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!

Randi being 7!

Most of the time I feel like Randi is 7 going on 17. Her intelligence is so much deeper than just being smart....She's so perceptive and aware of the world around us. I'm constantly amazed at the depth of the conversations we have. I guess that's the joys of having a gifted child. I took these pictures yesterday...a rare glimpse of her actually acting her age.

Play that piano!

I bought Randi this cute Melissa & Doug piano when she was little and now Annabella is enjoying it too. She seems to be a little ham and stops whatever she's doing when she sees me with the camera. She's always ready for her close up even with cheerios on her face :)

Annabella likes cat food!

Yes I know I'm a bad mom because I let my baby continue to play with the cat food while I grabbed the camera. But look how cute the pictures are! Bijou even made an appearance!