Weekend Fun! July 16-18

This is from Wednesday night actually... but she's so proud to show off her ice cream cone, I had to share!


Friday 6/16

I had dinner plans with a friend, so Daddy and Amelia had a night in together. They sent me a couple of photos...

Play time in the bath!

Dance party in her bedroom! She was dancing to the music coming out of the ipod she's holding:

Saturday 7/17

All morning we spent running errands.

Heading down to the farmer's market:

Looking at carpet.... she picked all of the pink ones out of the rack:

We visited some kitties at a shelter... NO, not to adopt... just to say hello!

If we WERE on the market for a new kitty, we liked Stormy:

She really enjoyed that stop!

Next, we went home for lunch. For some reason, Amelia wanted to use her magnifying glass:

Later, after a long nap, we decided to take Amelia out late for a Columbus Crew (soccer) game:

She enjoyed watching the game:

This photo won the Crew's fan photo of the week! 2 free tickets!

Yay! I was there too!

Amelia got in trouble with an usher for playing in the aisle:

Did the usher really think that I'd let a beer vendor run over my kid? Yes.

Coming back from a halftime diaper change:

Sunday 7/18

We went to Amelia's favorite spot - the library! She earned a small prize for her summer reading that she's completed thus far:

And settled in for a little snack:

And ran around playing with stuff and looking at books.

She was really hung up on the fact that this puzzle was missing a piece and she kept repeating "kitty piece" over and over, while looking for it:

And she enjoyed building this "tower of power", as she called it:

After library time, we came home for lunch and a nap.

Chris had a cold, so he took a nap too. Amelia wanted to snuggle when she got up and found him laying down:

Amelia was SO active this day... running around and getting into everything:

And we got a visit from Michelle!

It was a nice, fairly quiet weekend.

Weekend Fun! July 9-11

Friday 7/9

We decided to stay home this evening and have a "family flick night". Amelia got all dressed up in princess gear, we loaded up on snacks, piled up all our comfy seating, and laid around the floor together watching "Cinderella".


Amelia LOVED the movie -- she was totally drawn in and didn't take her eyes away from the tv.

Except with the animal crackers and nutella came out....


Saturday 7/8

We had a busy day!! In the morning, we walked down to the farmer's market, and got our usual yummies.

Afterward, we came home and loaded up the car for a few stops.

First, the library - Amelia's favorite stop:


Returning last week's selections:

Putting a sticker on her name, for the summer reading program:

She hopped on a computer to play a Dora game, but was less successful at it once she stopped letting Mommy help:

And, of course, she had to say hi to the fishies!

Next, we stopped at a (plant) nursery to pick up some things. Amelia got a little treat between that and a stop at the grocery store:

We came home, had lunch, and put Amelia down for her nap.

While she was napping, we planted the tree that we got from the nursery:

We got all of this stuff with a gift card that I recently received from some friends -- a sort of memorial to my Mom. The tree is a hydrangea. The little plant is yellow rose (one of her favorites).

After her nap, we tossed Amelia in the car, and took a picnic supper to the zoo.

Our goal - to see the new polar bears!

They were pretty boring -- just sleeping on this rock the whole time:

Amelia was more interested in the tunnel below -- where people can walk through and possibly see the bears swimming.

Pointing out the polar bears:

Checking out the fishies in the water:

A better view of the two polar bears:

From the tunnel below, she liked watching the fish and, of course, the people above:

Checking out the new playground near the polar bear exhibit:

She was so independent at the playground - she would go down this slide, and then ran around to do it again.

Riding the polar bear:

She does this pose a lot lately -- if you indicate that you're going to give her something she likes, she'll go "for me??!" and put her hands by her face:

Sunday 7/11

On this day, we went to church in the morning, came home for lunch and a nap, and then hung around the house playing in the evening.... gotta have a slow day after our busy Saturday!

Weekend Fun! July 2-5

Friday 7/2

On this night, we walked downtown for the monthly "first friday" festivities. But we were good... we ate before we left, and limited ourself to only a small ice cream treat!


Cool kid, enjoying the ride:

Saturday 7/3

I thought it would be festive to give Amelia painted toenails for the holiday weekend. But I thought that matching Mommy's red might be too grown up, so she just has a little pink on her toes.

She liked it a lot:

On this morning, we walked downtown again, this time for the Farmer's markets.

Amelia met a kitty friend on the way:

We got a few veggie items, and then returned for the car, so we could go grocery shopping. Later, we returned home for lunch and play time. Amelia took a nice, long nap.

She awoke to find a snack of banana bread (made by mommy) and "juice" (lemonade):

And then quickly got suited up for a bit of swimming in the side yard:

Splashing Daddy:

Practicing her swim kicks:

Playing quite crazily with her duckies:

Practicing blowing bubbles in the water:

It was a nice, quiet, lazy Saturday. Chris went to a soccer game later, so it was just a girls' night at home.

Sunday 7/4

This morning, she got all dressed up in her princess gear. Check out her item of choice for playtime (in the stroller and then in her hand) -- an onion:

After a little bit of swimming time, she selected our seating for the soon-to-come Fourth of July parade (in front of our house):

She got all dressed up in her patriotic gear, and we got in place:

And soon.... the first signs of a coming parade!

When the flag went by, she followed instruction to put her hand over her heart...... :)

She enjoyed all of the candy - and these beads and cow bell! - handed out!

Showing off the beach ball received from one of the last floats, and the flag that had been placed in our lawn:

Amelia went down for a later nap, and woke to find a Fourth of July cookout in our own backyard!

The late naptime lined up perfectly with our evening plans.... a concert on the college campus, leading up to 10pm fireworks. It was later plans than we typically ever make with her, but with naptime going until almost 6pm, this was a perfect time to try!

She had a bit of a "too much candy and not enough food" incident before the concert, so we had an outfit change at this point. No more cute red-white-blue.

Sitting, enjoying the concert:

Rolling in the grass with Daddy:

Enjoying one of her parade treats:

Mommy was there too! I'm not in pictures much... because I'm always taking them!

See... it went late and got dark out!

The little girls next to us loved talking with Amelia and playing with her. They gave her one of their light-up bracelets. One funny point of the evening was when the 1812 Overture was played, complete with cannon fire. The first one boomed and Amelia literally hit the deck!

Watching the post-concert fireworks:

She really liked the fireworks and had a lot of fun that night.

Monday 7/5

We slept in and had a relaxing breakfast, before heading out to run some errands:

After a few errands, we went for a picnic at the splash park:

And then it was time for some splashing!

A splash park video:

When we returned home, Amelia went down for her afternoon nap. When she woke up, she was introduced to her new potty chart. This is our incentive program for getting her to produce results on her little potty.

She got credit for her first 3 potty successes:

Only 7 more to her first prize! Hopefully, after a few weeks of earning prizes, she will have gained more and more comfort with pottying, and we can go after potty training with a fury.

After her snack, she helped me put together another of her birthday gifts - an arts easel:

And by "helped", I mean that she hid things that were crucial for the assembly of this item. But.... it finally got together, and she enjoyed playing on it.

It was a nice, relaxing weekend with just our little family!