I've been working hard to get a good 1 yr picture... this one came up in the batch today and everytime I see it I laugh out loud. Hope you find it as funny.

Word #2... "woof, woof." Since she barks all day long, I suppose it must be considered a word. Cats, dogs, penguins, and panda bears all bark these days. Lions roar though. Sometimes cats meow. We've been working on finding noses and mouths. She finds her nose most every time. She's pretty sure it's somewhere up one of those 2 finger holes in the center of her face.

This morning I stepped outside to talk to somebody about getting a tree removed out back. I came back in, left my shoes by the door, and before long Annika had found them and the hunk of mud squished into the sole. She peeled off a piece and ate it. As it made a terrible crunch sound between her teeth, I thought I was going to lose it. I was able to retrieve the small piece hanging on her lip and I wiped some more out of her mouth with a washcloth. The whole time I repeated to myself, "a little dirt never hurt anybody, a little dirt..."

But, it's all ok now. Why? Because later, while I was combing my hair, she decided that the soap dispenser looked like a popsicle. I thought she'd give it up when she got her first good taste, but she sat happily slurping on the end until her tongue was sudsy and her breath smelled like lilacs and lavendar. Yuck.

Had a couple sunny days (85 degrees!) to work in the yard. Ran out of yard bags, but I got some of the leftover leaves cleaned up and more ivy off the house. Good thing it's raining today because I must have pulled a muscle in my neck yesterday and I can't turn my head without a yelp. The neighbor decided that the culvert under our driveway was clogged, so we attempted to clean it out last night. We took 3 wheelbarrow loads of sludge and gravel out of there, but we don't know how much it will improve the situation. The real problem is how much rain we've been having.

Daffodils and purple hyacinth are blooming. The tulips are up but not shining yet. Maybe the rabbits have eaten them all, I don't know. And the grass needs mowing already! Ugh!

Do they even make quiet toys anymore? The fabric books all have crinkle pages, and everything else has to play a song, shout out letters, colors, something! I guess I don't mind too much since it's obvious Annika prefers the noisy toys, but it does freak me out from time to time. Like the night I was alone in the house and her toy piano broke into song. That piano has never before nor since made a sound without being touched. No wonder I jumped! So today, I was cleaning her kitchen. Just a quick dusting, but I bumped the wrong spot and all of a sudden the oven lit up, started blowing air, and singing. I really should have known.

Took a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum yesterday. Andy was so excited he was nearly hopping. :) Annika enjoyed it too... there were a few things for little tots, and as members we get free carousel rides, so next time we'll give that a try. It was a bit busy on a Saturday, and, well, Annika got hungry, so we merely peeked at the jumping horses this trip.