It smelled like heaven!

Alyssa is changing every day. (I probably say that too much!) We have started ponytails and pigtails. It keeps the hair out of her eyes, especially when she hasn't taken a bath in awhile. It makes her look more like a little girl rather than a baby. 

Mmmm graham crackers and deceivingly (not so) healthy veggie straws

Erik thinks her hair looks like a mushroom cloud after the elastics come out. The camera doesn't do it justice.

After sitting at home all morning because we're kind of sicky we decided to go to Longwood Gardens. (I decided...Alyssa doesn't really have much of  say.) It was a nice way to have a little walk like it was summer even though it's cold outside. Longwood Gardens was once a du Pont estate. There is a conservatory that has an orchid show right now. I walked in and drank in the scent of all the wonderful flowers and trees. It was like standing in the floral fridge at Dan's but SO MUCH BETTER! We walked around for a little while.

"No, I will NOT look at you and your ridiculous camera."

Alyssa loved the flowers and would not look at the camera. She kicked her legs and pointed and gasped in a quick, hyperventilating kind of way. I have about 15 pictures of her head craned the opposite direction of the camera. Silly Alyssa.

I am so grateful for beautiful flowers and their wonderfully delicious smells. There was even an orchid that smelled like chocolate! Oh yeah!

A little funny story from today: Alyssa had been snacking on her meal remains on the floor. I realized this and asked her to spit it out. First came a dried egg noodle...then another dried egg noodle. "Lovely," I thought. At this point I am aware that she has put something else in her mouth, not edible. She spits it out...and it was a piece of carpet. She then crawls back over to where she found said piece of carpet, pulls another little piece up, tastes it and gives it to me. By now she knows that carpet is not that good to eat so she just picks at the carpet and finds little pieces and hands them to me. I think maybe she's learned her lesson...now we just need to work on not eating paper.

A Little of this...a little of that

Twas my birthday last week. Erik made me this awesome purple cake that says "We [heart] U". Alyssa enjoyed eating it.

We are just doing our thing these days. I haven't taken many pics of Alyssa, but I mustered up a few for a blogging occasion. She's a very silly baby. She is still lovin' her food but when she is done she picks the food up one piece at a time and drops it on the floor. She loves pianos and computers and she is SO CLOSE to walking. Her little toes are wrapped so tight around the carpet that I'm not sure she'll ever let go (this seems to be the hold-up).

In effort to be "productive" I created a primary songs and scriptures jar to start a scripture study with Alyssa. Ann said she does (did) this with Tyler and Ashlyn. If anything I hope Alyssa will pick the paper out and enjoy a new song for bed time besides the STS (same ten songs). 

It's raining here. It's actually kind of a wintery mix. (Have you heard that terminology before? I hadn't until this year.) It makes for gray and miserable looking days. But oh well, it'll be 50 F tomorrow!

I'm looking for ideas to teach a 6th grader some math. We are using the trampoline for times tables but we need a song or two. So for those of you who are secretly reading my blog, reveal yourself with some good ideas, a'ight?

Oh and....drum roll...add another piece of free furniture to our collection! Yesterday I found an Ikea Poang chair on craigslist.com ($5). That's a pretty awesome deal so...I go pick it up only to find out that we can actually just have it. I now feel like my living room is complete. Two sitting chairs and a dilapidated couch. What more can a college student's wife ask for? Nothing :)