Do the twist!

Last evening Miss A learned a fun little lesson about cause and effect:

Twist dancing
+ Binky on a tether
-------------------------
Binky swinging around you in a silly way that makes you and everyone around you laugh

Throwback day

Let's play a little guessing game shall we?

How many pictures have I amassed of Miss A since the day she was born?

Seriously! How many do you think I've taken and digitally filed away?

Answer: Approximately 4,000-4,300

I know. I KNOW. Isn't it hard to believe? I mean, I'm the one that even took them and has sat here for hours on end editing and filing and sorting and organizing and the number even blows me away!

But how many of those do you think I've probably gotten printed up? Hmmm... maybe 50-100? Seriously! No more than 100 of the aforementioned total have been printed.

This is because D and I have just kept them on our hard drive(s) (we have two so that we can backup the one on our desktop!) and then just scroll through them as we see fit. Seems kind of a waste, doesn't it?

Yeah. I think so to. So... we're going to try something a little new.

Just to keep things interesting and fun and surprising, we're going to randomly post some "throwback" photos that we have in our photo archives that have never been seen within email distros, online photo albums, or have been put on the blog.

Sounds good? OK!

Here's our first one. I *think* this was taken when Miss A was experiencing spaghetti squash (one of my personal favorites!) for the first time around her 11 month mark.


Amazing how the time flies, eh? And amazing how this one never made it to the blog since I look at it now and just swoon at what a wonderful moment it captures. *shrug* Who knows why it never made it in the first place.

Anyway, let's hear it for Throwback days, eh? This is going to be fun!!! Stay tuned for more.

P.S. Remember: Throwback days will happen randomly and without warning so be on the look out for them. :)

Style is forever

I'd say it's fair to say that it is rare that Miss A could be called not cute. I think this applies mostly because as a person (albeit a little one), she's got a cute way about her! Her little voice, her crazy open-mouthed laugh, her squinchy eyes that she does sometimes when she gets excited - it all adds up to something that is just easily classified as cute. And this isn't a bad thing especially since a lot of the time she's got to make up for a wardrobe that she just doesn't have.

Now, this isn't to say that Miss A is poorly dressed in the least but one thing can't be denied and that's that most of her wardrobe consists of things going a second or even third go around. She's a regular hand-me-down little gal. D and I are both teachers and we just can't afford to have her dressed to the nines all the time! We like hand-me-downs very much so! Still, sometimes I feel kind of bad that Miss A rarely gets something that is all new and all hers from the very beginning. So thank the good Lord above for discounted clothing stores!!!

I found the below at TJMaxx the other day when I was looking for a new bathing suit for Miss A at a price point lower than $10. I managed to find a very cute suit for her for a solid $8 (Woo-hoo for holding out and not even buying one at Target!!) and I also stumbled upon this amazing ensemble marked down to only $12!!!!! And it even came with a cute headband that matched the top!!!!!!

It was an impulse buy but it's hard to argue that it was the wrong impulse to give into because just look at how stylish Miss A looks...


And because she is such a little fashion bug diva type just completely naturally the way she is, I'll have you know that she added the beaded necklace all on her own! Impressed, are you not?

What can I say? Miss A KNOWS that fashion fades but style is definitely forever.

I've been Pixied

People might argue against this but I'm actually a bit on the shy side. I'm usually behind the camera for the obvious reasons but also because I generally don't like to be pictured as well. I've learned that for a lot of photographers and visual artists, this type of thing holds true for them too.

I decided to come on the other side of the camera today though to document another part of my day with Miss A when we went to the farm and the Enchanted Forest though. After our trip there we took a jaunt over to the Baltimore area to visit the amazing stylist who I've been going to for over five years now!! I know how ridiculous it is to continually drive over an hour to get your haircut but any lady will tell you that when you find someone who does good hair it's well worth a long trip and when you find someone who does GREAT hair it's definitely worth driving even hours away.

Anyway, this past December you might remember that I took the plunge to get all of my hair chopped off with the intention of maybe eventually being brave enough to go even shorter. As it turned out I LOVED having short hair and was that much more encouraged and finally took the big plunge to go for the classic "pixie" cut that I've always envied on others. I'm not sure that I can completely pull it off the way some people can but I just like the cut and the ease of care so much that I almost don't even care...

It will require very regimented almost monthly trims to maintain it but I love it so much I feel like it's well worth the investment and the effort.

Into the woods

After hanging out with the animals and then drenching herself at the hand washing stations, Miss A was ready for lunch! And anyone who knows her well enough knows very well that she doesn't let a moment pass her by that might mean she can nibble on something!

I figured it would be hard to convince Miss A to sit nicely at a picnic table and eat her PB & J so I strapped her into her stroller and we headed into the "Enchanted Forest."

(A little history that I just learned today: The original Enchanted Forest used to be one of the only local area amusement parks that was really little more than a bunch of statuettes designed after classic storybook tales. When it officially closed it's doors, the Clark family was able to obtain the Cinderella pumpkin coach so that local families could still enjoy it. The original owners of all of the rest of the amusements of the Enchanted Forest were so impressed by the Clark family's commitment to preserving the spirit of the Enchanted Forest alive that it was agreed that all of the rest of the amusements would follow until the entire Enchanted Forest was moved completely to the Clark family's farm land. Thus, the Enchanted Forest found it's new home and families have been able to continue enjoying it and not have it be just another chapter of local history.)

Since it would have been mean of me to force Miss A to stay seated during the entire trip through the Enchanted Forest, we took our time and would walk a little, and then take a little interlude so that she could get out and walk around while nibbling on her sandwich. I wasn't able to take too many pictures of her with the incredible statues because that would have meant that she would have been able to just run wild and free like a crazy woman. I DID manage to get one really good shot of her with her favorite statues though and I'm sure if the Dish and the Spoon had been real, she surely would have run away with them (as I said before, wild and free like a crazy woman) right after the cow jumping over the moon...

It's hard to tell by the picture but she was actually standing there holding hands with the Dish. So cute because I think she really actually thought they were real by the way she just stood there holding onto the hand like it was going to take off and run away!

A lot of the amusements were a little big and intimidating to her because she's just a little too much of a shorty just yet to be able to see inside of the ones that are now closed off by plexiglass and meant to be enjoyed from the outside looking in. The bright colors intrigued her enough but since it was hard for her to see in any of the windows, she would basically just walk around them a little bit and then get bored and run off into the surrounding areas of grassy knolls. Here she is outside of the house of the Three Bears and Goldilocks...


She's such a little peanut that she was barely even tall enough to look into the extra-large keyhole that was meant just for peeking in!

After the Enchanted Forest I knew that she needed a little time to be able to play in areas sized closer to her. Luckily there were these tiny little playhouses that were by the lovely shaded picnic area and Miss A thought they were just about the best things EVER!!! I mean, seriously!!!! WHOLE houses?!!! And just the perfect size for her?!!! She was in pure and complete bliss and kept going in them and coming out of them over and over again like she couldn't believe that they existed.


This little primitive looking cabin was her favorite of all and watching her enjoy it as much as she did got the gears in my head going with thinking that "Hmmmm... maybe D and I should design and make one of these for her upcoming birthday!" *sigh* If she ends up being a spoiled little girl, it will end up being our fault alone because we always just want to give her the world to have absolutely for her own.

The other little playhouse was slightly bigger than the little cabin and I think it was a little too big for her because I was able to stand up inside of it comfortably. She did very much enjoy the REAL (but terribly out of tune) upright piano inside that was amazingly teeny-tiny and absolutely the perfect size for her. (This picture looks blurry because I had to take it through an old scratched up window pane.)


And before we finally had to leave, we were able to squeeze out just enough time to be able to eat a delicious strawberry shortcake bar...


And then play one last time at one of the amazingly huge playgrounds...




We definitely have plans to return to the farm and the forest sometime in the near future so that we can go on the hayride (the one thing we didn't do!) and we're hoping that next time D will be able to come along as well. Perhaps even YOU can come too! *wink*