Bottle time...

Annabella thought it would be more fun to drink her bottle if she put it inside her empty snack container!

Spring Break Part 1

The past few weeks have been pretty busy/hectic around the Murphy house so I haven't taken many pictures (plus James had the camera for 9 days in Europe...)

But I digress, Spring Break has been a fun and busy one for us all. Good Friday the girls and I went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny and take some photos at Sears. Saturday was our neighborhood Egg Hunt (pics on James' FB wall) and of course Easter was Sunday. Both girls were very happy with their gifts... Randi got Battle Ship & some art supplies and Annabella got a couple vtech toys. The "Easter Bunny" found some pretty awesome deals at Toys R Us and saved 60% on presents!!!

Monday was a lazy day spent reading, drawing, and watching WAY too much TV.

Tuesday we went to see "The Reluctant Dragon" at the library it was very cool and both girls were entertained. It was put on by Atlantic Coast Theatre They did a FANTASTIC job making it entertaining for kids and adults which is sometimes difficult. After the play it was time for half price arcade games at The Alley, somehow we managed to be there for almost 2 hours. (Randi refused to take any pictures this day)

Wednesday was our first trip to Color Me Mine in Hyde Park Village Randi had a great time and it's something we will definitely do again. Then it was off to City Street Sweets just 3 shops down to sample some great treats. We were both a little overwhelmed by the choices... Randi settled on some cookies and cream ice cream while I enjoyed a very small piece of Dark Chocolate Midnight Espresso City Bark (it was so rich I couldn't even finish the small piece I bought!).

Thursday has been another laid back day...while Annabella is a great baby and very content in most situations, I'm trying to balance being out and about with Randi and providing opportunity for Annabella to be home and on schedule (and out of the sun). So far it's worked pretty well :) While Annabella was napping Randi and I made and decorated some sugar cookies. Although I find baking and cooking tedious (I think at some point in the very distant past I used to like cooking...) the hugs, smiles and I love you's from Randi made it worthwhile. My plan was to make the cookies before Easter, but a few days later isn't bad either.

Most of the cookies will make their way to James' office!

My beautiful daughters

Randi's spring break art gallery!

Spring break is coming to a close, but we still have a lunch at daddy's office and zoo trip planned!

Here comes trouble

Maybe it's Mommy amnesia, but I really don't remember Randi getting into this much trouble! My two girls are so different... both are handfuls, but in such different ways it's amazing. Annabella loves to be down and explore which leads to climbing and doing things she shouldn't. Even though she's only 8 months old I can already tell that she's going to be quite independent. I fully expect to hear "I can do it myself" a lot from Annabella. Thankfully I've learned LOTS & LOTS of patience (most of the time) over the years being Randi's mom!

 Annabella has learned to climb up her piano and onto the couch! We have the piano there to discourage her from crawling in between the couch and love seat. 

I'm trying to teach Annabella "what goes up, must come down". Is she too young to learn about natural consequences???

Annabella sees the cats in the kennel so it must be good enough for her too! She already eats cat food, so she's she might as well sleep with them right?

I had to help her out of this one ;)

Spring Training

We finally made it to one of the last spring training games of the season! Fun was had by all...Randi kept her nose in a book most of the time while James and I tried to minimize Annabella's eating of grass & leaves.

Beach day!

Last Friday Randi had the day off from school so we met up with some friends at the beach. For those non Floridians...the beaches on the gulf coast are pretty awesome (even for us non-beach people). White powdery sand and fairly calm waters make for a perfect day. Randi had a great time playing with friends (old & new), Annabella enjoyed eating sand and flirting with strangers and I was able to have a relaxing day and enjoy adult conversations!

 Here I am encouraging Annabella to eat actual food and not the sand...

Annabella exploring the sand at the shoreline.

 About 5 seconds after this picture a wave crashed over Annabella....she didn't think that was so funny and started crying.

 Happy Randi, but Annabella's still mad at the wave.

Amazingly enough Friday was NOT Annabella's first trip to the beach. We went when she was 2 weeks old....Her and I sat in the shade under the cabana while Randi & Oda played in the water & sand.

I need a cage!

Don't let Annabella angelic face fool you...she going to be a little trouble maker! James always tells her "No baby 4x4ing right now!" It's funny because the way she crawls and plows through any obstacle really does resemble some sort of ATV. Here are a few pics of some the trouble she likes to get into...

 Annabella climbed up on the shelf of the glass, stone & metal coffee table, this is actually probably more dangerous than it looks in the picture.

Annabella's first time at the pool

Even though our pool is heated and it was around 80 degrees I still thought it was a little cool! I must have been in Florida too long because I am accustomed to pool and ocean temps being closer to bath water. Annabella loved the pool and was very relaxed...

Lazy Saturday Morning

Family Literacy Night

Randi's school had a children's author Chris Rumble come and speak to the kids. There was an assembly during school hours as well as a Family Literacy Night. I have to say it was pretty awesome! Chris Rumble spoke about how much fun reading is, danced, sang & played guitar for the kids. Annabella thought it was pretty cool too. Unfortunately it's really hard to get good pictures on the stage at Randi's school...they are always really dark.

Snack Time

Isn't Annabella such a pretty baby! I can't believe she's already 7 month old. Here she is enjoying a snack...

Maybe next year...

This year Randi got involved with Odyssey of the Mind. It's a really cool worldwide program to encourage creativity, team work and problem solving. Our teams long term problem was "Le Tour Guide". Sherlock Holmes took us to Dunn's River, Jamaica; Taj Mahal and Upside Down Town... Our team didn't place and won't be moving on to state, but Randi had so much fun and plans to participate again next year.

Toes

I think Annabella may have been a puppy in a past life. She loves to bite your toes. There I was helping Randi with her homework and here comes Annabella to chew on her sisters toes! Hearing Randi's surprised reaction was just as funny as the toe biting!

Little Explorer

These pictures are from 2/15. Both girls had the flu, but you can clearly see nothing will stop Annabella from exploring. She thinks the office is a cool place to explore with all the shoes, scrap booking & art supplies! She even figured out how to open a drawer....

Happy Valentines Day!

Aunt Jackie got Annabella a cute shirt and the shoes were from when Randi was a baby.

Randi and I were supposed to have a date together, but Randi wanted to take Annabella along too so the girls and I went to see the Manatees (Randi's favorite sea mammal) but the camera was not charged so no pictures :( In case you're interested here's the link of where we go see the Manatees...  http://www.tampaelectric.com/manatee/ They are really cool animals that I didn't even know existed till I moved to Florida.

Florida State Fair

Here in Hillsborough County school children have either a Fair Day or Strawberry Festival holiday (depending on where in the county you live) where there is no school and admission is free. We had Fair Day 2-11-11 so I decided it would be fun to take the girls. Of course we did all the traditional fair stuff like games & food, but the Florida State Fair is also pretty educational! There are many permanent displays. "Cracker County" is a living history museum with all sorts of buildings from the late 1800's that were relocated. Everyone wears period costumes and there are many demonstrations...making sugar from sugar cane, blacksmithing & candle making are just a few. Here's the link... http://www.crackercountry.org/  We also visited the Foresty Department & Florida Agriculture buildings where we learned all sorts of cool things about Florida wildlife, entomology & how the USDA helps keep our food safe.

 Randi looking at a Florida Scorpion

 Syrup being expressed from sugar cane

 Old house from the 1800's. The family that lived there had 9 boys and 1 girl!

 Randi enjoying her Carmel Apple

 Feeding the animals...this is the only animal she actually fed...she freaked out and went to wash her hands when she got licked!

Looking at the different bugs that can end up in your food at the USDA booth!