by the time we arrived at the condo, i was more cautious about the ocean waves!



daddy and i fed the seagulls one day. they made me giggle SoOoOo much!! i loved watching them fly right up to daddy for the food. you can also see in these pictures that i am much stronger than i was last year. this year, mommy was able to let me fight the waves on my own. and as i mentioned earlier, i developed a respect for the ocean -- i did get slapped in the face with a wave a few times. afterwards i would mostly laugh & go right back to playing, but with more caution!!

on most days, our routine consisted of two similar outings. first we would go to the beach & build castles & play in the waves. then we'd go to the pools & play some more.














we went to margaritaville for lunch one day. i got to see an airplane flying among the clouds (on the ceiling) and we pretended to play drums too. it was a really fun place for me to eat lunch.











i really enjoyed just walking on the beach. one afternoon, mommy & i walked about a mile altogether (1/2 mile in each direction!!) and as i would walk, i would recite portions of my john deere video that i watch at grammy's house & also portions of a new favorite bert & ernie book about friends. i was just a little chatterbox! i sOoOoOo loved this trip to the gulf coast.

great-grandma brandt came to visit...

my great-grandma brandt from north carolina has been visiting us this week. she is staying with grammy & pappy, so i have been going to their house to see her. today we played with play-doh -- i made a pink telephone. no one even coached me on what i was making with the play-doh, i just told them that it was a telephone & then i began using it! i talked to great grandma & grammy on my play-doh telephone. later, great grandma & i read a book about waking up on the farm.

my birthday toys...

it's been a very busy week or so since my birthday. here are some pics of me enjoying my new toys.

a great day for the zoo...

mommy, daddy & i went to the birmingham zoo today. we (unknowingly) chose a terrific day to visit the zoo because most schools are back in session. AND the weather was actually cooler than it has been recently, so we were pretty comfortable. one of the first things we did was to feed the giraffes. we have never done this before. at first i was intrigued by the beautiful creatures, but then they stuck out their tongues to eat the snacks! their tongues are SoOoO long that i was a little frightened. so mommy held me while daddy fed the giraffes. but i did make sure to bless the food they were eating... with each snack they ate, i recited, "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen."



of course we rode the train, and again, the day just couldn't have been any better. there were very few people riding the train so we had our choice of seats. when the ride was over, no one was waiting to get on after us. so the engineer was kind enough to allow me to inspect the train & tracks. usually we have to get off so quickly because more people are waiting to get on, so i have never been able to spend much time looking at any of this. i walked up & down the track for a while & i enjoyed it so much!




















and we always save the fountains for last. it's a good thing we did do them last today, because i was SO excited that i didn't wait for mommy to change me into my bathing suit! i just ran right while i was still wearing my clothes! there were only a few other children in the fountains today. it was a perfect day! in fact, even as i was eating dinner & taking my bath tonight, i was still talking about the giraffes eating their snacks. "she ate the food!" i said this OveR & oVER!! a random funny thing to take note of is that i am holding three paper carrots in most of these pictures. the carrots are small, so you kind of have to know what you're looking for. but ever since my birthday party, i have been in LoVE with these cut-out carrots that mommy made for the birthday crowns. i even took the carrots with me to the zoo! (you can see the back-side of the carrots in the pic of me & daddy on the train ride.) what a busy, busy day! oh, i will sleep well tonight!

a review of some birthday prep...

i just realized that i never did share these pictures that were taken before my birthday party. mommy & i went to grammy's house for help making the birthday crowns (pictured in an earlier post.) i fell in LoVE with the carrots. in fact, some of the carrots never made it onto hats because i stole them! i like to put them in my purse & say *in a HiGh pitched voice*... "hi little sweet little carrots!" i even took the paper carrots to bed with me tonight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME...

on sunday we celebrated my third birthday!! i was excited to have friends & family come to visit, although we were sadly missing some important people (but i hope to see you soon!) the theme for my party was "fields," which means anything to do with a farm. of course my favorite is the fruits & veggies that are grown in the fields.

this is the "fields cake" that mommy made for me. it has a barn, animals & even haystacks & a vegetable garden.

here i am, eating my birthday cake. to be honest, i was not in the best mood today. i think i was somewhat overstimulated by all the activity. so i am sorry that my pictures are not happier & better. i DO hope to soon upload the pics that grammy took on her camera! maybe she had better luck thank mommy did.
pictured below are the crowns that mommy & grammy used the cricket (scrapbooking machine) to make. nobody likes to wear those hats with the elastic under their chin! plus, mommy had a hard time finding decorating supplies that met my needs & wants. so she decided to make the birthday crowns. i think they turned out pretty well!

mommy helped me to open my gifts... and my friends & family ReALLy took care of me in that department! THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!

pappy got the difficult work of untying all the presents from their boxes. nobody knows why companies tie toys into the box so strongly.

i took this picture with aunt judy, just before they left us. i sat with her for a moment, but what i really wanted to do was to chase my balloons!
on friday, mommy got a balloon for me at the publix grocery store. ever since then, i cannot stop talking about balloons. we ended up tying all my birthday balloons to a box so that i could carry them around without the risk of having them float away. you can see in this pic, that i just wanted to run away -- just me & my balloons!

randomness...

here i am, coming down the stairs, on our way out to do errands & go see grammy & pappy. nothing much special, mommy just said i looked cute!! i really like the "opotusus" on my shirt!

here i am asleep... with my entourage of toys that must come to bed with me! in this picture, you can see my "planets" (i don't care that they don't orbit any central star) and my purse of fields (fruits & veggies). i am also holding a paper carrot which will actually end up on a birthday party crown. and of course there's my beloved ducky & train tracks. and please note the TwO pillows, because i AM a little princess! don't i just look ToTaLLy comfortable??