"How"

Trying to pack and keep Annabelle entertained has been quite a feat so the other day, I got some new movies from the library. One of them is Peter Pan and she instantly loved it. In the show, there are some Indians that are constantly holding up their right hand and saying, "How". Annabelle loves to copy this and she'll walk around the house and whenever she sees me, she'll greet me Indian-style with her hand held up high and a loud, "How".



And here's my tower of boxes that Annabelle loves to try and knock over.

Counting to 11

Annabelle has been able to count to 10 for awhile and it occurred to me the other day that I should probably move on to new numbers. So, as we were driving home from the store, we counted and when we reached 10, I introduced 11 to her. She caught on very quickly and by the end of the day, 11 was as easy for her to remember as the rest of the numbers. Now she counts to herself all the time and never forgets her newest number. And after she finishes, she always gives herself a round of applause.

Crazy Rexburg

I changed my background to an Easter theme. I can't believe Easter is only 2 weeks away. We will be completely moved into our house by then (I'm sure we'll still have boxes everywhere) and I am really excited to have an Easter egg hunt with Annabelle and make rabbit-shaped sugar cookies. The only problem is the weather. It is absolutely miserable outside and I'm afriad it might not feel like Spring in time for Easter. I would not usually post about the weather. That's a boring topic. But now, I've written two weather entries in a row. YIKES!

It is snowing like crazy and the wind is making it much worse. Winds are blowing between 30 and 40 mph and the snow is piling up. I can't even see the white fence that stands 30 yards from our back door. On our way home from church, we saw a green sign that sits on the highway for a Rexburg exit that had nearly been blown in half.

On a more interesting note, everything seems to be in order for the closing of our house on Friday. Today is our last Sunday in our current ward (although I will be returning once more to accompany the choir as they sing their Eater songs) and I had people telling me goodbye and saying how much they'll miss our family and I didn't even know who they were. Our ward's so big that I think it is impossible to get to know everyone by name. But it was a nice gesture and I'll miss this ward.

"It's freezing!"

After absolutely gorgeous weather last week, we are back in winter weather now. Yesterday, we got a couple of inches of snow, and today even more. The wind is blowing hard and the temperature is 23 degrees, but feels like 12. I'm sure in about 5 years, I will not be surprised when this happens, but for now, I am not happy. I thought perhaps spring was on the way. The only nice thing about bad weather is I can pack without wishing I was outside. Annabelle can also tell that it's very cold and so she has not been bugging me to go outside. Instead, she is helping me pack by putting everything she can grab in the open boxes that are lying around. This makes things a little more difficult for me, but being a good helper is something I want to encourage so we're trying to work together and pack. We close a week from tomorrow. Yea!

Wall coloring

This past Thursday evening, I attended an enrichment class and left Annabelle home with Michael. I had a great time at my event and even came home bearing a delicious cinnamon roll for Michael. Once home, I heard the drama of what had gone on while I had been out. Michael, being tired from a long, hard day's work, accidentally fell asleep for about 10 minutes and Annabelle took advantage of this brief time of no supervision. She took 2 crayons up to her room and began drawing a masterpiece on her walls. Upon waking up and not hearing Annabelle or knowing where she was, Michael set off in search of her, finding her in her room that was now newly decorated. In just 10 minutes' time, Annabelle managed to completely cover 2 walls, her window sill, window, and other various places in the room.The worst part was our landlady was showing our apartment to 2 different prospective renters the next day. The next morning, I called the landlady to tell her of the fiasco and asked if she wanted to reschedule the appointments, giving us a few days to cover Anna's artwork, beautiful as it was. She said that she didn't want to reschedule and that it shouldn't be a problem. I guess we'll see if it turned people away because indeed we did have a couple of families come look at our place and as far as I know, the landlady hasn't heard back from either of them.

Tea Party

Annabelle received a tea set for her birthday and it has become one of her favorite things to play with She loves to have a tea party with herself. She sits on the couch and I bring her a tray of 4 tea cups each filled with water. She then sits there and proceeds to slowly drink the water from each cup and gently set it back on it's matching plate. And then she tells me to bring her some more. It's really cute. Now we just need a play kitchen and table to make the tea party complete.

Sunny Day

Yesterday was such a nice day that Annabelle and I spent most of it outside. It's been warming up in the past week, but usually it's really, really windy or overcast. All of the sudden, the sun was out and it was a gorgeous, beautiful day. I even got a little sunburned.

Our neighbor invited Annabelle to play with sidewalk chalk with her two kids and it turned into an afternoon full of fun. Towards the end, Annabelle and our 3-year-old neighbor started rubbing their hands in the chalk on the sidewalk and rubbing it all over their faces and hair. At that point, I figured maybe it was time to go inside and get cleaned up. It was probably one of Annabelle's favorite days.Make sure when you watch this video, you have the sound on. I added some music to this one.