Bad Parenting or Good Clean Fun?

Today has been a good day. Miss Sassy-Pants seems to have hit the road for the day, and the typical happy (yet bossy) Annalise is back. We've had fun today, and a little while ago she found an empty underbed plastic storage container. Look what fun we had with it! (And please, don't call DFACS, she was not spared oxygen or left in the box unattended, I promise!)

More Annalise-isms

It is hard for me to remember all of the funny things Annalise has been saying lately because they've been clouded by a lot of sassy moments. (Please, Lord, let this be a passing phase!) In between her moments of attitude, she does still manage to crack us up. Here are our recent favorites:

Annalise is very into learning jokes right now. She tries to make up her own, and of course you can't really make up a joke. So, she makes up weird stories -- here is an example -- "There was a fan, and it had a face and a mouth, and it was walking down the street. It was on its way home. Then he got in the house and went pee-pee on the floor!" After cracking up, she very seriously asks, "Was that a story or a joke?" I can't seem to explain to her what a joke is, but clearly saying "It's a funny story" was the wrong thing to say.

The other day we were in the car and this is our conversation:
Annalise: "Mommy, how did you pick this car?"
Me: "Well, we wanted something safe with a nice seat in it for you."
Annalise: "Did it have a lot of pieces?"
Me: "Well, a car does have a lot of pieces but it was already put together when we bought it."
Annalise: "Did the lady have a really big bag?"
I had to think for a moment to figure out what she meant, and then I realized that she was picturing Ricky and me lugging our car to a checkout counter, like at Target or a grocery store, and the "lady" (the salesperson) putting it in a giant bag for us to carry! I said, "No, we got to drive it home, they didn't put it in a bag." Haha!

The other day I was at the mall with my mom and Annalise, and we were sitting by the fountain enjoying pretzel bites and an icee, Annalise's favorite treat. Suddenly, just steps away from us, men robbed a jewelry kiosk, smashing the glass counter to bits. People were yelling and running in all different directions for fear of the situation turning violent (which, thankfully, it didn't). It was definitely scary and my mom grabbed Annalise and ran into a store, leaving Annalise's food behind. Annalise was sobbing since it obviously scared her, but in between sobs she asked, "Did they take my icee?" It gave us a good laugh in a terrifying situation!

Annalise has been into making up songs lately. Sometimes when she's about to make one up, she'll say, "Hold on, I need to put licorice in my mouth." Then she kind of taps on her molars and then prepares to sing. NO clue where this came from. One day she said, "Hold on, I can't just make the song up. It has to be in my heart."

Annalise made a glittery gold Olympic medal at a little art studio the other day. At dinner she was modeling it for Ricky. She said, "Look, this is just my style." Ha!

The other day she said, "Mommy, have you seen Daddy juggle? It's amazing!"

And for Annalise's most sassy moment of the day (and maybe of all time) -- today she was naughty and she got a time out. She said, "Don't tell Daddy." I said, "Trust me, I am." She looked right at me and with all of the attitude of a 15-year-old girl, she said, "Trust me, you aren't." I just looked at her. Part of me wanted to laugh, and part of me wanted to smack her! I didn't do either one, but it compelled me to once again pray for patience. It wasn't the first time God heard that prayer from me today! My "mom friends," please tell me I'm not alone!

A Couple of Video Clips

I've been wanting to share these videos for a while, but hadn't due to the internet being down...

This video was taken at Yellow River Game Ranch. I shared some pics in my previous posting, but here is a video I took of Annalise tentatively feeding a deer some saltines. We arrived there at opening, so the deer had congregated by the door, waiting anxiously for people to arrive with food. At one point I had about eight deer surrounding me, one tugging at my shirt hem! A few followed us around, sticking their heads in our stroller basket looking for more crackers. They obviously didn't get the memo that deer are supposed to be timid! They were so sweet, though, and I could have stood there feeding them all day.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

This video was taken a couple of weeks ago. I fed Ryan dinner and he was very tired after not taking a very good afternoon nap. After each bite of food, he stuck his thumb in his mouth. This is just a snippet, but this went on for about 20 minutes! Ricky, Annalise, and I were highly entertained by this.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

So far behind!

Wow, I've been slacking on the blog lately. The internet has been out on our laptop since early July, and we've made a point of NOT fixing it, as I'm a much more attentive mommy without it! But, the blog has certainly suffered as a result.

This has been a huge month for Ryan. He has his SIXTH tooth coming in, he started crawling, and he had his first haircut (picture below). Next month will be a big one for Annalise, as she'll start a new year of preschool and she'll begin ballet classes! Expect a flood of photos.

I have so many video clips I've been wanting to share, but for now, here are some pictures of things that we've been up to over the past month...

Annalise has discovered her inner Picasso Ryan has been tortured by his big sister.
We made some interesting animal friends at Yellow River Game Ranch.
(That's one ugly turkey!)

A goat checking Ryan out.

Annalise feeding a bunny.Annalise has been having fun with her best bud, Emily.

Ryan had his first haircut!

Back to the Beach!

How spoiled are we? Only a couple of weeks after our beach weekend over July 4, we headed back to St. Augustine for an impromptu trip. This time my parents joined the kids and me, but Ricky had to stay home for work. We had such a great time, and Annalise loved having both sets of grandparents there to spoil her! Thanks, Pat & Brendan, for so warmly opening your home to us.

Here is a picture overload:

My parents & Annalise Annalise sharing a smooch with "Nee"
Building sandcastles with Papa
My parents & the kiddos
Ricky's parents ("Nanny & Poppy") and the kiddos
Ryan only liked the ocean one bucket at a time Annalise "boogie boarding"
Love my dad's face in this one as a wave splashes them.
A sweet Papa and Annalise moment