Would you like a dip with that?

Most kids love to dip their food- ketchup, ranch, yogurt dips- bring it on! Not our kiddo, she has never liked dip of any kind, she also can't stand mayonaise (when she eats a sandwhich at school she tells me "it had that white stuff on it!"), mustard is a no go, no way cream cheese can be on her bagel, and even butter, if she can see the white hasn't melted she thinks it isn't good. Now, she isn't a super picky eater, she'll eat any kind of fruit, most veggies she'll eat before other food on her dinner plate, and even avocado is one of her faves! But one dip she has found that she likes to dip her food in... milk!! What a weird kid! I don't know if she's doing this to be silly or if she actually thinks it tastes good, but she has been dipping any and all kinds of food in her milk! I had to capture this odd behavior! :)

Sourdough bread in her cereal milk...

Crackers in her cereal milk....

Cauliflower from dinner...

YUMMMMM

Bread bones...

What a silly girl we have!!

Random Stuff

I've been kind of slacking as far as blogging goes... since starting my last semester of school (YAY!!!), I've been super busy and haven't had too much extra time. So, needless to say, not much else is going on in our lives. This is going to be a random post about goings on in our daily life...

With the weather getting better we are able to play outside more often, which has been so nice! We've got our patio outback, but the yard is still a work in progess so it's just a muddy mess back there. Hannah loves to go out, stand on the edge of the patio, and dig in the mud, but if you ask her if she wants to go play in it she says: "No, I don't want to get all dirty!"- that's my girl!! :)
We've also been going on lots of bike rides and walks around the neighborhood. It was so funny the other day, we asked if she wanted to go on a bike ride, and she responds with "No, I just want to RUN!". And so she did, she was thrilled to just run and get all her energy out, and that has been a daily activity when the sun is shining.
Another favorite activity at the moment is playing with water in a bowl in the sink. She is totally content getting a few spoons, ladels, bowls, and "a bakery" (aka: measuring container), and going nuts in the water. Her obsession with this particular activity is getting a little out of control, but it can be very nice when I'm cooking dinner and she's occupied right by me.


Hannah LOVES to help- with everything! She just wants to feel important and be a part of whatever is going on. So, when I bake something I'll pull a chair up to the counter and she becomes my little chef, for the most part she listens very good and is a good lil helper. Here, she was "helping" me bake a cake for Aunt Cathy's birthday! :)

Sometimes she such a weirdo! She HAD to dip her crackers in her cereal milk! Both, Nick and I kept telling her "no, we don't dip crackers in milk", then we figured what would it hurt, so we let her get her way, and she ate all her cackers after dipping them in her milk! What a goober!

A few weeks before Valentine's day I did my shopping. Nick had seen a particular shirt that he wanted but I had to order it cause they didn't have his size in the store. A few days later, the package came in the mail and Hannah saw me bring it inside and was all excited about a present. I explained it was a present for Daddy but we had to hide it until Valentine's day. Well, as soon as Nick walked in the door that night, Hannah runs to him and says: "Daddy, Daddy!! We got you a work shirt, but it'sa suprise so you have to close your eyes!!!" she shouted that a few more times until I had to translate because she was saying it so excitedly Nick had no clue what she was shouting!! So, Nick got his gift early. :) On Valentine's Day Hannah came downstairs to her little gift bag at her place at the table and was so so excited to see what she got.

The best gift ever was a Cinderella electric toothbrush!! She seriously wants to brush her teeth all the time, she even wanted to go to bed early one night just so she could brush her teeth right then! hahaha The dentist would be happy to hear that.

Another favorite Valentine's gift came from Great Grandpa and Grammy, they sent her a pink princess tent! We were on our way out the door to go for a walk when we saw the package on the doorstep. Once she saw it was for her she was over the walk and wanted to stay home and play in her tent! (Her smile is very forced- she didn't want to stop to pose for a picture when there was playing to be done!)

After naptime, I had a sugar cookie activity planned. She was so excited to get started but all she wanted to do was play in the flour while I cut out the cookies, then when it came time to decorate she couldn't stop licking the frosting! In the end, Nick and I finished decorating the cookies, then we went on one of our walks! It was a nice day spent as a family.

I'll try to update soon!

Good Girl Jar

Let me start off with saying how incredible our little girl is... she is so adorable, very sweet, loves everyone, funny, and extremely smart. However, with being in the throws of toddlerhood, we have encountered a power struggle in our house. Both Nick and I, want to be able to give our precious daughter any and everything we can- we are obviously trying to live vicariously through her... don't all parents do that??!! Well, I think it is starting to get to her head! For such a small, sweet girl she can have 1 HUGE attitude, and that just is not gonna fly in this house! Now, just to clarify, this attitude is not always present, we will go weeks with our sweet angel, then BAM- she turns on us for a few days and those few days when she's having her moments can be quite taxing. While in the midst of our "few days of terror", I was chatting with Kari, explaining how I didn't know what to do with this kid sometimes- I discipline and it's like it has zero effect! That's when she came up with the brilliant idea- create a "Good Girl Jar":
The idea is, when Hannah is good: when she cleans up her toys, doesn't have an attitude, get's ready without a fuss, (you get the idea...) she gets to add a cotton ball into the jar. But when she is not acting like she should she has to take out a cotton ball AND go in time out for 3 minutes. When she fills cotton balls to the ribbon, which takes about 35 cotton balls, she gets to pick a special thing to do. During my conversation with Kari, I had a realization- Hannah never has to work for or earn anything in life. I get she is only 3, but when do we draw the line of not just giving her everything?? Her normal life consists of going to frozen yogurt, playing at Bounce-U, riding the carrosel at the mall, getting a new toy basically whenever we go to Target, ect. and we are realizing she is no longer appreciating these wonderful things she gets to do- she merely expects them since they have become normal things in her life. Now, we do feel proud we are able to get our daughter these fun things, however, we do not want to create a spoiled brat. We were both raised to appreciate everything we got and learned what it meant to earn things. Now, I do think there can be a balance of Hannah earning fun things and sometimes not having to earn them and they happen anyway because she's just lucky to have really cool parents :)- but finding that balance is what we are in search of! Parenting is a journey of mostly ups and sometimes difficult downs, but overall when our little Hanny-bug flashes that precious smile or gives us a big 'ol hug and proudly exclaims "I just love you mommy and daddy!!" it feels pretty dang amazing! I'm hoping this Good Girl Jar becomes the answer to our frustrations. So far, cotton balls have become gold in our house, and when she's acting up and has to take 1 out, you would think her world is ending... which makes me excited that maybe she will finally get it and always act like an angel! (Am I asking too much from a 3 year old??!!) So far, the Good Girl Jar has been in our house for 3 days and it is probably half way to the ribbon so maybe soon she will get to earn that bounce session...

Putting cotton balls IN for getting ready and going to bed without stalling or tantrums :) That smile is my favorite of all time!!